Superfluous man
The superfluous man (Russian лишний человек, lischni Chelovek ) is a recurrent topos and archetype of Russian literature of the 19th century.
Starting from the large Byronrezeption ( Byronism ), the first incarnations of the superfluous man (especially Pechorin from A Hero of Our Time 1837 /40) and Pushkin, whose verse novel Eugene Onegin ( 1833) is generally regarded as the first work created in the works of Lermontov, in which this archetype occurs ( in the person of the hero ). The term itself is borrowed Turgenews novel Diary of a superfluous man ( 1850). In later adaptations to elements of the " aesthetic life change" Kierkegaard and Schopenhauer and Nietzsche's thoughts beside the life's work of Byron can be identified as sources of inspiration.
Characteristics
The superfluous man is often aristocratic, intellectual, eloquent dandy who - although he thinks quite idealistic - break on the morale of the company. He is a beneficiary of the company who can do nothing for the improvement of the public good or wants - be it imagined or real. He is the general stupidity and injustice around him fully aware, but remains only an idle spectator. This perceived helplessness leads to fatalistic irony and pessimism, as well as a deep sense of ennui ( boredom ) that seems insurmountable to the superfluous man.
Other examples
- Oblomov (1859 )
Fyodor Dostoevsky:
- Records from Underground (1864 )
- Raskolnikov from Crime and Punishment (1866 )
- Stavrogin of The Possessed (1873 )
- The Brothers Karamazov (1880 )
Leo Tolstoy:
- Pierre Bezukhov in War and Peace (1868 /69)
Ivan Turgenev:
- Yevgeny Bazarov in Fathers and Sons (1861 )