Intertextuality in A.P. Chekhov's "In the Ravine" and functions of biblical texts

In this essay we explain how the biblical text of the "Exodus", of Israel leaving Egypt, is present in A.P. Chekhov's story "In the Ravine" (1900) and which functions it fulfills. We have to keep in mind that, according to J. Kristeva, intertextuality often deals with feelings, remembrances and thoughts which are present in the reader's memory; that means that intertextuality deepens the text and completes it with elements going beyond its intellectual understanding. Such an effect of deepening can be expected in a particular way if a text contains other texts that have been handed over from generation to generation, enriched with a multitude of connotations and become part of the human subconscious. This is the case if we talk about old folklore and sacred texts. Rather than exterior similarities, it is important that in our story various aspects can be seen in the context of different elements of the "Exodus" story. We can say this especially concerning the theme of slavery. Thus, the workers in Aksinya's factory produce bricks, just like the people of Israel had to do in Egypt. Like in the Bible, deathly danger for a little boy comes up in combination with water. That is why, we can first say that intertextual connections make the situation described in the story even crueler. On the other hand, in many cases, the presence of "Exodus" motives enriches the text with a note of hope that Lipa and her mother's belief, i.e. that "there is truth and there will be", can become reality. This has to do with the fact that the book of Exodus is predominantly a liberation story. With the help of intertextuality Chekhov underscores that hope is not just an ideological point of view but that it becomes something that you can feel and that has to do with the hopes of the Jews and Christians of all centuries. But there is still another important function intertextual connections with the Bible fulfill: the final scene of the story is the scene in which Lipa gives Tsybukin to eat, thus symbolically offering communion to him. This shows that the last word in the story does not belong to enmity and not even to strict justice but to reconciliation. Therefore we can say that the "Exodus" theme is present in the text not only in the form of allusions, Chekhov included in it like in a puzzle, but in the form of intertextuality in the strict sense of the word. That means that elements from one text have become part of another one and that, with their help, the author addresses feelings and thoughts deep within the reader's memory, but also in his own. This intertextuality has three functions: on the one hand, it enhances the theme of fraud and violence which is present in the general atmosphere described in the story and in its plot. On the other hand, intertextuality gives liveliness to the theme of hope for justice, which we can find in the thoughts and words of the main figures. At last, in the final scene of the story, with the help of intertextuality Chekhov underscores that except for mere justice there is also hope of reconciliation.

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