Concept of the journalist in online-media and its reflection in the newest V. Pelevin's prose

Karpov Ernest Sergeevich ORCID: 0000-0002-8908-2705 PhD in Philology Associate Professor, Department of Journalism and Television Technologies, Kosygin Russian State University (Technologies. Design. Art) 115561, Russia, Moscow region, Moscow, Kashirskoe Shosse str., 132/1, sq. 46 calib_mr_stolz@rambler.ru Other publications by this author     Grabel'nikov Aleksandr Anatol'evich ORCID: 0000-0003-1415-8241 Doctor of History Professor, Department of Mass Communications, Faculty of Philology, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia named after V.I. Patrice Lumumba 117198, Russia, Moscow region, Moscow, Miklukho-Maklaya str., 6 grab@mail.ru Gegelova Natal'ya Sergeevna ORCID: 0000-0002-0043-7590 Doctor of Philology Professor, Department of Mass Communications, Faculty of Philology, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia named after V.I. Patrice Lumumba 117198, Russia, Moscow region, Moscow, Miklukho-Maklaya str., 6 mikhail0001@mail.ru

Murzina Ol'ga Viktorovna ORCID: 0000-0001-9134-5570 PhD in Pedagogy Associate Professor, Department of Journalism and Television Technologies, A.N. Kosygin Russian State University 119071, Russia, Moscow region, Moscow, Malaya Kaluzhskaya str., 1 murzina-ov@rguk.ru

 Introduction

The purpose of the study is to analyze the image of a journalist presented in a modern postmodern text.

At the moment, there are almost no scientific works devoted to the study of media discourse and its role in the artistic world of V. Pelevin, however, this issue seems to us relevant not only for modern literary studies, but also for research in the field of journalism.

The empirical material of the study was V. Pelevin's novels "The Sacred Book of the Werewolf" (2004) and "Empire V" (2006). The sample does not include the novel "Generation "P"", although quotes from the work are mentioned in the article, which is explained by a significant amount of research devoted to the analysis of the specifics of the introduction of journalism and PR into the literary text, while journalistic notes presented in the novel "The Sacred Book of the Werewolf" also deserve attention in connection with an accurate representation of the processes taking place in modern journalism.
We believe that the issue of the influence of information technologies on modern man, as well as the designation of the media space as a simulacrum of reality, are typical of Pelevin's text, and therefore we turn to the novel "Empire V", where the information space is mentioned, in particular, the influence of glamorous publications on the formation of the worldview of the layman, but journalistic texts are not presented. The structural-typological method and structural analysis were used. 

Research results

We are witnessing the process of transformation of modern journalism under the influence of online media in particular and the Internet as a means of instant transmission of a message in general, which is reflected in scientific discourse, as evidenced by numerous publications (for example, the textbook "Internet Journalism. Theoretical foundations" by A.A. Kalmykova and L.A. Kohanova, dissertation "Transformation of narrative techniques in multimedia journalistic projects" by D.G. Kochanova, etc.) and presentations at conferences.

Among the features of modern journalism are multimedia, cross-platform, orientation to multimedia storytelling, the importance of interactivity and data visualization is increasing ^[1]. However, despite the positive changes accompanying the process, researchers identify weaknesses. One of the key problems, as E. Yuan points out, is the question of the reliability of journalistic material ^{[2, p. 233]}. O. A. Gavrikova notes that the media nowadays are focused on entertainment content, as evidenced, in particular, by the dominant clickbait headline. The reason for such changes is the fierce competition for the attention of the audience and the change in the request of consumers of information ^[3], which is reflected in fiction, in particular, in the novels of V. Pelevin.

The writer accurately, albeit in an allegorical form, reflects the changes taking place in modern media and reveals their role in the perception of the world by the audience.  Pelevin accurately represents reality: for example, A.Y. Golovin in the article "Robot Journalism: the future that came earlier than scientists expected" mentions the novel "iPhuck 10", notes that "... the future that Pelevin describes" is a reality for us ^[4]: artificial intelligence that creates content for onlinemedia is already actively involved in the work of journalists.

As a joke (in which there is a large amount of truth), V. Pelevin's works are called a digest of the key events of the past year. The art form is secondary and is a way for the author to sum up, since, despite the attraction to hyperbolization and fantastic plots, the author touches on the most relevant, topical and acute events for readers, and also saturates the art world with recognizable cultural codes.

Reality becomes the material of artistic comprehension for Pelevin, which allows A.V. Dmitriev, the author of one of the first dissertations devoted to the work of V. Pelevin, to conclude that the characters face a new reality, the author's interpretation of events builds a "labyrinth of meanings" ^[5].

