ЧАСТНЫЙ ИНТЕРЕС И ОБЩЕЕ БЛАГО: ОТЗВУК ЭПОХИ ВЕЛИКИХ РЕФОРМ В РОМАНЕ И. А. ГОНЧАРОВА «ОБРЫВ»
PRIVATE INTEREST AND COMMON GOOD: ECHO OF THE GREAT REFORMS ERA IN IVAN GONCHAROV’S NOVEL THE PRECIPICE

Summary/Abstract: The article traces the impact of historic background on one of the key characters of Goncharov’s novel The Precipice –an old landlady, grandmother Tatiana Markovna Berezhkova. Numerous details hidden in the text imply that the wayBerezhkova manages her estate, as well as her life principles, improve overtime. An indirect evidence of the ability tochange is provided by her gradual understanding of the common good concept – presumably in response to the changinghistoric environment in the time of government reforms of Alexander II of Russia. Rooted in Bakhtin’s concept of“new epic”, the article addresses the diff erence between explicit (as in Tolstoy’s War and Peace) and implicit presentationof historic background – the latter distinguishes Goncharov’s The Precipice. The developing nature of Berezhkova’scharacter allows to interpret the fi nal metaphor of the novel, another great grandmother – Russia, as a symbol ofhistoric adjustment, and coherent personal and national revival.

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