Somebody in Grey by L. Andreev and “Somebody” by S. Krzhizhanovsky:
peculiarities of writers’ debate

The paper analyses a possible cultural dialogue between L. Andreyev and S. Krzhizhanovsky.
Both writers occupy the so-called borderland place in the history of Russian literature as their
creativity exceeded the limits of existing literary movements. Chronologically, the writers worked
in the period of post-modernism in Russia. Thus, the books by L. Andreev and S. Krzhizhanovsky
have some common features that are typical for that literary paradigm. The authors share similar
worldviews and attitudes: their interest in the works by F. Nietzsche and A. Schopenhauer, and as
a result, their pessimistic perception of the reality.
S. Krzhizhanovsky’s novella Somebody has some reference to L. Andreev’s play The Life
of Man. The characters have similar names – Somebody and Somebody in Grey. One more similarity
is light and colour of literary place: grey colour and evening shade prevail. Much attention
is given to the human body parts: hands, closed eyes, peculiarities of the voice. Their common
feature is their belonging to the world of shades. Both Somebody and Somebody in Grey appear
from the dark and disappear in the dark. A stranger, who was met by the high-school student
in the park, is associated with the shadow – Somebody’s appearance. These features are determined
by the logic of the author’s intention. S. Krzhizhanovsky stresses the moments depicting
the similarity of his characters to L. Andreev’s ones. He is even afraid that readers do not notice
that fact. While acting in concert, L. Andreev and S. Krzhizhanovsky create a common
intertextual space, that is an integral part of modernism discourse.