The characters of Eremey Aipin is pursuit of identity (based on the novel “In Search of the Primordial Land”)
The subject of this article is the problem of identity of the characters in the novel “In Search of the Primordial Land” by the regional Khanty writer Eremey Aipin. The goal is to describe the key vectors of reflections of the main characters on personal and national identity. The author aims to analyze the path of spiritual and social becoming, as well as finding true identity in the world and society of the protagonists of the novel — “man of the kin” Matvey Taishin and the hero “without kith or kin” Roman Romanov. The study leans on the interdisciplinary comprehensive approach, with the use of cultural-historical, typological, ethno-cultural, axiological and imagological methods of analysis. The scientific novelty lies in examination of the characters of the literary work from the perspective of their identity and identification. Analysis is conducted on the two ways of finding true identity by the characters in the small and big world. Path of “man of the kin” is the cognition of capabilities of staying in the world, strengthening of inviolable faith as the essential link in the chain of life, nature, Cosmos, and humanity. Path of the hero “without kith or kin” is a series of initiations (according to V. Y. Propp), as a result of which he gradually assimilates to the “earthly world”, having acquired the experience of merging with society. It is proven that solution of the questions on personal, social and national identity of the characters of the novel is interrelated with the author's traditionalistic worldview. The conclusion is made that in a crisis historical situation, the characters of the novel intuitively tilt towards ancient cultural memory of humanity, seeing its as a basis for reconstruction of identity.