Геноцид у американсько-російському компаративному дискурсі (В. Стайрон Вибір Софі, А. Кузнєцов Бабин Яр)

Abstract

Bezhan Helen Genocide in American-Russian comparative discourse (W. Styron Sophie’s Choice A. Kuznetsov Babiy Yar)

Studying W. Styron’s (Sophie’s Choice) and A. Kuznetsov’s (Babi Yar) texts allowed to find common and different interpretation of the war events and the Holocaust by American and Russian writers of the second half of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century. It is proved that by documenting events as they are in the A. Kuznetsov’s novel, literature goes to the use of the war’s motif, concentration camps and the Holocaust in the image of the totalitarian regime and ideology of racism. In American literature the same was done by W. Styron. But if the Russian writers, denouncing dictatorships of Hitler and Stalin interpreted the nightmare of war and the Holocaust as a tragedy of the country, the U.S. preferred the strategy of initial acquaintance with the facts of “unknown war” to enhance the story on a modern theme. Works by A. Kuznetsov and B. Styron, complementing each other, give an idea of the foundation of the tragedy of “lost harmony” and “the world as chaos”. Holocaust and genocide that should be taken only in the charter barbarism of the twentieth century, growing against totalitarian regimes. But if the work of the Russian writer is shown in the context of the Stalinism events, then American writer perceives the tragedy of fascism as a variant of the problem of slavery.