Volume 12 - Issue 66
/ June 2023
31
http:// www.amazoniainvestiga.info ISSN 2322- 6307
DOI: https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2023.66.06.3
How to Cite:
Pecherskyh, L., Levchenko, N., Torkut, N., Boiko, S., & Khachaturian, K. (2023). The image of water in the Ukrainian postmodern
novel. Amazonia Investiga, 12(66), 31-37. https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2023.66.06.3
The image of water in the Ukrainian postmodern novel
Образ води в українському постмодерністському романі
Received: April 25, 2023 Accepted: June 2, 2023
Written by:
Lubov Pecherskyh1
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1377-4462
Nataliia Levchenko2
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7535-6330
Nataliia Torkut3
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8905-6769
Svitlana Boiko4
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0541-0215
Karine Khachaturian5
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4131-1836
Abstract
The purpose of the article is to define and
systematize the artistic features and functions of
water images on the material of Ukrainian
postmodernist novels, in particular, in the novels
“Twelve Hoops”, “Moscovyada” and “Radio
Night” by Yu. Andrukhovych, “Mesopotamia”
and “Voroshylovgrad” by S. Zhadan, “AMtm”
by Yu. Izdryk, “Tango of Death” and “Lutetsia”
by Yu. Vynnychuk. The authors trace how
artistic and figurative codes rooted in the oldest
layers of Ukrainian culture are transformed into
author’s models of the image of water, which are
subject to the artistic purpose of the novels,
combine with other images, form more complex
image combinations, and fulfill artistic tasks on
the verge of artistic genres. The similarities and
differences in the use of water images in a
number of novels are revealed. The images of the
river, the sea and water as element and substance
are interpreted as frequently used, multilayered,
multifunctional, multigenre and those that create
a genre accent of mysticism in the novels,
actualize mythological levels of perception of the
depicted, emphasize the connection with the
1 PhD in Philology, Doctoral Student of Leonid Ushkalov Department of Ukrainian Literature and Journalism, H. S. Skovoroda
Kharkiv National Pedagogical University, Ukraine. WoS Researcher ID: ABK-0308-2022.
2 Habilitated Doctor of Philology, Professor of Leonid Ushkalov Department of Ukrainian Literature and Journalism, H. S. Skovoroda
Kharkiv National Pedagogical University, Ukraine. WoS Researcher ID: GRY-6609-2022.
3 Habilitated Doctor of Philology, Professor of German Philology, Translation and World Literature Department, Zaporizhzhia
National University, Ukraine. WoS Researcher ID: IQV-7844-2023.
4 PhD in Philology, Senior Lecturer of the Department of Foreign Philology and Translation, O. M. Beketov Kharkiv National
University of Urban economy, Ukraine. WoS Researcher ID: AAX-6277-2020.
5 PhD in Philosophy, Teacher of Ukrainian Language and Literature of Kharkiv Autobile Transport Applied College, Ukraine. WoS
Researcher ID: AFG-3215-2022.
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otherworldly and transcendent, manifest the
extraordinary abilities of the person interacting
with it and testify to the possibility of endowing
with these properties, of being a trans-level
means of moving through the worlds and a
source of life.
Keywords: water image, river, sea, element,
postmodernism, novel, genre.
Introduction
The immense semantics of mythological ideas
about “water” is one of the mental codes of every
European nation. The multifaceted symbolism of
water is embedded in a binary system of
meanings, which, on one hand, were formed in
accordance with its natural properties – the
ability to cleanse, to refresh, to be transparent and
move quickly – and, on the other hand, under the
influence of pagan mythological ideas about
water as an alien and dangerous environment: “In
order to appease the water element (especially
during floods), the villagers made special
sacrifices to it. Until recently, there was a belief
that the river, having flooded in the spring, would
not subside until it had received the sacrifice. So
people would throw a chicken or a rooster or
even a mouse into the river. Sometimes the
sacrifices were even bigger – horses and other
livestock were drowned. In addition to bread,
lumpy salt, boiled fish, stillborn children and
dead animals were thrown to water demons.
Beekeepers drowned the first swarm as a
sacrifice to the water demon. In times of great
drought, the corpses of drowned people (often
buried on the banks of the rivers where they died)
were dug up from the ground and thrown into the
water» (Voitovych, 2005, p. 84).
In Indian mythology, “water is a form of rasa.
