The Mythologeme “Japan – Russia – the West” in Kafka Asagiri’s Ranobe “Bungo Stray Dogs”

The article uses the mythopoetics (considering culture as a text) to explore the specifics of the mythologeme “Japan – Russia – the West” implementation in Kafka Asagiri's Ranobe cycle “Bungo Stray Dogs”. It is argued that this mythologeme is created through the method of mythologizing cultural historical names (names of Japanese, European and Russian authors) and reflects the ideas of the modern Japanese nation about Russia and Europe, as well as about its own state and culture in the context of the historical process. It is concluded that the peculiarities of the mythologization in the considered Ranobe indicate the radicalization of civil-patriotic sentiments in Japan in the face of violent processes of europeanization and globalization in the modern world and reflect the current state of national thought in Japan, namely, an attempt at self-determination and self-identification in relation to the culture and principles of world hegemony, of Russia and the West. The specific pop-cultural archetypes and cliches that define the behavior of characters in the novellas contribute to the effective dissemination of these ideas to a young audience influenced by ideological opponents of modern Japan through New Media.

mythologeme, mythopoetics, mythologization of a cultural name, Eastern culture, Western culture, Russian culture, europeanization, globalization