Transformation of the novel development genre (entwicklungs roman) in the novels by Charles Dickens

The article highlights the problem of individual identity formation in the novels "Oliver Twist" and "Great Expectations" by Ch. Dickens in the context of rethinking the tradition of the novel’s formation. Taking into consideration the concepts of "subjective" novel and artistic features of the writer’s prose, the hero is seen as a subject-in-formation, and the author's version of "novel of formation" is interpreted as a novel of initiation. The article considers the novels by Dickens "Oliver Twist" and "Great Expectations" from the perspective of the archetypes of the hero and "initiation" expressed by K. G. Yung with an additional reference to the contemporary criticism of the novel. These works by Charles Dickens are considered here in terms of "symbolic representation", agreeing that literature gets its narrative strength through ancient and unconscious symbols that make up the nature of the species relevant to the archetypal images and narrative structure, touching upon fundamental existential themes and interests. Thus the creative achievement of the author becomes the result of tension between the collective unconscious and the ego or personal development.