Rasa is the essence of life, the basis of existence”,
and one of the symbols of rasa is a flowing river
(Pattanaik, 2021, p. 159). The flow of water
creates new life on earth; in many religions,
water is a major component of rituals, the essence
of which is to improve and enrich life with the
help of water. Rasa is also associated with the
underworld and the knowledge of the
resurrection of the dead. With the help of tapas,
the embodiment of piety and asceticism, “one
can overcome the natural laws of existence: to
raise the dead, walk on water, fly, change the
shape and size of any creature and the direction
of fate, fulfil any desiree” (Pattanaik, 2021,
p. 163). So water is historically linked to sacred
aspects of the development of civilisation.
In the Ukrainian Orthodox prayer, the river is a
symbol of the Mother of God, while the sea is
associated with the immensity of God’s gifts and
miracles: “Blessed Mother of God, who gave
birth to the Word God before any other word for
our salvation and accepted His grace, the Sea of
divine gifts and wonders; the ever-living River,
who by the power and love of the Lord gives
grace to all who run to God through You in faith
<...>” (Kyrios Christian Portal, 2023). In
Ukrainian folk songs, there are whole complexes
of artistic and figurative codes related to water
(see: (Davidyuk, 2005), (Kostomarov, 1994),
(Dei (Ed.), 1985), (Talanchuk, 1998),
(Krypyakevych (Ed.), 1994). The river,
according to the mythology of different peoples,
which reflects ancient ideas that have been
developed and preserved for centuries, is the
boundary between worlds. In folklore, crossing
the river had a metaphorical meaning of the
transition from earthly life to the afterlife.
“Oh, there’s a river in the field,
There’s a bridge across the river.
Don’t leave him, Cossack,
your dear father.
And if you do,
You’ll die yourself,
You’ll be drifting down the swift rivers,
You’ll float to a strange land.
Oh, let you, river,
Not give birth to fish.
As you did with me, young,
You separated me from my family”.
In this folk song, in particular, the image of a
river is associated with separation, crossing a
certain boarder in difficult circumstances,
probably with the escape from the enemies; the
image of a wooden footbridge is associated with
the only possible lifeline, which could threaten to
break with the family. The poetisation of water
“constitutes a kind of folk poetic dominant that
manifests itself in folklore, the artistic word,
ultimately determines the worldview of
Ukrainians, penetrates the folk consciousness,
Pecherskyh, L., Levchenko, N., Torkut, N., Boiko, S., Khachaturian, K. / Volume 12 - Issue 66: 31-37 / June, 2023
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determines its respectful, sometimes sublime
solemn perception”, as K. Prykhodchenko points
out (Prykhodchenko, 2021, p. 273).
Of course, mythological layers have not
disappeared also in Ukrainian postmodern
novels, where the images of water emerge
repeatedly, and water is also referred to in terms
of ratio, which adds more weight to its
symbolism. The purpose of the article is to select
the most striking artistic images of the river, sea,
and water as element and substance created in
Ukrainian postmodern novels, and to identify
their artistic features and functions in the text.
Theoretical framework
Water, as one of the four basic elements – earth,
air, fire, and water – that structure the world, has
prompted cultures of different nations to form
ambivalent cosmogonic archetypal concepts, in
which, on one hand, it acts as an object of
creation, and on the other hand, it participates in
creation as a subject of creation. In the system of
symbols, water is a symbol of fertility, the
beginning and end of all things on Earth,
purification from sins (the rite of baptism for
Christians), death and resurrection from the dead,
purity and health (Potapenko et al., 1997, p. 29).
For example, Lazar Baranovich, emphasising the
omnipotence of the absolute, “speaks about
God’s right hand, which governs everything and
saves everything in the stormy waves of the
restlesssea of the world” (Levchenko,
Liamprekht, Zosimova, Varenikova, Boiko,
2020, p. 66). In particular, he notes: “Wiele na
tym morzu potonęło, co się śmieło, bez tego
wiosła, bez prawicy Pańskiey, ktorą tonącego
Piotra ratowała, puśćili. Ieśli się łodką puśćisz na
te morze, patrz ieśli masz takiego Styrnika,
ktoremi wiatry y morze byli posłuszne”
(Baranowicz, 1676, p. 334), – this image
embodies the Omnipresence of God, His
benevolence, which, in turn, instils hope of
salvation and reward for our life’s work that is
eternal life (Levchenko, Liamprekht, Zosimova,
Varenikova, Boiko, 2020, p. 66). The archetype
of water has been the subject of research by
scholars in the analytical psychology by
C. G. Jung (Jung, 2018), (Jung, 1996), mythic
criticism by N. Frye (Frye, 2021), onirism of
primordial elements by G. Bachelard (Bachelard,
2004), and ethnology by M. Eliade (Eliade,
2001).
