Article

Name: “Chuzhaya koleya” (“Someone Else’s Track...”): Plot Typology and Subject Structure of V. Vysotsky’s Song-Parables

Authors: Lyubov G. Kikhney

Griboedov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russian Federation; Yaroslavl State Pedagogical University named after K. D. Ushinsky, Yaroslavl, Russian Federation

In the section Literary Life of the Plot

Abstract:

The article offers an analytical model for describing Vysotsky’s parable songs as short narratives of a dual code, a two-level structure. At the surface level these songs present concrete situations such as being on a road, a chase, hunting, substitution, or an encounter with the “old women of fate”. At a deeper level, however, these plots develop into symbolic structures centered on choice, freedom, the limits of what is permissible, the opposition between truth and falsehood, and resistance to fate. On the basis of songs such as “Okhota na volkov” (“Wolf Hunt”), “Chuzhaja koleja” (“Alien Track”), “Pogonja” (“Chase”), “Dve sud’by” (“Two Destinies”), “Pritcha o Pravde i Lzhi” (“The Parable of Truth and Falsehood”), the article reconstructs narrative patterns and identifies moments of resolution or catharsis as key semantic turning points.

The main argument is that the parabolic effect in Vysotsky’s songs is produced not only by allegorical oppositions such as True/False or Crooked / Difficult, but also by the features of the speaking subject. The lyrical “I” acts performatively, while a collective or choral voice emerges through refrains, direct appeals, rol masks, and the song’s intonational and non-verbal dimension. In this respect, the renewal of the parable genre in Vysotsky’s work is closely tied to vocal organization. In many cases, the motif of “getting out of rut” (“vykhod iz koleji”) becomes possible only when the collective inertia is replaced by personal decision.

Thus, “getting out of rut” in Vysotsly’s parables should be understood not as an isolated motif, but as a stable plot-semantic invariant. The subject is placed within a predetermined trajectory that constrains him, recognizes its limit, and passes through an extreme risk situation before finally performing an internally motivated act of breakthrough. In this sense, “track”, “flags”, “lost place”, “forest wall”, “current” are not simply external obstacles; they represent forms of existence within a script imposed by others or adopted unreflectively. To leave this space is therefore not only to be saved, but also to regain subjectivity – thee capacity to choose the direction of one’s own movement.

Keywords: lyrical subjectivity, plot archetype, song-parable, parabolic symbolization of meaning, axiology of genre, double code, ethical choice

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