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Focalization in Pushkin's "Eugene Onegin" and Lermontov's "A Hero of Our Time": Loving the Semantic Void and the Dizziness of Interpretation

2008; Modern Humanities Research Association; Volume: 103; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/mlr.2008.0402

2222-4319

Andrea Lešić-Thomas,

Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies

In Pushkin's "Eugene Onegin" and Lermontov's "A Hero of Our Time" literature functions as a cognitive frame and filter lens, and the literariness of the characters' perception of themselves and the world determines what is understood of that world. The interplay between literariness and the processes of focalization is explored through the theme of love. The article examines how the heroes, Onegin and Pechorin, are constructed and why they become so attractive in the heroine's and some readers' eyes, and it asks what the story of literary seduction told here could teach us about love and literature, and the seductive appeal of such stories.