The Name-Mask As a Key Strategy for Creating the Image of Marginal Protagonists (Based on Works by Vladimir Makanin and Bernardo Atxaga)

Abstract

In this article, the authors aim to examine artistic aspects in the use of the name-mask as an indication of character in two contemporary authors – Vladimir Makanin and Bernardo Atxaga. The work of both writers is characterized by a particular approach to the relation between personality and name, whereby characters denominated by a nickname or pseudonym appear in the foreground, though such nominations normally belong to the periphery of the anthroponymic field. As the name represents the essence of a person, such nominations indicate the deformation of the identity of the literary character and a disparity in the relation “character/essence”. This phenomenon serves as the key strategy for creating the image of marginal protagonists, whose “incomplete” essence requires the use of appropriate artistic resources.