Evolution of the Plot of the Failed Wedding in the Ballad of the 19Th-21St Centuries: Causes and Methods of Transformation
The plot of the failed wedding is representative for the history of the ballad genre. The ballads of the 19th century present the canonical version of the plot: the appearance of the dead groom leads to death (punishment for violation of prohibitions). In the ballads of the 20th-21st centuries, the worldview and social and cultural changes cause the plot transformations, which demonstrate the loss of world harmony.The aim of the article is to consider the reasons for the evolution of the plot of the failed wedding and the mechanisms of its transformation at significant stages in the development of the ballad genre. Material and methods. The research material is based on precedent Russian ballads of the 19th-21st centuries, which demonstrate the dynamics of the wedding plot development, the reasons and methods of its transformation. Genetic, historical-typological, structural-semiotic methods, as well as elements of the cultural-historical approach are used.Findings and their discussion. The changes of wedding plot are presented in the context of evolution of the ballad at significant stages of the ballad genre development: in the ballad of the Romanticism era, in the ballad of the Silver Age, in the ballad of the Soviet and post-Soviet periods. In the 19th century, the plot of the wedding is connected with the cosmogonic myth: the finale leads to affirmation of the harmony of the world (resurrection). In the non-canonical ballads of the 20th-21st centuries, the plot transformations indicate the worldview collisions, which occur because of social and historical transformations. Textual analysis, identification of literary, biographical and historical parallels contribute to disclosure of the semantic ambiguity of the wedding plot. The ways of the plot transformation are represented by the leveling of temporal distance, by the plot synthesis and changes of semantics, by the rethinking of motives/images and reduction. In the 20th-21st centuries, the events of the plot are transferred to the present time, opening the possibility of reflection on the traumas of society.Conclusion. The mythological origins of the failed wedding plot refer to the archeonarrative scheme of initiation. The evolution of the wedding plot in the ballad takes place under the influence of historical, cultural, social, philosophical and literary transformations. In the ballads of the 19th century, the deviations from the canon become the source of the plot evolution. In the ballads of the 20th-21st centuries, the changes of the plot demonstrate the collapse of the traditional worldview. The leveling of temporal distance leads to genre transformations: the techniques of plot convergence, changes of the semantic codes, reduction of the plot to motive/images-archetypes contribute to the transfer of the traditional wedding plot into the subtext, which opens up the possibility of a multi-level reading of the literary works.