Text and culture: functions of “secondary” texts in Russian prose of 1970s-beginning of 2000s
The article focuses on a typology of the secondary texts in Russian prose of 1970-beginning of 2000s. Amount and boarders of the term “secondary text” are established. The grounds for classification are the following: status, type of authorship. place in structure, functionality. Three groups of texts according to their status are marked out: real (documentary, non-fiction, fiction) texts, imaginary texts, combinatorial texts. According to the type of authorship: collective (nameless) texts, individual-authorized (personal) texts, mystified (nameless and personal) texts. According to the place in structure: without their own plan of narration and structure, and with their own structure and plan of narration. The paper brings the light on the fact that non-fiction “donor” text in Russian prose of 1970s-1980s on the one hand allows to “read” a certain part of the main concept of the text (“Vremia I mesto” by Yu. Trifonov). On the other hand, this “donor” text can organize its own structure, own plan of narration, being the invariant and semantic substance of maternal text (“The Psalm” by F. Gorenstein). The secondary author's fiction texts are used for some extra argumentation of a concept of a certain writer (short novels written by V. Pelevin in 1980s). Imaginary secondary texts are shown in modern prose with three main types: different kinds of formalized texts; imaginary texts by personages (characters and narrator); mystified texts dealing with the authenticity issue for intentional revealing of conventionality of the main maternal text as a product of consciousness, fantasy. Depending on author's task all groups of texts can be a part of different combinatorial textual processes, creating special combinatorial group of texts (novels by Yu. Buyda “Yermo”, A. Gostevaya “Priton Prosvetlyonnyh”). Unlike the prose of 1970-1980s, the modern prose is characterized by the tendency to create different types of imaginary texts instead of the group of real texts. This tendency is one of the features typical for the prose of the turn of a century. The reasons are to be found in the crisis of rational understanding of history in the literature by the turn of XXI century and a turn toward mysticism, metaphysical religious-philosophical concepts. Active invasion of the secondary texts by various nature (documents, metanarrations, poetical and prosaic texts by real authors, different types of imaginary and formalized texts) in the main text furthers increase of extra meanings. They include a certain text in wide cultural (philosophical, historical, culturological) context, providing its dialogue in the act of cultural communication of different epochs.
Keywords
текст в тексте, вторичный текст, проза 1970 - начала 2000-х гг., text inside text, secondary text, prose of 1970s-beginning of 2000sAuthors
Name | Organization | |
Sukhanov Vyacheslav A. | Tomsk State University | slsuh@mail.ru |
References

Text and culture: functions of “secondary” texts in Russian prose of 1970s-beginning of 2000s | Tomsk State University Journal of Cultural Studies and Art History. 2019. № 36. DOI: 10.17223/22220836/36/11