UDC

821.161.1

Authors

Ol’ga S. Sukhikh
Lobachevsky State University of Nizhni Novgorod; ul. Bol’shaya Pokrovskaya 37, Nizhny Novgorod, 603000, Russian Federation;
e-mail: ruslitxx@list.ru

Abstract

This article compares the image of the heroine Natasha Kalymova in Mikhail Osorgin’s novel Witness to History with the image of the hero Kirillov in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Demons. The aim was to identify the similarities and the differences between the views of these characters on life, death and suicide. Using the comparative typological method, the paper collates the characters’ philosophical views and the author’s attitude toward them. A conclusion is made that Natasha Kalymova, like Kirillov, is guided primarily by her desire to free herself from any circumstances, including weaknesses rooted in the human nature. These characters’ philosophical views are similar in their understanding of voluntary death as the highest manifestation of personality. Natasha Kalymova’s fearlessness is explained by her aspiration to be master of her own destiny, life and death. She is mindful of her actions that should inevitably result in death and sees it as the utmost manifestation of free will. Similarly, Kirillov in Dostoevsky’s novel believes that the “principal freedom” is the ability of a person to terminate his/her own life. In both characters, the natural fear of death is overcome by this idea. Both of them consider voluntary death as absolute freedom partly due to their atheistic views. Kirillov dies, while Natasha Kalymova survives and gets the opportunity to see life in a different, pantheistic way, her new reflections being largely shared by Osorgin.

Keywords

Fyodor Dostoevsky, Demons, Mikhail Osorgin, Witness to History, issue of life and death, issue of freedom, philosophy of suicide

References

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