Poetics of the Prose Works by Nikolai Shchegolev

The article is devoted to the analysis of the poetics of prose works by Nikolai Shchegolev. Harbin poet created not only lyrical works but also wrote stories, as well as reviews, articles, dreamed of creating a novel. We analyze Shchegolev’s story The Incident in the Park, focusing on the study of a rather rare motive for fiction – the motive of a double suicide. We trace the origins of this motive, which has gained great importance in emigrant literature, both in the European, western part of it, and in the eastern. The relevance of the topic under consideration is that at present Nikolai Shchegolev’s work remains poorly studied. Existing studies consider the life and creative path of the poet, give a description and analyze individual poetic works, but Shchegolev’s prose remains practically unexplored. In addition, the study of this topic will allow you to trace how the picture of the world is changing, human values and priorities in a changing world are transforming. On the example of the analysis of the motives of the authors in the works who were forced to emigrate, to break their ties with their homeland, we can see the importance of preserving cultural and historical values in the context of the transformation of all spheres of modern life. We examined in detail the techniques that Shchegolev uses in the story, such as creating the effect of cinematic storytelling, editing. We also dwell on the accompanying motifs of a prophetic dream, old women-harbingers of death, and others. All of them introduce an element of phantasmagoria into the story, although the work is written in a realistic manner, and allow the author to create an intrigue that violates the reader’s expectations. The theme of double suicide in the story by Nikolai Shchegolev becomes a transformation of moods among the Russian emigration (both its western and eastern branches). At the same time, suicide, surrounded by the above motives, turns into a theatrical action, and Harbin, where the events described take place, is transformed into an ideal mythological space

Aesthetics · Art · Dream · Homeland · Linguistics · Literature · Narrative · Poetics · Poetry · Political science · Politics · Storytelling · Discourse Analysis and Cultural Communication · History · Law · Philosophy · Psychology · Regional Socio-Economic Development Trends · Sociopolitical Dynamics in Russia