The dialectical approach and the role of the author in G. A. Gukovsky’s theoretical frameworks in the 1940s

Abstract

G. A. Gukovsky was one of the most significant historians of Russian literature of the 20th century, particularly renowned for his groundbreaking works on the 18th century. In this instance, however, we are referring to his later theoretical constructs, formulated in his writings on Russian romanticism and realism in the 1800s and 1840s, primarily focusing on the period from the 1810s to 1820s. Their central issues, expressed in more modern terms, involve the construction of subjectivity, the development of the «I» concept, and the fundamental nature of personality in high modernity. Additionally, they explore how these concepts are manifested in literary texts of the «Golden Age» of Russian literature. Gukovsky’s late «Hegelian» approach is seen as having significant theoretical implications, resonating with the subsequent developments in European philosophical discourse during the 1950s and 70s.
The research was carried out within the framework of the Russian Science Foundation grant No. 22-18-00591 «Pragmasemantics as an interface and an operational system of meaning formation» at the I. Kant Baltic Federal University.