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Allegorical Images in The Gray House by Mariam Petrosyan

This article discusses the strategies of visual representation and the status of visual images in Mariam Petrosyan's novel The Gray House, originally published in Russian as The House in Which... The novel is an excellent example of magical realism in contemporary literature. Dispersed throughout the text, visual images have an important role in understanding the fictional world. The characters of the novel sketch animals or fantastic creatures, which become their signatures. The pattern is similar to that of a magical ritual. These drawings and graffiti help the characters to communicate with the mystical House, where they all live. The drawings represent someone or something, while being themselves the subject of representation, which complicates the structure of the novel and requires readers’ reflection. The allegorical nature of the drawings creates the semantic continuity of the House because the characters share the same way of self-expression. The images created by Smoker are special because this character belongs to the House only partially. Smoker’s drawings clearly demonstrate his alienness in the world of the House, but they provide a metaphorical understanding of the House and offer its artistic interpretation. They serve as an alternative key to deciphering the mystical nature of the space. Smoker’s drawings reveal the concept of time distorted by the House