Топос дома в романе Бориса Зайцева Дом в Пасси

Abstract

The article researches the specificity of the realization of the topos of house (home) in the novel of B. K. Zaytsev The House in Passy. In Zaytsev’s work the topos of house (home) has been revealed on different levels: social-common, symbolic, spiritual. There are various interpretations of the concept of «House» or «Home» (in Russian «home» and «house» are translated by the same word). At first, it is a model of the society. Secondly, it’s a symbol of the culture of XX century, which lost it’s strong spiritual basis and for this reason has been doomed to the destruction. Thirdly, it’s a symbol of human life. Especially important image presents the house like The Ark, a temporary shelter on the way through stormy earthbound sea to the true Home. The structure of the Zaytsev’s novel is built on some oppositions, and one of them has a connection with the topos of house. It is an opposition «a house on the sand» – «a house on the rock». One of the main means to describe characters in the novel is a description of interiors of their dwellings. There are a lot of names for the House in Passy in the novel. All of them expose different aspects of the topos of house (home), actualize various meanings of this concept.