Love in Konstantin Paustovsky’s <i>Romantics</i> (1923)

Abstract

Konstantin G. Paustovsky’s novels remain understudied as a research material. Romantics (1923) is his first novel in this genre. The novel reflects the transformation of his ideas about romantic love and connects it with the motif of creativity as an ultimate form of human activity. The article describes the characters-in-love and the effect of love on their personality development. The study relied on the method of comparative analysis as part of historical and literary approach. In his early works, K. G. Paustovsky referred to the romantic tradition, which he transformed to create his own concept of life and creativity based on the principles of humanism and love of life. Maximov, the main character of Romantics, keeps writing a book called Life while being in love with two women against the tragic background of World War I. Maximov’s feelings for the two women gradually resolve his creative crisis. Hatija and Natasha represent two sides of romantic beauty, i.e., angelic and demonic. Love shows Maximov new sides of life and allows him to overcome the internal conflict. When one of the women is lost to him in the chaos of war, both female images merge into a single harmonious Eternal Femininity, which is a remake of the romantic tradition. By facing various dangers, Maximov learns the essence of life: love brings about its triumph over death.