Title of the article:

IMAGE OF “UNIVERSAL MAN” IN DAHL’S NOVEL “OFFICER`S VALET (PHYSIOLOGICAL SKETCH)”

Author(s):

Vitaliy Y. Darenskiy

Information about the author/authors

Vitaliy Y. Darenskiy — PhD in Philosophy, Associate Professor, Lugansk National University, Oboronnaja St., 5A, 910034 Lugansk, LPR. E-mail: darenskiy1972@mail.ru

Section

Philological sciences

Year

2017

Volume

Vol. 45

Pages

Pp. 106-117

Received

December 25, 2016

Date of publication

September 15, 2017

Index UDK

821.161.1

Index BBK

83.3(2Рос=Рус)52

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of V. Dahl’s novel “Denschik (Physiological sketch)” in the context of Russian traditional folk’s culture ethos, formed within Christian tradition. Fundamental imperatives of the ethos are: 1) unselfishness; 2) tenderness to people; 3) perception of all life events as a sort of moral deeds. A fundamental principle of this culture, thoroughly demonstrated in a V. Dahl’s novel, is a spiritual universality of person. The author considers the problematic of this Dahl’s novel as a source of existential experience for contemporary man. Author’s interpretation of the novel based on rethinking of universal human experience, necessarily linked with archetypes of culture. The paper discusses various artistic conceptions of V. Dahl: such as 1) essence of human destiny and types of moral freedom; 2) driving forces of morality and life creativity; 3) moral meaning of Russian folk’s ethos. The article also examines essential links between these conceptions. The author proposes his own interpretation of V. Dahl’s spiritual experience, which is necessarily linked with a source of human freedom. For instance, V. Dahl interprets human universality and moral freedom as unterminated and enigmatical substances, which are determined by different types of “life ways” as ways of the Christian worldview experience available to each person.

Keywords

person, universality, Russian ethos, folk’s culture, moral.

References

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