The book «Alliluya» by Vladimir Narbut: the picture of the world

The world presented in the «Alliluya» is primarily characterized by the uncertainty of the borderline between the human world and the other world. Secondly, the borderline between humans, animals and the world of inanimate objects turns out to be fuzzy, characteristic for the archaic perception. An image of integrated flesh is constructed which gradually turns from one form into another: a body combines with the space of the external world and obtains its properties. Alliluya as a praise «from earth» is the triumph of flesh that reveals itself in its abundance and infirmity - in lust, in coition, in birth, in mutilation, in sickness and in death. All the while, death is conceptualized in an adamistic way, as only a temporary loss of a form. The major source of such a world picture is the Slavic mythology represented in rites. At times, there occur parallels with Gogol’s narratives.

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