Le Huu Trac - Anton Chekhov: Points of contact in medical practice and literary activity

Abstract

The article uses comparative methods to research literary activity and medical practice of Vietnamese and Russian writers, Le Huu Trac and Anton Chekhov, including the way their medical skills and ethics manifested themselves in literary works. Although Le Huu Trac and Anton Chekhov belong to different cultures and epochs and have different “literary weight,” the comparative analysis of their medical practice and literary activity reveals certain similarities in Vietnamese and Russian literatures, which could be explained in the absence of mutual influence with the universal laws of human consciousness, in a particular case - by the patterns of consciousness inherent in a doctor-writer. The study of works by the writers, who never met either in space or in time, confirmed the universality of main functions of literature. At the same time, it is noted that the prioritization of functions (cognitive, evaluative, educational, aesthetic, and self-expression) is different for each national literature and each author. It has been revealed that the depiction of nature has a great ideological and semantic meaning in the works of Vietnamese and Russian medical writers. The analysis allowed to identify similar images of nature, which are often found in these authors’ works, although the meaning of these images may be different, as determined by different cultural systems. Similar literary images and artistic techniques were detected, in addition to the materialistic outlook of both Le Huu Trac and Anton Chekhov. The author points out that medical knowledge and medical ethics had a significant influence on the work of Le Huu Trac and Anton Chekhov. There are certain similar principles in the presentation of "medical material" in their literary works. The study supports the comparativist conclusion about “cross-cutting processes” in world literature.