Два века русской классики (Sep 2020)
The sketch “A Literary Evening” in the context of the creative work of Ivan Goncharov of the 1870s
Abstract
The article analyses the only work about post-reform Russia by Ivan Goncharov, the sketch “A Literary Evening”. Using the material of a series of critical articles of Ivan Goncharov’s contemporaries as well as a number of works by literary critics of the 20th and the 21st centuries, the author proves that the problem of connection of this sketch with the writer’s creative work of the 1870s has not been researched and the image of one of the leading characters, the “vaudeville” figure of Kryakov, who earned particular attention of Nikolay Mikhaylovsky and some of the contemporaries of writer Ivan Goncharov, has not been studied in the science. The comparative analysis shows the connection of Kryakov’s image with that of Alexandr Chatsky, the latter being specifically interpreted by Ivan Goncharov in the article “Myriad of Agonies”. The article also analyses the affinity of Kryakov and Mark Volokhov, a nihilist, viewing the common devices of creation of these characters. For the first time the author of the article analyses the artistic structure of the sketch from the point of view of using both dramatic and comic devices. Analysing the image of the opponent of Kryakov, old Dmitriy Cheshnev, whose prototype is considered to be Fyodor Tyutchev, the author of the article proves that this character becomes the voice of Ivan Goncharov himself necessary to tell directly the progressive social, political, moral and aesthetic position of the writer in the 1870s. The images of Dmitriy Cheshnev and Kryakov are viewed as the personification of “fathers” and “sons”, whose conciliation is symbolic — it reflects Ivan Goncharov’s thought of the necessity of nation unity on the path of the great reforms, which were being held by Alexander II of Russia at that time.
Keywords
