Book review: The Phenomenon of the Russian Epic Novel of the Second Half of the 19th Century: I.A. Goncharov, I.S. Turgenev, L.N. Tolstoy, F.M. Dostoevsky

In the reviewed collective monograph The Phenomenon of the Epic Novel in Russian Literature in the Second Half of the 19th Century: I.A. Goncharov, I.S. Turgenev, L.N. Tolstoy, F.M. Dostoevsky (scientific editing by Doctor of Philology V.G. Andreeva), the authors explore the epic foundations, the constants of the literary worlds of the best works of Russian classics. The object of the study is works by the largest Russian realists of the second half of the 19th century. in their philosophical and ethical-aesthetic foundations. They represent a compelling layer of Russian culture and literature; they are truly inexhaustible literary worlds. The reviewer notes that in the monograph special attention is paid to the problem of understanding the concept “epic novel”, which, due to ideological attitudes, has been interpreted biasedly since the 1920s-1930s. The introductory part highlights the evolution of attitudes towards the epic novel in the works of Russian researchers, who relied on different approaches in considering the epic and the novel. According to the authors, the epic novel appears as a special genre dominant, which is evidence of the depth and integrity of the Russian novel. Its originality is based both on the problematics and on the verbal and compositional organization. The authors rely on the basic approaches that have developed in modern Russian humanities, relevant in the consideration and analysis of theoretical problems, the historical and literary process and individual phenomena of fiction, as well as on cultural-historical, comparative-historical, typological, mythopoetic approaches, the method of motif analysis. The monograph summarizes the authors’ observations made when studying the literary situation in the second half of the 19th century and the creative originality of Gogol, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Goncharov, and Turgenev. The authors complement each other’s ideas and interpretations; the chapters of the book are organically combined into a holistic study of the epic novel as a genre variety. The relevance of the monograph is determined by its theoretical and historical-literary significance and focus on the study of philosophical, religious, ethical, socio-historical, and aesthetic problems that are of paramount importance for Russian culture. The authors carried out a detailed analysis of the picture of the world and the value system of the great Russian novels, which reveal the epic nature of national self-consciousness and attitude. Researchers note that domestic novelists of the second half of the 19th century deeply felt the continuity existing between historical and epic works. Their depiction of modern reality in all its complexity and drama, the vision of the future were largely based on immersion in the history of Russia, in the national tradition; Russian writers were sensitive to the literary influences of other eras and peoples, genres, and individual works.