The road to one’s own people. Sergey Shargunov

Abstract

The article examines books by S. Shargunov, written at different periods (Hurray! [Ura!] and One’s Own People [Svoi], etc.), tracing the author’s personality and his creative evolution: from a protagonist who rejects the world to a search for ‘one’s own’ and ‘one’s own people’. Shargunov’s ‘own people,’ believes M. Kulgavchuk, are first and foremost his family; memories of childhood provide the foundation for his stylistics, prompting comparison with I. Bunin’s lyrical prose. Indeed, Shargunov works within the realm of lyrical prose, occasionally spicing lyricism with a pinch of satire. His main topic, however, is the relationship between the person and the epoch. Kulgavchik points out how this topic, first appearing in Shargunov’s autobiographical prose, fully develops in his research: a biography of V. Kataev entitled In Pursuit of Eternal Spring [V pogone za vechnoy vesnoy] (The Lives of Remarkable People Series). In his biography of Kataev, Shargunov is consistent and thorough, interested in both large-scale historical milestones related to the writer and individual episodes that demonstrate the writer’s strongly non-conformist nature.