The Real and the Unreal in the Depiction of the Dacha in the Prose of Anton Chekhov

The article discusses the image of the dacha in the prose of Anton Chekhov. It demonstrates differences in the depiction of the dacha topos in the writer’s stories, notes the main functions of the dacha image in the organization of his works, their chronotopes. The material for the study is the stories The Green Spit (a little novel) (1882) and The New Dacha (1899), illustrating two different perceptions of the dacha. The article also deals with the image of the estate in the stories Verochka (1887) and The Name Day Party (1888), emphasizing that for a full understanding of the role of the real and the unreal when contrasting different types of the dacha life, Chekhov used his own estate-life experience. The methodology of the study is based on the comparative-contrastive method, the biographical method, the method of hermeneutic and holistic analysis. The article proves that the topoi of the estate and the dacha in Chekhov's works of the late 1880s – 1890s periodically converge. Chekhov’s stories and novellas of the late 19th century present the motif of impoverishment, destruction of the estate life, fading and disintegration of the dacha existence. But the writer demonstrates that the content of the estate and dacha life could be different, much more vivid and active. Chekhov continued to hope for the revival of the estate and dacha life in the future, so he aimed to preserve and convey the best examples. Therefore, in Chekhov's works the real in the depiction of estates and dachas coexists with the unreal and is opposed to the latter. The article examines two situations: when the images of dachas and estates play one of the main functions in the depiction of the heroes' existence, clearly determine their lives, while directly being the object of consideration; when these images are built into the narrative about the fates of the characters, their success and misfortunes. In the latter case, the analysis of the behavioral characteristics of the heroes and the comprehension of what happened to them would be incomplete without assessing the role of the dacha or estate in their lives. The author of the article comes to the conclusion that in the context of Chekhov's oeuvre, The Green Spit and The New Dacha constitute a paired antithesis, illustrating that the writer gradually became more and more disappointed at the impossibility of quick changes in the dacha life.