La Femme Fatale: Typological Artistic Comparisons of W. M. Thackeray and I. S. Turgenev (‘The History of Henry Esmond’ and ‘Smoke’)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17072/2073-6681-2025-4-145-156Keywords:
la femme fatale; unrequited love; social realism; novel; Russian-English literary relations of the 19th century; comparative and typological literary research.Abstract
The article is a comparative genetic and typological study of the thematic, problematical, and artistic similarities between two works by prominent realists of the 19th century – the novels The History of Henry Esmon by W. M. Thackeray and Smoke by I. S. Turgenev. Exploring these novels, the author of the article works with diverse national material (though belonging to one stage of the development of world literature – the stage of socio-psychological realism), deals with different genre modifications of the novel as the main genre of the literary era (though relying on the same figurative and plot constants – la femme fatale and unrequited love). Based on this material, the paper demonstrates both similar and individual aspects of the writers' solution of the eternal theme of love and the eternal images of lovers. Also, the uniqueness of the writers’ work with archetypal images and archetypal plot situations is demonstrated. The novelty of the approach to understanding the image of la femme fatale and its plot embodiment in these novels is connected with the demonstration of the uniqueness of the dynamics of the image in the system of socio-realistic and realistic-psychological reсоnstruction of the world, whose aesthetic positions in the European literature of the 1850s and 1860s were strengthening. The research emphasis in the article is placed on the aesthetic, problem-themed, and artistic-analytical proximity of the novels The History of Henry Esmond and Smoke, but especially – on the obvious overlap of the novels at the level of the central characters, whose fates turn out to be the original embodiment of the writers’ visions of the complexity, inconsistency, and importance of reproducible eras. An analysis of the functioning of the image of la femme fatale in the novels shows that the writers fill it with deep realistic and psychological meaning, significantly transforming the figurative stereotype, subordinating it to the ethical, aesthetic, socio-historical, and moral-ideological tasks they set themselves when creating these works.References
Алексашина И. В. Проблемы исторического развития России в романе И. С. Тургенева «Дым»: дис. … канд. филол. наук. Тверь, 2008. 177 с.
Аюпов И. С. Роман И. С. Тургенева «Дым» в историко-культурном контексте: дис. … канд. филол. наук. Магнитогорск, 2010. 190 с.
Батюто А. М. Тургенев-романист. Л.: Наука, 1972. 389 с.
Бельская А. А. Трансформация мифа об Амуре и Психее в романе И. С. Тургенева «Дым» // Ученые записки Орловского государственного университета. 2014. № 2 (58). С. 172–179.
Бялый Г. А. Глава седьмая: «Дым» в ряду романов Тургенева // Бялый Г. А. Тургенев и русский реализм. Л.: Сов. писатель, 1962. С. 171–197.
Вахрушев В. С. Творчество Теккерея. Саратов: Изд-во Сарат. ун-та, 1984. 151 с.
Волков И. О. Творчество И.С. Тургенева в пространстве мировой литературы (по материалам библиотеки писателя): дис. … д-ра филол. наук. Томск, 2024. 721 с.
Гениева Е. Ю. Уильям Мейкпис Теккерей. Творчество. Воспоминания. Библиографические разыскания. М.: Книга, 1989. 488 с.
Гениева Е. Ю. Неизвестный Теккерей // Тек-керей в воспоминаниях современников (Серия литературных мемуаров). М.: Худ. лит., 1990. С. 5–22.
Гнюсова И. Ф. Л. Н. Толстой и У. М. Теккерей: проблема жанровых поисков: дис. … канд. филол. наук. Томск, 2008. 184 с.
Дюришин Д. Теория сравнительного изучения литературы / пер. со словац. и ком. И. А. Богдановой, авт. предисл. Ю. В. Богданов, ред. Г. И. Насекина. М.: Прогресс, 1979. 317 с.
Ивашева В. В. Английский реалистический роман XIX века в его современном звучании. М.: Худ. лит., 1974. 464 с.
Ломакин С. В. Уильям Мейкпис Теккерей и русская литература 40–60-х гг. XIX в.: оценки в критике и типологические связи: дис. … канд. филол. наук. М., 2012. 179 с.
Лотман Л. М. Реализм русской литературы 60-х годов XIX века (Истоки и эстетическое своеобразие). Л.: Наука, 1974. 350 с.
Лурье З. А. История формирования образа «роковой женщины» во французской культуре XIX в. // Вестник Санкт-Петербургского госу-дарственного университета. Серия 2. История. 2012. Вып. 1. С. 155–161.
