The motive of absolute рower in contemporary British and Belarusian historical fiction

Abstract

Historical fiction nowadays is one of the most popular and sought-after genres both with critics and readers, and is represented by an ever-increasing number of very diverse works in both typological and stylistic aspects, which reflects modern searches in the field of artistic form. At the same time, serious positive changes are occurring in the perception of the genre by critics and academicians. In this connection, a comparative study of the texts of Belarusian and British authors with the aim of identifying both general and specific trends of the genre development for specific literatures is relevant. One of the important aspects of such a study is the defining of themes and motifs that are universal for the genre, and one of the most significant of them is the motive of power, which is not surprising, since it is the hierarchy that permeates the whole society, organizes and unites it. The article focuses on one of the leading aspects, in which this motive generally manifests itself, namely the motive of absolute power. The comparative literary analysis is based on the works by H. Mantel, P. O'Brien, P. Barker, S. St. James, L. Rublevskaya, A. Arkush, V. Orlov, K. Tarasov, V. Kazko and many others. Concepts of the ―golden age‖ and ―ideal sovereign‖ as well as the consequences of personal transformations of the characters are traced and analysed. Special attention is paid to the methods of the deconstruction of the heroic images of the rulers of the past. The connections are made between the motive of absolute power and the diverse artistic manifestations of historical trauma in the studied works. It is demonstrated how the theme of a "little man", whose role is becoming increasingly important for modern authors, which, in particular, manifests itself in the complex interplay of the notions of ―power‖ and ―freedom‖. Authors` interpretations of the topic of power clearly reveal the increasing role of the ideological, axiological, philosophical component at the present stage of development of the genre, which is often expressed by means of parabolic imagery, symbolism, and free use of the category of time.