Between the elementary and the universal: Man and animal in I. Turgenev’s “Mumu”

The article explores the eluding borderline between the human and the animal resulting from the numerous bestial metaphors in Turgenev’s short story. The framework of the analysis is provided by Bakhtin’s notions of the universal whole and the animal as an elementary being. From the prism of Turgenev’s perception of nature, the elementary and the universal prove to be closely related to each other. Their interaction determines Gerasim’s attitude to Mumu, defined as care. The opposition between universality and the small world of human power relations, associated with the decrepit Barynja, constitutes the main conflict in the story. It is finally argued that universality also ultimately determines the deeds of the story’s characters, as well as the nature of their “guilt”.

This article is written in Russian.