"CRAZY" STORY-TELLING (F. M. DOSTOEVSKY, V. M. GARSHIN, A. P. CHEKHOV)

Abstract

DOI 10.18522/1995-0640-2023-2-100-112

Not only the general theme of madness, but also the features of the narrative allow us to compare the Garshin’s "A Red Flower" with "The Dream of a Ridiculous Man" by Dostoevsky and "Ward No. 6" by Chekhov. It turns out that the storytelling process creates similar problems, the solution of which each writer provides in his own way: see personalisation, dual narrative and apparent objectivity. Motifs along with metaphorical constructions (f.e. dream, luminaries, illness) are also have common features. In Dostoevsky's story, the concept of the "fantastic" becomes a form of path to the personal narrative of the subject of the text, who analyzes the story, develops new linguistic and semantic means for the presentation of history, in which laughter-madness is becoming the generative principle. Consequently, both the parable character and the transformation of the short story into a short novel by Dostoevsky are realized, despite the fact that there is a first-person narrator. In "A Red Flower" there is also the mission of saving the world as a "crazy man", but the narrator in the third person and the narrative does not turn into a story-parable. The story seems to reproduce an anecdote about the adventures of the hero. At the same time, the uniqueness of Garshin's work lies in the way the world is renamed "illy", i. e. metaphorical language. In Chekhov's short novel, the metaphorical plan unfolds the comprehension of the hero, giving the corpus of "crazy narratives" a new touch thanks to completely non-random details – reminiscent of Garshin's. As a result of the analysis, it becomes clear that "Ward No. 6" implements the parable beginning, even if it does not unfold into a personal narrative similar to "The Dream of a Ridiculous Man".

Key words: Garshin, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, madness, narrative, discourse, short story and short novel, motifs and metaphors