새로운 패러다임적 예술체로서의 『예브게니 오네긴』

Abstract

Usually, Eugenij Onegin, the first novel of A. S. Pushkin, is considered as a panorama of Russians' life on the first half of 19th century. The two major characters, that is, Onegin and Tatjana are considered to represent the types of, so called, 'superfluous man' and 'strong russian woman'. But there can be found many places we can't explain their identities just only in terms of such types. In addition to this, the complexity of th author-narrator's narration makes it impossible for us to classify this work as one side of classical, romantistic or realistic novel.

As one of the effective ways of understanding this work, this paper suggests the concept of 'paradigm'. Basically, 'paradigm' is a concept which is put forward revolutionally and which can reverse the former pattern of thinking. According to this, we can analyze the peculiarities of this work. Firstly, the characterization of Onegin and Tatjana suggest the possible complex of Russian people of that time which Pushkin tried to express. Because of this, their identity cannot easily be classified as some traditional types. Secondly, the narration of the author-narrator expresses the self-parody and particular authorial stance about the hero which cannot be found in other literary works of that time. This functions as a means of revealing the concepts of equality between the hero and author, that is a symbol of equal society which Pushkin pursued.

To sum up, the peculiarity of this work is based on the author's thought to express the 'image of Russian people' in two major characters that is not accessible from any particular literary point of view. Author Pushkin' s way of thinking that writers should develop new forms and contents to express faithfully the realities of new era, which should be based on the concepts of equality and non-discrimination, represents the essence of his literary paradigm.