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| Белянин В.П. | Психологический взгляд на русскую литературу | 199? |
Belyanin V.
RUSSIAN LITERATURE: A PSYCHOLOGICAL VIEW
For years in Russian literary criticism there dominated a sociological approach towards literature. All the characters were considered to be typical representatives of a certain class. This angle may be apologised by the prevailing ideology but it concealed other sides of Russian (and not only) literature.
Looking from other point of view we may find many stories and novels in Russian literature that may be considered as love stories: "Eugene Onegin" by A.Pushkin (where a young lady falls in love but is rejected by an older man); "Dubrovsky" also by A.Pushkin (marriage on constraint); "Crime and Punishment" by Dostoyevsky (loving a street- walker); "Anna Karenina" by L.Tolstoy (a love triangle), "A Lady with a Dog" by A.Chekhov (love intrigue), and many others. But most of them are too serious if compared with modern pulp fiction paper back love stories. The psychological tension is too solid to make them an easy reading.
We have elaborated a method of finding out emotional and semantic dominant of a literary text which may reveal some inner psychology hidden in literary texts. In particular we have found certain psychological classes in fiction that are as follows: "light" texts (based on paranoia), "dark" (neurological disorder), "beauteous" (histrionics), "merry" (maniac mood disorders), and "sad" (depressive mood disorders).
Looking upon Russian literature we may say that "sad" and "dark" texts prevail in it. For example, M.Lermontov, N.Gogol, I.Turgenev, I.Bunin, L.Andreev are "sad" by their dominant psychology. L.Tolstoy, F.Dostoyevsky, A.Chekhov, A.Platonov, M.Bulgakov, A.Tolstoy, Br.Strugackiye, D.Harms, M.Zoschenko, A.Akhmatova, I.Mandelstam, post-modernist works of art are "dark". There are few "beauteous" (N.Leskov, M.Gorky, S.Esenin), not too much "light" texts (N.Goncharov, A.Gaidar), and almost no "merry" (A.Pushkin is "sad-and-merry").
The investigation held (three our monographs are published) shows not only the psychological basis of fiction but has consequences for understanding social trends in modern Russia. Thus, the constriction of a monument to Fedor Dostoyevsky sitting in an awkward pose in front of the State Republican Library may manifest the illness of Russian self- respect. New trends in post-socialist and post-perestroyka literature are also subject to analysis with the help of our method and will be revealed in our report.
.RUSSIAN LITERATURE: A PSYCHOLOGICAL VIEW
For years in Russian literary criticism there dominated a sociological approach towards literature. All the characters were considered to be typical representatives of a certain class. This angle may be apologised by the prevailing ideology but it concealed other sides of Russian (and not only) literature.
Looking from other point of view we may find many stories and novels in Russian literature that may be considered as love stories: "Eugene Onegin" by A.Pushkin (where a young lady falls in love but is rejected by an older man); "Dubrovsky" also by A.Pushkin (marriage on constraint); "Crime and Punishment" by Dostoyevsky (loving a street- walker); "Anna Karenina" by L.Tolstoy (a love triangle), "A Lady with a Dog" by A.Chekhov (love intrigue), and many others. But most of them are too serious if compared with modern pulp fiction paper back love stories. The psychological tension is too solid to make them an easy reading.
We have elaborated a method of finding out emotional and semantic dominant of a literary text which may reveal some inner psychology hidden in literary texts. In particular we have found certain psychological classes in fiction that are as follows: "light" texts (based on paranoia), "dark" (neurological disorder), "beauteous" (histrionics), "merry" (maniac mood disorders), and "sad" (depressive mood disorders).
Looking upon Russian literature we may say that "sad" and "dark" texts prevail in it. For example, M.Lermontov, N.Gogol, I.Turgenev, I.Bunin, L.Andreev are "sad" by their dominant psychology. L.Tolstoy, F.Dostoyevsky, A.Chekhov, A.Platonov, M.Bulgakov, A.Tolstoy, Br.Strugackiye, D.Harms, M.Zoschenko, A.Akhmatova, I.Mandelstam, post-modernist works of art are "dark". There are few "beauteous" (N.Leskov, M.Gorky, S.Esenin), not too much "light" texts (N.Goncharov, A.Gaidar), and almost no "merry" (A.Pushkin is "sad-and-merry").
The investigation held (three our monographs are published) shows not only the psychological basis of fiction but has consequences for understanding social trends in modern Russia. Thus, the constriction of a monument to Fedor Dostoyevsky sitting in an awkward pose in front of the State Republican Library may manifest the illness of Russian self- respect. New trends in post-socialist and post-perestroyka literature are also subject to analysis with the help of our method and will be revealed in our report.
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