“Lermontov’s philosophical novel”: I. I. Vinogradov’s article in context of literature studies and literary criticism of the 1960s — 1980s

Abstract

This article deals with the paper Lermontov’s Philosophical Novel by I. I. Vinogradov (1930–2015). This paper, which has a history longer than half a century — due to three reissues (1964, 1987, 2005), — came to be innovative both in the study of Lermontov, and in literary criticism. In the context of development of literature studies, this work was pioneering, because the philosophical element in Lermontov’s texts was discussed by scholars solely on the material of longer poems or lyrical poems, if at all. It is established that the infl uence of Vinogradov’s paper is divided into the three directions, i.e. the impact on the activity and world outlook of the critic himself, emergence of a whole range of studies analysing Lermontov’s metaphysics, revival on the Russian soil of the philosophical method in literary criticism. Publication of the article on the philosophical novel in the mid-1960s was in accordance with the zeitgeist, which is particularly evidenced by the use of the Aesopian language. Having defined the genre of the novel A Hero of Our Time as philosophical, Vinogradov hinted that collisions of the previous century well relate to the current time. The underlying objective of the critic was to identify in the novel of the 19th century such experience that would be spiritually signifi cant for people of the 20th century. My study draws the conclusion that the paper in question is not limited to the scientifi c, critical and literary components, because the text, literary in its essence, is adjacent to philosophical. The article of 1964 demonstrates revitalising of the philosophical or, speaking more strictly, of the religious-philosophical direction in literary criticism.

Keywords

• и. и. виноградов
• м. ю. лермонтов
• литературная критика
• философское направление