IVANOV — НAMLET OR DON QUIXOTE? TO THE QUESTION OF ARTISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY I.S. TURGENEV AND A.P. CHEKHOV

The article deals with the question of the Turgenev context in the play “Ivanov” by A.P. Chekhov. Chekhov’s interest in the work of his predecessor remains in the center of research attention today. Scientists devote their works to the study of the typological connection of the characters of writers, female images, and consider the problems of literary criticism. For all its fruitfulness and importance, this approach is not sufficient. In this work, based on the material of the essay “Hamlet and Don Quixote” and the drama “Ivanov”, the question of the similarity of the writers’ views on human nature in principle is raised. The main scientific method of research becomes comporative. The use of Turgenev’s philosophical text, rather than an artistic one, makes it possible to identify common features in the writers ‘ artistic anthropology. The author insists that Hamlet and Don Quixote in the image of Turgenev are not only literary types, but the embodiment of one of the facets of human nature, and one without the other is lifeless and does not exist. The traits of Hamlet and Don Quixote are inherent in all people. Setting himself the task of depicting a full-fledged character, a person in all its complexity, Chekhov follows Turgenev’s artistic anthropology. Consistently analyzing the type of Hamlet as described by Turgenev, and comparing the texts of the essay and the play, the author of the article comes to the conclusion that Ivanov fully possesses Hamlet features — egoism, reflection, inability to love. But for Chekhov, the idea that Hamlet is a suffering egoist is no less important, and his suffering is genuine. The hero has no evil will, and by doing bad things, he does not want to hurt others. It is these character traits that lead the hero to suicide. No less important in the hero is the presence of don Quixotic principles-faith, enthusiasm, passion and fervent imagination. These features are inherent in Ivanov in the past and are given rather as a background, but nevertheless they are necessary for the correct reading of the image. The author comes to the conclusion about the extraordinary value of Turgenev’s artistic anthropology for the correct understanding of the drama “Ivanov”.