Alekseyev K. V.

Serfdom as a Social and Political Problem in J. P. Polonsky’s Works P. 109-120.

UDC 821.161.1-1.09«18»

DOI 10.37724/RSU.2021.71.2.012

Abstract. The article analyzes J. P. Polonsky’s attitude to serfdom as a social and political problem through the prism of Polonsky’s novels “A Lovely Promise” (including the unwritten chapters), “Sergey Chalygin’s Confessions” and “A Cheap City”. The article focuses on the characters of the three novels whose images help the writer to depict the life of Russian society in the 1820s, the 1840s, and the 1850s, as well as to render social attitudes to serfdom. Some of the characters function as the author’s mouthpiece, showing Polonsky’s attitude to serfdom. These characters are the narrator, Kamkov, Lora, Ulyana Ivanovna, count Taptygin, the baroness (“A Lovely Promise”), Sergey Chalygin, his mother, Kremnev (“Sergey Chalygin’s Confessions”), Elatomsky, Evina, Bavin (“A Cheap City”).

The article highlights the following aspects of Polonsky’s attitude to serfdom: serfdom is a monstrous practice which robs a person of their innate right to freedom and equality. The writer doesn’t treat freedom as manifestation of free will, but as recognition and respect for others. Polonsky underlines the discrepancy between liberal ideas expressed by representatives of intelligentsia and their acceptance of serfdom, he highlightes that peasants treated emancipation differently and sometimes they were not willing to accept freedom. The article maintains that Polonsky’s characters’ liberal and democratic ideas reflect the writers’ worldview.

The author of the article concludes that in the aforementioned novels, J. P. Polonsky propagates freedom, censures serfdom, describes social attitudes to serfdom prevalent in Russian society in the 1820s–1850s. Polonsky’s treatment of social and political problems is strikingly unique. The writer’s ideas and attitudes can only be uncovered through close reading, through comprehensive analysis of the characters’ dialogues and short sketches on political issues.

 

Keywords: J. P. Polonsky, novel, social and political issues, serfdom, ideology, liberalism, freedom and equality, author’s attitudes, pure art.

 

 

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