“…MAYBE THE RIGHTEOUS WILL BE SAVED”: THE ARTISTIC UNIQUENESS OF V. GROSSMAN’S STORY “TIRGARTEN”

Annotation

The article is devoted to the study of the specifics of V. Grossman’s story “Tirgarten”. The comparative- historical, cultural- historical methods, as well as the method of holistic analysis of the artwork are used. As a result, it was established, firstly, that the action is local and limited to the space of the zoo, the time is undated, slowly flowing, contrasting with the turbulent flow of the war time. Secondly, that the chronotope of Tirgarten is saturated with metaphor (freedom — unfreedom, man — animal), reflects not only the inner state of the protagonist, but also the atmosphere of the whole story. Thirdly, the visual series refers to Picasso’s “Guernica” (fragmentation, black-and-white gamma of flat image, broken figures of animals and individual people). Fourthly, the writer creates an immersive space saturated with sounds and smells that generate parallelism between the animal and human condition and mark the metaphor of freedom. Finally, the key idea of the narrative is the idea of renewal and triumph of the “new world” that replaced the Nazi regime in Germany, which is embodied already at the beginning of the story by the depiction of the representatives of three different generations as the continuity of the family, the indivisibility of ancestors and descendants and the permanence of existence, as well as a biblical reference to the myth of the Flood.

Keywords

theme of the Great Patriotic War; Soviet literature, small prose; Vasily Grossman; motive; device

Literature

1. Baxtin, M. M. Jestetika slovesnogo tvorchestva [The aesthetics of verbal creativity] /
Sost. S. G. Bocharov; Tekst podgot. G. S. Bernshteyn i L. V. Derügina; Primech. S. S. Averinceva
i S. G. Bocharova. Moskow, Iskusstvo, 1979, 423 s. (in Russian).
2. Bit- Yunan, Yu. G. Recepciya tvorchestva V. S. Grossmana v sovetskoj zhurnalistike
30-x gg. [Critical Reception of V. Grossman’s Work of the 1930s]. In: Vestnik Rossijskogo
gosudarstvennogo gumanitarnogoj universiteta. Seriya: Literaturovedenie. Yazy`koznanie.
Kul`turologiya, 2010. no. 8 (51), pр. 76–91 (in Russian).
3. Bit- Yunan, Yu. G. O predelax dopustimogo. Kriticheskaya recepciya tvorchestva
V. Grossmana 1930-x godov [On the limits of the permissible. Critical Reception of
V. Grossman’s Work of the 1930s]. In: Voprosy literatury, 2010, no. 4, pр. 155–177 (i n Russian).
4. Bocharov, A. Vasilij Grossman: Zhizn`, tvorchestvo, sud`ba [Vasily Grossman: Life,
Art, Fate]. Moskow, Sov. pisatel`, 1990, 378 s. ISBN 5-265-01494-2 (in Russian).
5. Grossman, V. Tirgarten. In: Sovetskij rasskaz. T. 1. / Sost. I. N. Kramova. Moskow,
Xudozhestvennaya literatura, 1975, pр. 547–569. (Biblioteka vsemirnoj literatury`. Ser. tret`ya.
T. 181) (in Russian).
6. Dyogteva, V. V. Obraz zhenshhiny`-komissara v rasskaze V. Grossmana «V gorode
Berdicheve» (literaturny`j kontekst i osobennosti xudozhestvennogo voploshheniya) [The image
of a female commissar in V. Grossman’s story “In the City of Berdichev” (literary context and
peculiarities of artistic embodiment)]. In: Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo
universiteta, 2012, no. 9 (124), pр. 139–143. (in Russian).
7. Degteva, V. V. Tvorchestvo Vasiliya Grossmana: novy`e podxody` i koncepcii [The
Writings of Vasily Grossman: New Approaches and Concepts] In: Mir nauki, kul`tury`,
obrazovaniya, 2012, no. 4 (35), pр. 62–269. (in Russian).
8. Dobrenko, E. A. Xudozhestvennaya ideya i romannaya struktura (roman V. Grossmana
«Zhizn` i sud`ba») [Artistic Idea and Novel Structure (V. Grossman’s novel “Life and Fate”]
In: Xudozhestvenny`j opy`t sovetskoj literatury`: stilevy`e i zhanrovy`e processy`. Sb. nauch.
tr. / Redkol.: A. S. Subbotin (otv. red.) i dr. Sverdlovsk: UrGU, 1990, pр. 95–106 (in Russian).
9. Lanin, B. A. Idei «otkry`togo obshhestva» v tvorchestve Vasiliya Grossmana [Ideas of
“open society” in the work of Vasily Grossman]. Moskow, Magistr, 1997, 31 s. ISBN 5-89317-
019-9. (in Russian).
10. Markish, Sh. Tragediya ili triumf Vasiliya Grossmana, ili ob universal`nosti rabstva
i svobody` v dvadczatom veke [The Tragedy or Triumph of Vasily Grossman, or the Universality
of Slavery and Freedom in the ХХth Century]. In: Ierusalimskij zhurnal, 2004, no. 8. URL:
https://new.antho.net/wp/jj18-markishs8/ (accessed: 01.02.2025).
11. Oxtin, V. G. O vzaimodejstvii zhanrov prozy` (tvorchestvo Vas. Grossmana) [On the
interaction of prose genres (the work of V. Grossman)]. In: Voprosy` istorii i teorii literatury`,
1996, vy`p. 2, pр. 96–110 (in Russian).
12. Anissimov, M. Vassili Grossman: un écrivain de combat: biographie. Paris: Éd. du Seuil,
cop., 2012, 873 s. ISBN 9782020978392.
13. Garrard, J., Garrard, C. The Bones of Berdichev: The Life and Fate of Vasily Grossman.
The Free Press, 1996, 437 p. ISBN 0-684-82295-4
14. Tosco, P. L’umano nell’uomo. Vasilij Grossman tra ideologie e domande eterne,
Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli, 2011, 465 p. ISSN 1824-761X