Mythopoetic Strategies in T. Tolstaya’s New Prose Tetralogy

This paper analyses mythopoetic strategies in Tatyana Tolstaya’s artistic world with reference to four collections (Light Worlds (2014), Invisible Maiden (2015), Girl in Bloom (2015), Felt Age (2015)), which make up the tetralogy of the writer’s new prose. The author reveals the features and main mythopoetic strategies in the artistic world of T. Tolstaya. More particularly, the article analyses the appeal to mythological structures, the play with different types of myths, the use of mythologems and various kinds of mythological images, the inclusion of mythological plots, and the creation of a mythologically coloured chronotope. It is shown that not only the author but also many characters of the works of the collections are endowed with the ability to create myths. Frequently, the author’s position diverges from the position of the hero in understanding the myth, and one sees the transition of mythologisation into demythologisation at the level of the author or the character, sometimes in re-mythologisation, when the author “recreates”, revives a cancelled or crossed out myth. In the tetralogy of new prose, T. Tolstaya often exposes the mechanisms of myth-making (referring to the cinema, literature, painting, or history). As a result of the analysis, conclusions are drawn about the reasons and purposes of the writer’s appeal to the structure of myth and the use of mythopoetic techniques. With the help of myth, Tolstaya does not only develop her own recognisable style but also analyses modern reality in an axiological way: sometimes it is irony or satirical comprehension of reality, playing up cultural myths introduced into the modern world, and sometimes myth helps give a clear assessment of the events taking place, to reveal eternal values for man and art.