The Problem of Memory and Identity in the Light of the Concept of “I and the Other” in Valerii Shevchuk’s Story “The Plague”
Abstract
The problem of loss of identity in V. Shevchuk’s story “The Plague” is considered as a consequence of loss of memory. The problem is highlighted through the prism of the central concept of dialogue in philosophy, the “I and the Other”. Such a research approach is relevant in view of the need to deepen the understanding of the philosophical context of V. Shevchuk’s prose, as well as because the specified issue has not yet been the subject of a separate analysis in the works of researchers of the writer’s work, or has been covered in passing, in the context of studying other issues.
The purpose of the article is to consider the features of the development of the theme of memory in the story ‘The Plague” in connection with the problem of identity and the concept of “I and the Other”, to trace the role of the Other on the hero’s path to self-identification. The theoretical and methodological basis of the investigation was the ideas of memory researchers (Alayda Assman, etc.), representatives of phenomenology, in particular the philosophy of dialogue (Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Martin Buber, Emmanuel Levinas).
As a result of the analysis, the path of the hero of the story by V. Shevchuk to finding his I, which runs through loss, despair, suffering, trials, meeting with the Other, knowledge and choice, was traced. It was found that, in agreement with the views of representatives of the philosophy of dialogue, the writer reveals the process of self-identification of the I through dialogue with the Other, the result of which is a rethinking of the ontological meaning and temporal planes, the transition from appropriation to acceptance, knowledge and understanding, and also from alienation to responsibility.
Conclusions were drawn about the key role in modeling worldview and intellectual collisions, spiritual and ethical searches, the dialectics of the inner world of man in the story “The Plague” of the ideas of the philosophy of dialogue, existential motives and ethical concepts. The means of deploying the problem-thematic, images, plot-compositional plans of the work are neo-baroque poetics and polyphonic narrative.
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References
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