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The Function of Russian Obscene Language in Late Soviet and Post-Soviet Prose

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The Function of Russian Obscene Language in Late Soviet and Post-Soviet Prose THE FUNCTION OF RUSSIAN OBSCENE LANGUAGE IN LATE SOVIET AND POST-SOVIET PROSE A thesis submitted to The University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities 2014 MANUELA KOVALEV SCHOOL OF ARTS, LANGUAGES AND CULTURES 2 Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................ 5 Declaration ................................................................................................................... 6 Copyright statement .................................................................................................... 6 Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................... 7 Dedication ..................................................................................................................... 8 A note on transliteration and translation ................................................................... 9 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 10 Justification and significance of the research ........................................................... 10 Existing research literature on Russian mat .............................................................. 12 Research questions and methodology ....................................................................... 17 Structure of the thesis ............................................................................................... 20 Chapter 1: Obscene language in context ................................................................... 23 1.1. The nature of obscenity and obscene language ................................................. 23 1.1.1. Defining obscenity ................................................................................... 23 1.1.2. What makes obscene words obscene? ..................................................... 27 1.1.3. The functions of obscene words .............................................................. 29 1.2. The nature of Russian obscene language ........................................................... 33 1.2.1. In the beginning was the (obscene) word: An attempt at definition ........ 33 1.2.2. A unique language? On the linguistic properties of mat ......................... 37 1.2.3. The cultural meanings of mat .................................................................. 40 1.2.3.1. The dirty word: Mat as a sign of cultural and moral decline? ..... 40 1.2.3.2. The subversive word: Mat as anti-language? .............................. 43 1.2.3.3. Our word: Mat as a marker of Russianness? ............................... 47 1.3. Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 50 Chapter 2: Obscene language in literary contexts .................................................... 52 2.1. Obscene language in global literatures .............................................................. 52 3 2.2. Obscene language in Russian literary tradition ................................................. 58 2.2.1. Articulating norms: Writers’ attitudes to mat ........................................ 60 2.2.2. Preserving norms: Censors’ attitudes to mat ......................................... 62 2.2.3. Enforcing norms: Politics’ attitude to mat ............................................ 64 2.3. Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 68 Chapter 3: Theory and methodology ......................................................................... 70 3.1. The authenticating potential of obscene language ............................................. 70 3.2. The dialogic potential of obscene language ....................................................... 74 3.3. The performative potential of obscene language ............................................... 78 3.4. Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 81 Chapter 4: Identity formation through obscene language in Eduard Limonov’s Eto ia — Edichka ........................................................................ 83 4.1. Limonov and the obscene: Nothing but the naked truth? .................................. 84 4.2. Eddie, Edichka, Eduard: Identity preservation through obscenity? ................... 87 4.3. Stripping down to tear down linguistic boundaries? ......................................... 91 4.4. The narcissist poet? ............................................................................................. 97 4.5. Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 106 Chapter 5: Obscene language as civilised political protest? Iuz Aleshkovskii’s Kenguru and Ruka ....................................................................... 107 5.1. Aleshkovskii and the obscene: Mastering the Russian language? ..................... 108 5.2. Mat as carnivalesque language in Kenguru and Ruka ? ..................................... 111 5.3. Forming collective bodies through obscene language? ..................................... 119 5.4. The politics of mat : Obscene language as political protest? .............................. 126 5.5. After the storm: Aleshkovskii’s legacy in post-Soviet Russia ........................... 132 5.6. Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 135 Chapter 6: Lending sexuality a female voice? Viktor Erofeev’s Russkaia krasavitsa ......................................................................... 137 6.1. Erofeev and the obscene: In search of a new language? .................................... 138 6.2. Voicing female desires? Obscene language in Russkaia krasavitsa .................. 142 4 6.3. ‘And the word was made flesh’: Resurrecting Russian literature ..................... 150 6.4. Cherish the (obscene) word? The new freedom of the obscene ........................ 160 6.5. Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 165 Chapter 7: Exposing norms through non-normative language? Vladimir Sorokin’s Goluboe salo ............................................................................... 167 7.1. Sorokin and the obscene: Only letters on paper? ............................................... 168 7.2. Poeticising the obscene ...................................................................................... 172 7.3. Materialising the obscene .................................................................................. 180 7.4. Performing the obscene ..................................................................................... 185 7.5. Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 188 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 190 Revisiting the thesis objective ................................................................................... 190 Revisiting the research questions ............................................................................... 192 Research contributions ............................................................................................... 198 Limitations and the need for further research ............................................................ 201 Bibliography ................................................................................................................. 204 Primary sources .......................................................................................................... 204 Secondary sources ...................................................................................................... 205 Word count: 79,887 5 Abstract This thesis is the first book-length study to explore the function of Russian obscene language ( mat ) in late Soviet and post-Soviet prose published between the late 1970s and the late 1990s. This period was characterised by radical socio-ideological transformations that also found expression in major shifts of established literary and linguistic norms. The latter were particularly strongly reflected in the fact that obscene language, which was banned from official Soviet discourse, gradually found its way into literary texts, thereby changing the notion of literary language and literature. The thesis breaks new ground by employing obscene language as a prism through which to demonstrate how its emergence in literature reflected and contributed to the shifts of established literary norms and boundaries. A second aim of the thesis is to trace the diachronic development of Russian literary mat . Primary sources include novels by authors pioneering the use of mat in fiction in the late 1970s, as well as texts by writers associated with ‘alternative prose’ and postmodernism. Applying a methodological framework that is based on an approach combining Bakhtinian dialogism with cultural narratology, the study demonstrates what the use of mat means and accomplishes in a given literary context. The methodological framework offers a systematic approach that does justice to the dynamic relationship between text and context, allowing for an analysis of the
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