Analysis of the Elements of Existential Discourse in A.M. Gorky’s Novel The Life of Klim Samgin

The article discusses the “existential patterns” of A. M. Gorky’s novel The Life of Klim Samgin. According to the author, in this panoramic work, the proletarian writer reflected a whole variety of ideas characteristic of the philosophy of existentialism. The study reveals the multifaceted inner world of Klim Samgin, shows the specifics of his ideological traits. In his novel, A.M. Gorky acutely raises the question of authenticity and quasi-identity of existence, which the book’s protagonist tries to resolve. According to the researcher, such a formulation of the question brings the work of the Russian writer closer to the work of M. Heidegger Being and Time, in which the German philosopher contrasts the antagonistic existentials Dasein and Das Man. The author considers the problem of ambivalent opposites of existence and activity in their ethical refraction. Klim Samgin consciously prefers the tactics of absenteeism, the total denial of all possible alternatives, not wanting to interfere in the apocalyptic movement of the global historical universe. The paper analyzes the problem of the goal and means of achieving it within the framework of the dialectic of the historical process. According to the researcher, A.M. Gorky borrows the formulation of this ethical problem not only from F.M. Dostoevsky, who is rightly considered a kind of predecessor of existential philosophy, but also from N.A. Berdyaev, the latent influence of whose ideas was reflected in the book The Life of Klim Samgin. The author examines the problem of the “existential vacuum” and its consequences, captured in the images of Nekhaeva, merchant Lyutov and Lieutenant Trifonov. Existential analysis of the novel allows us to conclude that the work of A.M. Gorky can be viewed not only from the very rigid conceptual framework of Marxism-Leninism.