Methodology
The study uses elements of archetypal analysis to
study the archetypes of water as expressions of
the unconscious essence of the writer,
subordinated to a specific purpose. The technique
of text interpretation is based on the hermeneutic
method. The method of comparative analysis was
used to search and identify similarities and
differences in the images of water based on
empirical studies of Ukrainian postmodern
novels.
Results and discussion
The texts of Ukrainian postmodernists
demonstrate different models of the image of
water, which are subordinated to the artistic
purpose in each particular novel.
Rivers and interfluves are the main component of
the image of the city in the novel “Mesopotamia”
by S. Zhadan: “The sun was broking through the
fog, and the city was filled with light, voices and
sounds, waking up from sleep and letting go
dreams. The city stood on the hills, in the
interfluve, washed by rivers on both sides. In the
valley that opened up below, the first workers’s
houses and schools were already there <...>”
(Zhadan, 2014, p. 130). In the novel
“Voroshilovgrad”, the river is a part of the
suburban landscape: “<...> from the north, the
city was surrounded by a river, flowing from
Russian territory towards Donbas. Its left bank
was gentle, while along the right bank high chalk
mountains stretched, the tops of which were
covered with tarragon and thorns” (Zhadan,
2011, p. 34); “Fog rose from the river, hiding the
small figures of fishermen and the nearest huts,
spilling out onto the road and creeping into the
suburbs. Outside the city, there was also white
fog in the gullies, and the whole valley gently
blurred before our eyes, like a riverbed, falling
into darkness, although here, on the hills, it was
still quite light” (Zhadan, 2011, p. 55).
Water is a wonderful substance in which a
creative person feels comfortable and draws
inspiration and creative strength from his or her
contact with it: “What a reward it is that even
here, in a dirty dungeon <...> there is hot water,
what a drive it is, completely beyond the
understanding of many <...>. I want to be here
forever! To forget about everything, close my
eyes and surrender to the water like a lover. You
wrote most of your poems in hot water. Because
in hot water, you can be great, kind, brilliant, and
yourself at the same time. And fuck them all”
(Andrukhovych, 1997, p. 123). According to the
understanding of Yu. Andrukhovych, water is
personified and is an inexhaustible source of
creativity; water is sacralised in the depiction of
the ritual of ablution, after which it plunges into
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the “underworld” according to one of the
archetypal ideas of connection with the other
world. One of the author’s most daring
transformations of the connection with the
otherworld and the meaning of transition is
created by Yuriy Andrukhovych in his novel
“Radio Night”, when he depicts the characters’
escape from rhinos through the footbridge:
“There was very little left to the river. <...>
Perhaps there is no storm, no cries, no groans on
the other side <...>? If only I could cross it,
stormy and foaming, jumping over the stone
pillars of the unfinished bridge, while the water
was coming, before it overflowed its banks,
before it flooded the other side – all life would
end, disappear, melt away? <...>This one is for
me
, the First manages to think and takes a sharp
left. He already knows why – there is a wooden
footbridge there, which may not have been
washed away yet. It is shaky and slippery, and
the river waters are already licking it off with
eager storms. At the moment when the First and
the Second, miraculously still have been
balancing like comedians on the tightrope during
a fair in Bozhi Karkolomi, reach about its middle,
the footbridge begins to crack and disintegrate,
and they are falling down. But not into the river,
because for some reason the waters getting apart,
making room for a free fall into a zero-circular
tunnel, which – neither the fall nor the tunnel –
was supposed to end. And neither should the
nulls (Andrukhovich, 2021, p. 339–340)”. Here
we can see a transformation of the biblical image
of the sea that got apart for the Jews during their
escape from Egypt, an allusion to the tunnel
through which Alice by L. Carroll was falling
down, and the significance of the only way of
salvation provided by the river as the main one.
