Alcibiades’ green dog: On a certain cultural motif

Abstract

The article examines the motif of the “green dog” in literature, art and urban folklore, primarily Russian. It represents one of the variations of a broader motif involving an unusual green color. The main focus is on living beings painted in a green color that is unnatural to them, as well as metaphors and idioms that feature such entities. The general meaning of this motif is unusualness or unnaturalness. In a broader semantic range, it can signify impossibility, absurdity, strangeness, mystery, unreality, infernal qualities, or decadence. Green coloration often serves to shock, to attract attention, or to distract from something more important. The plots and examples discussed in the article include Alcibiades’s green dog in Mikhail Kuzmin’s play The Death of Nero; idioms containing the phrase “green dog” in various languages; green dogs in contemporary jokes; the “green dog method” in artists’ and designers’ folklore; and the green dog as a symbol of avant-garde art. In a number of cases, the green dog acts as a metaphor for otherness, the alienation from society of a creature that is not like others. In the 21st century, the green dog motif is increasingly found in Russian-language “grassroots” poetry and prose and is increasingly used as a brand.