Chronotope modeling in the plug-in genre of K. S. Badigin's novel "The Way to Grumant"

Shvetsova Tat'yana Vasil'evna ORCID: 0000-0001-9637-6958 PhD in Philology Associate Professor of the Department of Literature and Russian Language of the Northern (Arctic) Federal University named after M. V. Lomonosov 163002, Russia, Arkhangel'skaya oblast', g. Arkhangel'sk, ul. Naberezhnaya Severnoi Dviny, 17 t.shvetsova@narfu.ru Shakhova Veronika Evgen'evna ORCID: 0000-0002-4766-3165 Master's student of the Department of Literature and Russian Language of the Northern (Arctic) Federal University named after M.V. Lomonosov 163002, Russia, Arkhangel'skaya oblast', g. Arkhangel'sk, ul. Naberezhnaya Severnoi Dviny, 17 shahova2@gmail.com Dulova Svetlana Alekseevna ORCID: 0000-0002-3810-3860 Postgraduate student of the Department of Literature and Russian Language of the Northern (Arctic) Federal University named after M. V. Lomonosov 163002, Russia, Arkhangel'skaya oblast', g. Arkhangel'sk, ul. Naberezhnaya Severnoi Dviny, 17 s.dulova@narfu.ru

Kuznetsova Tat'yana Alekseevna ORCID: 0000-0002-7573-2025 student of the Department of Literature and Russian Language of the Northern (Arctic) Federal University named after M. V. Lomonosov 163002, Russia, Arkhangel'skaya oblast', g. Arkhangel'sk, ul. Naberezhnaya Severnoi Dviny, 17 kuznecova.t.a@edu.narfu.ru

In the last few decades, the problem of studying plug-in genres ^{[5, 21]}, plug-in texts ^{[8, 9]}, plug-in constructions ^[6] has come to the attention of researchers of humanitarian knowledge.

The phenomenon of the plug-in genre becomes relevant in connection with the question of studying the novel as a phenomenon. In the twentieth century, the work of M. M. Bakhtin turned out to be especially significant ^[4]. M. M. Bakhtin considers the introductory genre as a specifically novel phenomenon, a special case of which is an insert novella. The introductory genre for him is a "different" type of utterance in relation to the novel itself. Yu. M. Lotman contributed a lot to the development of this concept ^[15].

Modern publications present the experience of highlighting the main characteristics of the plug-in genre ^[19], creating a typology of plug-in genres ^[9], determining their role in creating the space of a work of art ^{[10, 13]}, analyzing the poetic techniques of plug-in novels ^[11], researching their genre and author's narrative strategies ^[7].

In our study, taking into account the approach of A.M. Gerashchenko, we understand the plug-in genre as "fully or partially included in the main narrative, autonomous in plot and/or genre of another text, which in its full form is capable of independent existence outside the limits of the work in which it is included" ^{[9, p. 36]}.

We set the task to construct a model of the space given by K. S. Badigin in the plug-in genre of one of his novels. In addition, we are making an attempt to actualize the work of a marine writer of the twentieth century. Before us is a scientist, a military man who has been associated with the North for most of his life, mastered the Northern Sea Route. His feat in the Arctic was awarded ^[17].

K. S. Badigin is a man who is passionate about the geography and history of Russia. His passion was embodied both in his profession and in his work. He has created a number of historical novels. In the 1950s, K. S. Badigin was directly involved in the history of the study of water areas and individual coastal areas of the White and Barents Seas. Feeling that he lacked education, he graduated from the Pedagogical Institute in Moscow and postgraduate studies in absentia, in 1953 he defended his thesis on the northern Russian sailors-Pomors ^[1].

One of the works based on the true history of the past was his novel – "Pomorskaya byl" "The Way to Grumant". The first publication of the novel took place in 1953. Subsequently, the text was reprinted seven more times until the 1990s.

The novel "The Way to Grumant" is based on a documentary source. In 1743, during another sea fishing trip in the waters of the Arctic Ocean, the Mezen whalers were shipwrecked and ended up on one of the islands of Svalbard. Initially, the story of the misadventures of the Mezentsians in the Arctic was described in detail in a book by Peter Louis Le Roy in 1760. He personally interrogated the survivors and published these recordings in German and French at the same time. Later, the story of the adventures of the Mezentsev gained some popularity, and Le Roy's book was translated into Russian and a number of European languages. The authenticity of the adventures of the Mezentsevs in the Arctic was confirmed by the researcher M. I. Belov ^[14], who compiled the preface to the 1975 edition of Le Roy's essay.

The plot of the novel "The Way to Grumant" unfolds during the journey (sailing) of the Mezen industrialists' artel to the Arctic. The title of the novel contains a spatial metaphor of the path-road, rich in meanings: this is a way of life, a historical path, and the main meaning, according to M.M. Bakhtin, is the passage of time.

The genre nature of the plug-in genre is not clearly described. Badigin himself calls this story a "Pomor epic" (this is the title of the twentieth chapter), "a legend written by B. Shergin" (read in the comments), "a tale of old and sad" calls this text I. Ya. Brazhnin ^[3].

