Model of the world through the prism of genre in the drama “The Life of Man” by L.N.Andreyev and the principles of medieval mystery

Abstract

The article examines the specifics of the genre of the drama “The Life of Man” by L.N.Andreyev. The study shows how the author transforms the medieval mystery genre to implement philosophical and aesthetic ideas. The main method of research is comparative-historical. “The Life of Man” is considered in the historical and literary aspect, which includes a comparison with artistic phenomena similar in genre. The article presents the results of a systematic analysis of the content and structural parameters of the genre: type of content, spatial-temporal organization, genre motivations, associative background, composition, main acting persons and conflict. The results obtained allow us to conclude that the fundamental elements of the medieval mystery genre are preserved in the drama “The Life of Man”: framing the action with the speech of the herald, the absence of external dramatic action, simultaneity, the conventionality of stage time and space, epicness of time and space, the combination of mystical and realistic, mythologicality. Mystery and “The Life of Man” are also united by a tendency towards cyclization. Andreyev constructs a new experimental synthetic form using elements of ancient tragedy (prologue, chorus), reinterpreting the schematicity and simplicity of folk theater, taking into account modern trends in world drama. At the same time, the mystery is the dominant genre. In “The Life of Man” the conflict is transferred to the consciousness of the hero, but his individuality is erased, this is the conflict in the consciousness of a man as a representative of the genus.