| Structural aspects of communication have captivated linguists for quite a long time. Setting aside the philosophical questions of communication, they have tried to explain how people technically communicate. One of results of this line of inquiry, the concept of precedent phenomena, is under discussion in this paper. Russian linguists have coined this term to refer to instances when people use words and expressions which allude to various artifacts of their own or foreign culture (mainly literary works, folklore, films, radio or picture transmissions and art). Precedent phenomena are a wide and complex question, and several groups of Russian scholars are known for their work on this concept. This paper will address only few aspects of precedent phenomena functioning in literary works.;In this paper I hope to demonstrate how precedent phenomena analysis may help elucidate the inner mechanism of a literary text. The object of analysis in this paper is Demons, a novel written by Fyodor Dostoevsky. The novel takes place in a provincial Russian town, mainly in the estate of Varvara Petrovna Stavrogin, a widow who has lived for 20 years with a friend of hers and tutor for her son, Stepan Trofimovich Verkhovensky. Stepan Trofimovich's son, Pyotr Verkhovensky, comes to the town to organize a knot of revolutionaries. He considers Varvara Petrovna's son, Nikolai Stavrogin as a potential leader for his revolution. He also gathers such radical-thinkers as philosopher Shigalev, suicidal Kirillov, Virginsky and Lyamshin. He plans to "glue" them all together by murdering Ivan Shatov, another conspirator. Verkhovensky schemes to use Kirillov who is committed to killing himself to take credit for the murder. Kirillov agrees to write about it in his suicide note, and Verkhovensky kills Shatov. However, his plan falls apart. He manages to escape, but the rest of his gang is arrested. In the end of the novel Stavrogin kills himself tortured by his own crimes.;Because of the censorship the first publication of Demons did not include the chapter that is known nowadays as "At Tikhon's". However, this chapter plays a significant role for the structure of Demons, and in this paper, it will be treated as an integral part of the novel.;Demons is a "classic" in the sense that it transcends its place and time; readers find the book relevant regardless of the country of their origin and the time they live in. Russians referred to the book during the events of 1905 Revolution, the Revolution of 1917, the collapse of Soviet Union, and even now, in Russian contemporary newspapers, one may find articles where Demons are used to characterize Putin's opposition.;By analyzing various ways of precedent phenomena functioning in this particular book, I hope to demonstrate the importance and complexity of cultural reference in a literary work and in particular, the role of precedent phenomena in differentiating and mediating two levels of communication: character-character and author-reader. In addition, I hope to show that the concept of precedent phenomena might be useful for anyone interested in literary text analysis. Seeing the text from the perspective of culturally specific language units may open a new view on the work in general. |
