The concrete historical plan and the features of existential problems in the novel «Islands in the stream» of Ernest Hemingway

Abstract

Стаття присвячена дослідженню пізньої творчості Ернеста Хемінгуея та його роману «Острова в океані». Зокрема, приділено увагу головному герою означеного роману Томасу Хадсону, його внутрішньому світу, психологізму, еволюції та становленні. Простежується конкретно історичний план означеного твору, а також екзистенціальні риси роману. Проводиться паралель між сюжетом роману «Острова в океані» та приватним життям письменника, визначаються риси його автобіографізму. The article deals with the study of late creativity by Ernest Hemingway and his novel «Islands in the Ocean». In particular, attention was paid to the main character of the novel Thomas Hudson, his inner world, psychology, evolution and formation. It can be traced specifically the historical plan of the work, as well as the existential features of the novel. A parallel is drawn between the plot of the novel «Islands in the ocean» and the private life of the writer, and the features of his autobiography are determined. In the article, the hero of the novel «Islands in the Stream» Thomas Hudson is regarded as one of the main artistic images of the work, an artistically modeled integral personality, one way or another expressing the author's idea, in the creation of which he relied on empirical observations, philosophical context of the era, representations of man and the world, but after creation of the work exist independently. The perspective of the novel «Islands in the Stream», in terms of concrete historical can be considered related to the progressive tendencies in the development of existential perception of the world during the Second World War, and in the works of Hemingway of 1930s. In this regard, the novel appears before the reader as a purely anti-fascist work. At this level of the work, the fate of Thomas Hudson can be seen as a difficult but sure way to find oneself in the struggle against life's troubles. Failures in his personal life, the impossibility of living together with the only beloved woman, constant communication with his sons are overcome by Thomas Hudson through an all-consuming immersion in the work. The participation of Thomas Hudson in the Second World War is a matter of purely voluntary and conscious. Thomas Hudson is a well-off person. He, just like Hemingway himself, tracks fascist submarines, carrying service on a boat. The author of the book makes his hero commander of the ship, endowed with the full power. Thomas Hudson always decides what he should do and how. The hero of «Islands in the Stream», convinced that participating in the war on the side of Nazi Germany, people are not involved in history against their will, but fanatically loyal to the false idea. In the novel, the author outlines the process of overcoming Thomas Hudson's characteristic egoism and individualism.