An interesting image of the underground sea is
created in the novel “Tango of Death” by
Yuriy Vynnychuk, who inhabits the building of
Lviv book collection (library) with fish-like
creatures that live under the floor in the
underground “sea” and appear at the most
unexpected moments: “The old floor creaked
underfoot, and the pungent smell of the sea and
algae came from below, as if rising from the
cracks in the floor, <...> in that black density, in
the hairy silence, the waves were barely audible,
slowly and sleepily washing ashore, as if the sea
had not yet awakened <...>. In that sea unknown
creatures live – neither fish nor people, they
sometimes come out of the depths and can be
found on the street. But only late at night. They
dress like us, but they have big green eyes and
walk barefoot because their flippered feet won’t
fit any shoes. It is quite possible that they enter
the library as well” (Vinnychuk, 2012, p. 177).
The most interesting question that arises in the
study of the artistic world of the novel by
Yuriy Vynnychuk is why mysterious sea
creatures come into contact with the human
world in the library? The image of the library as
a portal between worlds gives grounds for further
elaboration. The image of a fantastic sea creature
evokes surprise, but without fear or disgust:
“<...> the floor beneath us swayed, cracked, and
the boards parted and began to rise, we jumped
back and watched in horror as someone’s black,
shiny back, wet and slippery, with shells and
algae attached, began to appear between the
boards <...>” (Vinnychuk, 2012, p. 178).
The writer transforms the story of eternal life
through “living” water and creates an image of
the mysterious Book of Iblis, written by the great
Sufi poet, classic of Persian and Turkish
literature Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi from
the words of Al-Hidr, the teacher of Moses, who
found the Water of Life and became immortal
while accompanying Alexander the Great on a
campaign. One of the drawings in the Book of
Iblis depicts a dervish walking on water. The
flow of water in the book is associated with the
flow of lives and reincarnations: “I died as a man
and became a plant. I also died as a plant and
became an animal. I died as an animal and
became a man. Why should I be afraid of losing
my human qualities? I will die as a man to rise as
an angel... And our path to our origins, to our
sources, will be illuminated by beacons that we
must recognise in order to meet where the
hashgash blooms, under its shadow”
(Vinnychuk, 2012, p. 193). The protagonist of
the novel quotes a tenth-century poem written by
Mansur al-Hallay, a Sufi poet:
“I sprouted hundreds of times as grass
On the banks of swift rivers
For hundreds of thousands of years I have
been born and lived.
In all the bodies that exist on earth” (Vinnychuk,
2012, p. 192). Thus, water in the novel by
Yuriy Vinnychuk is the environment for fantastic
creatures, source of eternal life, and a
background for reincarnation. The writer
compares human life to swimming in water,
events to waves and tides, and the bottom to
death, creating an artistic image of a “water sky”:
“So I swam and swam, and if anyone thinks that
we are in the same place now, they are mistaken.
We are never here and now, we are always on the
move, in an eternal swim through the sky of
water, in a struggle with waves and tides, along
the way many of us go to the bottom, exhausted
and losing faith, thousands and thousands behind
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us wave their hands in desperation, trying to
grasp a ray of sunlight or feathers of anxious
birds of silence, and disappear into the depths of
the boundless ocean. And you and I are also
sailing towards the great unknown, which barely
dreams on the horizon, but in the end, the same
thing awaits us – exhaustion, a wave of hands, a
ray of sun in a handful and bubbles on the surface
of the water” (Vynnychuk, 2017, p. 69). The
writer builds an image of the Rudka River, which
combines childhood memories of the boys
rescuing small fish from dried-up mochars with
the statement of the river’s recent death: “Now
the Rudka is gone, it has been drained and built
up <...>. Its death came as a surprise to me. It
seemed that it should have survived <...> I don’t
want to see it anymore, the destroyed space falls
from my eyes, covered by the haze” (Vynnychuk,
2017, p. 143–145).
The protagonist of the novel “Lutetia” by
Yu. Vynnychuk, who is the author himself, a
writer and a scholar, studies the myths and
legends of primitive peoples and focuses his
guests’ attention on the fact that “the feminine is
always associated with the earth and water, and
the masculine with the sky; water and fire, as well
as the tree of life, are mediators between these
two principles”, “that is why in folk songs lovers
always meet near a river, near a ford, near a
well”, “or something is burning” (Vynnychuk,
2017, p. 288). The author actualises the
metaphorical perception of the images of water
used in the text of the novel emphasising these
connections in the extract.
