Образы животных в контексте разговора о жизни (на материале произведений Светланы Василенко)
Animal Characters in the Context of Talks about Life (based on the prose by Svetlana Vasilenko)

Author(s): Olʹga Gavrilina
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Keywords: ground squirrel; butterfly; dragonfly; horse; came;, gender studies;animal studies;
Summary/Abstract: Animal images in the works of Svetlana Vasilenko are usually considered either in the context of apocalypse or feminist and eco‑feminist perspectives. In this article works such as the novel Durochka (Little Fool), the short story Gen smerti, short novels Babochka (Butterfly) and Suslik (Ground squirrel) are taken into consideration and the representations of ground squirrel, butterfly, dragonfly, horse and camel are analysed to suggest one more possible frame of interpretation – the animalistic one. The characters listed above are a part of a discourse about life and death; they are connected not only with the life of a human being (as it is often considered), but also as living creatures that have their own life. The character of a ground squirrel appears when the Judgment Day is discussed: a ground squirrel, dead or alive, becomes a symbol of peace and true life. It seems to be the only character able to be sincerely glad that life continues. A butterfly and dragonfly are connected with the feeling of involvement to something greater than a personal life of every human, while a horse and a camel help to reconsider old traditions of depicting hero‑assistant: a camel, unlike heroic horse in Russian folk tales, does not need to be restrained. It is only enough to give a camel free reins and it will appear at a good hour. In some cases the episodes of interaction of a man and an animal are marked by a symbolic break – the animal leaves (but it does not die) and continues its own life (not represented in the texts), leaving the human alone.

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