W kręgu najprostszych rzeczy. Rola przedmiotów w Białym statku Czingiza Ajtmatowa

Abstract

In this paper the meaning of things in Chingiz Aitmatov’s novella "The White Ship" is analyzed in the context of their perception by the main character, a 7-year old Kirghiz boy, whose magical way of thinking allows him to treat his belongings (a briefcase, binoculars) as living, feeling beings, and his real friends. As it is showed, this attitude towards things has its roots in the meaning they had in Turkic nomadic cultures. Furthermore, it is noted that both the briefcase and the binoculars play a significant role in the main character’s storyteller vocation, as he chooses the briefcase to retell it his grandfather’s a sacred story of horned Deer-mother and uses the binoculars to create his own story of the white ship. The main character’s failure in completing his storyteller’s vocation is interpreted i.a. as an unsuccessful search for his own identity.