Cultural memory in P. Malakshinov's novel "Alar-gol"

A historical-anthropological approach to the analysis of the Buryat literature of the Soviet period coincides with the gender specifics of the prose of a larger format. The novel «Alar-Gol» of the Buryat writer P. Malakshinov is one of the significant works of the national literature. Though it has some elements of social realism it is some kind of tribute to time. The main focus of the writer was the real life of the Buryat village on the eve of the Great October Revolution of 1917. He tried to arouse a vivid memory of the past and he managed to do it. P. Malakshinov convincingly recreated the Buryat people national reality, their environment including nature and the object matter world. The landscape is the means of space concretization reflecting the idea of continuity of generations and the characters’ inner world. Moreover, it is something transcendental. The peasants’ labor and everyday life, their behavior, traditions, and rituals are the codes of cultural memory. Thanks to the attention to a person, his/her actual problems and comprehending the fundamentals of life, the landscape and everyday life details are portrayed with warm feelings and seem up-to-date.