Genetic Origins of Bildungsroman in Socialist Realism Literature: “Figure Novel” of N.G. Chernyshevsky’s “What Is to Be Done?”

The article is devoted to the comprehension of the “novel of the figure” as a special subtype of the Bildungsroman. The hypothesis of the study is to expand and deepen the ideas of M. Bakhtin and M. Berg about a special variety of the Bildungsroman in socialist realist literature, as well as H. Meixner and W. Berg. Meixner and V. Pashigorev on the genre specificity of the “novel of the figure”: we believe that in socialist realist literature the tradition of the Bildungsroman was transformed into the “novel of the figure”. The scientific novelty of the article consists in the fact that for the first time it is proved that the “novel of the figure” on the Russian soil genetically goes back to “What is to be done?” by N.G. Chernyshevsky. The aim of the article is to identify the genetic origins of the novel of the figure in Russian literature. As a result, it was found that, first, Chernyshevsky's novel retains the genre dominance of the Bildungsroman; moreover, in the presence of a monohero as a bearer of exclusively typical features, the idea centered in his image undergoes formation in the novel. Second, Chernyshevsky’s novel, as well as the socialist realist “novel of the figure,” is centered on the process of ideologization, and the most important stages of the heroine's ideological formation in the novel are marked by the inclusion of oneiric episodes in the chronotope of the narrative, which contribute to the creation of a special narrative model. Thirdly, the heroine's development is initially set and directed into the future in such a way that as a result she turns from a carrier of an idea into its translator and becomes identical with it in the eyes of the other characters: in the novel’s finale, the protagonist’s role changes from student to mentor.

“novel of the figure” in Russian literature, Bildungsroman tradition, genre tradition, Chernyshevsky, hero of the idea