Live Your Life Twice. The Individuation of the Main Female Character in the Novel of Ilya Prozorov’s “D-Train”

Филологический класс

关键词: literary emigration;    russian writers;    literary creative activity;    literary genres;    archetypes;    self;    little man;    literary characters;    female characters;    novels;    analytical psychology;    adaptation process.;   

DOI  :  10.26170/FK2004-04

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Тhe study explores the symbolic interpretation of the image of the main female character of the novel from the perspective of analytical psychology worked out by Carl Gustav Jung. The protagonist’s life reflects the process of her individuation from destructive self-consciousness, through integration of the animus to attempts to reach the depths of the Self. Individuation performs a healing function in the life of the protagonist, allows her to get to know herself better and get rid of behavior false and harmful for the psyche. The main character’s problems with adaptation arise from her upbringing in a patriarchal family, which is compared to living in captivity. Awareness of the gap between the young person and the values proclaimed by their parents is usually the first step towards discovering their own identity, to growing up. The protagonist has left the patriarchal way of life in her country, but she has difficulty mastering the rules of behavior in a new environment: she avoids real life and contact with people, plunging into the world of fantasy. The figure of the father, the image of family happiness, and longing for love and for a man of strong character make up an important component of these reflections. Since moving to a foreign country and encountering a different mentality and values forces one to develop new ways of behavior and get to know themselves better, emigration can be seen as an opportunity to meet the otherness, or as a metaphor for confrontation with the unconscious, which is one of the stages on the path to individuation. The D-train route resembles moving inside a maze and is a metaphor for the protagonist’s life. It can be perceived as a psychological process of contact between the main female character’s conscious (ground level) and her unconscious (underground level), which is characteristic of individuation. The novel under analysis is consistent with the sentimental-naturalistic discourse characteristic of modern Russian prose, with the help of which the writers try to identify family relations, richness and complexity of the human psyche, as well as cross-cultural and interethnic differences inherent in the postmodern world and the person living in it, for whom the problem of identification and self seems to be the most urgent.

【 授权许可】

Unknown