Herzen: Writer, Author and his Hero

Abstract

The subject of the article is the complex phenomenon of Narcissism in Herzen’s oeuvre and personality. First of all, narcissism is considered as the comprehension of the way to self-knowledge, due to which the gradual surpassing of the autobiographical principle in Herzen’s fiction takes place. Special attention is paid to the Herzen’s interpretation of the elements of the myth about Narcissus. The analysis relies on the examination of many resources, including the texts written by the author, contemporary memoirs, and critical articles of historians of literature. The issue which is considered in the article becomes of great importance in the light of Bakhtin’s theory of “author and hero”.