1 - Narrative and the everyday: myth, image, sign, icon, life

Summary

We who are set apart and different do not conceive life as like us; it is the normal, respectable and admirable that is the kingdom of our longing: life in all its seductive banality.

(Thomas Mann)

The Truth is the contemplation of the Self through the Other in a Third: Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

(Pavel Florenskii)

What is it about narrative which enables Flaubert to integrate artistic plot and provincial routine by drawing attention to the contrast between them? How do we explain the tendency of Russian narratives to subvert such integration? What is the new configuration of art, narrative and daily life that emerged in Russia's Silver Age? In discussing these questions, I rely on modifications of work by Iurii Lotman in two areas: his theory of plot, and his research in the semiotics of cultural history. The link is provided by a synthesis of notions taken from theories of the artistic sign, and from Orthodox theology.

The first section of this chapter addresses the first question by examining how narrative logic accommodates itself to the logic of representation. I begin by highlighting the connection between representation and the example – the exemplary event distinct enough to appear to capture reality's essence, but sufficiently normative to be reintegrated with it. The connection will be explored via Lotman's theory of the two basic plot mechanisms – one called upon to record anomalies and singular occurrences, the other grounded in cyclical time and designed to reinforce norms.