Artistic model of the world in the tale “Zoki and Bada” by Irina and Leonid Tyukhtyaevs

   The tale “Zoki and Bada” by Irina and Leonid Tyukhtyaevs, rooted in parental experience and family communication with children, is an original version of a literary tale based on parodically interpreted intertextual connections; on transformations of folklore formulas; on enchanting dynamics of rapidly changing scenes; on grotesque actions of its characters-transformers; on a continuous linguistic game that includes a pun and a mix of semantically dissimilar words by sound similarity; on literal nominations and language experiments with phraseological units and set phrases. The artistic model of the world in the Tyukhtyaevs’ fairy tale is based on the gaming principle, embodied in speech nominations, in the plot structure and character system. In accordance with the features, characterizing children’s psychology and children’s word-creation manner, it is based on “shifters” (inverted speech formulas, the situational behavior of zoks), on associative connections (words are linked in unexpected chains, based on sound associations), on a paradoxical mixture of zoo- and anthropomorphic features in the appearance of characters, carnivalization and humorous elements that permeate all fairy tales. The artistic chronotope of a fairy tale has its specific features. The time is organized as a series of days, each of them representing a new educational stage. According to the subtitle of the work – “A manual for children on parenting” – it is the “adult” bada who is the object of educational influences. The mythologized archaic-like fairy-tale space is divided into “ours” and “theirs”; the night light, the moon, is reified, its dimensions are fabulously narrowed and the heavenly body itself is miraculously brought close to the earth. The fictional space is created according to the folklore-archaic code. In accordance with it, the characters make a journey from their home to the outside world and back. The conventionally grotesque world of the fairy tale “Zoki and Bada”, its semantic multidimensionality, the all-encompassing laughter perspective and the triumph of the word in its artistic universe, the features of a linguistic quest, which amusingly breaks linguistic norms and laws of the habitual usage, allow you to rediscover the special world of childhood and outline the ways of gaining harmony and understanding between adults and children.

1. Anikin, V. P. (1977). Russkaia narodnaia skazka [Russian Folk Tales]. 88 p. Moscow. (In Russian)

2. Bakhtin, M. M. (1979). Estetika slovesnogo tvorchestva [Aesthetics of Verbal Creativity]. 423 p. Moscow. (In Russian)

3. Gamidova, S. H. (2018). Fol'klornye traditsii i spetsifika literaturnoi skazki [Folklore Traditions and the Specificity of Literary Fairy Tales]. Nauka cherez prizmu vremeni. No. 5 (14). (In Russian)

4. Kuharenko, V. A. (1988). Interpretatsiia teksta [Interpretation of the Text]. Pp. 17–19, 21–23. Moscow. Prosveshchenie. (In Russian)

5. Lipovetskii, M. N. (2002). Poetika literaturnoi skazki (na materiale russkoi literatury 1920-1980 gg.) [Poetics of a Literary Tale (based on Russian literature in 1920–1980)]. 184 p. Sverdlovsk, izd-vo Ural. un-ta. (In Russian)

6. Propp, V. Ya. (1984). Russkaia skazka [Russian Fairy Tales]. V. Ya. Propp. 332 p. Leningrad, izd-vo Leningrad. un-ta. (In Russian)

7. Tiuhtiaev, I., Tiuhtiaeva, L. (1993). Zoki i Bada [Zoki and Bada]. 80 p. Moscow, Mikropol. (In Russian)

8. Uspenski, B. A. (1994). Izbrannye Trudy [Selected Works]. T. 1, 321 p. Moscow. (In Russian)

9. Verzhbitskaia, A. (2001). Ponimanie kul'tur cherez posredstvo kliuchevyh slov [Understanding Cultures through Key Words]. 235 p. Moscow. (In Russian)