The main component of the native topos is the
image of the river in the novel “Mesopotamia” by
S. Zhadan. Interaction with river water is
commonplace for a metropolitan resident in the
novel; river water does not frighten, even in the
dark: “<...> one could hear laughter and
shrieking, and the merry splash of water, and
confident waves of hands raking in the middle of
the stream. Women’s bodies glowed silver in the
moonlight <...>. I recognised them, standing on
the shore, calling out to them, shouting to them
to the blackness. They answered from there,
approaching and then sailing away again to the
opposite bank. It was as if the river was bringing
all the voices I knew from the city, all the
laughter, all the singing. It gave me a sense of
calm and confidence, because everything was
right there, just a few steps away. And in no way
could it disappear, it could never end, no matter
how long I would stood there, no matter how
much time would passed” (Zhadan, 2014,
p. 313). S. Zhadan’s metaphorical authorial
expression “by this river” or “by this water”,
which is used both in “Mesopotamia” and in the
author’s poetry (“And there is no difference by
this river, what your pupils reflect...” – a line
from a song by the collaboration of S. Zhadan
and “Dogs in Space” musical band), it means
“being here, on the native land, which is located
near the river”: “I thought how good it was that I
ended up here – on this bank, by this water.
Standing there and watching her undress and
enter the river, knowing that you can actually
enter any river endlessly. You can hold on to the
moisture that envelops you indefinitely, you can
wait infinitely long for the return of everyone you
knew and loved. The river will bring all the
intonations you heard, the river will keep all the
warmth left at the banks, rivers know how to
wait, they know how to start all over again.
Because there is the continuity of the riverbed,
the continuity of the flow, and no one can stop all
this mass of wet light, all this enormity of heat
and cold” (Zhadan, 2014, p. 313–314).
One of the characteristic features of the prose by
S. Zhadan is the combination of the image of
water with the image of light. The writer
purposely accentuates the moment of presence or
absence of light, creating an image of the river,
its brightness, tonal colour, sparkling light from
objects or people in the water: “The old quarters
overlooked the river, a gentle bank overgrown
with reeds, where fishermen hid, catching
precious fish that recklessly buried themselves in
the coastal silt and glowed like stolen silverware”
(Zhadan, 2014, p. 131). A synthetic image is
being created by adding images of smell, texture,
etc: “I thought that I would remember the smell
of this water for a long time, the smell of clay and
grass, the smell of smoke and autumn, the smell
of life that has not yet ended and death that has
not yet come <...>. After all, everything depends
on us. First of all, our desire to remember at least
something. And our desire not to remember
anything” (Zhadan, 2014, p. 315).
The river in the novel by Yurii Izdryk seems alive
and internally powerful, revealing the primary
human fear of deep, moving water: “Eventually,
when my foot hit the ledge of a dug concrete slab,
I hung half a metre from the water – up close, the
river did not look dead and steel, but it had a
hidden power that inspired panic. The sound of
metal structures could be heard from above: a
train was rushing across the bridge <...>”
(Izdryk, 2010, p. 277). The “hidden power” that
Izdryk writes about is the embodiment of the
dynamic movement of water combined with the
human perception of a large mass of water.
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The dynamics of water can be conveyed through
the movement of aquatic creatures, and the
tension and effort in movement may not carry a
sense of danger, and the water in this case is light,
transparent and beautiful, as, for example,
depicted by Yuri Andrukhovych in his novel
Radio Night: “Rothsky never missed an
opportunity to admire the tense and tight
movement of trout in the swift and beautifully
green waters of the Oslava. He had two or three
favourite observation spots on the old (fifteenth-
century) Stone Bridge, which he had witnessed
being built once in his previous lifetime”
(Andrukhovych, 2021, p. 278).
