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Article published In:
Language and Dialogue
Vol. 10:2 (2020) ► pp.241–270

Dovlatov’s dialogue with Hemingway

A farewell to The Zone

| Sechenov University (Russia)
| RUDN University (Russia)
This paper focuses on three chapters about captain Yegorov and Katya Lugina in Sergei Dovlatov’s novel entitled Зона (The Zone: A Prison Camp Guard’s Story). The intertext shown and discussed in the paper suggests that the three chapters may be viewed as a ‘modified version’ of Ernest Hemingway’s WWI novel A Farewell to Arms. We then use the intertext as the basis for the discussion of Dovlatov’s dialogue with Hemingway and the value of Hemingway’s personality and works for Dovlatov. We analyze two aspects of Dovlatov’s dialogue with Hemingway: (1) Dovlatov’s emotional response to Hemingway’s novel and (2) Dovlatov’s contemplation of esthetics of art. In the end, we discuss the notion of tradition in connection with Dovlatov’s dialogue with Hemingway.
Keywords: Dovlatov, Hemingway, intertext, dialogue, reader, emotional response, horizon of expectations, memory, background knowledge, author, esthetics of art
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Aims and scope
    • 2.1Intertextuality and intertext
    • 2.2Dialogue
      • 2.2.1Emotional response and emotionally charged information
      • 2.2.2Esthetics of art
  • 3.Intertext in Dovlatov’s The Zone
  • 4.Dovlatov’s dialogue with Hemingway and the readers
    • 4.1Dovlatov’s reception of A Farewell to Arms
      • 4.1.1Emotional response
      • 4.1.2Esthetics and ethics of art
    • 4.2Dovlatov vs. Hemingway: Conceptualization and esthetic activity
    • 4.3Esthetic activity behind Dovlatov’s writing
  • 5.Dovlatov and tradition
  • 6.Concluding remarks
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 4 September 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ld.00068.zay
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