The character of a Siberian merchant in the works of I.A. Kushchevsky

The paper is devoted to the study of the character of Siberian merchants described by the Russian writer Ivan Afanasyevich Kushchevsky (1847-1876). The following works by Kushchevsky are considered in this paper: the novel "Nikolai Negorev or a Successful Russian", "Stories", travel notes "Siberian up the river". The significance of the problem considered is that, firstly, I.A. Kuschevsky creates the character of the merchant directly in Siberia; secondly, I.A. Kushchevsky draws a parallel between Russian and Siberian merchants; thirdly, it is possible to identify the degree of I.A. Kushchevsky's objectivity taking into account the biographical background of his formation as a writer (of democratic fraction) and his creative task to create a novel about "new people." I.A. Kush-chevsky was born in Barnaul, where he graduated from the metallurgical school, and then studied at Tomsk school. In Tomsk, he had an opportunity to observe the life of different social groups. These observations subsequently formed the basis for creating many literary characters. The literary life of I.A. Kushchevsky began in St. Petersburg, where in 1864 he found a job in the office of Sankt-Peterburgskie Vedomosti (Saint Petersburg News). The character of the Siberian merchant in works by I.A. Kushchevsky is traditional, but at the same time, versatile. For example, it is a rich farmer, certainly a fraud; a dealer who made fortune by buying the stolen gold; a victimizer gold miner who made a fortune via the labor of gold workers. Those stories published in such papers as Sibirskaya Gazeta (Siberian Newspaper) were not uncommon at that time, and direct observations of the Siberian reality did give plenty of material for such conclusions. The Siberian merchant in the view of the writer is not necessarily a native Siberian, but rather anyone who reached Siberia by one or another way. He is an entrepreneur, an industrious person, smart and clever. Moreover, by I.A. Kushchevsky, the merchant is certainly solid, thrifty, and prudent. He knows how to get the advantage of any situation. He has a beautiful house, but generally keeps the folk origins. By biographical conditionality, the sympathy of the writer belongs mainly to ordinary Siberians to whom their homeland provides more opportunities for the development of their entrepreneurship than Russia as a whole. At the same time, the Siberians do not mind to "benefit" from some financial and other affairs. Thus, the ironic or negative attitude to the merchant class is in close contact with some idealization of the Siberians, which is certainly defined by Kushchevsky's life, his commitment to the revolutionary and democratic fraction of Russian writers.

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