The flow of rivers has long brought fertile soil,
wood used as fuel, lost jewellery, fragments of
ancient artefacts, antique coins, and garbage to
the banks; it could change the configuration of
the course and the relief of the coast during
floods, and could be destructive and life-giving
at the same time. In the novel Mesopotamia by
S. Zhadan, the effect of contrast with the
beautiful flow is created by the image of a dead
bird: “The children threw dead birds they found
on the street into the water, and they floated
away, terrifying the inhabitants with their
appearance” (Zhadan, 2014, p. 131). The legend
created in the novel “Twelve Hoops” by
Yuriy Andrukhovych, says that the locals of the
village have been expecting the waters of the
local River to bring large Danube fish for
centuries, “none of them understood how this
was really possible. After all, the waters of the
River cannot flow backwards, and neither can the
waters of the Danube. <...> the Danube fish
turned out to be a human being, a stranger who
had recently walked along the shore here <...>”
(Andrukhovich, 2003, p. 226–227). According to
an ancient prophecy, “as soon as the waters of the
River bring the great Danube fish, one must leave
here. It was a sign that everything had changed
and time was moving into a new dimension”
(Andrukhovich, 2003, p. 226–227). Could it be
that in a few hours the prediction will begin? The
appearance of the great Danube fish is associated
with a change in the stage of life. The motif of
disturbing change, change not for the good, but
for suffering and grief, is also found in the novels
“Tango of Death” by Yu. Vynnychuk and
“Voroshylovgrad” by S. Zhadan.
S. Zhadan’s artistic foresight made it possible to
create a vivid synthetic multilayered image of a
pre-dawn procession of fantastic creatures from
the river: “Orange lights were burning in the
valley, burning the fog around them. The sky was
becoming black and high, the constellations
appeared on it like faces on a photofilm <...>
Suddenly I noticed some movement down on the
slope. Someone was coming up from the river,
stretching up a steep ascent, sinking in the fog. It
was hard to understand who exactly was walking
there, but I could hear these footsteps, as if
someone was driving frightened animals away
from the water <...> (Zhadan, 2011, p. 57). The
fog, illuminated from below, from the valley,
seemed full of movement and shadows. Over the
fog, the air was transparent, and bats flew in it
from time to time <...> figures began to emerge
from the fog, quickly approaching through the
thick hot grass. They moved easily, climbing
upwards, and there were more and more of them
<...>. It was unclear who they were, some strange
creatures, almost incorporeal, men hiding clots of
fog in their lungs. They were tall, had long
uncombed hair, tied in ponytails or gathered in
iroquois, their faces were dark and scarred, some
had strange signs and letters painted on their
foreheads <...>. They had medallions and
binoculars hanging around their necks, fishing
rods and rifles behind their shoulders, and some
held flags <...> some wore officer’s frenches,
others pulled woollen coats over their shoulders
<...>. Some had army boots on their feet <...>
dark figures began to emerge from the fog, unlike
anything else <...>. Cows were being driven by
shepherds dressed in black coats and grey
military overcoats <...>. The sky was already
white where they came from, and as soon as they
disappeared, the air was filled with a steady grey
light, filling like a dish with water, with a new
morning. <...> It felt as if death had passed me
by. Or a freight train had passed by” (Zhadan,
2011, p. 58–60). Let’s pay attention to the
accents and artistic details associated with the
war that are exquisitely embedded in the
description: scarred faces, binoculars around the
necks, an officer’s french coat, rifles, flags as
military attributes, Iroquoises and tails as
symbols of belligerence. The feeling of near
death experienced by the hero is connected to the
anticipation of the war that will soon go through
these same hills.
In the historical novel “Tango of Death” last
night before the outbreak of World War II,
mysterious creatures with fins wearing green
helmets and long cloaks that “smelled of rotten
algae and iodine” left Lviv, escaping the
suffering to which the city was doomed
(Vinnychuk, 2012, p. 244).
Conclusion
The images of water in the texts of Ukrainian
postmodernists Yu. Andrukhovych, S. Zhadan,
Volume 12 - Issue 66
/ June 2023
37
http:// www.amazoniainvestiga.info ISSN 2322- 6307
Yu. Izdryk and Yu. Vynnychuk are rooted in the
oldest layers of national culture.
The author’s models of the image of water are
transformations of traditional images as part of
synthetic image combinations (in particular, the
image of the city, countryside landscape,
inhabitants of the ancient underground sea) and
plots (the plot of eternal life and “living water”)
and perform artistic tasks on the verge of novel
genres, giving the text appropriate genre and
style accents.
The multifunctionality of water images implies
the actualisation of mythological levels of
perception (the boundary between worlds,
movement between them, the source of life, the
transition from earthly life to the afterlife), the
discourse of the transcendent, and the
understanding of water as an ambivalent source
of creative inspiration and death.
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