REALITY AND MYTH IN VALERY POPOV’S NOVELL “THE MOSQUITO LIVES WHILE HE SINGS”

Аннотация

The article attempts to identify the main features of the poetics of V. Popov’s novels written in the first decade of the XXI century. One of the main problems in interpreting these texts is that Valery Popov, the hero of the novels “The Third Breath” (2003), “The Mosquito Lives while He Sings” (2006), “Dancing to Death” (2011), is difficult to distinguish from the author of these works of the writer Valery Popov. The main character of the story “The Mosquito Lives while He Sings” was the writer’s father, an outstanding scientist-breeder Georgy Ivanovich Popov (1911–2005). The book tells about the last days of his life. At the same time, the author speaks openly about the most painful circumstances of the father’s dying process. It is significant, however, that the sometimes shocking reliability of everyday and physiological details does not contradict the author's attitude to the symbolization and mythologization of an existential event. The article notes that if Valery Popov is a character, despite his status as a writer, completely immersed in the sphere of everyday life, then the world of Popov Sr. borders on a fabulous and mythological space.