Мотив утраты невинности в романах Э. Боуэн

Вестник Московского университета. Серия 9: Филология. 2018. № 4. С. 170–177.

Rodina M.

The article discusses the motif of loss of innocence in Elizabeth Bowen’s three novels: The Hotel, The House in Paris and The Death of the Heart. Anglo-American literary criticism, which opposes virginity and loss of innocence, understands loss of innocence as an inevitable and essential stage on the character’s way to adulthood and the crucial moment in the character’s evolution. It is argued that Bowen’s novels have features of Bildungsroman as they show the process of growing up and personality formation. However in some respects they are different from this genre. Particularly, when the plot revolves around the main character and other characters play supporting roles. The paper emphasizes the role of the “significant event” (the term coined by the Russian psychologist L.S. Vygotsky) which is the catalyst for psychological processes that lead to the loss of innocence. It appears that Bowen’s novels illustrate Vygotsky’s theory and even develop it, showing that it can be applied to teenagers and even adults. After a brief description of each novel with an emphasis on “significant events” and the relationship with Bildungsroman it is concluded that the theme of the loss of innocence plays a major part in understanding the entire corpus of works by Bowen. It becomes evident that the writer portrays the loss of innocence as a valuable and positive experience, however painful it may be. Besides, the paper discusses the biblical tradition in regarding to this motif.

 

Keywords: individual psychology, роман воспитания, возрастная психология, Bildungsroman, innocence, утрата невинности