A.P. Chekhov’s Works in Interpretation by F.E. Paktovsky

Abstract

This paper presents a conceptual analysis of the essay by Paktovsky (1901) which concentrates on the works by Chekhov. The urgency of the research is determined by the significance of the literary figure for the history of Russian criticism of the 19th – 20th centuries, the importance of his vision concerning the writing of the authors of Russian literature of the turn of the century, as well as for the history of the BelSU National Research University, since the critic was one of the directors of the Belgorod Teachers’ Institute. The creative heritage of Paktovsky was studied using motivational-descriptive, biographical, historical and literary methods. Addressing the works by Chekhov, the literary critic evaluates his characters as “helpless, miserable and ridiculous” people who are not capable of confronting the fate. He does not cover up for the very man with his misfortunes, but appeals to fight against them, to change inwardly. Paktovsky was one of the first to try to classify Chekhov’s characters, which has cultural significance as the evidence of a contemporary of the social composition of Russian society at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries.