FOOD SEMANTICS IN TRANSCULTURAL LITERATURE: A STUDY OF GERMAN-LANGUAGE TEXTS CREATED BY AUTHORS FROM THE USSR
The article considers the semantics of food and drinks in German-language prose, created by immigrants from the USSR and having signs of transcultural literature, implying the hybridization of cultural (including linguistic and literary) experience. The subject of the analysis are three autobiographical texts written in the 21st century: “My White Nights” (2004) by Lena Gorelik, “The Totalitarian Kitchen. The Cookbook of Socialism” (2006) by Olga Kaminer and Wladimir Kaminer, and “Maybe Esther” (2014) by Katja Petrowskaja. In all three texts, a significant place is given to the names of dishes, foods and drinks, descriptions of the preparation, serving and use of food and drink. They also contain recipes (Gorelik’s text and especially the Kaminers’ book) or mention them (Petrowskaya’s text). Memories of food and drink are integral to childhood memories and are part of the autobiographical discourse. The task of the study is to analyze the functions of the culinary code of these texts. The methodology of intercultural research and interdisciplinary food studies, and various aspects of nutrition researches, were used. Food is presented by all authors as the primary bodily experience that is significant for socialization in a particular culture and plays an important role in acculturation. The function of the culinary codes of the studied texts is shown in structuring the key categories of culture: “one’s own”, “other” and “foreign”, as well as in the process of cultural hybridization. Particular attention is paid to the untranslatability of gastronomic realities: vocabulary denoting dishes and traditions of their use. The mechanisms of metaphorization and metonymization in the field of food and drinks, and the role of these processes in the generation of ethnic and national stereotypes, as well as in their destruction are considered.