SOCIAL ASPECTS OF THE TOPOS OF HOME IN PROSE BY V. ASTAFIEV AND V. KOSKO
Social aspects of the topos of home in V. Astafiev and V. Kosko works are studied. The key modes of living in the prose by the writers are home (family), nationdom, and antihome. A home is a place where the personality matures, masters their indispensable mental and ethical standards. On the contrary, antihome is a place where people meet accidentally, with no emotional bonds. The home pattern includes a motive of memory about home (inner home). Absence of home, and the impossibility to find it makes characters homeless. In works by Astafiev being homeless is a social phenomenon, in prose by Kosko it is existential, connected to the character's lack of inner home, due to its loss or destruction. For Astafiev the reasons for the destruction of home are social catastrophes (collectivization, war). For Kosko the destruction of home is a consequence of the country inhabitants' having severed from the native land, and of the passion for technocratic ideas. Therefore, in prose by Astafiev and Kosko, home is thought as a basis for self-determination of a personality, a symbol of the moral foundations of the people, and their spiritual unity.