The death of the reader, or the price of success: a case of double reference in fictional narrative

This paper analyzes a group of literary and cinematic narratives where a protagonist’s success indirectly expresses authorial desire through the attribution of the author’s traits to the character. These are examined as instances of indirect reference. The works of Fyodor Dostoevsky, who frequently endowed his characters with authorial attributes, serve as a primary example. From “Poor Folk” to “The Brothers Karamazov,” he populated his works with characters who write, compose, and fantasize, thereby directly or indirectly reflecting on the writer’s craft. The analysis also extends to contemporary Russian novels, Mikhail Elizarov’s “The Librarian” and Alexei Salnikov’s “The Petrovs in the Flu and Around It” and “Indirectly,” with the plots exploring the fantasy of the heightened impact of the literature. In these works, the clearest markers of the hero’s success are the extreme effects their texts have on readers, listeners, or viewers (causing death, madness, etc.). These success stories are interpreted as the author’s symbolic crime and punishment. Situated within the historical professionalization of writing, these narratives manifest an implicit reflection on the creative profession. The analysis also covers films by directors like David Cronenberg, John Carpenter, and Michael Haneke, which feature a convergence of narrative and discourse levels. Figuratively, this authorial self-reflection is expressed through the motif of breaking the frame. Structurally, it ruptures the integrity of narrative levels, especially in texts-within-texts. This theme of artistic transgression, debated in the 19th century, is further traced in Nikolai Gogol’s “The Portrait” and Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment.”

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