THE CONCEPT OF CHILDHOOD IN THE PROSE OF F. M. DOSTOEVSKY AND N. P. WAGNER

Abstract

https://doi.org/10.18522/1995-0640-2026-3-148-159

The attitude towards childhood as a special period that determines the future spiritual structure of a person is characteristic of the work of writers of the second half of the 19th century - F. M. Dostoevsky and N. P. Wagner. Their correspondence and the nature of their personal and literary relationships show that the theme of childhood is one of the key themes in the literary dialogue between the writers. The analysis suggests that both authors consistently destroy the myth of childhood as a cloudless time, depicting the catastrophic situation of orphans, sick children, beggars and juvenile delinquents. A comparative analysis of the images of children in the works of Dostoevsky and Wagner makes it possible not only to trace the typological connections in the development of the children's theme, but also to identify the features of the concept of childhood in the works of contemporary writers. Dostoevsky and Wagner seek to draw attention to the suffering of innocent children, the small of the small, who often suffer through the fault of their relatives. They are forced to become “adults” after an unbearable, difficult experience that arose ahead of time, and the memory of what they experienced remains with them for the rest of their lives. The study of literary contacts helps to recreate a picture of the cultural and social life of the era and to identify the peculiarities of the perception of the “children's theme” in a single writer, as well as to identify a number of close positions in a literary manner.

Key words: N. P. Wagner, F. M. Dostoevsky, literary dialogue, childhood mythologeme, children's worldview, type of “adult child”