“New sentimentality” in the novels Pismovnik by mikhail shishkin and the aviator by Eugene vodolazkin

Abstract

© 2019 Tomsk State University. All rights reserved. The essay explores the phenomenon of “new sentimentality”, the nature of functioning and forms of manifestation of sentimentalist discourse in the novels Pismovnik [Letter-Book] by Mikhail Shishkin and The Aviator by Eugene Vodolazkin. The essay consists of two paragraphs. The theoretical synopsis provides the background for the analysis of the mentioned works of the 2010s, which demonstrate one of the most promising trends in the development of the latest prose related to the experience of sentimentalism. Since a direct inheritance of sentimentalist traditions in the literature of the 21st century is impossible, the dialogue with it is carried out according to the law of negation of the negation or the oxymoronic principle, which allows to combine the incongruous. But changing and transforming the “new sentimentality” still does not lose the connection with the “primary source”. In the course of the analysis it is proved that in Shishkin’s and Vodolazkin’s novels the dialogue with sentimentalism is manifested not only at the level of the characters’ world perception but also at the level of the author’s concept, which determines the system of values, the specifics of the genre and the form of the narrative, the nature of the leitmotivs and the peculiarities of the plot structure. In Pismovnik, the sentimental discourse interacts with the postmodern one, in The Aviator with the postmodern and realistic discourses. However, being integrated into a “foreign” system, it remains relatively independent and retains its aesthetics. “New sentimentality” in Shishkin’s and Vodolazkin’s novels is a form of rehabilitation of humanistic values, assertion of the significance of the “small” world, as opposed to the “big” one, counter to the postmodern world as text, the cruelty of reality and the simulative world of mass culture. An important role in recreating the “small world” in Pismovnik and The Aviator is played by primary physiological sensations – sense of smell, touch, vision, hearing, taste. It is closely connected with the motive of childhood, which is very important in both novels and allows to recall the open sentimentalists’ type of a “natural man”. However, in the works of Shishkin and Vodolazkin, new versions of a “sensitive hero” is presented. He perceives the world through the prism of culture, so the texts are based on the game with quotes, remarks, allusions. But this game is not self-valuable: at the end of the analyzed novels the word of the characters serves as an expression of a humanistic consciousness related to the author. The author of the article comes to the conclusion that in relation to the novels Pismovnik by Shishkin and The Aviator by Vodolazkin we can talk about “new sentimentality”, which determines evaluation criteria, about neo-sentimentalist discourse as the dominant element of the narrative structure and about “new sentimentalism” as an aesthetic phenomenon. All this makes it possible to perceive these works as a symptomatic phenomenon indicating a possible vector of development of modern intellectual prose.