Мелетинский Е. М. О литературных архетипах. М.: РГГУ, 1994. 136 с.
Нуралова С. Э. Теккерей в России: середина XIX века: дис. … канд. филол. наук. Ереван, 1985. 254 с.
Нуралова С. Э. Записка Теккерея И. С. Тургеневу. URL: https://turgenev-lit.ru/turgenev/biografiya/nuralova-zapiska-tekkereya.htm (дата обращения: 29.07.2025)
Петровская Е. В. «Египетские глаза» и «си-ний вуаль» (литературно-художественный контекст образа Ирины в «Дыме» Тургенева // Спасский вестник. 2012. № 21. С. 55–63.
Проскурнин Б. М., Яшенькина Р. Ф. История зарубежной литературы XIX в.: Западноевропейская реалистическая проза: учеб. пособие. М.: Флинта: Наука, 1998. 416 с.
Ребель Г. М. Герои и жанровые формы романов Тургенева и Достоевского. Типологические явления в русской литературе XIX века. Пермь: Перм. гос. пед. ун-т, 2007. 398 с.
Сизарева М. А. «Ярмарка тщеславия» по-русски: к 175-летию первой публикации // Вестник Московского университета. Серия 9. Филология. 2023. № 2. С. 196–204. doi 10.55959/MSU0130-0075-9-2023-47-2-14
Теккерей У. М. История Генри Эсмонда, эсквайра, полковника службы ее величества королевы Анны, написанная им самим / пер. Е. Калашниковой // Теккерей У. М. Собрание сочинений в 12 томах. М.: Худ. лит., 1977. Т. 7. С. 5–506.
Тургенев И. С. Дым // Тургенев И. С. Собра-ние сочинений в шести томах. М.: Правда, 1968. Т. 3. С. 5–172.
Ушакова О. М. Дым, Пруфрок и la femme fatale (И. С. Тургенев и Т. С. Элиот на рандеву) // Литература двух Америк. 2018. № 5. С. 310–353. doi 10.22455/2541-7894-2018-5-310-353
Федорова К. А. Образ «la femme fatale» в искусстве // Гуманитарные научные исследования. 2013. № 3. URL: https://human.snauka.ru/2013/03/2551 (дата обращения: 25.07.2025).
Харлушина А. А. Специфика изучения типологии женских образов у И. С. Тургенева в исследованиях начала ХХI века // Успехи гуманитарных наук. 2021. № 4. С. 204 – 208.
Catalan Z. The Politics of Irony in Thackeray’s Mature Fiction: Vanity Fair, The History of Henry Esmond, The Newcomes. Sofia: Klement Ohridski University Press, 2009. 179 p.
Craciun A. Fatal Women of Romanticism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. 328 p.
Lund M. Reading Thackeray. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1988. 186 p.
Monsarrat A. An Uneasy Victorian. Thackeray, the Man, 1811 – 1863. New York: Dood, Mead and Company, 1980. 500 p.
Praz M. The Romantic Agony. New York: Meridian Books, 1968. 502 p.
Stott R. The Fabrication of the Late-Victorian Femme Fatale: The Kiss of Death. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1992. 257 p.
Thackeray W. M. The History of Henry Esmond, a Colonel in the Service of Her Majesty Queen Anne, Written by Himself. London: Smith Elder and Co; Cornhill, 1858. 505 p.
References
Aleksashina I. V. Problemy istoricheskogo razvitiya Rossii v romane I. S. Turgeneva ʽDymʼ. Diss. kand. filol. nauk [The problems of historical development of Russia in Turgenev’s novel ʽSmokeʼ. Cand. philol. sci. diss.]. Tver, 2008. 177 p. (In Russ.)
Ayupov I. S. Roman I. S. Turgeneva ʽDymʼ v istoriko-kul’turnom kontekste. Diss. kand. filol. nauk [I. S. Turgenev's novel ʽSmokeʼ in the historical and cultural context. Cand. philol. sci. diss.]. Magnitogorsk, 2010. 190 p. (In Russ.)
Batyuto A. M. Turgenev-romanist [Turgenev as a Novelist]. Leningrad, Nauka Publ., 1972. 389 p. (In Russ.)
Belʼskaya A. A. Transformatsiya mifa ob Amure i Psikhee v romane Turgeneva ʽDymʼ [Cupid and Psyche myth transformations in I. S. Turgenev's novel ʽSmokeʼ]. Uchenye zapiski Orlovskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta [Scientific Notes of Orel State University], 2014, issue 2 (58), pp. 172-179. (In Russ.)
