Abstract
This article examines the multi level semantics of the spider archetype that permeates the plot, figurative, and oneiric fabric of Yulia Gornoskul’s work «The Carpathian Dream Book». It is shown how the collecting of tarantulas, the mating dances of spiders, and the ritual of consuming the male model gender relations and the archetype of the Terrible Mother. The protagonist Andrzej’s central dream about the «spider’s digestive system» is interpreted in line with the initiation theories of J. Frazer, V. Ya. Propp, and M. Eliade. The dual functioning of the web – as a creative bond of fate and as a destructive net of the devil – is analyzed. The theoretical framework of this work is based on A. Meneghetti’s ontopsychology, Jungian archetypal criticism and contemporary studies of the Arachne archetype. The death of the female spider Agartha in the finale is interpreted as a rupture of the «threads» of the collective unconscious, leading to the disintegration of the artistic space.
Keywords
Yulia Gornoskul, «Carpathian Dream Book», spider archetype, ontopsychology, initiation, collective unconscious, magical realism, Arachne.