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CADSM’2007, February 20-24, 2007, Polyana, UKRAINE

“Life of Jean Pohl Fridrih Rihter” by Gunter de Bruyn as a Biographical Novel

Mariya Koshlan Abstract – The paper deals with the specific issue of

literary studies, namely the creation of novels general typology. Intensive development of the novel genre during the last few decades provides for the topicality of the research. Special attention is paid to the genre peculiarities of the biographical novel. Conclusions are made on the basis of the analysis of “Life of Jean Pohl Fridrih Rihter” by Gunter de Bruyn.

INTRODUCTION Modern development of biographical prose during two last

decades attracts a particular researchers’ attention [1, 2, 3, 4]. The genre nature , possible classifications and stylistic features of biographical works have been studied. Two tendencies can be traced in the determination of the gender-genre aspect of the biographical novel : 1) it is considered to be the type of the historical novel [5], 2) it is attributed to artistic-documentary literature [1. 3].

The novel “Life of the Jean Pohl Fridrih Richter” is widely portrays the life and literary activity of the famous German writer (the end of 18th century - the beginning of 19th century) in the context of the epoch. This work is

a mononovel i.e. it describes a real personality with his genuine life and emotional experiences;

an “intensive” novel [1:76] as it deals with the biography of personality;

“monocentral” as the whole range of events is directed to the subject centre, namely to the major character Jean Pohl;

chronologically and geographically limited as only places visited by the main hero are mentioned.

The historical background is created by frequent excursions of the author to the description of different social aspects of life like the position of teachers etc.

The writer made use of archive documents, Jean Pohl’s private correspondence which Gunter de Bruyn introduced into his work and skillfully presented through the prism of his personal perception.

The fragments from the letters create the binarity of the novel’s composition. Each biographic fact makes a basis for development of the theme of the novel.

The author uses a chronological kind of narration about the hero: life and literary work of Jean Pohl Fridrih Rihter from his birth in 1762 till his death in 1825, creating a ‘distance’ novel completed in time and form.

Mariya Koshlan – Department of Applied Linguistics, Lviv Polytechnic National University, 12, S. Bandery Str., Lviv, 79013, UKRAINE

The story is divided into 42 chapters, from which a reader comes to know about the childhood of the writer, about his studies at the Gymnasium and University, about his slow and difficult literary career. He had to put a lot of effort into making himself a writer. Gunter de Bruyn pays a particular attention to the works of the writer. His life and work is shown in close connection with historical events (for example, French revolution, leadership of Napoleon, with military times in Germany), with the activities of other famous personalities of that time (J. W. Goethe, J. G. Herder, F. Schiller).

One can find very interesting description of relations between the writer and women in the novel. Some chapters are devoted to his marriage. Gunter de Bruyn depicts his hero in various aspects and turns him into the subject of the action, what is typical of the biographical novel.

REFERENCES [1] Лопатина В.Д. Литературная биография и ее формы

//Содержательный и процессуальній аспекты профессионального образования. – Биробиджан: Изд-во Биробидж. гос. пед. ин-та, 2001.

[2] Луков В. А. „Биографический жанр”: генезис и пути развития // Телескоп. – Самара: „Научно-технический центр”, 2003. -№4.

[3] Грегуль Г.В. Біографічна проза першої половини ХХ ст.:жанровий аспект (за творами М.Петрова, С.Васильченка, О. Ільченка, Л. Смілянського): Дис. ... канд. Філол.наук 10.01.01. – К., 2005.

[4] Акіншина І.М. Жанрово-стильові особливості художньо-біографічної прози 80-90-х років ХХ століття: Дис. ... канд філол.наук: 10.01.01. – К., 2005.

[5] Ковальчук Л. В. Основные типы немецкого историко-биографического романа ХХ века: : Дис. ... канд філол.наук: 10.01.01. – К., 1987.

[6] Бугрина Н.А. К вопросу о характере вымысла биографического романа// Жанровое многообразие художественной литературы. – Саратов: Изд-во Сарат. Ун-та, 1991. – С.76-84.

CONCLUSION Having described the genre peculiarities of the novel “Life

of Jean Pohl Fridrih Rihter” by Gunter de Bruyn we can make the following conclusions:

1. The novel can be definitely classified as the one belonging to the biographical genre,

2. The peculiarity of the novel is the combining of features characteristic of biographical-historical and aristic-documentary pieces of writing.