LOVE, DUTY, MOTHERHOOD: TATYANA LARINA AS SEEN BY BELINSKY, DOSTOEVSKY AND ROZANOV

• Main Author: Olga Alimovna Bogdanova
• Format: Article
• Language: Russian
• Published: Petrozavodsk State University 2012-11-01
• Series: Problemy Istoričeskoj Poètiki
• Subjects: Pushkin; Tatyana; Belinsky; Dostoevsky; Rozanov; morality; Christianity; reason; love; family
• Online Access: http://poetica.pro/files/redaktor_pdf/1457950542.pdf

The article looks at the interpretation and assessment of the most important female protagonist in Russian literature – Pushkin's Tatyana Larina – by authoritative figures in literary criticism in pre-revolutionary Russia. In 1840s, 1870s and 1900s key figures in various schools of thought: Westernizers (V. G. Belinsky), Slavophiles (F. M. Dostoevsky), representatives of “new religious consciousness” (V. V. Rozanov) repeatedly returned to the same texts to interpret them in accordance with radically different ideals, which turned their assessments into polar opposites. The primary moot point was Tatyana's choice between love to Onegin and spousal duty to her husband. A positive or negative take on the choice Tatyana made characterizes the religious stance and worldview of the three authors and the strands of 19th and 20th century Russian culture they represent. Our study has allowed us to underscore and compare the deep currents of Russian religious and artistic thought, their interconnections and mutual influence within the cultural field of contemporary Russia. It has found resonance in the 'national idea' of the turn of the 21st century as expressed by A. I. Solzhenitsyn – “the preservation of the people”.