  Egorov-vestnik-2026-3-ru.pdf |
- 17
- Metafiction and the liminal protagonist in Yuz Aleshkovsky’s novel “Carousel”
- Egorov M.Yu. Metafiction and the liminal protagonist in Yuz Aleshkovsky’s novel “Carousel”. Vestnik of Kostroma State University, 2026, vol. 32, no. 3, pp. 130–136. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.34216/1998-0817-2026-32-3-130-136
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.34216/1998-0817-2026-32-3-130-136
- УДК: 821.161.1.09«20»
- EDN: JJCNPH
- Publish date: 2026-09-10
- Annotation: The article is devoted to the study of metanarration in Yuz Aleshkovsky’s novel “Carousel” (1979) as a correlate of the liminal subjectivity of the protagonist, David Lange. The narrator, a lathe-turner addressing his emigrated relatives with an epistolary monologue, finds himself in a transitional state. He exists between the USSR and emigration, oral and written culture, working-class status and literary vocation. Liminality characterises the borderline position of the subject in uncertainty, oscillations, and potential transformations. Metanarration implies a dual role of the narrator: he is simultaneously a participant in the story and an observer revealing the process of its generation, creating an effect of intermediacy that aligns the narrative with a transitional state. The study examines metalinguistic comments, structural uncertainty, reflection on ‘inability to master the word’ and fear of rereading what has been written, associative movement of the narrative, the uniqueness of the title as a metaphor for the circularity of life and text. It points to paradoxical combinations of spontaneity and control in the generation of the narrative. Metanarration in the novel structurally reproduces the liminal experience, holding the reader between fiction and reality. Liminality persists to the finale of the work, becoming a stable principle of organisation and reflecting émigré identity
- Keywords: metafiction, Yuz Aleshkovsky, “Carousel”, liminality, protagonist, novel, emigration third wave prose.
- Literature list: Brodskii I.A. Predislovie [Foreword]. Aleshkovskii Iu. Sobranie sochinenii: v 3 t. T. 1 [Collected Works: in 3 vols. Vol. 1]. Moscow, NNN Publ., 1996, pp. 5–12. (In Russ.) Gennep van A. Obriady perekhoda. Sistematicheskoe izuchenie obriadov [Rites of Passage: A Systematic Study of Rites]. Moscow, Vostochnaia literatura Publ., 1999, 198 p. (In Russ.) Gled D. Besedy v izgnanii: Russkoe literaturnoe zarubezh'e [Conversations in Exile: Russian Literary Émigré]. Moscow, Knizhnaia palata Publ., 1991, 320 p. (In Russ.) Leiderman N.L., Lipovetskii M.N. Sovremennaia russkaia literatura: 1950–1990-e gody: v 2 t. T. 2: 1968–1990 [Modern Russian Literature: 1950s–1990s: in 2 vols. Vol. 2: 1968–1990]. Moscow, Akademiia Publ., 2003, 688 p. (In Russ.) Meier P. Skaz v tvorchestve Iuza Aleshkovskogo [Skaz in the Works of Yuz Aleshkovsky]. Iuz!: chteniia po sluchaiu 75-letiia Iuza Aleshkovskogo [Yuz!: Readings on the Occasion of Yuz Aleshkovsky's 75th Birthday]. Moscow, Tri kvadrata Publ., 2005, pp. 102–111. (In Russ.) Roshchin M. Iuz i Sovetskii Soiuz [Yuz and the Soviet Union]. Ogonek [Ogoniok], 1990, no. 40, pp. 9–10. (In Russ.) Terner V. Simvol i ritual [Symbol and Ritual]. Moscow, Glavnaia redaktsiia vostochnoi literatury Nauka Publ., 1983, 277 p. (In Russ.) Waugh P. Metafiction: The Theory and Practice of Self-Conscious Fiction. London, New York, Routledge Publ., 1984, 177 p.