The concept of man in prose of Marina Palei in the context of the discoveries of F. M. Dostoevsky

The article considers the representation of “little man” developed in Russian literary criticism of the 19th century, which reflected in works of Russian writers including modern authors. However, besides the image of “little man” constructed by criticism, Russian writers studied the human nature in their own way. The article pays special attention to the artistic discoveries of F. M. Dostoevsky, who showed the heights and abysses of the inner world of a person, despite his social circumstances. Dostoevsky showed how rich inner world allows a person to rise above everyday life and to resurrect spiritually. Dostoevsky in his works disavows the constitution of the “little man” proposed by Belinsky, shows the forms of opposition to the “smallness” imputed to him, the ability to soar above the social circumstances and, in an existential sense, become a “big man.” In modern Russian literature two ways of the representation of the person’s inner world can be found. The inertial moral descriptive tradition of depicting a little man is preserved, and the principle of depicting the character’s spiritual growth is being developed. The article determines the artistic features of the image of the person’s inner world in the surrounding social and domestic circumstances in the work of Marina Palei and correlates them with the artistic discoveries of F. M. Dostoevsky on the grounds of artistic continuity and development in terms of specific historical modifications. The article also examines how Dostoevsky represent St. Petersburg. The works of Dostoevsky of the 1870s present the images of the disastrous existence of Petersburg, and Palei’s prose aggravates the image of gloomy and stuffy Petersburg and presents a sick and dying city, which death is inevitable; everyday life and life in general of a person proceeds with the triumph of vulgarity and meanness. The rich inner world of the characters is already powerless to soar above vulgarity or overcome it, as it was in Dostoevsky's works. The characters of Marina Palei have enough courage and fortitude only to dream of breaking into an ideal world, or at least into a dream, replacing the real world with them. But, from an existential point of view, the character of Marina Palei, like the character of Dostoevsky, retains his self-awareness as a Man (with a capital letter), in the social circumstances of a little man looking for a way out of predestination.