The "superfluous man" as literary phenomenon and literary type

Abstract

The paper focuses on describing key attributes of the "superfluous man" as it appears in Russian literature of 19th and 20th centuries, but also as more general literary type.It combines the analysis and interpretation of particular texts, in which such characters appear, with contemporary and present views of literary scientists and critics. The purpose is to create a definition which can help us to consider which literary character is -or is not -the "superfluous man".