The Path to Happiness in the “Caucasian” Megatext of Russian Literature (On the Material of A. P. Chekhov’s Short Story “Duel”)

Abstract

The article focuses on felicitous concepts (interpretations of the essence of happiness and the ways to achieve it) that have taken place in the “caucasian” megatext of Russian literature and have shaped the felicitous paradigm. Several works (“Prisoner of the Caucasus” by A. S. Pushkin, “The Hero of Our Time” by M. Yu. Lermontov, “The Cossacks” by L. N. Tolstoy, “Duel” by A. P. Chekhov) are considered as a polytextual complex of palimpsest type, which reflects the system of characters, complexes of motifs and other essential features of previous texts against the background of the common mythopoetic nature. The article examines the role of the Caucasus as a locus, which has the nature of the “other world,” in the creation of felicitous myths. The semantic presupposition of the Caucasus allows to update the corresponding felicitous meta-plot by including the Caucasus locus in the text. The article considers A. P. Chekhov’s short story “Duel” in the context of the felicitous paradigm, formed on “caucasian” substrate. Summing up the results, it can be concluded that the felicitous paradigm in the “Duel” is transformed, so that the search for happiness coincides with the search for “another self.”

Keywords

• felicitous myth
• felicitous paradigm
• caucasian text
• caucasian megatext
• divided self
• a. s. pushkin
• m. yu. lermontov
• l. n. tolstoy
• a. p. chekhov