Breaking down narrative intrigue in the “romance” by M. Stepanova “In commemoration of memory”

Abstract

The “Romance” of M. Stepanova “In commemoration of Memory” is considered in the article as an attempt of non-narrative representation of the material, which traditionally becomes the basis for the epic forms, – the story of genus. The writer believes that the “translation” of such material into the language of literature, organizing the narrative intrigue, formatting of material according to traditional genres patterns makes the past lose its uniqueness, becoming “typical”. In order to preserve an authenticity of the remaining evidence of her family’s life, Stepanova invents a form of “showcase-novel”, which should make its personages “visible”, while allowing them to remain themselves. The writer transforms the discursive parameters of the narrative: her goal becomes not to structure the experience of the personal presence in the world, but not to allow the disappearance in the oblivion of those who once lived. The synthagmatic connectivity of the text is broken, and the paradigm one is strengthened. “Romance” contains “rhymes”, coincidences, associations that tie together different levels of the work.

Its formal and substantive parameters begin to be set by the objective / bodily, whereby being fragmented is read as being injured. Thus, the text about the story of the genus becomes the text about the search for different language for the presentation of that history – the language which does not address the traditional narrative and genre instrumentation.