F.M. DOSTOEVSKY’S AND L.N. TOLSTOY’S LITERARY DEVICES IN THE WORKS BY MARK ALDANOV

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the literary devices used by F.M. Dostoevsky and L.N. Tolstoy in the works of Mark Aldanov in the context of I.A. Bunin’s influence. Aldanov appealed to some Dostoevsky’s ideas; however, he used elements of Dostoevsky’s poetics in his novels. For the analysis of Dostoevsky’s literary devices, the article studies the essay «The Murder of Uritsky», the novels «The Key», «The Beginning of the End», and «Origins». The tradition of Dostoevsky is traced in the essays with a plot about the murder, in the construction used in the dialogues of heroes-resonators in the novels. The article has discovered devices that bring Aldanov’s style closer to Tolstoy’s one in the novels «The Beginning of the End», «Live as You Please», «Origins», «Suicide». The devices include analytical psychologism, individualization of a character by the use of metaphor or metonymy, a personal’s history. Aldanov follows Tolstoy’s narrative manner in demonstrating panoramic thinking, giving images of ordinary people along with images of historical personalities. In most Aldanov’s novels, the attitude towards Dostoevsky, like the attitude towards Tolstoy, is conveyed through a character’s point of view. The novel «Live as you Please» demonstrates interaction of the devices applied by Dostoevsky and Tolstoy. Aldanov realized his place in the tradition of Russian classical literature, argued with the classics of Russian literature if they were not convincing in their ideas or aesthetic devices. The use of the devices of Russian classics is associated with Aldanov’s conservative worldview and orientation toward the moral and aesthetic heritage of the Russian literature of the XIXth century. Aldanov was able to overcome the distance between the style and worldviews of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky.