Article

Name: Ecclesiastical motifs in Anton Chekhov’s «Lights»

Authors: A. S. Sobennikov

In the section Study of literature

Abstract: The paper studies Chekhov’s understanding of the «Solomon» corpus of texts and the influence of Ecclesiastes on the formation of Chekhov’s worldview at the end of the 1880s. Comparing Chekhov’s fragment «Solomon» and his story «Lights», the author reveals axiological and existential aspects of the latter and proves that it transcends Chekhov’s «epistemological approach». The author also examines the forms of time, chronotope as well as the plot and semantic motifs of «darkness», «light» and «movement». The conclusion is that the figurative and symbolic plan of the work leads the reader to comprehend the integrity of the world. The story of Ananiev as the separate experience of human life also becomes the part of the whole.

Keywords: ecclesiastes, marc aurel, chekhov, motif, light, the darkness

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