Abstract

The autor investigates a special aspect of a fundamental and immediate problem for Russian literary science, namely ‘F. M. Dostoevsky and literary tradition in the XVIII century‘. ‘The Old Man‘, a novella by French writer P. J. B. Nougaret from his prose cycle ‘Les passions differents ages, ou le tableau des folies du siecle‘ , is seen as an important element of the paradigmatic context in F. M. Dostoevsky’s novella ‘Dyadushkin son‘ . A parralel character analysis, ‘Baron Osbrun - Prince K.‘, reveals significant differences in the autors’ strategies to foreground the archetypal images of a youthy and smart old man, so firmly entrenched in antiquity. The apparent similarity in the satiric portrayal of elderly characters, based on the combination of Aristophanes grotesque, gallant and anacreontic codes, emphasizes a striking difference in the behavior of Baron Osbrun and Prince Gavrila in the same situation - ‘public disclosure of the secrets of a youthy old man‘. This character parallel gives a clear-cut idea of how Dostoevsky transformed the archetypal image of a youthy old man, shows notional depth and esthetic complexity of the tragicomic character of Prince-‘dyadushka‘.