childhood

The purpose of this article is to consider the specific features of the artistic embodiment of the components of the author’s childhood world model in the story From the Little House by the writer of the first wave of the Russian émigré, M. A. Osorgin. The author-narrator appears as the central world-modeling category of the work. He remembers, reflects, describes himself as a child. The theme of memory stated in the story is the leading one for the autobiographical prose of the Russian émigré writers.

The article considers the theme of childhood and the specific features of its representation in the Mémoires d’outre-tombe by F. R. de Chateaubriand and Histoire de ma vie by Georges Sand. Childhood is seen as an integral structural element of the self-narrative, the artistic concept of which is formed in the context of the era and the existing literary tradition.

The article considers Mlle de Montpensier’s approach to depicting childhood on the materials of her «Memoires». The viewpoint of the memoire writer is analyzed as compared to the image of the protagonist; the significance of the ‘childhood’ piece in the context of the whole book is determined.