Танатологическая тематика в книгах Макса Фрая "Сказки cтарого Вильнюса"

Abstract

Thanatological motives of the Tales Of Old Vilnius are inherent to Vilnius, a place where the actual author of this literary work, Svetlana Martynchik (known as Maks Frai by her pen name), now lives. This inherence is due to the tendency of works written in foreign languages on the territory of Lithuania to construct the so-called local identity. Its main construct is the phenomenon of Vilnius which in Maks Fraiʼs interpretation acquires a particularly fantastic and mythological character and appearance, on the verge of conscience. Utilizing the semantic potential of mental models “the death of mine” and “the death of yours” in correlation with model “the death reversed”, S. Martynchik generates certain thanatological conditions which are stipulated by “miraculous” ties between the “border city” Vilnius and its inhabitants. This eventually secures their victory over the death, thereby making Maks Fraiʼs thanatology distinctly “humanized”.