A. P. Chekhov’s The Duel and Three Sisters in the aspect of the author’s myth about a doctor-protagonist

Tyumen State University Herald. Humanities Research. Humanitates


Release:

2024. Vol. 10. № 3 (39)

Title: 
A. P. Chekhov’s The Duel and Three Sisters in the aspect of the author’s myth about a doctor-protagonist


For citation: Komarov, S. A., & Shukst, N. S. (2024). A. P. Chekhov’s The Duel and Three Sisters in the aspect of the author’s myth about a doctor-protagonist. Tyumen State University Herald. Humanities Research. Humanitates, 10(3), 53–66. https://doi.org/10.21684/2411-197X-2024-10-3-53-66

About the authors:

Sergey A. Komarov, Dr. Sci. (Philol.), Professor, Department of Linguistics and Literary Studies, University of Tyumen, Tyumen, Russia; vitmark14@yandex.ru, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4506-4027

Nikita S. Shukst, Student, Department of Linguistics and Literary Studies, University of Tyumen, Tyumen, Russia; nshukst@bk.ru, https://orcid.org/0009-0000-8490-8259

Abstract:

Given the diversity of Chekhov’s characters, it seems to be of the utmost importance for scholarly reflection on the Russian literary experience to study the matter of Chekhov’s protagonists’ types in regards to the protagonist typology in the Russian classical works of the 19th c. The doctor-protagonist type has already been outlined in Chekhov studies, yet, its description is dominated by biographical and static aspects, unlike the problems of genesis, dynamics, and structure of this protagonist type in Chekhov’s works. This article examines the typological changes in the doctor-protagonist within Chekhov’s works of the 1890s–1900s, which provides a new look at the matter at hand. The authors analyze the conditions of including the doctor-protagonist type in the writer’s mythopoetic system; additionally, they investigate the transformation of the author’s doctor myth and the associated changes in this protagonist type’s structure, manifested at the emblematic and functional levels. This paper examines the novella The Duel through the prism of Friedrich Nietzsche’s sign system. The authors show the presence of Socratic protagonist type in the drama Three Sisters and the novella The Duel in connection with the doctor-protagonist, while describing the convergence mechanisms of these two types. Additionally, the authors explain the reasons for such mythopoetic constructions emerging in Chekhov’s works. The comparative analysis of the texts results in characterizing structural and moral changes of the protagonist type under consideration.

References:

Berdnikov, G. P. (1984). A. P. Chekhov. Ideological and Creative Quests (3rd ed.). Khudozhestvennaya Literatura. [In Russian]

Bocharov, S. G. (2007). Philological Plot. Yaziky slavianskykh cultur. [In Russian]

Byaly, G. A. (1956). A. Chekhov. In History of Russian Literature: in 10 vols. (Vol. 9, pp. 345–432). Izd-vo AS USSR. [In Russian]

Dolzhenkov, P. N. (2003). Chekhov and Positivism (2nd rev. ed.). Scorpion. [In Russian]

Zingerman, B. I. (1998). Chekhov’s Theater and Its World Significance. Izd-vo Nauka. [In Russian]

Kazakov, A. A. (2011). Composition of Chekhov’s The Duel in the value aspect. In E. G. Novikova (Ed.), Chekhov and Time: A Collection of Articles (pp. 67–74). Tomsk University Press. [In Russian]

Kapustin, N. V. (2011). Nietzsche. In V. B. Kataev (Ed.), A. P. Chekhov. Encyclopedia (pp. 323–324). [In Russian]

Kataev, V. B. (2004a). Two duels (Princess Mary and The Duel). In Chekhov Plus...: Predecessors, Contemporaries, Successors (pp. 37–43). Yazyki Slavyanskaya Kultura. [In Russian]

Kataev, V. B. (2004b). Christ and Darwin in Chekhov’s world. In Chekhov Plus...: Predecessors, Contemporaries, Successors (pp. 157–166). Yazyki Slavyanskaya Kultura. [In Russian]

Komarov, S. А. (2000). The Birth of Tragedy by F. Nietzsche as one of the mythopoetics sources for A. P. Chekhov’s comedy The Seagull. Tyumen State University Herald, (4), 34–40. [In Russian]

Komarov, S. A. (2002). A. Chekhov — V. Mayakovsky: Comediographer in Dialogue with Russian Culture of the late 19th–early 20th c. UTMN-Press. [In Russian]

Komarov, S. A., & Shukst, N. S. (2024). Dorn as a type of Socratic protagonist in A. P. Chekhov’s play The Seagull. Culture and Text, (1), 44–52. [In Russian]

Kubasov, A. V. (2015). Friedrich Nietzsche in Russian prose of the late 19th c.: ironists and adepts (A. P. Chekhov and P. D. Boborykin). Ural Philological Herald. Russian Classics: The Dynamics of Artistic Systems, (3), 158–174. [In Russian]

Maslova, E. A. (2008). Nietzschean layer in A. P. Chekhov’s plays Uncle Vanya and Three Sisters. [Cand. Sci. (Philol.) dissertation abstract]. [In Russian]

Maslova, E. A. (2011). Three Sisters. In S. A. Komarov (Ed.), Language Strategies of the Russian Dramaturgy (Introduction to Ecography) (pp. 120–151). UTMN-Press. [In Russian]

Maslova, E. A. (2014). Uncle Vanya and Three Sisters: mythopoetics of A. P. Chekhov’s post-Siberian dramas. In S. A. Komarov (Ed.), From Outside and Inside Siberia: A. Chekhov–A. Vampilov–V. Shukshin (pp. 189–216). Izd-vo IGPI im. P. P. Ershova. [In Russian]

Meve, E. B. (1989). Medicine in the Life and Work of A. P. Chekhov. Zdorovya. [In Russian]

Muryanov, M. F. (2001). On the symbolism of Chekhov’s The Seagull. In Chekhoviana. Flight of The Seagull (pp. 206–221). Nauka. [In Russian]

Nietzsche, F. V. (2022). Thus Spoke Zarathustra. The Birth of Tragedy, or Hellenism and Pessimism. Yurait. [In Russian]

Paustovsky, K. G. (1958). Collected Works in 6 vols. Vol. 2. Gosudarstvennoye izdatelstvo hudozhestvennoy literatury. [In Russian]

Rayfield, D. (2022). Life of Anton Chekhov (Rev. ed.). KoLibri. [In Russian]

Chekhov, A. P. (1985). The Complete Collection of Works and Letters in 30 vols. Essays. Vol. 7. Nauka. [In Russian]

Chekhov, A. P. (1986). The Complete Collection of Works and Letters in 30 vols. Essays. Vol. 13. Nauka. [In Russian]

Shubin, B. M. (1982). Doctor A. P. Chekhov (3rd ed.). Znanie. [In Russian]