Byalyy G. A. Glava sedʼmaya: ʽDymʼ v ryadu romanov Turgeneva [Chapter seven: ʽSmokeʼ in the series of Turgenev's novels]. Byalyy G. A. Turgenev i russkiy realism [Turgenev and Russian Realism]. Leningrad, Sovetskiy pisatelʼ Publ., 1962, pp. 171-197. (In Russ.)
Vakhrushev V. S. Tvorchestvo Tekkereya [Thackeray's Works]. Saratov, Saratov State University Press, 1984. 151 p. (In Russ.)
Volkov I. O. Tvorchestvo I. S. Turgeneva v prostranstve mirovoy literatury (po materialam biblioteki pisatelya). Diss. d-ra filol. nauk [I. S. Turgenev's Works in the World Literature Space (Based on the Writer's Library Materials). Dr. philol. sci. diss.]. Tomsk, 2024. 721 p. (In Russ.)
Genieva E. Yu. Uilʼyam Meykpis Tekkerey. Tvorchestvo. Vospominaniya. Bibliograficheskie razyskaniya [William Makepeace Thackeray. Works. Memoirs. Bibliographical Research]. Moscow, Kniga Publ., 1989. 488 p. (In Russ.)
Genieva E. Yu. Neizvestnyy Tekkerey [Unknown Thackeray]. Tekkerey v vospominaniyakh sovremennikov (Seriya literaturnykh memuarov) [Thackeray in the Memoirs of His Contemporaries (Series of Literary Memoirs)]. Moscow, Khudozhestvennaya literatura Publ., 1990, pp. 5-22. (In Russ.)
Gnyusova I. F. L. N. Tolstoy i U. M. Tekkerey: problema zhanrovykh poiskov. Diss. kand. filol. nauk [L. N. Tolstoy and W. M. Thackeray: The Problem of Genre Searches. Cand philol. sci. diss.]. Tomsk, 2008. 184 p. (In Russ.)
Dyurishin D. Teoriya sravnitelʼnogo izucheniya literatury [Theory of Comparative Literature Study]. Transl. from Slovak and comm. by I. A. Bogdanova, pref. by Yu. V. Bogdanov, ed. by G. I. Nasekin. Moscow, Progress Publ., 1979. 317 p. (In Russ.)
Ivasheva V. V. Angliyskiy realisticheskiy roman XIX veka v ego sovremennom zvuchanii [The 19th-Century English Realistic Novel in Its Contemporary Meaning]. Moscow, Khudozhestvennaya literatura Publ., 1974. 464 p. (In Russ.)
Lomakin S. V. Uil’yam Meykpis Tekkerey i russkaya literatura 40-60-kh gg. XIX v.: otsenki v kritike i tipologicheskie svyazi. Diss. kand. filol. nauk [William Makepeace Thackeray and the Russian literature of the 1840s-1860s: Criticism and typological connections. Cand. philol. sci. diss.]. Moscow, 2012. 179 p. (In Russ.)
Lotman L. M. Realizm russkoy literatury 60-kh godov XIX veka (Istoki i esteticheskoe svoeobrazie) [Realism of the Russian Literature of the 1860s (Origins and Aesthetic Originality)]. Leningrad, Nauka Publ., 1974. 350 p. (In Russ.)
Lurie Z. A. Istoriya formirovaniya obraza ʽrokovoy zhenschinyʼ vo frantsuzskoy culʼture XIX v. [The history of the image of the ʽfemme fataleʼ in 19th-century French culture]. Vestnik Sankt-Peterburgskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya 2. Istoriya [Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Series 2. History], 2012, issue 1, pp. 155-161. (In Russ.)
Meletinskiy E. M. O literaturnykh arkhetipakh [On Literary Archetypes]. Moscow, Russian State University for the Humanities Press, 1994. 136 p. (In Russ.)
Nuralova S. E. Tekkerey v Rossii: seredina XIX veka. Diss. kand. filol. nauk [Thackeray in Russia: The mid-19th century. Cand. philol. sci. diss.]. Yerevan, 1985. 254 p. (In Russ.)
Nuralova S. E. Zapiska Tekkereya I. S. Turgenevu [A Note from Thackeray to I. S. Turgenev]. Available at: https://turgenev-lit.ru/turgenev/biografiya/nuralova-zapiska-tekkereya.htm (accessed 29 July 2025). (In Russ.)
