Title of the article:

THE CHARACTER’S IDENTITY IN THE PROSE OF A. P. CHEKHOV OF 1880–1887

Author(s):

Andrey E. Agratin

Information about the author/authors

Andrey E. Agratin — PhD in Philology, Senior Lecturer, Pushkin State Russian Language Institute, Akademika Volgina, 6, 117485 Moscow, Russia. E-mail: andrej-agratin@mail.ru

Section

Philological sciences

Year

2017

Volume

Vol. 45

Pages

Pp. 126-137

Received

April 17, 2017

Date of publication

September 15, 2017

Index UDK

821.161.1

Index BBK

83.3(2Рос=Рус)52

Abstract

Only indirectly researchers of Chekhov's prose used to address the issue of character's identity. Nevertheless, it is a dominant subject in the works of 1880–1887. The character chooses between three types of self-positioning, differing in the degree of latitude/narrowness of the conditions it generates: non-contextual, non-strictly contextual (situational) and strictly contextual (narrative). The image of “I” can be extremely stable, irrespective of circumstances (“Shh!”, “Sergeant Prishibeyev”). However hero is often bound to abandon the chosen role, if the context of its implementation changes at an invariant level (“A Misfortune”, “The Tutor”). Finally, depicted subject can present himself as a participant of a story (“Rag”, “Heavy People”). None of the types of identity allows the character to find “self”, because he has to look at himself from the point of view of the other — thus from a priori unreliable point of view.

Keywords

A. P. Chekhov, identity, character, role, “self”, narrative identity.

References

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