Typology of Heroes’ Images in the Industrial Novel of the 1920-1970s by the Material of the Russian Literature of the Soviet Period
The study considers an ambitious literary strategy of the XX century - the industrial novel. The industrial novel genre is for the first time analysed in the diachronic aspect from the viewpoint of literary criticism with the emphasis on a hero’s image. The author concludes that the concept “labour”, a basic value of an industrial novel’s hero, acquires different interpretations. If at the early and mature stages of the genre development, the concept “labour” is associated with a hero’s social mission, the world’s transformation and building a new society, than at the stage of the genre decay, the concept “labour” becomes synonymous with earnings, lifestyle. It is shown that the grotesque image of a global reformer is replaced by the realistic image of a specialist.