Anatoly Omelchuk’s Sibiriad: Textual Categories and the Mental-specific Type of the Siberian

This article examines The River Returns, an autobiographical novel by Anatoly Omelchuk. The aim of the study is to identify the categorical features of the Siberian text, which make it possible to reconstruct the mentally specific type of the Siberian. The application of the method of categorical text analysis, accompanied by the methods of semantic, linguistic and linguistic-axiological interpretation of linguistic means, including regionalisms, contributes to the achievement of the goal. It is established that the integrity of the novel, consisting of 169 short stories and novellas, is formed on the basis of the categories of space, time and the author’s image. The axiologically marked units of the onomastic lexicon are specially selected for description. Toponyms, oronyms, and hydronyms function as elements of the textual field of locality, the core of which is the keyword Siberia. It is proved that the unique space of Siberia is understood in the context of linear and “causal” time and historical past. The post-war reality, the years of the thaw and the post-Soviet present prove to be significant for the author’s biographical period. It is noted that the “mosaicism” of the text is overcome by biographical statements, on the basis of which the reader perceives the pictures of life in Siberian settlements and clarifies the established ideas about the dynamics of the social and community structure of the Siberian region. The results of the analysis make it possible to conclude that the construction of the author’s image is inextricably linked with the native village of Mogochino, the parental home, classmates, mentors, as well as the timber factory, which, together with the school, introduces the idea of educating the builders of socialism. Work, sport, reading, communication with nature – all this contributes to the formation of the Siberian traits mentioned in the article. The vectors of the dynamics of the author’s image are identified on the basis of the analysis of the motif of the clash of political imperatives and constants of the all-Russian mentality. The interpretation of the transcripts of fates helps to outline the characteristics of the Siberian mentally specific type of character: spirituality, free love, diligence, openness, selflessness, desire to know the nature of the region, to preserve its cultural heritage and linguistic identity, truthfulness, as well as the ability to resist and confront political imperatives, awareness of the right to personal axiological choice, adherence to timeless moral values.