Title: The Author and the Reader: Communication in P. Kulish’s fiction
Abstract:Purpose of the paper: to analyze, with «Letters from the Khutor (Farm, small village)» as the study material, the methods of communication with the reader, author strategies of addressing the recipien...Purpose of the paper: to analyze, with «Letters from the Khutor (Farm, small village)» as the study material, the methods of communication with the reader, author strategies of addressing the recipient, drawing his attention, the technologies of «furthering an idea» and creating an atmosphere of trust and understanding. Also analyzed are their advantages, disadvantages, and shortcomings. Methods. Observation, analysis, and generalization, as well as literary concepts of receptive aesthetics, structuralism, post-structuralism, and mythological criticism enabled us to identify the fictional author of the letters and the Exemplary Reader (recipient) of the literary work in question. We were also able to define interaction strategies between the writer and the reader. Results and conclusions. In his «Letters», P. Kulish offers the reader a postmodern literary game, in the process of which the Exemplary Reader has to decipher certain meanings and allusions. Particularly, the writer creates the image of a fictional author of the text. It’s an idealized image of a khutor-owning Cossack (free, educated, and wealthy). Another persona the fictional writer adopts is the image of the Apostle Paul, who bestows certain significance (even sacredness) unto the text, making it into a spiritual message. In communication with the reader, P. Kulish uses the technology of text fragmentation, repetition, addressing the reader directly, intimation, and burlesque sentimentalist stylization of the narrative. Such stylization and demonstrative moralizing are considered to be communication shortcomings. Keywords: P. Kulish, game, author, reader, «Model/Ideal reader», text, hoax, stylization.Read More