Social imaginary of a literary technique: About dynamics of transitivity in Russian literature of the late 19th century (Dostoevsky, Garshin, Chekhov)

Abstract

This article discusses the problems we face while describing transition periods. I analyze various approaches to the phenomenon of transition and criteria used for their identification. I suggest that we should pay more attention to internal substance of transition process than the role of sociocultural factors or external features which reflect changes in literature. The problems are discussed using the texts by Dostoevsky, Garshin and Chekhov who represent in many respects transitional epoch of the late 19th century. Chronologically, their oeuvres belong to adjacent periods, and so it is possible to trace the changes as a process but not as a set of typological attributes. The comparative analysis is focused on the motive of response as the generalized literary technique, and differences in its use demonstrate transformations of various zones of the literary field — from author’s intention and reader’s reception to the techniques of the creation of narration. For all three Russian writers, the search of “new ways” and strategic decisions are connected with readers’ activity, although each of them understands it in his own way. Dostoevsky and Garshin believe that literature should recover social consensus, and the response plays the principal role here. For Chekhov, response ceased to be a goal. In his system, response is a constant critical defamiliarization of any point of view and gives way to a new type of social interaction. As a result, such features of transition as historical assessment and prognosis are fully expressed in Chekhov’s literary system.