У статті розвинуто порівняльні студії Шевченкової повісті «Варнак»
у типологічному ряду із західноєвропейськими творами про «шляхетного
розбійника». У спадщині Шевченка немає згадок про Генріха фон Кляйста і Шарля Нодьє, обмежену інформацію про них він міг дістати хіба
що з тодішньої літературної періодики. В аналізі текстів застосовано
порівняльно-типологічний підхід. Простежено кілька збігів і паралелей,
зумовлених переважно опрацюванням традиційної розбійницької тематики. Зіставлення повісті з іншими творами дало змогу унаочнити ступінь оригінальності Шевченкового трактування образу «шляхетного розбійника» в середині ХІХ ст.
The paper develops comparative studies of Shevchenko’s story “The Convict” (“Varnak”) in a
typological series with Western European works about the ‘noble robber’, namely in comparison
with the novella “Michael Kohlhaas” by Heinrich von Kleist and the novel “Jean Sbogar”
by Charles Nodier. There is no mention of these writers in Shevchenko‘s heritage; neither of
the works had been translated into Russian during his lifetime, although he could get limited
information about the authors from literary periodicals of the time. Accordingly, a comparative-
typological approach is used in the analysis of texts. Several coincidences and parallels
have been traced, mainly due to the elaboration of traditional robbery themes in the works.
At the same time, the comparison of the story with other works made it possible to
illustrate the degree of originality in Shevchenko‘s interpretation of the image of the ‘noble
robber’ in the middle of the 19th century. The story “The Convict” is permeated by Christian
ideas of forgiveness and redemption, uncharacteristic for Kleist and Nodier. In addition,
Kyrylo does not fit entirely into the established scheme of the ‘noble robber’, although
the work follows the main structural elements of such a story. In this work, Shevchenko
distanced himself from the common robber novels, well known to him and his readers. Feeling,
probably, certain obsolescence of the robbery literary tradition, he used it as a material
for elaborating the character of the serf intellectual, and combined it, in turn, with his crosscutting
theme of seducing a slave girl. The narrator exposed the literary motive of the ‘noble
robbery’ subordinating it to the leading theme of the repentant sinner. Against the background
of Kleist’s and Nodier’s works, Shevchenko’s slightly belated story is characterized by
its natural rootedness in the social circumstances of the contemporary Russian Empire and
the life of the Ukrainian countryside, the unpretentious style of the depicted episodes, and a
radically different outcome of the conflict.
