Mythologization of Chelyabinsk in Janis Grants's poetry

This article discusses the main ways of mythologizing Chelyabinsk in the poetry of the modern South Ural author Janis Grants. The comprehension of spatial structures in the poetry of J. Grants is closely connected with local myth and autobiographical myth. The purpose of spatial mythologization is the comprehension of the locus, its «settlement» and sacralization. The local Chelyabinsk myth in the poetry of Janis Grants is closely connected with the author’s identity and the geobiographies of his fellow countrymen. The author often uses the figures of real modern Ural poets (S. Areshin, D. Masharygin, E. Obolikshta, etc.) as lyrical subjects, thereby deepening the structure of the myth in his works, making them more realistic, playing with the authenticity of the statement. The life-creating intentions of Janis Grants, expressed in the playful mythologization of his past and the twin literary behavior, largely correlate with the tradition of the Oberiuts. The appeal of Janis Grants to absurdity is an important feature of the author’s poetics. The use of absurdist techniques and methods of constructing the text serves as the basis for the mythologization of Chelyabinsk and the image of the city as unreal, absurd. With the help of absurdist techniques and aesthetics, Janis Grants demonstrates the dual and contradictory nature of the locus, the non-existence and chaos of the Chelyabinsk space.