Article

Name: Two Fausts: Once Again on Turgenev’s Interpretation of J. W. Goethe’s Philosophical Tragedy

Authors: Ivan O. Volkov

Tomsk State University, Tomsk, Russian Federation

In the section Literary Life of the Plot

Abstract:

The article examines the creative perception of J. W. Goethe’s tragedy “Faust” by I. S. Turgenev. The novel bearing the same name, published in 1846 and representing the culmination of the author’s decade-long engagement with Goethe’s oeuvre, is subjected to analysis. Despite the long tradition of studying the novella in relation to the German pretext, a new consideration of the principles of the tradition’s embodiment leads to a deepening of its meanings. By identifying significant points of convergence between Turgenev’s “Faust” and Goethe’s tragedy, Turgenev does not remain at the level of mere direct influence. The references set in the text (in the form of direct and indirect quotations and allusions) are analyzed in terms of their ethical, aesthetic, lyrical, and philosophical implications in the context of the title meanings of the tragic conflict. The text places the fatal development of Vera’s fate at the center of the narrative, firmly linking it with the figure of Gretchen (the motif of the innocent female soul, gripped by the article and perishing with the consciousness of her “sin”). Turgenev’s aim is to generalize human nature through this narrative. The writer’s attention is focused on the vicissitudes of the inner world of a woman who was previously excluded from the space of life and confined to a quiet and modest existence. The discovery of the action of great passions and their cognition leads to death. Vera, existing in strict moral conditioning, does not withstand the collision with the sensual element, in contrast to the character of Gretchen in Goethe’s “Faust”. On the other hand, Turgenev’s portrayal of Pavel Alexandrovich Turgenev in close proximity to Faust situates the character of the era’s Russian intellectual, who grapples with the dichotomy of duty and personal happiness, in anticipation of the novel “A Nest of Noblemen” (1859). The Faustian hero of the narrative, who initially embarks on a quest for the pinnacle of existence, which is revealed to him in the form of love, subsequently experiences disappointment and is tormented by guilt. This leads him to the idea of renouncing the individual for the sake of the universal, as if paraphrasing Faust’s exit to the outside in the tragedy’s finale.

Keywords: I. S. Turgenev, J. W. Goethe, tragedy “Faust”, novella “Faust”, pretext

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