Қазақ
мемлекеттік қыздар
педагогикалық университеті Хабаршы №3 (51), 2014 ж.
33
Keywords: mythopoetics, a myth, house, apartment,
language, world.
Essential modeling role in the novel «Happy Moscow» plays the opposition of closed,
internal and open, external space realized in spatial images of a house, city, road, distance,
horizon, as well as in designating borders between these spaces the images of windows, doors,
walls, gates and a threshold.
It is known that images of the closed space–house, city, the motherland – are traditionally
endowed with signs of positive property: «native», «warm», «safe», – and are opposed to the
opened external space with its signs of «strange», «hostile» and «cold»; «if the inner world
reproduces space, so on the other part of its border there is chaos, antiworld, out of structural
iconic space inhabited by monsters, infernal forces or people who are connected with them». In
folklore and literary texts two various types of a hero correspond to internal and external spaces:
on the one hand, they are heroes of «open space», heroes of «way» and heroes of «steppe»,
whose function is transition of the border existing between two spaces, from the other hand –
heroes of motionless, «closed» space attached in the subject relation to a place and deprived of
the right of movement. In modeling of opposition of internal and external space Platonov sticks
to these mythic and poetic representations, however, as we try to show, interprets them from the
position of utopian consciousness of the XX century.
The main image of closed/internal space in the novel «Happy Moscow» is a house,
apartment. In early works the image of a house had always ceded to an image of a way or
aimless wandering in the steppe: Platonov wanderers, truth- searchers had always left the house
in search of meaning of life which was supposed to be found somewhere in boundless open
spaces of Russia, behind the horizon. That’s why Platonov houses are deprived of intimacy and
comfort, they are open for passers-by and as a result of such relation they aren't attached even to
one place. The house finds the justification only in the form of utopian collective dwelling of the
future which is perceived as a shelter from entropy forces of the outside world simulated as
chaos: people live in it as one large family, having embodied paradise on the earth. Rejection of
domestic closed intimate world follows from utopian aspirations of Platonov heroes:
achievement of the tasks set for mankind on reorganization of existence for them is connected
with overcoming of spatial and existential isolation, merge of the whole world and all people
into one whole collective without any borders. In the novel «Happy Moscow» it finds reflection
in principled openness and lack of intimacy of apartments where young builders of the new
world, Moscow Chestnova and men-utopianists live there; like Bozhko, they don't care of home
comfort, inviolability of personal space; the episode of lodging a casual passer-by at Moscow
Chestnova’s is remarkable in this regard: «Moscow Chestnova often forgot to close the door of
the apartment. Once she found a stranger sleeping on the floor on his outer clothing. Moscow
waited until her tired guest woke up. He woke up and told that he would live there in the corner
as he had no place to live [1;15].
About deprivation of the house status of a closed and intimal space says the fact that
Moscow Chestnova herself constantly aspires away from her dwelling that finds expression in
motive of leaving and invasion into other people’s closed home space: such invasion is carried
out, in particular, by peering into other people's windows which meant spatial border of external
world and inner life: «Chestnova went to the center, looking into all passing brightly shined
windows of dwellings and stopping at some of them. <...>Moscow was so interested in the
events that stood on toe shoes on prominences of foundation and was lost in contemplation of
apartments until she was mocked by passers-by»[1; 36]. Windows and the door designating
spatial border between internal, house, and external worlds, are essentially open in the utopian
world of new Moscow. For Moscow Chestnova as a representative of utopian outlook exactly
closed, internal, limited space of the house, but not open space lying outdoors is a source of
danger. She perceives the house as a locus of
a false allowance and egoism, attracting a person to