The artistic originality of Minna Canth’s novella «The Roller Merchant»
English
journal number:
Journal’s Subject Headings:
Philology
About author:
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow State Moscow State Linguistic University, Moscow, Russian Federation, [email protected]
ABSTRACT
Introduction: the article examines the artistic originality of the novel «The Roller Merchant» by the Finnish writer of the late XIX century, Minna Canth. The novel is the first experience of psychological prose in Finnish literature; therefore, the subject of close attention is the expressive means and stylistic devices used by the writer to describe a person in a state of despair. The presented picture of Roller’s inner state allows feeling the dramatism of the situation. However, in the play, there is a certain schematic and stereotyped nature in the depiction of the character, which is expressed in a unidirectional
choice of lexical means that simplifies perception.
Objective: to identify the artistic originality of the novel and to reveal the features that allows literary critics to attribute the novel by M. Canth to the initial stage of the formation of Finnish psychological prose as a genre.
Research materials: the novella by M. Canth «The Roller Merchant».
Results and novelty of the research: the scientific novelty of the research lies in the approach to the analysis of Canth’s work from the standpoint of the genre of psychological prose. According to the previously established tradition, the works of the writer were considered by literary critics only in the perspective of critical realism. After the publication of this novel, interest to psychological prose increased among Finnish writers. In the subsequent works of M. Canth, as well as her fellow writers (for example, T. Pakkala, A. Järnefelt, I. Kianto), much attention was paid to the spiritual world of the characters.
In our opinion, the mature work of M. Canth is distinguished by the desire to understand the inner state of a person, the causes of his mental anguish and anxiety. The novel «The Roller Merchant» is an attempt to study a person who finds himself in a difficult psychological situation. Having achieved material prosperity, Roller became spiritually impoverished. Money does not bring the hero moral satisfaction. This is one of the negative aspects of the industrial development of society. The writer creates a wide system of artistic details, which we study in two generalized groups: subject and visual (landscape,
interior, things), and intellectual and psychological (psychological and verbal portraits). The analysis of the character’s internal speech allows understanding his inner world. There is a simplistic approach in the description of the individual psychology of the personality of Roller. Nevertheless,
the experience of the psychological description of the character in the novella «The Roller Merchant» served as the beginning of a new period in the history of the development of Finnish realism.
Key words: Finnish literature, Minna Canth, psychological prose, artistic detail, means of expression.
For citation: Bratchikova N. S. The artistic originality of Minna Canth’s novella «The Roller Merchant» // Vestnik ugrovedenia = Bulletin of Ugric Studies. 2021; 11 (2): 216–223
ABSTRACT
Introduction: the article examines the artistic originality of the novel «The Roller Merchant» by the Finnish writer of the late XIX century, Minna Canth. The novel is the first experience of psychological prose in Finnish literature; therefore, the subject of close attention is the expressive means and stylistic devices used by the writer to describe a person in a state of despair. The presented picture of Roller’s inner state allows feeling the dramatism of the situation. However, in the play, there is a certain schematic and stereotyped nature in the depiction of the character, which is expressed in a unidirectional
choice of lexical means that simplifies perception.
Objective: to identify the artistic originality of the novel and to reveal the features that allows literary critics to attribute the novel by M. Canth to the initial stage of the formation of Finnish psychological prose as a genre.
Research materials: the novella by M. Canth «The Roller Merchant».
Results and novelty of the research: the scientific novelty of the research lies in the approach to the analysis of Canth’s work from the standpoint of the genre of psychological prose. According to the previously established tradition, the works of the writer were considered by literary critics only in the perspective of critical realism. After the publication of this novel, interest to psychological prose increased among Finnish writers. In the subsequent works of M. Canth, as well as her fellow writers (for example, T. Pakkala, A. Järnefelt, I. Kianto), much attention was paid to the spiritual world of the characters.
In our opinion, the mature work of M. Canth is distinguished by the desire to understand the inner state of a person, the causes of his mental anguish and anxiety. The novel «The Roller Merchant» is an attempt to study a person who finds himself in a difficult psychological situation. Having achieved material prosperity, Roller became spiritually impoverished. Money does not bring the hero moral satisfaction. This is one of the negative aspects of the industrial development of society. The writer creates a wide system of artistic details, which we study in two generalized groups: subject and visual (landscape,
interior, things), and intellectual and psychological (psychological and verbal portraits). The analysis of the character’s internal speech allows understanding his inner world. There is a simplistic approach in the description of the individual psychology of the personality of Roller. Nevertheless,
the experience of the psychological description of the character in the novella «The Roller Merchant» served as the beginning of a new period in the history of the development of Finnish realism.
Key words: Finnish literature, Minna Canth, psychological prose, artistic detail, means of expression.
For citation: Bratchikova N. S. The artistic originality of Minna Canth’s novella «The Roller Merchant» // Vestnik ugrovedenia = Bulletin of Ugric Studies. 2021; 11 (2): 216–223
