Nikolay Chernyshevsky's Quotation in What Is to Be Done? in the Semantics of the Plot in Leo Tolstoy's The Living Corpse: On the "Dissimilarity of the Similar"

The article discusses two works: a bestseller of its period, Nikolay Chernyshevsky's utopia What is To Be Done? (1862-63), and the draft released after the author's death, Leo Tolstoy's drama The "narrative behaviour" of the same model, a fake suicide, in an instructive journalistic work of fiction and a highly artistic literary work is considered. The material and grounds for comparison are based on the fact that Tolstoy mentions Chernyshevsky's novel and makes it clear that the Gipsy Masha has made use of Chernyshevsky's doctrine. However, it goes further than the quotation. Masha, willing to rescue Protasov, suggests that he should follow the example of another character of What Is to Be Done?, the "rational egoist" Lopukhov, namely a fake suicide, to solve the love collision problems. It is commonly known that getting divorced in the Russia of that time was next to impossible, which is extensively described in fiction. There also exists evidence of real incidents, e.g., the case of the Gimer spouses, the key figures of which Tolstoy knew personally. Considering the fact that the author of The Living Corpse not only quoted Chernyshevsky but also introduced the underlying intertext, the present article focuses on the contrastive analysis of the two works and comparison of their mythological, characterological, genrelogical and plot realities. It has been revealed that the basis of the novel and the drama is made up by several archetypes drawing together the semantics of the plot patterns. Following Chernyshevsky, who only outlined the gypsy theme, Tolstoy creates an extensive "Gypsy text" significant in terms of the plot: the play features Gypsy characters (reflecting the lasting tradition of the Russian literature) and songs ("Ne Vechernyaya" [Not Vespertinal], "Chas Rokovoy" [Fatal Hour]). They mark the stages of the plot movement, expand the chronotope images and introduce the theme of "freedom-will". The literary images interfere with reality (Tolstoy's uncle (F.I. Tolstoy the American) and brother were married to gypsies, which was typical of nobles who were carried away by beautiful singers from the choir), which allowed Tolstoy to create an interesting model of self-interest/self-neglect that deepens the female characterology of the play. A similar plot model (a voluntary departure from life of a person who decided to free his loved ones) in Chernyshevsky's novel and in Tolstoy's play at the plot level is realized in completely different ways. For the rationalistic scheme of the utopia, a simple eventive "step" is sufficient to reach personal happiness and social well-being without any "restrictions" (as opposed to the genre of idyll, in which happiness is "restricted", according to Jean-Paul's interpretation). This distinguishes "instructive," moralising novel fiction (popular with contemporaries) from a great classical work created for ages. The play The Living Corpse, in which more than immediate problems are solved, is its perfect confirmation.

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