D. D. Sivokina
d.sivokina@st.omgpu.ru
Omsk State Pedagogical University, Omsk, Russian Federation
Postmodernism in the work of M. Petrosyan “The Gray House”
Abstract: One of the most popular trends in the study of modern literature can be called postmodernism. The purpose
of this article is to consider the legitimacy of attributing the work of M. Petrosyan “The Gray House” to postmodernism. In
defining the features of postmodernism, we rely on the definition of J. B. Borev, andI. Ilyin, on the concept of the role of the
reader and writer R. Barth and J. Kristeva’s intertextuality. The analysis is carried out based on identifying and considering
the features of postmodernism in “The Gray House”: the infinity of the artistic world, the fragmentation of the narrative, the
relationship between the author and the reader, the irrationality of thinking, the subjectivity of reality, the genre as a game,
intertextuality. The infinity of the artistic world created by M. Petrosyan cannot be unambiguously identified as a feature of
postmodernism, since this is also characteristic of the novel. The irrationality of thinking does not lead to misunderstanding
of reality. The fragmentation of the narrative in the work does not indicate the active role of the reader, in the absence of a
personified author, his position is clear due to the choice of narrative forms, however, the lack of orientation towards the
reader is an important difference from the works of postmodernism. The genres retain their semantic dominants, and the
quotations included in the works of M. Petrosyan do not indicate their secondary nature. Proceeding from this, the work of
M. Petrosyan “The Grey House” cannot be attributed to postmodernism.
Keywords: M. Petrosyan, The Gray House, postmodernism, reader, author, space, narration.
Paper submitted: May 16, 2023.
For citation: Sivokina D. D. (2023) Postmodernism in the work of M. Petrosyan “The Gray House”. Russian Journal
of Social Sciences and Humanities, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 29—36. DOI: 10.57015/issn1998-5320.2023.17.4.3.
