Existential model of the world in G.I. Gazdanov’s short stories

Smirnova Alfiya I.,

Doctor of Philology, Professor,

Professor of the Moscow City Pedagogical University, Institute of Humanities, Department of Russian Contemporary Literature and Readers' Practices

E-mail: alfia-smirnova@yandex.ru

The article analyzes G.I. Gazdanov’s short stories “Black Swans”, “Hawaiian Guitar”, and “Princess Mary”, whose protagonists are Russian immigrants. The existential model of the world is conveyed in these works through a system of motives (such as loneliness, death, boredom, “double life”, sleep) and the ways the text expresses the opposition ‘self'’ / ‘other’, ‘internal’ / ‘external’. For the author's characters the escape from reality is the only salvatory possibility of the existence in the world of the absurd.

Keywords: Gazdanov, stories, existential model of the world, character, motive, loneliness, death.

References

1. Matveeva Yu. A. “Making a Favorite”: Artistic Thinking of GaitoGazdanov. — Yekaterinburg: Ural State University, 2001. — 99 p.

2. Polyaeva M.S. Small Prose of Gaito Gazdanov / Gaito Gazdanov in the context of Russian and Western European literatures. — Moscow: Institute of World Literature, RAS, 2008. — P. 193—198.

3. Gazdanov G.I. Night Roads / Gazdanov G.I. Complete works in 3 volumes. — V. 1. — Moscow: Soglasiye, 1996. — P. 461—656.

4. Gazdanov G.I. Stories. On French Soil / Gazdanov G.I. Complete works in 3 volumes. — V. 3. — Moscow: Soglasiye, 1996. — 848 p.

5. Zamanskaya V.V. Existential Tradition in Russian Literature of the Twentieth Century. Dialogues on the Borders of the Century: Textbook. — Moscow: Flinta: Nauka, 2002. — 304 p.