Somebody in Grey by L. Andreev and “Somebody” by S. Krzhizhanovsky: peculiarities of writers’ debate

The paper analyses a possible cultural dialogue between L. Andreyev and S. Krzhizhanovsky. Both writers occupy the so-called borderland place in the history of Russian literature as their creativity exceeded the limits of existing literary movements. Chronologically, the writers worked in the period of post-modernism in Russia. Thus, the books by L. Andreev and S. Krzhizhanovsky have some common features that are typical for that literary paradigm. The authors share similar worldviews and attitudes: their interest in the works by F. Nietzsche and A. Schopenhauer, and as a result, their pessimistic perception of the reality. S. Krzhizhanovsky’s novella Somebody has some reference to L. Andreev’s play The Life of Man . The characters have similar names - Somebody and Somebody in Grey . One more similarity is light and colour of literary place: grey colour and evening shade prevail. Much attention is given to the human body parts: hands, closed eyes, peculiarities of the voice. Their common feature is their belonging to the world of shades. Both Somebody and Somebody in Grey appear from the dark and disappear in the dark. A stranger, who was met by the high-school student in the park, is associated with the shadow - Somebody’s appearance. These features are determined by the logic of the author’s intention. S. Krzhizhanovsky stresses the moments depicting the similarity of his characters to L. Andreev’s ones. He is even afraid that readers do not notice that fact. While acting in concert, L. Andreev and S. Krzhizhanovsky create a common intertextual space, that is an integral part of modernism discourse.

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