Pelevin compiles familiar plots, filling them with recognizable reminiscences for the reader ^{[6, p. 73]}. Often in the work the author combines real-life people, mythological heroes and fictional characters.

Before proceeding to the description of the research results, it is necessary to focus on the models of news production relevant to modern online media (we will talk about them further): N.O. Kolchina distinguishes narrative (make story) and semantic (make sense) models. The first involves non-emotional information about events that have occurred over a certain period (most often, a small one). Within the framework of the semantic model, the journalist gives events a certain connotation, embedding the fact in the context ^[7], thus including the audience in a certain discourse and creating a specific frame around the situation.

V. Pelevin, creating the artistic world of the novel in particular and the artistic universe in general, goes even further: journalistic activity develops within the framework of the semantic model of creating journalistic content, however, the information occasion is distorted, and its image no longer becomes the primary source that took place in reality, but a simulacrum of reality, and forms a special media space, the characteristics of which correspond to the features of the Pelevin chronotope identified by A.Yu. Melnikova: mosaic, eclectic, illusory, characterized by the conditionality of boundaries (often even formlessness) and the attraction to rhizomaticity, nonlinearity and specularity ^[8].

Let us proceed directly to the analysis of the influence of journalists as episodic characters of the work on the formation of the appearance of reality, presented in the artistic world of a postmodern work. Let's consider three publications included in the text of the novel "The Sacred Book of the Werewolf" and prove that the information space becomes a crooked mirror of reality. Pseudo-journalistic materials are written in the genre of soft news, are provided with headlines, and, if possible, real (in the context of the plot) facts are used. The main character finds all three materials on the Internet portal "rumors.ru" - the name allows you to call the site yellow press.

So, first, the author tells us about an accident that happened to the main character: during the session, a person dies because he sees her in the image of a werewolf. The next day, the heroine accidentally reads about the incident on the Internet:

A BUSINESSMAN FROM INDIA COMMITTED SUICIDE IN FRONT OF THE SECURITY SERVICE

The National Hotel in Moscow will soon become a high-risk zone in the public consciousness. Muscovites have not yet erased from memory the terrorist attack at its entrance [we are talking about the terrorist attack on December 9, 2003 - author's note.], and here is a new high-profile case: a forty-three-year-old businessman from the Indian state of Penjab committed suicide by throwing himself out of a fifth-floor window. So, in any case, according to two security guards who constantly work in this hotel. <...> It was established that shortly before the death of the businessman, a demimonde girl visited ^{[9, p. 46]}.

In the above text, we see the implementation of a semantic model: the author of the note brings the audience not only to a negative perception of the tragedy, but also of the hotel as a whole, combining unrelated events (suicide and terrorist attack) in a single communicative act. The euphemism "demimonde girl" is used.

Let's take another example. According to the plot of the novel, the sister of the main character kills her husband, as the main character learns from a note with the title "English aristocrat found dead in the cathedral of Christ the Savior." The text of the material is not given, but such speech cliches are mentioned, such as, for example, "frozen grimace of unspeakable horror" and expressive vocabulary, focused not on informing the audience about what happened, but entertainment and creating a certain connotation. Here the author's satire on journalists is more clearly visible – a favorite technique of V. Pelevin. The material does not reflect the reality in which the reader is immersed.  

Despite the fact that the notes are about a murder and it seems that the message about such events is not intended to entertain the reader, we are inclined to believe that such notes can be attributed to an infotainment.  E.E. Pronina writes about the "black chronicle", focused on entertaining the reader at the expense of frightening details and skillfully placed accents. Journalistic material is likened to a detective ^{[10, pp. 141-145]}.

The third example of describing the media as a crooked mirror is the material "A sick predator seeks refuge in Bitsevsky Park", which appeared after the main character was seen by residents during a chicken hunt [the essence of the hunt is that a werewolf fox steals a chicken in front of people, experiences shame, which becomes a catalyst for the final transformation: into in the novel, such a transformation is called "supraphysical"].

The reader looks at what is happening through the eyes of a participant in the events, a mythological character, while journalists explain what happened, finding rational arguments and building a different causal relationship. Thus, Pelevin recreates a text that does not correspond to reality, also representing the question of authenticity that we mentioned earlier.

The writer gives journalistic materials in a literary text the features of a "yellow" media text: thus, a sensation becomes the subject of discussion, the sources are not reliable, the author is subjective and uses expressive vocabulary in order to entertain the audience ^[11].

