Abstract
The article is devoted to the reception of the Chekhov myth, which occupies a special place in the writing of essays. The author of the article emphasizes that A. Bitov was not so much interested in the details of A.P. Chekhov’s psychology, but in the mystery of integrity and harmony inherent in the personality of the last Russian classic. In the work, the phenomenon of “overlapping” quite "not close" on poetics of A.S. Pushkin and A.P. Chekhov in the essay by A. Bitov “My grandfather Chekhov and great-grandfather Pushkin (Autobiography)” (2004 The author explores the way a postmodern writer sees "his own" in the "grandfathered" and "great-grandfather" existences, solving the problem of identifying a modern thinking person who bears the burden of non-embodiment. The central role in the work of A. Bitov’s opposition is analyzed: the role, revealed in such antinomies as genuine / imaginary, real / illusory in the context of Bitov’s “island” type of consciousness formation, which should have been greatly influenced by the journey undertaken “in Chekhov’s footsteps” to Sakhalin. A. Bitov’s skill as an essayist and a literary analyst is noted. In the author's interpretation of A.P. Chekhov’s fate the role of environmental safety criterion, which is related to Bitov’s interpretation of the “ecology of inspiration” is emphasized, as well as the importance of this aspect in understanding of the postmodern writer creativity.
Key words
Bitov, Chekhov, Pushkin, mythologization, deconstruction, biography, self-identification.