The motives of the parable of the prodigal son in novels “Number One, or In the Gardens of Other Opportunities” by L. S. Petrushevskaya and “Twins’ House” by A. V. Korolev

The evangelical parable about the return of the prodigal son was repeatedly used as the subject of literary contemplation in the Russian classical literature of the 19th and the 20th centuries. The plot of the prodigal son parable is still popular in contemporary Russian literature. For example, the plot was originally interpreted in the novels “Number One, or In the Gardens of Other Opportunities” by L. S. Petrushevskaya and “Twins’ house” by A. V. Korolev. The central conflict “son – father” realized through key evangelical parable motifs of departure, return, forgiveness and love determine the issues raised in these works and their poetics. The analysis of these novels helps to distinguish various types of “dialogue” between contemporary writers and the evangelical text. L. Petrushevskaya inverts the plot of the parable, A. Korolev redefines the evangelical parable in a symbolic way. In general, the plot of the prodigal son parable is comprehended by the contemporary authors as a model for resolving the conflict of the generation gap, as a space for profound sacred meanings, and as a means of expressing the author’s genuine metaphor. The plot variants of the prodigal son parable explicate the meanings realized by the Gospel text on the “profane” and deep levels. Desacralized meaning of the parable can be reduced to the issue of ideal family relationships, which the contemporary writers yearn for and are trying to portray. The deep, Christian understanding of the parable is connected to the idea of the prodigal son’s resurrection understood as a discovery of a “new man” within himself. Number One in Petrushevskaya’s novel becomes the Hero, Valentin Drago of Korolev becomes the Personality. In addition, the evangelical motif of return in the contemporary works represents the authors’ genuine metaphors. The genuine metaphor in the novel of L. Petrushevskaya is the modern person’s acquiring his/her original identity, which is not related to material and hedonistic values. A. Korolev’s genuine metaphor consists in recovering the person’s subjectivity that had been lost because of the processes of standardization in modern society.

modern Russian prose, parable of the prodigal son, plot, motif