Narrative Strategy in Afanasy Fet’s Story The Golts Family

In the modern research on Afanasy Fet, questions of “prosaic” Fet studies remain poorly investigated: the poetics of Fet’s prose, the specifics of its narrative, the genre features of the works, the comparative analysis of Fet’s narrative practice and contemporary writers’ works. Examination of ways of implementing the narrative strategy in the story The Golts Family requires clarification of the genre features of this work since the principles of narration largely depend on the genre. The volume of this text, the coverage of the events depicted in it, the presence of several plot lines, the abundance of static narrative elements, the constructive role of the narrator, the organization of the narration mainly by descriptions and arguments rather than by event series make The Golts Family a story. The differences of subjects and types of narrative divide the story into two parts. The first part (Chapters 1–3) presents an objective narrative on behalf of an “omniscient” narrator. Starting from Chapter 4, the narrative type changes to “Inarration”, which continues until the very end of the story. A special lyrical atmosphere, an intimate tone, the warmth of memories cocoon the “cuirassier” pages of the story. Fet was faced with a difficult creative task: to depict the fate of the vet Golts and his family against the background of documentary episodes of the life of the cuirassier regiment. The search for the solution entailed a special way of implementing a narrative strategy, in particular, a change in the types of narration. The “interchangeability” of the storyteller and the narrator, changes in the perspectives of the image, in the points of view, and, at the same time, in the types of narration are artistically justified in Fet’s story for they fulfill a certain super-task. The “mediation” of the narrator allows the reader to enter the depicted world and look at the events through the eyes of the characters. In The Golts Family, views “from the outside” and “from the inside”, subjective and objective narratives intertwined. This allowed the author to capture a broad picture of life, to create a multidimensional live image that combines various character traits and possesses individuality and integrity. The author shows Golts’ tragic fate as if “from the outside”, on behalf of the narrator. The appearance of the narrator—the regimental adjutant—changes the point of view in the story and gives a different perspective of the image. The reader now perceives the world of artwork through the character’s consciousness. The position of narrating endows the story with lyricism and cordiality, “revives” it “from the inside”. Thus, the author unwittingly balances the internal and external positions, binds together the whole story.