ROMANTIC MOTIVES IN THE PROSE OF A.P. CHEKHOV

Abstract

The article considers the creative reception of romantic motives in the work of A.P. Chekhov with reference to a number of stories created in different periods of the writer’s work: “Flowers are Late”, “Thieves”, “Student”, “Bride”, etc. Quite a long time ago, the idea of the fundamental “unromantic” of Chekhov’s artistic method, which is usually polemicized with all kinds of “ready-made” literary models, was established in literary studies. The analysis of these works is connected with the general trends of the writer’s creativity: the article examines the plot structure of the stories and puts forward the idea of the essential role of romantic motives, which serve primarily to express the ideal of beauty in Chekhov’s prose. It is concluded that the romantic tradition had an undoubted influence on the Chekhov artistic system, being at the same time significantly rethought, embodied in the images of new reflective heroes. The article analyzes the romantic tradition with its inherent ambiguity and universality, taking into account its ambivalence and transformation in a different context – already Chekhov’s.