DOI: 10.25136/1339-3057.2022.3.37458

Abstract: This article is devoted to introduce a literary comparative study between two literary works written by the Russian novelist Anton Chekhov’s short story "The Lady with the Dog" and his American counterpart F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel "The Great Gatsby". The goal lies in revealing the possibility of an existed influence between the two authors. Also, it reveals the similarities and differences of the aspects of love, ego, and trauma. Multiple articles dealt separately with the theme of love in both case studies, thus; the novelty lies in comprehensive comparative of the theme of love between the original authors and their protagonists, as well as with the protagonists themselves. Another novelty is presented in comparing other psychological aspects of trauma and ego of Gurov and Gatsby. The research employs the historical, analytical, comparative, and psychoanalytical methods. The author, specifically, bases his comparison on the Freudian view of love and trauma to analyse the psychological struggle after the love loss experienced by both protagonists; Gurov and Gatsby. Both of them fall in love with women they cannot be with because they are both married to other men, so they both experienced traumatic situation that the protagonists could not get over it. The acquired results can be used both in the practice of literary psychoanalytical criticism, and practice in the filed of comparative studies.

DOI: 10.25136/2409-8698.2022.2.37439

Abstract: This article carries out comparative literary research of the short story "The Lady with the Dog" by the Russian writer Anton Chekhov and the novel “The Great Gatsby” by the American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald for determining the possible mutual influence between these two authors and their works. For achieving the set goal, the article reveals the most significant similar incidents and differences in relation to the aspects of love, ego, and trauma that were selected for the analysis. The comparison relies on the Freudian view of love and trauma in order to analyze the psychological struggle after the loss of love experienced by the protagonists of the aforementioned literary works – Gurov and Gatsby. The scientific novelty consists in comprehensive comparison of the theme of love between the authors and their protagonists, as well as with the protagonists themselves. Unlike other existing scientific works, this publication compares the psychological aspects of not only love, but the trauma and ego of Gurov and Gatsby as well, revealing the similarities and differences between the aspects of love, ego and trauma alongside their perception by the protagonists. Both main characters fall in love with the women who are married to other men. Thus, they both have experienced a traumatic situation they could not cope with. The research sheds light on the similarities between Chekhov and Gatsby and their narrators in both case studies. The acquired results can be applied in practice of literary psychoanalytic criticism, as well as in practice of comparative research.