THE TRAGEDIC BEGINNING OF PROSE BY A.P. CHEKHOV’S: FROM A SITUATION OF DESPAIR TO FATALISM OF EXISTENCE

The subject of this work is the short prose of A.P. Chekhov. The article presents an analysis of the stories “Trouble”, “Palata No. 6” and “Rothschild’s Violin” from the standpoint of concretizing the tragic principle in them, which was undoubtedly felt in society and was imprinted in the literary formations of the late 19th century. Texts by A.P. Chekhov's works are often compared in criticism with experimental prose. However, it was important for the writer not only to overcome the classical principles of realism, but also to identify a new poetics, a new methodological approach to recreating the realities of existence. The research methodology is correlated with a number of current forms of literary text analysis, and an empirical approach is not excluded. The purpose of the work is a textual analysis of small prose forms by A.P. Chekhov with details of the tragic worldview. The work has a practical vector of refraction; the material can be productively used in further analysis of Chekhov’s stories.

Keywords:Anton Chekhov, Russian literature, short prose, realism, story, narration, poetics of the text, style