I. YAKOVLEV CHUVASH STATE PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY BULLETIN

production novel, the works by L. Leonov, «The Sot», heroes and anti-heroes.

The article considers the system of characters in the novel «The Sot» by L. Leonov. The Soviet critics attributed this novel to the genre of «production novel». The authors analyze the system of characters, and put forward a hypothesis corresponding to the genre of production novel on the education of the human personality. The analysis of the text revealed that genre statements of the typical production novel are not implemented in «The Sot». Thus, the discussed novel expands the genre canon.  The construction of a paper mill on the river Sot divided people into two warring camps, supporters and opponents of the industrialization of the peasant hinterland. The paper mill, the creator of which Ivan Uvadyev considers «a factory to serve the production of new people» in practice is not able to «educate» a person of a new type, but only conducts a rigid selection, sorting of people into carriers of the «industrial» and «peasant» mentality. The image of the future for Ivan Uvadyev and Sergey Potemkin becomes social creativity, which the residents of Makarikha and the old believers of the monastery resist. The transformation a geographical space divides the characters into heroes and anti-heroes. The authors conclude that the urbanized environment does not transform the people; a change in philosophy and education of the person is only possible through the inclusion into relevant activity.

Поль Дмитрий Владимирович – доктор филологических наук, профессор кафедры русской литературы XX–XXI веков Института филологии Московского педагогического государственного университета, г. Москва, Россия; e-mail: pol-d-v@yandex.ru

Гаганова Анна Анатольевна – стажер кафедры русской литературы ХХ–ХХI веков Института филологии Московского педагогического государственного университета, г. Москва, Россия; e-mail: briolett@yandex.ru