Creation and existence of social myths in literature: N. A. Dobrolyubov in the perception of M. O. Menshikov

The article examines the peculiarities of M. O. Menshikov’s perception of the personality and creative work of N. A. Dobrolyubov in the context of the problem of social myth. The purpose of the study is to identify the specifics of the creation and existence of a social myth about N. A. Dobrolyubov in connection with the understanding of his work expressed in M. O. Menshikov’s article “The Path of Talent”. The study is novel in that it is the first one to chronologically consider the relation of the Russian critic and journalist M. O. Menshikov to N. A. Dobrolyubov in close connection with the problem of social myth. As a result, it has been established, firstly, that at the present stage of the development of literary criticism, there is an active rethinking of established mythological approaches to understanding the personality and work of realist critics, and above all N. A. Dobrolyubov. Secondly, in the article “The Path of Talent”, Menshikov, relying on a number of unconvincing arguments, sought to reformat the radical myth of N. A. Dobrolyubov in his own way, arguing that the critic had “many points of contact” with V. P. Burenin and, following the real talents (A. S. Pushkin, F. M. Dostoevsky, V. P. Burenin et al.), had to abandon protest and radicalism. Thirdly, Menshikov, following F. M. Dostoevsky and N. N. Strakhov, discovered in Dobrolyubov’s works on the writings of I. A. Goncharov and A. N. Ostrovsky a lack of knowledge of real life, false generalizations and a penchant for journalism. Fourthly, Menshikov’s departure from literary criticism and the journalistic nature of his work in the 1900s and 1910s led to his unsuccessful attempt to create his own myth about Dobrolyubov.