The Conception of the Formation of the Personality of the Heroes in the Novel by H. Böll ‘The Clown’ and the Novel by F. M. Dostoevsky ‘The Adolescent’: Creative Parallels

Through a comparative analysis of the images and conceptions of the formation of the personality of Hans Schnier and Arkady Dolgoruky, the paper reveals the signs of a literary dialogue between H. Böll and F. M. Dostoevsky in terms of disclosing the theme of upbringing in the novels ‘The Clown’ and ‘The Adolescent’. It was found that in both works the process of the formation of the characters and world views of the central characters is shown unevenly through the representation of the key moments of their biography which evoked a strong emotional response from the characters. In the above-mentioned novels, similar methods of psychologism are used: confession, recollection. At the same time, H. Böll endows his text with more acute social problems than F. M. Dostoevsky. His hero is categorical in his assessments and polemic in relation to the society around him, the morality of the majority of whose representatives he not only finds unacceptable, but also castigates. Based on this, we can conclude that H. Böll reconstructs the model of the hero’s personal development in the novel ‘The Clown’ by not only taking into account the traditions of the Russian classic author, but also in the context of sharp criticism of the realities of his contemporary society.