Twentieth-Century Russian Literature. Selected Papers from the ...

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own tale, relatively independent from the surface narration. Starting with the deaths of the
parents, the thread of the LC advances through the love peripeteia up to the death and the
resurrection of the heroes.
Rhythmical composition suggests its own logic, alternative to the notoriously deficient logic
of the surface plot. In the above presentation of motivic groups, we have already met with some
instances of this structural logic. Let us discuss more examples of the explanatory force of the
LC.
In Part VI, Yurii coincidentally becomes a witness to a hideous scandal and an official
interrogation in the Brestskaya house. In the framework of the LC, it is clear, why precisely this
time is chosen for Yurii's visit. The next event of the same motivic group is the interrogation of
Yurii himself in Strel'nikov's train. Taken together, the two events form a complete picture of the
new society.
In another case, the LC can help one grasp why, during the ceasefire at the front, Yurii does
not recognize Lara, and Galiullin does not recognize his dying father. This contact has to be
unconscious, because the preceding event on the LC is Lara's shot, a strong event which requires
a weaker echo.
Many reasons offered by the surface story may be reconsidered, as, for instance, the
motivation of the Zhivagos' journey to the Urals. On the surface, Yurii yields to Tonya's will, but
the logic of composition suggests another reason. It is Lara's magic – or, more precisely, their
mutual vows taken at the candle – to which Yurii unknowingly succumbs after she reemerges
from the house on Brestskaya Street. From that house, he is transported to where she was,
stopping on the way at the current dwelling of her husband.
Why did Yurii have to move to Antipov's room in Kamergersky street, and why, after his
death, was his body laid there? These events are justified by the fact that Antipov dies at the
threshold of the Varykino house. The deaths of the two heroes are inseparable; after Antipov
shoots himself, Yurii has to die, choosing the room of his antagonist for his last earthly abode,
and tightening the knot of three lives.
Of the five participants of the LC, three die, while two (Tonya and Komarovskii) apparently
stay alive. The composition hints at the structural interdependence of their five fates, and the
inner circle of three of them. In the fateful inner circle, three deaths occur, one in the Urals, and
two in Moscow. The first is the death of Antipov, who takes his own life; the second, Yurii's