Problematics and poetics of Dmitry Naumov's works

In his works, Dmitry Naumov created a special social and spiritual “microcosm” in the image of the Yakut village Charannaakh, since, in his opinion, the national identity of the Sakha people is formed precisely in rural areas. The writer's stories demonstrate a number of intra-genre varieties, starting with the main types of short prose – the actual story, short story, essay – and ending with synthetic and hybrid forms of short epic genres. Naumov's short stories feature satirical stories directed against bureaucrats, careerists, and lovers of the “green serpent”. Many of them contain everyday comedy, and in a number of the writer’s stories one can feel the features of the so-called “mischievous” tradition known in world literature, which often borders on “black” humor. Naumov’s humor is of a soft, “hinting” nature, and its meaning is hidden in allegories and subtext. A whole series of stories is dedicated to animals: the author’s bestiary includes horses, cows, dogs, cats, even piglets. The writer demonstrates extraordinary skill in creating crowd scenes and identifying the “collective consciousness.” At the same time, his artistic anthropology contains many vivid individualized images. In many of Naumov’s stories one can feel his talent as a playwright. If the writer’s short stories demonstrate different types of short prose, then the genre designations of his dramatic works are limited to only two definitions – “play” in the sense of “drama” and “comedy”. The only dramatic work that is not accompanied by an author's genre definition is “Autumn.” Judging by the brief initial remark, adherence to the principle of “three unities,” the absence of external events, and the minimum of characters, this is a psychological monodrama. In his comedies, as in his stories, Naumov used a whole system of poetic means and techniques, starting with such as literary allusions, poetics of names, animalistic imagery, and ending with the verbal self-disclosure of the characters. To enhance the ironic context, they mention the characters of S.S. Yakovlev-Erilik Eristin, poor Khachygyr, D.K. Sivtsev-Suorun Omollooa autocrat Makar, the “great strategist” Ostap Bender from the works of I. Ilf and E. Petrov, and adapt Ellyai’s poems. Finally, Naumov himself is a brilliant expert on the native language, rightfully throws a stone at supporters of excessive “Yakutization” of the language of the Sakha people.

1. Sivtsev, V. (2006). A new writer. Kiin kuorat, Oct. 19. (In Sakha)

2. Rostovtsev, E. (2007). Still seeing my home village from my flat’s window. Yakutiya, Sept. 27. (In Russian)

3. Samsonova, T. P. (2014). The Yakut Story: Main Trends in the Late 20th – Early 21st century. Yakutsk. (In Russian)

4. Naumov, D. F. (2006). My Lovely Village. Translated from Sakha by A. Borisova, M. D'yachkovskiy–Kelbe, L. Borisova. Yakutsk: Izd-vo YaNTs SO RAN. (In Russian)

5. Naumov, D. F. (2009). My Lovely Village: Stories, Plays. Yakutsk : Kemuel. (In Sakha)

6. Bachelard, G. (2004). Selected Works: The Poetics of Space. Translated from French. Moscow : ROSSPEN. (In Russian)

7. Naumov, D. F. (2011). Cow Chomoyor’s Daughter : Stories, Plays. Yakutsk: Bichik. (In Sakha)