I. YAKOVLEV CHUVASH STATE PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY BULLETIN

V. G. Sorokin, image of China, world of the future of Russia, Great Wall, Chinese language, Chinese, totalitarianism 

V. G. Sorokin occupies a special place among the contemporary Russian writers, who show the interest in China. This article is devoted to the study of the image of China in “Blue Fat”, “Target”, “Day of the Oprichnik”, “Sugar Kremlin”, “Snowstorm” by V. G. Sorokin. In order to comprehend the author’s poetics and philosophy, the article employs various methods of literary analysis, including comparative, cultural-historical and structural-semiotic. V. G. Sorokin’s artistic image of China is considered in these aspects: the transformation of China within the framework of its imminent world domination – from the fashion for Chinese household items of the 18th century to stringent requirements for Chinese production of the 21st century; the future China’s narcotic impact on Russia as an ironic refraction of the history about British opium trade in China of the 19th century; The Great Russian Wall as a parody revival of the Great Wall; Chinese as an important component of the new language of international communication; the image of the Chinese as controversial saviors. V. G. Sorokin, as a futurist, creates a grotesque future world with the so-called “Chinese cycle” to respond to acute Russian social problems (from totalitarianism to technological progress). In his “Chinese cycle” the image of China acquires completely new meanings.

Чжан Исянь – аспирант кафедры истории русской литературы Санкт-Петербург-ского государственного университета, г. Санкт-Петербург, Россия, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2619-1485, avaitor1@mail.ru