SEMANTICS OF TRANSFORMATION OF LITERARY SPACE IN THE FINAL SCENE OF “THE CHERRY ORCHARD” BY ANTON CHEKHOV. THE ROLE OF DETAIL

Abstract

The article considers the semantics of space formed by the system of object-details and sonosphearic elements in the finale part of Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard. The theatrical version of the play created at the Moscow State Theater “Lenkom” (dir. Mark Zakharov) became a starting point for the analysis of the literary text. Detail is studied as regards the formation of motifs involved in constructing the spatial organization of the artistic world, as well as an element of the material world that constructs a space in a certain way. Such characteristics of place as narrowness, length, isolation, “verticalization” or ‘horizontalization”, as well as the properties of its boundaries create a semantic field for the world of objects and things, in which Firs finds himself at the end of the play. The contextual analysis of the world of things makes it possible to identify the role of certain characteristics in the topos of the house and estate, the semantics of their transformation, and to assess the role of details in creating the meanings associated with the ontological sphere and its change and in unfolding that meaning in the character and the reader (spectator)’s minds. The significance of the transformation of the place in the final scene makes it possible to trace the connection between the inner state of the character and the “state” of the house itself and read the play’s final scene in terms of the connection between man and place.