Anton Chekhov in the work of Wang Zengqi

The article examines the reflection of Anton Pavlovich Chekhov's work in the works of the famous contemporary Chinese writer Wang Zengqi, who has repeatedly stated the influence of the Russian novelist on his works. The purpose of this paper is to examine the genesis of Wang Zengqi's work, to determine how exactly the influence of the nineteenth-century novelist on the twentieth-century novelist manifests itself. Based on the theory of comparative literature by A. Veselovsky and V. Zhirmunsky, we analyze the most famous stories by Wang Zengqi, in which the influence of the master and teacher is particularly clear. In conjunction with the method of comparative study, other methods – biographical and hermeneutic – were used during the research. The authors of the article point out the recognizable dominants of the Russian writer's style, clearly manifested in Wang Zengqi's works – the inclination to objectivity, to a detailed depiction of reality with some reticence, to ambivalence, to a slight irony in the depiction of life phenomena. All these and other features of Wang Zengqi's style allow us to assert that he really heeded the lessons of the Russian master. At the same time, the flexibility of the Chinese novelist's perception of Chekhov's poetics and his ability to organically combine national and foreign origins are noted. The novelty of the article lies in the discovery of typological and genetic links between the works of Anton Chekhov and Wang Zengqi, links that have not been previously noted by literary scholars either in China or in Russia. This work may contribute to the intensification of the consideration of historical and literary ties between Russia and China, to the expansion of this kind of work, which will eventually deepen further mutual understanding between the two nations.

Anton Chekhov, Wang Zengqi, literary studies, Russian literature, Chinese literature, short stories, poetics, typology, reception, influence