Новелістика Роберта Музіля: діалог літературної традиції й авторське новаторство

Abstract

The article deals with the analysis of the artistic technique of short stories by Robert Musil, an Austrian writer, through the prism of combining literary traditions of German – language short stories and the author’s innovation. In the scope of theoretical study of novel characteristics such short stories as „The Perfecting of Love”, „The Temptation of Quiet Veronica”, „Grigia”, „The Portuguese Lady”, „Tonka” from the collection of works „Unions” and „Three Women” help to point out the author’s definition in regard to the theory of modernist short story that is shown in Robert Musil’s essay „Short story as a problem”. Thus, the ways of realization of the theoretical bases of the literary tradition of the Austrian short story in combination with the consistent content formality of the author’s experimentalism are observed and highlighted. Its specific way of reproducing and combining the theoretical basis of the short story as a classical epic genre with individual authorial terms: „another state”, “possibility of suggestion, association and influence of mood”, „single case” and „commercial article” is shown. At the same time, the individual author’s synthesis of logic, psychologism and art is emphasized. A number of extensions of genre features of the poetics of R. Muzil’s short stories are outlined, and thus the exclusivity of the short story is pointed out as one of the most important forms of short prose of the end of the XIX – beginning of the XX century. It is concluded that this phenomenon is distinguished not as a complete break from traditional narrative structure of German short story, but as a specific opportunity to examine and analyse modern human consciousness.