The image of a teenager in the 18th–19th century Russian fiction

Abstract

The article investigates the image of a teenager in the 18^th–19^th century Russian fiction. The evidence is taken from “Poor Lisa” by N. M. Karamzin, “Young Ignoramus” by D. I. Fonvizin, and two works by L. N. Tolstoy: “Childhood and Adolescence”. The article also explores changes in the image of a child against the backdrop of social and cultural conditions of the time period under study. The article describes the historical periods that witnessed the development of young fiction characters. It also provides the author’s vision of the child’s place in the family. Based on the historical retrospective, the article outlines unique characteristics of adolescence that do not depend on the historical, social and cultural context: a change in the attitude to the opposite sex, a desire for self-reflection, etc. The study shows that until the 18^th century, the child is not represented in literature as a character with an individual inner world. The first works about teenagers, which appeared at the end of the 18^th century, provided no more than a superficial description of behavior.

The paper shows examples of how, in the 18^th–19^th centuries, family members, close ones, social, cultural and historical conditions influence the development of a child’s inner world. It was found that the 18^th century teenage fiction characters show almost no traits common for teenagers. This is due to two reasons: a scarce description of a child’s inner world and a certain influence of their close circle which makes characters infantile. The 19^th century teenage character has many features common for teenagers described in modern psychology.

The methodological basis of the research includes the cultural and historical concept of L. S. Vygotsky, D. B. Elkonin’s research on adolescence and Yu. M. Lotman’s work “Conversations on Russian Culture”.