Article

Name: The characters system of N. Leskov’s short story «The Winter Day»: literary anthropological aspect

Authors: M. V. Gess

Novosibirsk State University, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation

In the section Study of literature

Abstract: The subject matter of the paper is the literary anthropological structure of the characters’ images in Nikolai Leskov’s story «The Winter Day». The literary anthropological concepts of judgment, intellect and soul organize the system of the story characters, dividing them into two opposing groups. Connected with the three mentioned concepts are the ideas of knowledge-ignorance and clear vision-blindness, which are revealed in the motif structure of the story. The main literary anthropological personage parameter in Leskov’s story is the soul, therefore the concepts of kindness, compassion, neighbourly charity and commonweal devotion, which are connected with the soul, assume significance. The author believes that the realization of the character’s soul becomes possible under the two conditions: firstly, the creative, demiurgic abilities of the human being, and secondly, focusing of the soul’s intentions outside, on the world around in order to make it better.

Keywords: literary anthropology, system of characters, man’s image, «righteous man»

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