Through the Eyes of an Artist at the Turn of the Centuries. About Anton Chekhov’s Story “The House with a Mezzanine”

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Shchukin, V. G. “Through the Eyes of an Artist at the Turn of the Centuries. About Anton Chekhov’s Story ʽThe House with a Mezzanine’.” Dva veka russkoi klassiki, vol. 8, no. 1, 2026, pp. 32–53. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22455/2686-7494-2026-8-1-32-53
Abstract:
Unlike most studies devoted to A. Chekhov’s story “The House with a Mezzanine,” the article examines the problem of two enduring values — truth and beauty, which is not always noticeable at first glance. The author emphasizes that this is an artist’s story, which means that the picture of the world depicted in it arose in the mind of not an intellectual seeking truth, but an aesthetically inclined person for whom the “bitter truth” cannot overshadow the beauty of nature, the culture created by people, or the human soul. That is why the artist describes with such love the slightly faded charm of noble estates, changes in the weather, carefree girls’ laughter, or the equally carefree far niente. But the turn from the pressing truth of current problems to elusive but eternal beauty is a characteristic feature of modernism. The artist and the girl he fell in love with are not so far from the “seditious” thought of F. Nietzsche, according to which beauty lies “beyond good and evil.” The study provides a parallel analysis of the broad cultural context and the construction of the text of the work, the author of which intentionally but unobtrusively permeates the writing with a complex system of cultural and psychological signals.
Keywords: A. Chekhov, the story, “The House with the Mezzanine,” beauty, truth-truth, truth-justice, positivism, modernism, non-intellectual mental functions, F. Nietzsche, C. G. Jung
Author: Vasilii G. Shchukin
Information about the author:
Vasilii G. Shchukin, PhD in Philology, Professor, Jagiellonian University in Cracow, Roman Ingarden St., 3, 30-060 Cracow, Poland.

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9083-6730

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Received: August 18, 2025
Approved after reviewing: October 24, 2025
Published: March 25, 2026
Issue: 2026 Volume 8 No. 1
Pages: 32-53
DOI: Visit Website
EDN:
https://elibrary.ru/VFLEJZ
UDK: 821.161.1.09"19/20"
Publication Type: Research Article

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