FREETHINKERS, MADCAPS, AND MARK VOLOKHOV:A CASE OF IVAN GONCHAROV’S OBRYV
Writing a commentary for the Complete Works by Ivan Goncharov, we have taken into consideration the results of multiple attempts to indicate the prototype of Mark Volokhov, a protagonist of the novel ‘Obryv’ (‘The Precipice’). The bibliographic index ‘I.A. Goncharov’ released in St. Petersburg in 2015 revealed a series of books and articles about the writer and they have been scrutinized. We have also examined the materials that appeared after the index was published. Mark Volokhov was the expected hero, but he caused shock, was declared successively obsolete, like ruffians of the old time, composed, like Tushin, caricatured, believable and, nally, true to reality. The course of changes in the image of Mark image/svg+xml Volokhov in accordance with the change in the original plan of the novel is shown: from a freethinker, an opponent of state exiled to Siberia, to a madcap, frightening the provincial city with violent antics, in accordance with Goncharov’s idea that Volokhov is a “candidate for demagogues” that he acts according to his convictions, while being sincerely mistaken. Identi ed and considered prototype situations and possible prototypes proposed by the researchers: decembrist V.P. Ivashev as a prototype of a freethinker; exuberant students at Moscow University; Goncharov himself as a possible seducer of V.L. Lukyanova; representatives of the generation of rebels - agitator V.I. Kelsiev, N.M. Satin, F.V. Lyubimov; revolutionary S.G. Nechaev; N.G. Chernyshevsky; residents of Simbirsk - the scampish Berchholz and the author of satirical poems D.D. Minaev; nephews of the writer A.N. Goncharov and V.M. Kirmalov; D.I. Pisarev.