| Title of the article: |
The question of genres and poetics in «The month of May in Petersburg» by I. A. Goncharov |
| Author(s): |
MELNIK V. I. |
| Section: |
Philology |
| Year: |
2016 |
| Issue: |
№ 1 (39) |
| Pages: |
93-104 |
| Index UDK: |
821.161.1 |
| Index BBK: |
83.3(2Рос=Рус)1-8 Гончаров И. А. |
| Abstract: |
The paper studies the questions of genre and poetics in one of the late works by I. A. Goncharov «The month of May in Petersburg». It discusses the question of the genre of the work and its relation to the poetics of the «natural school». A deep ethical-philosophical thought, which was in the basis of Goncharov's novels, lie behind the everyday plot. It comes to the solution of the question of the meaning of life in religious terms. Composition and other components of the poetics help us to determine the genre of the work not only as an essay, but also as a short story. The meaning of the poetics of time, event repetitions, and the change of the image scale: from household items to space height. «The month of May in Petersburg» is not an essay sketch, but a story about the meaning and the price of human existence on the background of eternity. It is a certain result of Goncharov’s reflection about life. The paper discusses certain parallels with Leo Tolstoy, Anton Chekhov and examines the place of later novels («The month of May in Petersburg», «Fish soup», «Vicissitudes of life») by Goncharov as a special phase of his work. |
| Keywords: |
I. A. Goncharov, genre, essay, short story, poetics, the meaning of life |
| Bibliography: |
1 Goncharov I. A. Mai mesiats v Peterburge: Ocherk: (Posmertnoe proizvedenie) [The Month of May in Petersburg: Essay: (Posthumous work)]. Sb. «Nivy» [Coll. «Niva»]. St. Petersburg, 1892, no 2, pp. 259–276. Ocherk opublikovan s tsenzurnymi iz"iatiiami [The essay is published with censorship exemptions]. 2 Goncharov I. A. Sobr. soch.: v 8 t. [Collected works in 8 vol.] Moscow, Goslitizdat Publ., 1952–1955. 3 Goncharov I. A. Sobr. soch.: v 8 t. [Collected works in 8 vol.] Moscow, Khudozh. lit. Publ., 1978–1980. 4 Likhachev D. S. Poetika drevnerusskoi literatury [The Poetics of Old Russian literature]. Izd. 3-e. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1979. 360 p. 5 Nedzvetskii V. A. Goncharov-ocherkist [Goncharov, essayist]. Goncharov I. A. Sobr. soch.: v 8 t. [Collected works in 8 vol.] Moscow, Khudozh. lit. Publ., 1978–1980, vol. 7, pp. 413–429. 6 Serdiukova O. I. Oblomov i Pshenitsyna: strukturnyi parallelizm prezentatsii geroev [Oblomov and Pshenitsyna: structural parallelism in characters presentation]. 104 I. A. Goncharov (Materialy mezhdunarodnoi konferentsii, posviashchennoi 195-letiiu so dnia rozhdeniia I. A. Goncharova) [Ivan Goncharov (Proceedings of the international conference dedicated to the 195th anniversary of Ivan Goncharov)]. Ul'ianovsk, «Nikadizain» Publ., 2008. 7 Engel'gardt B. M. /Predislovie/ [Preface]. Goncharov I. A. Povesti i ocherki [Stories and essays]. Lenibgrad, Gos. izd-vo khudozh. lit. Publ., 1937, pp. 321–322. 8 Wolfgang Kasack. Ein Meister auch der kleinen Form. Ivan Goncarovs Erzahlung. Ein Mai in Petersburg // I. A. Goncarov. Beitrage zu Werk und Wirkung. Bohlau, Verlag, Koln, Wien. 1989, pp. 71–77. Hg. von Peter Thiergen. |
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