THE PLANT CODE IN V. D. FOMENKO’S NOVEL “MEMORY OF THE EARTH”

Abstract

https://doi.org/10.18522/1995-0640-2026-3-22-31

The article provides the analysis of the poetics of the novel “Memory of the Earth” by V. D. Fomenko in terms of the plant code culture. Its representative marker is the image of the grape and its derivatives. In the artistic world of the novel grape symbolism is realized in three contexts - Christian, traditional and Soviet. Being a symbol of the economic well-being of the country Korenovsky, the wealth of the land, the image of grapes becomes the biblical allusion of paradise on earth. The forced displacement of indigenous people as a result of the construction of the Tsimlayansk Sea plant on new, still poor, uncultivated lands is understood as a sacrifice for the well-being of the inhabitants of steppe settlements. The image of grapes, associated in popular thinking with the continuation of progeny and fruitfulness, in the novel acts as a link to the motives of marriage and fertility, bringing to the fore the idea of the birth of the Tsimlayansk Sea. Grapes are also depicted in the novel as a symbol of Cossack culture. It is emphasized that the traditional way for Cossacks to plant grapes - the Don Cup - is replaced at the end of the narrative by collective planting of Tsimlayansk grapes in a steelwork manner. Thus, the individual Don cup is transformed into a common cup of the Tsimlayansk Sea. This can probably be considered an allegory of the metamorphosis of Cossack culture on Soviet soil - a phenomenon of Soviet Cossack with lost cultural elements and their reinterpretation in new realities.

Key words: V. D. Fomenko, “Memory of the Earth”, plant code, Soviet Cossacks, image of grapes, local text of Don

Acknowledgements: this publication was prepared within the framework of the 2026 state assignment of the Southern Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, state registration No. 125011200150-2.