Role of the Moliere intertext in «Harpagoniana» by Konstantin Vaginov

The paper deals with the intertext of «Harpagoniana» by Konstantin Vaginov (1933). It describes various semantic connotations of the «collector’s plot». Narrative structures of Vaginov’s novels tend to be complex. The author uses text graphics or embodied texts (newspaper clips, tables etc.). This form of composition is similar to collage or montage techniques. All the novels feature various metanarrative episodes that emphasise the montage nature of the narrative. The characters in «The Goat Song» (1927) try to materialise the narrator by composing a circular novella (the chapter being appropriately named «The Figure Enters»). In «The Works and Days of Svistonov» (1929), the hero composes a novel, rewriting fragments from other texts. The finale of «Bambochada» (1931) includes Eugene’s letters which were sent under the names of other people. A marketplace play which consists of several songs becomes the high point of «Harpagoniana» (1933). In general, references, quotes and allusions in those novels also follow the montage principle. Various literal, mythological and folklore sources are combined to produce some hybrid forms. The paper puts forward the idea that, in «Harpagoniana», the references to Moliere’s Harpagon serve as a starting point to the whole field of allusions centred around the concept of a «covetous hero». The references are made from works by Moliere’s predecessors (Titus Maccius Plautus) as well as his successors (Nikolay Gogol). Also, on the macro level, the references are related to the typological context of comedy as a genre. Moliere’s semantic sphere embraces both traditional European theatre and Russian folk theatre. At first, the references are presented on the micro level (the level of details). The first chapter of «Harpagoniana» begins with a mention of a nail clippings collection. In Plautus’ «Aulularia», Euclio is said to be so greedy as to take the nail clippings with him after visiting the barber’s. The collector Zhulonbin and Harpagon both have a fear of losing their treasure; both try to hide it from the household members. The lists of objects, the defectiveness of things, the metaphor of the necrosis of the miser’s soul, cause the reader to think about the Gogol’s works - Harpagon is associated with Plyushkin. At the macro level, the typological context of the comedy genre is important. Therefore, references to the origins of the European theatre tradition and the Russian theatre show are drawn into the Moliere’s semantic sphere. Furthermore, the concept of a «dead» thing has its analogues in the works of Vaginov’s contemporaries (Charms, Vedensky). Literature of the «Second Avant-garde» discovers the semiotic nature of a thing, equality between words and things. Vaginov’s characters goal is to restore the cosmos (universal order) via classification of the «artefacts». However, under the view of collectors, the reality turns into a disparate collection of objects. The paper concludes that the field of references centred around Moliere’s «The Miser» reveals Vaginov’s dominant narrative idea of the culture being changed to the collection of simulacra. The shattered world craves for an author (a cutter) who could in some ways reassemble (montage) the wholeness. Therefore, the narrative follows the structure of «assembling the attractions» of a balagan (like the fun-fair). The collection becomes a metapoetic emblem of the narration as the novel itself represents a collection of cultural ideas and semantics through the ages.

Keywords

Authors

References