Гончаров в роли Островского: Эстетическая теория и литературная автобиография в Материалах, заготовляемых для критической статьи об Островском

Abstract

This paper analyzes an unfinished article by Ivan Goncharov known under the title Materials Prepared for a Critical Article about Ostrovskii. I argue that the content of the article has practically nothing to do with the works of Aleksander Ostrovskii. In fact, Goncharov sought to construct a narrative about his own life and work and to protect them from the harsh criticism that appeared after the publication of his last novel, The Precipice. The paradoxical structure of Goncharov’s article is explained by his aesthetic views, which demanded a perfect objectivity from the writer and were hardly compatible with the growing role of memoirs in Russian literature in the 1870s.

Keywords

• nineteenth-century russian literature
• ivan goncharov
• aleksander ostrovskii
• literary criticism
• autobiography