Metagame. Awakening  by D. Sugralinov: Laughing Word and Its Functions

Annel T. Baktybayeva

doi:10.22162/2619-0990-2025-82-6-1341-1351

Metagame. Awakening by D. Sugralinov: Laughing Word and Its Functions

Annel T. Baktybayeva

https://doi.org/10.22162/2619-0990-2025-82-6-1341-1351

Full Text:

PDF (Rus)

Generate QR code

Abstract

Goals. With due regard of the existing worldview and aesthetic theories, the article examines D. Sugralinov’s Metagame. Awakening for an analysis into its laughing word and the latter’s functions at various levels. In Kazakhstani literary and academic discourse, the article is first to comprehensively analyze functions of laughing word in a narrative by a modern Kazakhstani author. Methods. The comparative historical, typological, sociocultural methods and that of holistic analysis have proved instrumental in revealing sources for the emergence of laughing word’s motif, determining its character (whether constant or episodic), identifying its aesthetic and semantic functions in fiction text structures. Results. The paper examines laughing word as integral to the theory of laughter culture rooted in M. Bakhtin’s studies, and understands the former as a universal means of artistic modeling of reality. This is a complicated artistic and aesthetic pattern that includes such techniques of expressing the comic as irony, mockery, smiles, giggles, etc. The philological analysis has revealed that, firstly, laughing word in the literary text acts not simply as a comic element but also as a universal means of shaping the protagonist and author’s world image, expressing features inherent to playful and ironic consciousness of an individual in the digital age. Secondly, the forms of laughing word’s manifestation — smiles, irony, sarcasm and mockery — prove elements that fulfill portraying, landscape, speech and psychological functions. Thirdly, laughing word reveals the inner world of the protagonist — Matvey Kolesnikov, a nineteen-year-old boy who has until recently suffered from cerebral palsy. So, his self-irony and critical perceptions of reality reflect the specific nature of his lateral thinking. In D. Sugralinov’s novel, laughing word takes carnival-like, festive forms. It shapes a unique world image in which the comic is not always funny but rather becomes a means of philosophical understanding of life.

Keywords

LitRPG novel, laughing word, comic, seriousness

About the Author

Annel T. Baktybayeva

Kazakh American University (28, Ryskulbekov St., 050036 Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan) Ogarev National Research Mordovia State University (68/1, Bolshevistskaya St., 430005 Saransk, Russian Federation)
Kazakhstan

Cand. Sc. (Philology), Associate Professor

References

1. Sugralinov D. Metagame. Awakening. Moscow: T8RUGRAM, 2020. 256 p. (In Russ.)

2. Arkhangelsky A. The Butterfly Effect. Moscow: Izdatelskie Resheniya. 2015. 120 p. (In Russ.)

3. Asanina M. Yu. The Laughing Word of William C. Faulkner, Mid-1920s to Early 1930s: Analyzing Writings of the Yoknapatawpha Cycle. Cand. Sc. (philology) thesis abstract. Nizhny Novgorod, 2004. 24 p. (In Russ.)

4. Bakhtin M. M. Rabelais and His World. Moscow: Khudozhestvennaya Literatura, 1965. 545 p. (In Russ.)

5. Вakhtin M. M. Freudianism // Bakhtin M. M. Problems of Dostoevsky’s Poetics. Moscow: Sovetskii Pisatel’, 1973. Pp. 84–126. (In Russ.)

6. Вakhtin M. M. The Formal Method in Literary Scholarship and Aesthetics // Voloshin V. N. (Bakhtin M. M.). Marxism and the Philosophy of Language. Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1986. Pp. 31–79. (In Russ.)

7. Bibikhin V. Word and Its Inner Form. St. Petersburg: Nauka, 2008. 420 p. (In Russ.)

8. Wittgenstein L. Philosophical Investigations. In: The New in Foreign Linguistics. Vol. 16: Linguistic Pragmatics. Moscow: Progress, 1985. Pp. 79–97. (In Russ.)

9. Voloshinov V. N. Marxism and Philosophy of Language. In: Voloshin V. N. (Bakhtin M. M.). Marxism and Philosophy of Language. Moscow: Labirint, 2000. Pp. 349–486. (In Russ.)

10. Gasparov M. L. Bakhtin in twentieth-century Russian culture. In: Secondary Modelling Systems. Tartu, 1979. Pp. 111–114. (In Russ.)

11. Gachev G. D. National Images of the World. Eurasia — the Universe of Nomad, Farmer, and Highlander. Moscow: Institut DI-DIK, 1999. 368 p. (In Russ.)

12. Gudkova S. P. Major Genre Forms in Russian Poetry, Mid-1980s – 2000s. Dr. Sc. (philology) thesis abstract. Saransk, 2011. 41 p. (In Russ.)

13. Dubrovskaya D. A. Laughter and ‘laughing word’ in N. Gogol’s creative consciousness. In: The Gogol Collection. Vol. 3 (5). St. Petersburg, Samara: Volga State Academy for Social Sciences and the Humanities, 2009. Pp. 8–17. (In Russ.)

