Features of the discursive representation of the image of the Chinese in the play «Zoyka’s Apartment» by M. A. Bulgakov

Abstract

The object of the study is Bulgakov’s play “Zoyka’s Apartment”, and the subject was the images of the Chinese, created by the author. The discursive representation of foreign cultural elements in Russian literature of the 1920s, the role of Chinese images in the plot, their place in the structure of characters are studied. “Chinese” theme is examined, an analysis of characters belonging to a different culture is provided, their ideological and artistic essence and the author’s manner of creating ethnic flavor are revealed. The author of the article connects the images of the Chinese created by the writer with his understanding of the historical and cultural events in the Soviet Union in the 1920s, with stereotypical and historically based ideas about the Chinese. The research is conducted on the general scientific methods of analysis and synthesis, as well as comparative, contextual, and interpretive methods. The main approach has become a comprehensive one, which allows us to consider images of the Chinese as components of the discursive structure of the work. The scientific novelty of the study is the identification of the special discursive representation that foreign cultural specifics received in Bulgakov’s play. In the depiction of Chinese heroes the author uses the techniques of grotesqueness, parody, sarcasm, and irony. Such qualities of the Chinese as love for the Motherland, the desire to demonstrate strength and defend their own honor, readiness to sacrifice, adventurous thinking, activity, being in constant motion, are depicted in close connection with the Soviet historical and cultural context of the 1920s. It is concluded that the images of the Chinese are paradoxical, ambiguous, contradictory: they participate in the author’s creation of illusory, borderline space and at the same time help to depict it accurately, taking into account historical, cultural, and temporal realities.