UDC

821.161.1.09

Authors

Emiliya Ya. Fesenko
Severodvinsk Branch (Arkhangelsk Region) of Northern (Arctic) Federal University named after M.V. Lomonosov; ul. Karla Marksa 36, Severodvinsk, 164500, Arkhangel’skaya obl., Russian Federation;
e-mail: emily0509@yandex.ru

Abstract

This paper is devoted to the unique Russian literary process that took place in the early 20th century, with its urge to transform classical artistic methods and upgrade literary techniques, and, in particular, with Maxim Gorky’s aspiration to “depict extraordinary people” that are in some ways similar to the Nietzschean hero. The article turns to one of the most important problems of poetics of a literary work, i.e. the concept of a hero, and analyses Maxim Gorky’s writings of different genres: early romantic stories of the 1900s, the socio-philosophical play The Lower Depths (1901–1902), and the story Mother (1906). The paper studies the dual nature of Maxim Gorky’s personality (his “face” and “mask”) and his attitude to the problem of duality representing human “variegation”. In addition, the article provides various, at times contrary, interpretations of Gorky’s heroes by philosophers, Russian émigré critics and Russian researchers. Maxim Gorky’s romantic philosophy is introduced in a new type of hero, a kind of Nietzschean Superman with his tragic combination of pride and despair. The study reveals the philosophical problem of Gorky’s idea of “ultimate freedom” of a tramp hero with his existential longing and craving for freedom, as well as the solution to the “Dostoevsky question” about the “license to shed blood according to one’s conscience” in Mother. Further, a new type of hero is described, who was the forerunner of the hero of socialist realist literature in Soviet Russia. In addition, the paper presents the views of various researchers on the realism of Maxim Gorky’s works, “softened by romanticism”, on the “false freedom” of his tramps and the futility of their rebellion, as well as on the ethical maximalism and duality of Gorky’s humanism.

Keywords

Maxim Gorky, concept of a hero, romantic philosophy, romantic hero, Nietzschean hero, duality

References

1. Spiridonova L.M. M. Gor’kiy: Novyy vzglyad [Maxim Gorky: A New View]. St. Petersburg, 2004. 264 p.
2. Kolobaeva L. Gor’kiy i Nitsshe [Gorky and Nietzsche]. Voprosy literatury, 1990, no. 10, pp. 162–173.
3. Golubkov M.M. Maksim Gor’kiy [Maxim Gorky]. Moscow, 2000. 94 p.
4. Leshchev S.V. Metafizika i metaforika Nitsshe v uchebno-metodicheskom predstavlenii [Nietzsche’s Metaphysics and Metaphorics from the Educational and Methodological Point of View]. Trudy nauchnoy sessii NIYaU MIFI-2010 [Proc. Sci. Sess. Nat. Res. Nucl. Univ. MEPhI]. Moscow, 2010, pp. 225–228.
5. Basinskiy P.V. Maksim Gor’kiy [Maxim Gorky]. Russkaya literatura rubezha vekov (1890-e – nachalo 1920-kh godov) [Russian Literature at the Turn of the Century (1890s – Early 1920s)]. Book 1. Moscow, 2000, pp. 505–539.
6. Vorovskiy V. O Gor’kom [About Gorky]. Stat’i o russkoy literature [Articles on Russian Literature]. Moscow, 1986.
7. Marchenko T.V. Pochemu Maksimu Gor’komu ne dali Nobelevskuyu premiyu: (po materialam arkhiva Shvedskoy akademii) [Why Maxim Gorky Was Never Awarded a Nobel Prize: (Based on the Materials of the Swedish Academy)]. Izvestiya Akademicheskikh nauk. Ser. literatury i yazyka, 2001, vol. 60, no. 2, March-April, pp. 3–16.
8. Khanov V.A. Rasskaz M. Gor’kogo “Starukha Izergil’”: kul’turologicheskie aspekty [Maxim Gorky’s Short Story “Old Izergil”: Cultural Aspects]. Russkaya slovesnost’, 2003, no. 4, pp. 23–31.
9. Lunacharskiy A.V. Sobranie sochineniy [Collected Works]. Moscow, 1964. Vol. 2. 697 p.