Motives of N.M. Karamzin’s Prose in A. A. Dyakov’s Novella “From the Notes of a Social-Democrat”

Abstract

The article examines the connections of the anti­nihilistic novella “From the Notes of a Social Democrat” (1875) by A. Dyakova (A. Nezlobin) with the novellas by N.M. Karamzin, and primarily, with his “Island of Bornholm” (1794). The chosen aspect of study will help to understand what particular influence the Sentimental, pre­Romantic (including the gothic) and Romantic literature had on anti­nihilistic prose of the 1860­1880s. The connection between the novella “From the Notes of a Social Democrat” and the work of Karamzin might be explained, on the one hand, by the continuity of tradition of writing travel notes (based on the European socio­political material), which initially was reflected in “The Letters of a Russian Traveler”. On the other hand, Dyakov's text explores the motives of exile, imprisonment, a terrible secret and an untold story, which are plot­forming in “Bornholm Island” and appear in other stories by Karamzin. The plot of penetrating a secret and of discovery of the female prisoner also receives special treatment in Dyakov’s work.