THE THEME OF THE "LITTLE MAN" IN A.N. OSTROVSKY'S DRAMA «WITHOUT A DOWRY»
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Аннотация:
The article examines the image of the "little man" in A.N. Ostrovsky's drama Without a Dowry (1878–1879) through the character of Yuliy Kapitonych Karandyshev. It explores the impact of the 1861 emancipation reform on the play's social environment, where the old "dark kingdom" evolves amid emerging capitalist relations. Karandyshev is portrayed as a poor official living modestly, but the core of his "little man" status lies in society's contemptuous and humiliating attitude toward him. His vanity, petty egoism, and desire for recognition lead to both comic and tragic situations, culminating in the dinner scene and the final catastrophe. The author demonstrates the evolution of the "little man" theme in Russian literature post-Pushkin and Gogol: from a mere victim of circumstances to a complex figure combining humiliation with destructive self-love, deserving not only condemnation but also pity.
Article Details
Как цитировать:
Библиографические ссылки:
Ostrovsky A.N. Without a Dowry // Ostrovsky A.N. Complete Works: In 12 vols. Vol. 9. Moscow: Khudozhestvennaya Literatura, 1978.
Lotman L.M. The Dramaturgy of A.N. Ostrovsky // History of Russian Literature: In 4 vols. Vol. 3. Leningrad: Nauka, 1982.
Lakshin V.Ya. Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky. Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1982.
Zhuravleva A.I. A.N. Ostrovsky's Plays of the 1870s. Moscow: Moscow University Press, 1985.
Mann Yu.V. The Poetics of Russian Realism: Essays. Moscow: Nauka, 1976. (Chapter on the theme of the "little man" in 19th-century Russian literature).