Thanatological Motifs in Doris Lessing`s Lyrico-Epic Works («A Seam of White Crystals» and «As If They Had Always Known It»)

Abstract

The lyrico-epic cycle «The Wolf People» (2002) by the contemporary English writer D. Lessing chronologically divides the writing of her prose dilogy «Mara and Dann» (1999–2005). The collection serves as a thematic continuation of its first part and a prologue to the second; that is, it acts as a kind of bridge uniting the two parts of the dilogy. Through a contextual analysis of D. Lessing`s ballads «A Seam of White Crystals» and «As If They Had Always Known It» from the collection «The Wolf People», motifs resonant with the writer's prose works have been identified: the dilogy «Mara and Dann» and the novel «Alfred and Emily» (2008). A common thematic focus, underlying issues, and motifs (motifs of catastrophic death, lost origins and memory, the search for a safe space, and the motif of the dream) are determined across these works by the author.

Lessing artistically explores the origins and consequences of the catastrophe experienced by humanity in a post-apocalyptic future world. The author crafts an image of a primeval world wherein humans strive to find their place and attempt, by any means, to withstand the lethal forces of nature. In the ballads «A Seam of White Crystals» and «As If They Had Always Known It», the thanatological motif emerges as a constant component of the eschatological myth. The motif of catastrophic death is initially connoted by the characters' premonition of disaster in the ballad «As If They Had Always Known It» (the semantics of the title reveal a sacred incantation-warning to descendants). The protagonist of the dilogy «Mara and Dann» is also the keeper of sacred knowledge regarding the tragic past of the continent of Ifrik. In the autofictional novel «Alfred and Emily», the destruction of the «family» tree with the authentic name Mawonga, which embodied the family's life cycle, symbolizes the dismantling of ontological origins.

The raised motif varies: in the ballad «As If They Had Always Known It», it resonates as a premonition of disaster; in the lyrico-epic text «A Seam of White Crystals», the motif of catastrophic death gradually intensifies (the terror of death grips all community members); and subsequently, this motif scales up in the ballad «The Ice Comes» to a universal eschatology (a natural disaster emerges as a threat to all of humanity). The eschatological myth regarding a catastrophic end is nuanced and scaled across D. Lessing`s works: whereas in the dilogy and the ballads «A Seam of White Crystals» and «As If They Had Always Known It», the insurmountable force is an impersonal force of nature, in the novel «Alfred and Emily» it is the world wars, which are the consequences of civilization's destructive impact. This novel by D. Lessing serves as a postmodern reception of the myth surrounding the First World War.

The motif of catastrophic death in the ballads and the aforementioned prose works is linked to the motif of lost origins. The destruction of the «center» of the family space («Alfred and Emily») occurs not only physically but also mentally; thus, the problem of the loss of personal memory manifests, which subsequently scales up into the motif of the loss of the community's collective memory. The thanatological motifs presented in these ballads and prose works are embodied through mythological oppositions: «life – death», «ice – sun», «day – night», «light – darkness», «omniscience – blindness», which also affects the characterization of the artistic space: «native – alien», «closed – open».

The individual and collective memories of the lyrical subjects in the ballads «A Seam of White Crystals» and «As If They Had Always Known It» emerge as the sole source of historical memory, which parallels the process of their self-identification. In the novel «Alfred and Emily», D. Lessing reveals the traumatic nature of war for humanity. The space of childhood in the protagonist's memories is not safe; it is permeated with the parental experience marked by war.