In the chapter "The Pomor Epic", one of the heroes, Stepan Sharapov, tells the rest of the islanders the story of Kirik and Olesha. The author puts into the mouth of the craftsman a legend, once recorded by B. V. Shergin, with the title "Love is stronger than death". With a high degree of probability, it can be assumed that B. V. Shergin did not compose, but rather recorded this legend: it was first printed in Arkhangelsk in the collection "In the Far North" in 1919. At that time, Shergin had not yet created his own, author's stories: he only recorded ballads, epics, etc., wrote only essays about storytellers and language.

It is known that the northern storyteller Boris Shergin and Konstantin Badigin were connected by friendship. On the pages of Soviet newspapers, a scandalous episode about a literary hoax created by them together has been preserved ^[16].

The heroes of Badigin are not simple adventurers, cheats, unscrupulous in their pursuit of wealth. They are hunters who earn their living by their trade.

The author of the novel showed the life of whalers not in its most pleasant manifestations. The prey of the beast is hard work: "... with constant risk to life, the pomors earned their pennies. The grumalans barely had enough annual earnings to pay their debts and somehow survive the winter until a new twist..." ^[2].

The plug-in genre signals a change of place and time of action. The events are transferred to the "beginning of eternal years", in the times of Novgorod Rus, to the Dvina land, to Grumant Island.

The plug-in genre is limited by the framework of the beginning (the appeal of the art workers to Stepan: "Stepan, and you tell the epic about Olesha and Kirik. I've heard it more than once, but you won't get tired of listening to it" ^[2]) and the end ("Silence reigned for a long time around the grumalans' campfire. The epic of hoary antiquity reminded sailors of the glorious deeds of their ancestors" ^[2]), introduces a new circle of characters and exists independently of the main novel text. Its plot core turns out to be the story of two sworn brothers.

The beginning of the "epic" is marked by the motive of Fyodor's sad experiences about the transience and futility of human life and the inevitability of death. He is depressed by the thought that with the end of life, continuation is not expected. Fyodor positions his skepticism about the idea of salvation in Eternity. Industrialists-hunters in the extreme conditions of the Arctic face death every day. At the same time, the entire content of the "epic" asserts the idea of immortality, the transition to Eternal life: "The feat of arms erased your guilt in front of your brother. You and I will sail on a bright path, to the Goose White Land, where the souls of the good and brave taste peace. Eternal flashes play there, light-winged geese fly there to talk with the dead" ^[2]. Goose White Earth is the name of the North Pole. This phrase combines two images – an ornithonym (geese) and a coloronym (white color), which in the mythology of the Slavs are interfaced with the semantics of death-rebirth, are connected with another world ^[12].

At the same time, Fyodor expresses admiration for the God-created world: "... hard work in the Icy Sea, but will you see such beauty lying on the stove!" ^[2].

In the context of a realistic description of the hardships of the earthly life of the Mezentsev on the island, a description of the sacred space of the times of the life of Kirik and Olesha, that is, Ancient Russia, appears in the insertion genre. This space focuses on a point of Goose White Country.

The metametaphors of the analyzed episode – "heaven" and "hell" – are located not in the usual vertical, but on the horizontal axis. The nationality of the characters makes it possible to qualify the Mezentsians as plain people. There is never a description of mountains or hills in the text. Whalers (like Kirik, Olesha and their squad) move in a horizontal direction, across the sea. Accordingly, their spatial picture of the world does not provide for vertical movement – to heaven (to God) or to hell (to the Devil). Their life path closes on otherness.

In the poetics of the plug-in genre, K. S. Badigin reflected the results of the writer's innovative searches. K. S. Badigin examines the nature of man in this episode by the example of vices and weaknesses. Kirik disgraced human nature by envying Olesha's happiness: his shared love for the Sailor. The shamelessness and cruelty, ingratitude and treachery of Kirik's act call into question the goodness of the Creator. Such an understanding of human nature is introduced in order to emphasize in contrast the generally optimistic attitude and faith in the best in man in the main text of the novel "The Way to Grumant". The moral and philosophical subtext of the narrative does not discuss the moral background of the action of the hero of the legend, but glorifies the feat of arms of the Dvinyan men.

The central element of the legend – the actual story of Kirik and Olesha – describes a terrible event: the brother did not help his brother, breaking the oath of loyalty and devotion, as a result he died. It seems that this contains an allusion that sets the biblical context of the Badiga story – the story of Cain and Abel. The brother who killed his brother out of envy was cursed. From the context of this story, a conclusion about the depravity of human nature suggests itself. However, the outcome of the situation in Badigin's version is different: death on the battlefield in the name of protecting the interests of the Fatherland removes the blame from the person who showed non-participation in the fate of another and eventually became the cause of his death. Kirik washed away the guilt before his sworn brother Olesha with his heroic death. And after death they stay together again.

The plug-in genre about the named brothers contains additional information that updates the time and place of the main plot, reveals spatial images important for the informative unfolding of the text.