Petrovskaya E. V. ʽEgipetskie glazaʼ i ʽsiniy vual” (literaturno-khudozhestvennyy kontekst obraza Iriny v ʽDymeʼ Turgeneva [ʽEgyptian eyesʼ and ʽblue veilʼ (literary and artistic context of Irina's image in Turgenev's ʽSmokeʼ]. Spasskiy Vestnik, 2012, issue 21, pp. 55-63. (In Russ.)
Proskurnin B. M., Yashen’kina R. F. Istoriya zarubezhnoy literatury XIX v.: Zapadnoevropeyskaya realisticheskaya proza [The History of Foreign Literature of the 19th Century: Western European Realistic Prose]. Moscow, Flinta-Nauka Publ., 1998. 416 p. (In Russ.)
Rebel G. M. Geroi i zhanrovye formy romanov Turgeneva i Dostoevskogo. Tipologicheskie yavleniya v russkoy literature XIX veka [Heroes and Genre Forms in the Novels of Turgenev and Dostoevsky. The Typological Phenomena in the 19th-Century Russian Literature]. Perm, Perm State University Press, 2007. 398 p. (In Russ.)
Sizareva M. A. ʽYarmarka tshcheslaviyaʼ po-russki: k 175-letiyu pervoy publikatsii [ʽVanity Fairʼ in Russian: To the 175th anniversary of the first publication]. Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Seriya 9. Filologiya [Lomonosov Philology Journal. Series 9. Philology], 2023, issue 2, pp. 196-204. doi 10.55959/MSU0130-0075-9-2023-47-2-14. (In Russ.)
Thackeray W. M. Istoriya Genri Esmonda, eskvayra, polkovnika sluzhby ee velichestva korolevy Anny, napisannaya im samim [The History of Henry Esmond, Esq., a Colonel in the Service of Her Majesty Queen Anne, Written by Himself]. Transl. by E. Kalashnikova. In Thackeray W. M. Sobranie sochineniy [Collected Works: In 12 vols.]. Moscow, Khudozhestvennaya literatura Publ., 1977, vol. 7, pp. 5-506. (In Russ.)
Turgenev I. S. Dym [Smoke]. In Turgenev I. S. Sobranie sochineniy v shesti tomakh [Collected Works: In 6 vols.]. Moscow, Pravda Publ., 1968, vol. 3, pp. 5-172. (In Russ.)
Ushakova O. M. Dym, Prufrok i ʽla femme fa-taleʼ (I. S. Turgenev i T. S. Eliot na randevu) [Smoke, Prufrock, and la femme fatale (I. S. Turgenev and T. S. Eliot on a rendez-vous)]. Literatura dvukh Amerik [Literature of the Americas], 2018, issue 5, pp. 310-353. doi 10.22455/2541-7894-2018-5-310-353. (In Russ.)
Fedorova K. A. Obraz ʽla femme fataleʼ v iskusstve [The image of ʽfemme fataleʼ in arts]. Gumanitarnye nauchnye issledovaniya [Humanities Scientific Researches], 2023, issue 3. Available at: https://human.snauka.ru/2013/03/2551 (accessed 25 July 2025). (In Russ.)
Kharlushina A. A. Spetsifika izucheniya tipologii zhenskikh obrazov u I. S. Turgeneva v issledovaniyakh nachala XXI veka [A specific study of the typology of female images of I. S. Turgenev in research of the early 21st-century]. Uspekhi gumanitarnykh nauk [Modern Humanities Success], 2021, issue 4, pp. 204-208. (In Russ.)
Catalan Z. The Politics of Irony in Thackeray’s Mature Fiction: Vanity Fair, The History of Henry Esmond, The Newcomes. Sofia, Klement Ohridski University Press, 2009. 179 p. (In Eng.)
Craciun A. Fatal Women of Romanticism. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2003. 328 p. (In Eng.)
Lund M. Reading Thackeray. Detroit, Wayne State University Press, 1988. 186 p. (In Eng.)
Monsarrat A. An Uneasy Victorian. Thackeray, the Man, 1811–1863. New York, Dood, Mead and Company, 1980. 500 p. (In Eng.)
Praz M. The Romantic Agony. New York, Meridian Books, 1968. 502 p. (In Eng.)
Stott R. The Fabrication of the Late-Victorian Femme Fatale: The Kiss of Death. Basingstoke, Macmillan, 1992. 257 p. (In Eng.)
Thackeray W. M. The History of Henry Esmond, a Colonel in the Service of Her Majesty Queen Anne, Written by Himself. L., Smith Elder and Co; Cornhill, 1858. 505 p. (In Eng.)
