Образ учителя в прозе Юрия Полякова

Abstract

Many works of the Soviet and Russian literature of the XX and XXI centuries are dedicated to the image of the teacher. Soviet writers created a positive image of the teacher, a kind mentor, a friend of a child who is capable of self-sacrifice, an educator who points the way to the future (“The first teacher” by Ch. Aitmatov, “French Lessons” by V. Rasputin).Starting with the 80-ies of the XX century, the image of the teacher has undergone a certain transformation. For instance, V. Zheleznikov, the author of the story “Scarecrow”, accused adults – teachers and parents – of children cruelty. The literature of the last three decades is characterized by a wide variety of interpretations of the “school” theme. Against the background of surreal (“Lesson” by Y. Mamleev), postmodern (“Sergey Andreevich” by V. Sorokin), and even naturalistic tendencies (“The geographer squandered the globe on drink” by A. Ivanov), Yuri Polyakov remains a realist writer, who began to talk about the problems of the Soviet school (the story “Corrections”, 1986). Analyzing Polyakov’s prose, it is worth noting the tendency to reduce the positive pathos when creating the image of a teacher. From the “format” of a teachermentor, educator (Pustyrev, Petrushov, Kostozhogov, Faza, Pechernikova), Y. Polyakov goes over to the satirical image of a teacher who is concerned about their career growth, salary, personal life, who has stained their name with bribes, who has lost the respect and trust of students and colleagues.