Published: 2019-12-25

Animals for Sacrifice (on Ivan Shmelev’s Novel The Sun of the Dead)

Alfia Smirnova Logo ORCID

Abstract

The article analyzes the most tragic work of Ivan Shmelev about time at the end of the Civil War in Russia, about the “epic” The Sun of the Dead. The tragedy of the story that is in its title gradually grows and intensifies in accordance with the dynamics of the plot action, realized in the motives of survival-dying and impending apocalypse. In the picture of the dying world, animals have an exclusive role, they are destined to be the first to go for sacrifice, whether they are birds (peacock, eagle, hawk, pigeons, etc.) or domestic animals (horse, cow, dog, cat). In the development of their characters, a special function is performed by zoonyms that allow each of them to be personified and to emphasize the value of the life of any being.

Keywords:

animals , sacrifice , novel , motive , title

Citation rules

Smirnova, A. (2019). Animals for Sacrifice (on Ivan Shmelev’s Novel The Sun of the Dead). Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies, (5), 203–210. https://doi.org/10.31261/ZOOPHILOLOGICA.2019.05.16

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No. 5 (2019)
Published: 2019-12-31


ISSN: 2719-2687
eISSN: 2451-3849
Ikona DOI 10.31261/ZOOPHILOLOGICA

Publisher
Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego | University of Silesia Press

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