ARTISTIC STRATEGIES
For two millennia, the Old Testament Book of Jonah is a part of the world literary process.
The article is devoted to an identification of artistic strategies of this biblical fragment that has
grown in works of writers of following centuries. The text of the Book consists of two parts –
a fabulous «sea» part and a conditionally historical «Nineveh» part. This allows us to see in it
blending of two independent plots with a common hero. The strategically significant feature of
this literary monument is its unusual semantic capacity. This concise text is rich in wordplay, it
full of ambiguous details, characters’ actions in the book are mysterious and may allow for different
interpretations. The Book is open-ended, because of that we can only make various conjectures
about the further fate of the prophet Jonah. A one more peculiarity of the literary monument
is an ambiguity of the title character, which is strange for the prophetic book. In addition, three
degrees of generalization are permissible in interpreting of his image: prophet Jonah as concrete
personality, prophet Jonah as personification of certain traits of the Peculiar People, and as «man
in general». The naive shell of the «old tale of the Prophet and the whale» is filled with profound
meaning by means of author’s rethinking of some archaic plots (for example, a story about a journey
to the Realm of Death). The «sea» part of the Book left a deep trace in the world culture –
one of the first experiences of marine literature, and its main characters – the poet-prophet and the
Monster-Marvel Whale. The genealogy and evolution of perception of this mysterious being are
outlined, and are more apprehensible for the mythologist, than for the naturalist. As our ecological
consciousness develops, the importance of another theme of the Book increases – Creator’s love
for His creations. Mentioned strategies have defined the multi-level impact of this literary monument
on various literary phenomena – from monuments of medieval hagiography and liturgical poetry to modern «meta-roman», from novella-parable and lyric poem to children's fairy tale and
humoresque. Author's observations are illustrated with literary examples. From the Russian writers
in that regard are mentioned A. S. Pushkin, N. S. Leskov, A. P. Chekhov, I. A. Bunin,
K. I. Chukovsky, Sasha Chorny, M. Uspensky, A. Kim, and other authors.
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