Conceptualization of Modern Man's Moral Quest in the Work of Karin Alvtegen

Abstract

The aim of the work is to conceptualize the moral quest of modern man in the novels «Shame» and «The Butterfly Effect» by the Swedish writer K. Alvtegen. The methodological basis of the study is general scientific methods of analysis: historicism, systematization, comparison and generalization of the problem under study. A significant role in the analysis of the specificity of the creative process, the disclosure of the moral quests of modern man in the artistic work is played by an interdisciplinary approach, which allowed to attract scientific developments from the branches of cultural studies, philosophy, ethics and psychology. Scientific novelty: for the first time in Russian cultural studies the work of K. Alvtegen was analyzed in the context of the disclosure of the problem of moral quests of man in modern literature. Conclusions: K. Alvtegen's novels «Shame» and «Butterfly Effect» have been analyzed. It is shown that the author creates images of his characters, first of all, in the psychoanalytical perspective, relying on the ideas of different philosophical schools, while trying to fix the attention of readers on the moral aspect of human existence, in particular on the manifestation of shame, guilt and fear. It is noted that the work of K. Alvtegen is a significant phenomenon in the logic of the development of the modern literary process.

Key words: shame, guilt, fear, «will to meaning», psychological trauma, «existential turn».