Italy in I.A. Goncharov's creative mind

The recent fundamental philology studies have shown a great scale of Italian plot reception in Russian literature and culture. The semantic potential of the Italian theme produced established universal anthropological and topological models in Russian literature. This paper provides the interpretation of Italian images and motifs as a significant concept field in Goncharov's artistic world. Goncharov never visited Italy, which, together with the abundane of Italian symbols and allusions in Russian world of culture, forms the specificity the writer's artistic universe. The Italian plot in Goncharov's works demonstrates his synthetic syle of writing, thus becoming the space of interaction between realistic and romantic tendencies. Goncharov's personal correspondence from abroad is a useful starting point to explore the Italian theme: this part of the writer's epistolary provides a clear idea of Goncharov's ambivalent travel philosophy, with its correct balance between ours and theirs and understanding native through foreign. This approach is key to Goncharov's creative genius, which genetically goes back to the aesthetics of romanticism. It is typical that Goncharov perceived Italy through the prism of romantic tradition as given in Zhukovsky's aesthetic manifestos and Goethe's poetry. In particular, the mythologeme of Raphael's Madonna in Oblomov updates the problem of romantic nature: Oblomov's revival by no chance follows his mental trip to Italy, with its iconic places becoming certain aesthetic guidelines for Russian mentality. Moreover, the plots of Goncharov's novels about the Russian World are based on the inner dialogue with Italian arts: the musical ecphrasis of Casta Diva in Oblomov and the pictorial code of The Precipice as substances of romantic culture reflect the course of life and characters evolution. The most indicative in this regard is the chapter "Oblomov's Dream": the central image of the paradise on earth is genetically connected to Italian semiotic model, with the text displaying its palimpsest synthetic structure. In general, the analysis of Goncharov's epistolary and artistic works as a whole has led to the conclusion that the Italian concept field as an image, motif and association complex is essential for romantic aesthetics of spiritual enlightenment and phenomenon of recalling Italy as cultural and historic archetype.

Keywords

Authors

References