Details as aspect of narrative palimpsest (Based on the novel by K. Yarmysh “Incredible Incidents in the Women’s Cell No. 3”)

The application of the category of palimpsest in the theory of intertextuality makes it possible to distinguish between meaning-forming references to predecessor texts from random, optional echoes. According to G. Genette, the mental imposition of a new text on the classical one, an analysis of their similarities and differences, can make it possible to see their true originality. One of the structural levels, at which one can easily see the relationship between modern and long-known texts to the reader, is the level of detail. Repetitive details, in turn, form a system of motifs that is equally extended to the text and links it with other works. On the example of the novel by K. Yarmysh, we are convinced that certain details of the depicted world and the internal state of the characters are due not only to the choice of topic (in this case, the topic of imprisonment), but are important for understanding the meaning of the work bound to its appeal to the literary tradition. Among such details, the description of the interaction of female and male prisoners, the features of the prisoner’s perception of the free world and the world of the prison as at home stand out. Special attention is paid to the role of the external unity of the prisoner with others, combined with internal loneliness, as well as personal memories and the need to adapt to the restrictions imposed in order for the punishment to achieve its goal – correctional education. Everyday details and subtle touches of the spiritual life of a person who was imprisoned are organized into a system that firmly links Yarmysh’s novel with Dostoevsky’s and Tolstoy’s novel pages about being imprisoned.

details, motif, palimpsest, prison prose, everyday detail, classical tradition, Yarmysh

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