Kniga posvjaschena istorii russkoj emotsionalnoj kultury kontsa XVIII - nachala XIX veka: vremeni konkurentsii dvora, masonskikh lozh i literatury za monopoliju na "simvolicheskie obrazy chuvstv", kotorye obrazovannyj i evropeizirovannyj russkij chelovek dolzhen byl vosproizvodit v svoem vnutrennem obikhode. V fokuse issledovanija - istorija ljubvi i smerti Andreja Ivanovicha Turgeneva, avtora ispovedalnogo dnevnika, odarennogo poeta, svoego roda "pilotnogo ekzempljara" cheloveka romanticheskoj epokhi, ne sumevshego privesti svoju zhizn i svoju lichnost v sootvetstvie s obraztsami, na kotorykh on byl vospitan. Detalnaja rekonstruktsija etoj zagadochnoj istorii osnovana na predlozhennom v knige ponimanii mekhanizmov kulturnoj obuslovlennosti individualnogo perezhivanija i sposobov analiza emotsionalnogo opyta otdelnoj lichnosti. A.L.Zorin - professor Oksfordskogo universiteta i Moskovskoj vysshej shkoly sotsialno-ekonomicheskikh nauk.
In this book the author reflects on the history of emotions of late 18th-early 19th century Russian literary circles. The focus of the book are emotional perturbations of an aspiring poet, Andrey Turgenev. The author reflects on how literary influences affected Tugenev's self-perception. in fact he keeps showing how emotional matrices taken from contemporary sentimentalist literature were necessary to his protagonist in order to perceive and communicate his emotions. He also show how Turgenev's inability to create a happy life for himself was affected by his inability to reflect on himself outside of these emotional matrices, even though the emotional culture was changing. The book concentrates on this inflexibility. Perhaps this focus is somewhat excessive, it is hard to believe that a Russian nobleman could live so completely in the world of sentimentalist literature. Of course, he understood himself and his emotional life through this literature, but he likely had to ignore numerous circumstances of his life in order to do so. Since the author's goal was to reflect on people caught within different emotional regimes and understand the subtlety of their condition, perhaps reflection on non-literary sides of Turgenev's existence would be useful. Still, this is an excellent book, a very subtle analysis of the construction of emotions and its place in human society's functioning.
Сначала очень научное вступление, от которого я несколько скисла. Потом стало интереснее. На материале дневников российских аристократов конца 18 - начала 19 веков автор показывает, как люди использовали популярную тогда литературу чтобы понять и объяснить для себя свои чувства. Главный предмет исследования, А.И. Тургенев, все время упрекает себя в своем дневнике в недостаточной пылкости и страстности - Онегина и Печорина на тот момент еще не описали, а персонажи современной ему литературы все как на подбор горели, не охладевая и не изменяя предмету страсти. Самым интересным было, пожалуй заключение. Жаль, что автор только очень бегло упомянул «Евгения Онегина» - но понятно, что «Появлени героя» про более раннюю эпоху, как раз перед расцветом русской словесности.