Article

Name: The Short Story of A. P. Platonov «The Impossible»: Genre-Narrative Structure, Function of Duality as a Way of Modeling of the Author’s Personality

Authors: A. B. Borisova

Institute of Philology of Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation

In the section Literary Life of the Plot

Abstract:

In this article the short story of A. P. Platonov “The Impossible” (1921) is considered as a multidimensional wholeness, with a complex structure – at the level of genre and of narration. We highlight biography, scientific article, elements of a philosophical essay, lyric and philosophical poem in the genre structure. In addition to a neutral background, we highlight the lyrical monologue, scientific and publicistic discourse at the narrative level.

The genre and stylistic heterogeneity of this short story did not allow researchers to unambiguously determine its genre dominant for a long time. It was not by chance that at first in earlier studies “The Impossible” was classified as a publicistic genre. Only in the first volume of the Scientific publication of Collected works this story is included in the corpus of Early Short Stories of Platonov. In a certain perspective, this work can indeed be read as a publicistic article containing the author’s reflection on philosophical, scientific concepts in the specific manner of Platonov, with overstepping beyond the boundaries of one genre. The focus on the addressee, declared at the beginning of “The Impossible”, activates its communicative function. The inclusion of his own technical developments by Platonov in this story introduces an element of scientific autobiography. At the same time, “The Impossible” is the life story of the “new saint”: the embodiment of the image of the “new human”, whose life, if it did not end so suddenly, could open the way to the Mystery of the World – the main metaphysical problem that occupied the mind of the young Platonov. At the same time it is the lyrical narration about the “sobbing” beauty of the world and the incredible, “impossible” love of the hero – the narrator’s alter ego to his beloved Maria. Using the technique of duality, the author is able to express his most intimate experiences through the image of the “other”, to expose his own soul to the reader. The unifying layer that maintains the integrity of this story is the motive structure with such basic components as the motives of the Mystery, the transfiguration of the world in the version of rebellion into the universe, light, impossible, silence, music, love, death and immortality, et

Keywords: A. P. Platonov, The Impossible, motive, hero, genre

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