Concluding the review of the novel "The Sacred Book of the Werewolf" in the media discourse, we will give another example that vividly demonstrates Pelevin's negative attitude towards modern journalists. The main character learns from a news release about a terrorist act. The author pays special attention to the description of the journalist: "A correspondent standing on the lawn appeared on the screen – the wind ruffled his yellow hair, and a half-smile played on his face, like a reflection of some pleasant secret into which he was privy together with the viewer" ^{[9, p. 45]}, V. Pelevin calls the presence of negative topics in the issue "a good catch" ^{[9, p. 45]}. p. 45] for journalists.

Journalists create a media space, focusing on the needs of society ^[12], which can be called postmodern. Among the features of such a society, A.A. Radugin and E.M. Gurina note the following: the dominance of information as an inexhaustible renewable resource; hyperreality and hypertowar (reflections on the significance of the image of the product, not its functionality and usefulness, the gap between the signifier and the signified appear in the reflections of the heroes of Pelevin's works); simulation; globalization; commercialization ^[13]. The listed characteristics can also be seen in the subject of interest to us.

As A.A. Suitcase writes, information becomes a product of consumption, and in this context it is appropriate to call the reader/viewer a "consumer". The journalist forms an understandable picture of the world for the audience ^{[14, p. 25]}, which, according to the plot, runs counter to real events, in connection with which we use the term "simulacrum" in the article in relation to the media space.

Next, let's turn to the novel "Empire V", in which, as part of the course of a young vampire, the main character Rama gets acquainted with such concepts as "discourse" and "glamour". Glamorous magazines reflect reality in a crooked mirror, offering the reader a simulacrum of reality. Such media become a method of modeling reality.

One of the Chaldeans [people who serve vampires], the head of the discourse, expresses an important thought for this article: "Black Noise is the sum of all varieties of discourse. In other words, this is white noise, all the components of which are thought out and paid for. An arbitrary and random set of signals, in each of which there is nothing random and arbitrary. This is the name of the information environment surrounding modern man. <...> The purpose of Black Noise is not direct deception, but rather the creation of such an informational background that makes it impossible to accidentally understand the truth" ^{[16, p. 276]}.

G.A. Brandt notes that glamour in the work is a kind of limited field presented for human activity: "The view of glamour as a kind of field, a frame, a way of ordering reality, finally, as a barbed wire that does not allow human thought to take a step aside ..." ^{[15, p. 132]}. The author, exploring glamour in Pelevin's perception, reveals such characteristic features as the cult of the surface, the dominance of the visual over the semantic content (the desire to "look" rather than "be") and calls reality a simulacrum.

Concluding the review of V. Pelevin's work in the context of online media and their reflection in the literary text, it is appropriate to recall the analysis of the story "The Zenith Codes of Al-Efesbi" and the novel "S.N.U.F.F." by A.L. Bobyleva. The author points out that the understanding of manipulative media technologies is also present in these works. The literary critic calls the reflection and reflection of what is happening on the agenda media reality. A.L. Bobyleva comes to the conclusion that both works "sound like a warning" ^{[17, p. 446]}.

The author definitely speaks negatively about the work of journalists in other works (for example, in the novel "Generation P" the following idea is expressed: "Nowadays people learn about what they think on TV" ^{[18, p. 219]}, "... reality is the material world that is shown on TV" ^{[18, p. 98]}. proving that journalism has the prerogative to interpret reality), additionally endowing them with the ability to create collective illusions, however, the examples given are sufficient to form an idea of the role of journalists in V. Pelevin's work.   

Conclusion

So, the article presents an overview analysis of the representation of the image of a media journalist and the functions of online journalism in the works of V. Pelevin. Working within the framework of the semantic model of news production, journalists go even further: they do not create meanings by superimposing them on a real event, they construct a simulacrum of the event by superimposing certain connotations on it.  

A distinctive feature of V. Pelevin's work is an appeal to the comic, the author tends to the grotesque, hypertrophiing and distorting the features of modern online journalism, which can be traced in the examples given in the article. Despite the fact that journalists appear to readers almost in a demonic guise, it is this style of narration that makes the reader wonder: "... isn't this nonsense about our world?" ^{[19, p. 94]}.

The considered examples showed the conceptual transformation of the image of a journalist and the new functions of media texts in the reflection of a work of art. The development of the Internet and technologies lead to the transformation of not only the functions of journalism, but also a change in the conceptual model of a journalist. New genres and forms are emerging, mediated by the influence of youth journalism. V. Pelevin sees emerging trends, often predicting them, and acts as a mirror that reflects the processes taking place in youth journalism and new media.