Artistic reception of english world in Russian literature of XIX century (A.S. Khomyakov, I.S. Turgenev, I.A. Goncharov, L.N. Tolstoy)

Abstract

© BEIESP. The image of an Englishman in Russian literature of the nineteenth century is one of the key ones. Russian writers studied the Russian man and tried to model the future of the Russian world in relation with England and the British. The object of this article study was the works by A.S. Khomyakov, I.A. Goncharov, I.S. Turgenev and L.N. Tolstoy. The relevance of the topic is conditioned by the contemporary problems of the dialogue of cultures, the issues of Russian-English imagology, as well as the literary ways of understanding the “foreign”. The purpose of the study is to identify the features of the English world reception in the works of writers of the XIXth century. The methodological basis of the study was the synthesis of traditional approaches (historical-literary, systemic-typological, comparative-historical) with the use of new research practices (“friend or foe” in the framework of mythopoetics, imagology, postcolonial theories). The methodological principles of these areas were used depending on the specific material and objectives. The poetry and journalism by A.S. Khomyakov reveal the statement of past and present successes of the British, their leading role. At the same time, the writer predicted the imminent fall of England; Russia should take its place in the global world. The "Frigate Pallas" by I.A. Goncharov portrayed all the strong and weak, positive and negative moments in the English merchant and in the British national lifestyle. This was done in order to learn a certain “lesson” for Russian life, to outline the prospects for its possible development. For I.S. Turgenev's English world was the reality with which the Russian man needed to relate himself and his future. L.N. Tolstoy's attitude to civilization was negative, and the British were associated with civilization in the 19th century. The images of England and its inhabitants, the English, by each of these writers were perceived in the context of correlation with Russian life. Except L.N. Tolstoy, all of them, to one degree or another, considered it possible and even necessary to introduce English values into Russian cultural and historical soil.