Paying attention to the correlation of the spatial plans of the insert genre and the main action, we see their similarity. The legend of Kirik and Olesha reveals important loci for the novel – the seas and the Arctic. The same spatial plan unites both the insert and the main plot. The author introduces new characters from the distant past into the general spatial plan, and these characters differ in their mythological basis.

Kirik and Olesha are the same Pomor-fishermen as the heroes of Badigin. In their life, everything proceeds in proportion to their established picture of the world – they "... washed with one water, wiped themselves with one towel, ate bread from one dish, thought one thought, advised one advice — eye to eye, mouth to mouth ..." ^[2]. But one day everything changes – a girl appears. And a completely different kind of love stands in the way of brotherly love. The legend of Kirik and Olesha actualizes the mythological space of the narrative.

The mythological space of the plug–in genre in Badigin's novel is a special virtual space formed by associations and allusions, the use of eternal motifs and mythological images: the motif of the path, the motif of wandering, the motif of ascent, etc. A fictional folklore story is connected with a plot based on a historical event. Combining various narrative strategies in his novel, Badigin expands the chronotope of artistic unity.

The mythological picture of the world of the plug–in genre is constructed as a cosmic cycle - seasonal, astronomical (with the change of day and night), ritual. Time is depicted here dotted, according to the seasons – at the end of winter, the Pomors go fishing, summer is the wedding time, again the end of winter – enemies are coming to the Pomeranian land. Anticipating his own imminent death, Kirik asks his squad to leave him "as a grateful sacrifice to the Icy Sea" ^[2]. The vigilantes perform an ancient funeral ritual: they light candles on an enemy rook with a dying Kirik on it and sing a farewell song.

With the appearance of the image of snow, the motive of death is actualized. Both brothers die in winter, snow accompanies their death, as if foreshadowing the approaching demise. According to folklore Slavic ideas, snow is associated with another world, "that light" ^[18]. Going hunting in the Arctic and fighting with the Varangians in the sea, the Pomors move into a different world, the boundary between life and death is erased in this space. This transition is heralded not only by snow, but also by the cold that accompanies the heroes during their sea voyage and stay on the island, the surrounding darkness of the night, the image of fog, visual and sound visions (the shadow of an enemy rook, the voice of a brother).

The mythopoetic basis of Badigin's journey in the plug-in genre is the conditional path from symbolic death to a new birth (or, in V. N. Toporov's terminology, "movement to the sacred center" ^{[20, p. 262]}), the so-called ritual of transition.

The mythological picture of the world is cyclical, presupposes the repetition of certain events (Olesha dies in the sea and Kirik in the sea), is based on ritualism (blood oath: "an arrow was flogged with an arrow, the blood was sharpened into the ground and into the sea" ^[2]), is symbolic (Kirik is cleansed of the sin of the crime committed by water), is associated with cults (in this case, with the cult of the Mother-the raw earth).

The insert chapter, in which Stepan acts as a storyteller, embodies the desire of the author of the work to create a picture of the world of the Pomors and humanity as a whole; the work depicts the heroes not in the narrow confines of family and home, but takes them to the sea road in the Icy Sea, forcing them to experience many adventures and difficulties, and test their strength in a collision with life.

The story told, the narrators and listeners involved in it, and the situation in which it is told, turn out to be connected with the basic cultural and historical structure – a model of human relations: love, friendship, trust and betrayal, life and death, death and immortality, war and peace.

The picture of the world within the limits of Stepan's narrative is dual, reveals the attributes of two worlds – the pagan world and the Christian world, the ordinary world and the wonderful world, the world of life and the world of death.

Let's consider and comment on the model of the image of space in the "Pomor epic".

Figure 1. Space model of the inserted legend about Kirik and Olesha in K. S. Badigin's story "The Way to Grumant"

The model of space in the plug-in genre of Konstantin Badigin's novel "The Way to Grumant" consists of several strata (levels).

The first level occupies the real space of the novel's heroes, who in the analyzed chapter become repeaters of the values of a bygone era of paganism in Russia. This is the space of a real island in the Svalbard archipelago.

The real space here is built with the help of topos of the sea, shore, hut (house).

On the second tier, there is a transition from the real space of the heroes to the mythological space of the legend about Kirik and Olesha told by Stepan. The structure of the mythological space is determined through the events of sea hunting and combat with the enemy at sea. Here, the marine locus clearly comes to the fore, where the main events take place, including the death of both brothers. The sea is a part of the Arctic space, the mythological space organically fits into a specific geography. The Arctic is perceived by the Pomors as another world, and traveling (with different goals) in this world correlates with a spiritual act requiring renunciation of all worldly things. Entering this other world means conditional death. And the real death of the brothers in the sea space elevates them, the lost Dvinyan men do not just die, but retire into eternity, thus their life path is completed, the transition to a new birth is made.

Thus, the Arctic space acquires a sacred meaning in the text. Here the Pomors experience a conditional initiation rite, are reborn in a different capacity, and eventually return home in a new status – folk heroes. The heroes of the inserted text in the Arctic find their haven, are freed from guilt, find eternal rest in otherness. The plug-in genre performs a world-modeling function in Konstantin Badigin's novel.