The myth about love in Russian literature can be defined according to Ronald Barthes as
a meta-language, self-referential fiction, and a connotative system. In nineteenth-century Russia,
it was literature, for the most part, that offered information about the psychology of love, gender
stereotypes, and relations between men and women. The works of A. S. Pushkin, M. Iu. Lermontov,
A. I Goncharov, I. S. Turgenev, F. M. Dostoevsky, and N. Tolstoy reflected national assumptions
about love, marriage, and family. The texts of those Russian writers share the common field
of value meanings: an accent on spiritual rather than physical intimacy, love as a mystery, and the
predominance of the motifs of solitude and the “mysterious forces.” Turgenev’s role in the formation
of that myth is particularly important. The paper aims to reveal these elements in Turgenev’s
texts that shaped the myth about love and then to consider how Chekhov reinterpreted and
transformed this myth. The main mythologemes “the tragic meaning of love,” “moral necessity,”
“mystery,” and “solitude” as the highest mode of existence are identified. The situations of rendezvous,
first love, axiological aspects of the myth, and Turgenev’s intertext in Chekhov’s works
are analysed. Notice is taken of two versions of Chekhov’s reception of the myth of love: deconstruction
(the ironic mode) and transformation (the lyric-dramatic mode). Both versions are related
to Chekhov’s knowledge and intuitive comprehension of the laws of gender psychology.
Astaf’yev P. E. Psikhicheskiy mir zhenshchiny, ego osobennosti, prevoskhodstva i nedostatki [The psychic world of a woman, its features, superiority and disadvantages]. Moscow, 1881, 156 p.
Bart R. Mifologii [Mythologies]. Moscow, Izd. im. Sabashnikovykh, 2004, 320 p.
Bern Sh. Gendernaya psikhologiya. Zakony muzhskogo i zhenskogo povedeniya [Gender Psychology. The laws of male and female behavior]. St. Petersburg, Praym-Evroznak, 2008, 320 p.
Bern E. Igry, v kotoryye igrayut lyudi. Lyudi, kotoryye igrayut v igry [Games that people play. People who play games]. Minsk, Popurri, 1998, 505 p.
Chekhov A. P. Polnoye sobraniye sochineniy i pisem: V 30 t. Sochineniya: V 18 t. Pis’ma: V 12 t. [Complete works and letters: in 30 vols. Works: in 18 vols. Letters: in 12 vols]. N. F. Bel’chikov, D. D. Blagoy, G. A. Byalyy, A. S. Myasnikov (Eds). Moscow, Nauka, 1973–1984.
Grossman L. Portret Manon Lesko. Dva etyuda o Turgeneve [Portrait of Manon Lesko. Two etudes about Turgenev]. Odessa, 1919, 66 p.
Egorov B. F. Struktura rasskaza “Dom s mezoninom” [The structure of the story “A house with a mezzanine”]. In: V tvorcheskoy laboratorii Chekhova [In Chekhov’s creative laboratory]. Moscow, Nauka, 1974, pp. 253–270.
Markovich V. M. Chelovek v romanakh Turgeneva [The Man in Turgenev’s novels]. Leningrad, Izd. Leningr. univ., 1975, 151 p.
Nabokov V. Lektsii po russkoy literature [Lectures on Russian literature]. Moscow, Nezavisimaya gazeta, 1996.
Nikolayev Yu. Turgenev. Kriticheskiy etyud [Turgenev. Critical Study]. Moscow, 1894, 263 p.
Odesskaya M. M. Chekhov i problema ideala [Chekhov and the problem of the ideal]. Moscow, RSUH, 2011, 495 p.
Pronnikov V. A. Yazyk mimiki i zhestov [Language of mimics and gestures]. Moscow, Stels, 2001, 216 p.
Semanova M. L. Chekhov – khudozhnik [Chekhov – an artist]. Moscow, Prosveshcheniye, 1976, 223 p.
Sëmkin A. D. Krasota mira kak “neumelaya dekoratsiya,” ili Eshchë odin “russkiy chelovek na rendez-vous” (rasskaz “Verochka”) [The beauty of the world as “inept decoration,” or one more “Russian man for a rendezvous” (story “Verochka”)]. In: Mir Chekhova: zvuk, zapakh, tsvet [Chekhov’s World: sound, smell, color]. Simferopol’, 2008, pp. 50–66.
Sukhikh I. N. Problemy poetiki Chekhova [The problems of Chekhov’s poetics]. St. Petersburg, SPbU Fac. of Phil. Publ., 2007, 492 p.
Turgenev I. S. Asya [Asya]. In: Turgenev I. S. Poln. sobr. soch. i pisem: V 30 t. T. 5 [Complete works and letters: in 30 vols. Vol. 5]. Moscow, Nauka, 1980, pp. 149–197.
Turgenev I. S. Faust [Faust]. In: Turgenev I. S. Poln. sobr. soch. i pisem: V 30 t. T. 5 [Complete works and letters: in 30 vols. Vol. 5]. Moscow, Nauka, 1980, pp. 90–130.
Turgenev I. S. Dvoryanskoye gnezdo [Home of the Gentry]. In: Turgenev I. S. Poln. sobr. soch. i pisem: V 30 t. T. 6 [Complete works and letters: in 30 vols. Vol. 6]. Moscow, Nauka, 1981, pp. 5–159.
Turgenev I. S. Rudin [Rudin]. In: Turgenev I. S. Poln. sobr. soch. i pisem: V 30 t. T. 6 [Complete works and letters: in 30 vols. Vol. 6]. Moscow, Nauka, 1981, pp. 197–325.
Ushakova E. Turgenev i ranniye rasskazy Chekhova (1880–1886) [Turgenev and Chekhov’s early stories (1880–1886)]. In: Molodyye turgenevedy o Turgeneve [Young Turgenev scholars about Turgenev]. Moscow, Ekon-Inform, 2006, pp. 118–137.