Psychologism of E.N. Chirikov’s Novel “The Return”

Abstract

The subject of consideration in the article was the peculiarity of psychologism in E.N. Chirikov’s novel “The Return”. He is included in the autobiographical tetralogy “The Life of Tarkhanov” (1911–1924), which demonstrates that in the early 1910s the writer moved away from the previously established reputation of a life writer and a denouncer of social ulcers, turning to a philosophical understanding of the world and man. However, the author’s contemporaries were not ready for the creative evolution of the artist, which is proved by the history of the critical reception of this novel cycle. “The Return” turned out to be virtually ignored by the reviewers, although it was in it that the skill of Chirikov, a psychologist, was most clearly manifested. The analysis demonstrates that the writer tried to move away from the traditional ways of describing the feelings and experiences of the character in favor of depicting his inner world as a living, dynamic formation. The fluidity of Gennady Tarkhanov’s consciousness and his existential nature were expressed primarily in the weakening of the external plot and the repetition of the same sensations in similar situations caused by the love experiences of the hero. This fact testifies to the accumulation of emotions in Tarkhanov’s soul, which ultimately leads him to adulthood and self-perfection. Thus, the writer intuitively moved in line with the trend that will later occupy a significant place in the literature of the first half of the twentieth century under the name of “non-classical” psychologism and even antipsychologism.