Drama of forsakenness of the hero in story of Gennady Bashkuev "Notes of elderly boy" ("To kill the time")

The article reviews the first and second versions of the story by the Buryat writer Gennady Bashkuev: «Notes of an Elderly Boy» (2007) and «To Kill the Time» (2016). A new type of hero for the Russian literature is analyzed - the “old boy”. The focus is primarily on the novels «Mystery», «The Thing», «A Novel With a Suitcase, Or a Boat Without Oars». The author reviews the factors of formation of hero's personality, features of boy's type of behavior, the principle of hero's self-exposure. Among the factors highlighted, special attention is paid to the image of the father, perceived as God, and the complex of feelings associated with his departure. It clarifies that the hero's drama is connected not only with the drama of perestroika time, long transition from traditional to humanistic society, but also with the drama of abandonment by the father.