The Problem of Understanding Self-Identification (V.M. Shukshin's Artistic Experience)

Abstract

The artistic approach to the problem of self‑identification is attractive to the reader, as it involves an emotionally colored approach to the individual through the lens of values. Self‑identification of the individual is focused on understanding a wide range of existential issues, such as love, family, faith, loneliness, and death. In his story "In Autumn," V.M. Shukshin emphasizes the importance of love. The author shows the process and result of the protagonist's movement towards self‑determination through the dialectics of various natural phenomena, Slavic traditions, feelings, and beliefs, as well as the stages of a person's life in the specific conditions of their time. There is an existence, the search for "I" from a personal point of view is quite painful, but it allows a person to make a number of discoveries (an incomprehensible contrast in the wording – corrected and remained in color): love as the highest truth in any historical conditions; a person is not just a set of functional purposes; following social institutions does not exhaust a person's social existence. The "reference point" from which a person begins their journey towards self‑discovery is important. "I am You," "I am We" are two principles that define different paths in spiritual quests. These conclusions can be reached by reflecting on the lives of the main characters in the story "In Autumn."