14. Dubrovskaya D. A. “Laughter discourse” in A. S. Pushkin’s novel “The Captain’s Daughter”. The Humanities and Education. 2012. No. 3(11). Pp. 79–82. (In Russ.)

15. Ilyin I. P. Poststructuralism. Deconstructivism. Postmodernism. Moscow: Intrada, 1996. 255 p. (In Russ.)

16. Kirzhaeva V. P. Hybrid construction. In: Mikhail M. Bakhtin in Saransk. Documents, materials, studies. Vols. 2–3. Saransk: Respublikanskaya Tipografiya, 2006. Pp. 141–142. (In Russ.)

17. Kirzhaeva V. P. Linguistic issues in M. Bakhtin’s books, articles and sketches. In: Mikhail M. Bakhtin in Saransk. Documents, materials, studies. Vols. 1. Saransk: Respublikanskaya Tipografiya, 2006. Pp. 36–55. (In Russ.)

18. Kozhinov V. V. Reflections on Russian Literature. Moscow: Sovremennik, 1991. 525 p. (In Russ.)

19. Kravtsova Yu. V. Modelling in metaphorology. Kul'tura narodov Prichernomor'ya. 2009. Vol. 1. No. 168. Pp. 396–398. (In Russ.)

20. Kreidlin G. E. Non-Verbal Semiotics. Body Language and Natural Language. Moscow: NLO, 2002. 581 p. (In Russ.)

21. Kukulin I. V. Evolution of Author-Text Interaction in Works of Daniil I. Kharms. Cand. Sc. (philology) thesis abstract. Moscow, 1997. 22 p. (In Russ.)

22. Leiderman N. L. Theory of Genre. Yekaterinburg: Ural State Pedagogical University, 2010. 904 p. (In Russ.)

23. Lotman Yu. M., Uspensky B. A. Culture of Ancient Rus: New research aspects. Voprosy Literatury. 1977. No. 3. Pp. 148–167. (In Russ.)

24. Obukhova I. A. ‘Laughing word’ in early short stories of Panteleimon Romanov. In: The Comic in Twentieth-Century Russian Literature. Conference proceedings (Moscow, 13–15 November 2012). Moscow: Institute of World Literature (RAS), 2012. Pр. 160–165. (In Russ.)

25. Osovsky O. E. ‘Laughing word’ in terminological contexts of M. Bakhtin’s manuscript on Rabelais. In: Actual Theory — Crisis of Historicism? Conference proceedings (Moscow, 27–28 October 2011; New Russian Humanities Research 6). Moscow, 2011. On: New Russian Humanities Research (journal website). Available at: http://www.nrgumis.ru/articles/262/ (accessed: 23 April 2025). (In Russ.)

26. Osovskii O. E., Dubrovskaya S. A. Developing of conception of ‘risorial word’ in the works of M. M. Bakhtin of the 1930s–1960s. Philology. Theory & Practice. 2014. No. 4(34). In 3 pts. Pt. 1. Pp. 163–167. (In Russ.)

27. Plotnikova S. N. Conceptual standard of fantasy. In: Speech Genres. Collected papers. Vol. 4: Genre and Concept. Saratov, 2005. Pp. 262–272. (In Russ.)

28. Smirnov A. S. Romantic Irony in Early-to-Mid Nineteenth Century Russian Literature and N. Gogol’s Works. Grodno: State University of Grodno, 2004. 134 p. (In Russ.)

29. Tyupa V. I. Gogol’s place in the history of Russian Satire. In: Gogol as a Phenomenon of World Literature. Conference proceedings. Moscow: Institute of World Literature (RAS), 2003. Pp. 73–78. (In Russ.)

30. Fedoseeva E. A. Book Forms of the Mordovian Heroic Epic: Emergence and Evolution. Dr. Sc. (philology) thesis. Saransk, 2007. 444 p. (In Russ.)

31. Hansen-Löve A. A. Prospects of Russian formalism: Logocentrism yesterday and today. In: The Era of ‘Alienation’. Russian Formalism and the Contemporary Humanities. Moscow: NLO, 2017. Pp. 18–35. (In Russ.)

32. Tsivyan T. V. Semiotic Travels. St. Petersburg: I. Limbakh, 2001. 248 p. (In Russ.)

33. Epstein M. Postmodernism in Russia: Literature and Theory. Moscow: R. Elinin Publishing House, 2000. 368 p. (In Russ.)

34. Bhabha H. K. The Location of Culture. London: Routledge,1994. 440 р. (In Eng.)

35. Eco U. The Open Work. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989. 285 р. (In Eng.)

Review

For citations:

Baktybayeva A. Metagame. Awakening by D. Sugralinov: Laughing Word and Its Functions. Oriental Studies. 2025;18(6):1341-1351. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22162/2619-0990-2025-82-6-1341-1351

JATS XML