Fiction as a historical source for the study of pre-reform Russia
The author of the article considers the possibility and necessity of using fiction as a complementary historical source. The article analyzes the position of historical researchers, politicians, writers on the role of literary texts in the study of history. The functions of the artistic image created by the author of the work as a contemporary of the epoch are revealed. The value of an artistic image as a source of historical information is presented in the context of reflecting the characteristic features of a person, social problems, and the state of culture. The author of the article draws attention to the fact that the use of literary texts can be carried out within the framework of the application of the method of microhistoric research, which allows introducing new sources into scientific circulation. The uniqueness of artistic works as carriers of historical information is noted in the context of the possibility of a deeper and more sensual understanding of historical events and phenomena occurring in the period described, the emotional reaction of contemporaries to them, including the author of the work. The appeal to iction when conducting historical research meets the requirements for the organization of modern research, allows them to ensure their interdisciplinarity and crossdisciplinarity, which ultimately has a positive effect on achieving a reliable research result and the possibility of its reasoned justification. One of the important conditions contributing to the comprehensive and systematic study of history is the existence of interrelation and complementarity of scientiic methodology in the use of sources and means of iction as a space that reveals value orientations, social norms of society, the daily life of a person of the epoch. The author of the article, based on the results of research on the use of iction as a historical source, concludes that this is not only possible, but also advisable, since it contributes to the creation of full-fledged ideas about history and the place of man in it, about his spiritual and moral world.