От случайного семейства к patchwork family. По пьесе Людмилы Стефановны Петрушевской Дом и дерево

Abstract

From a casual family to a patchwork family — on L.S. Petrushevskaya’s play House and Tree

The article is devoted to the social issue of family and its reflection in modern drama. This problem was outlined by F.M. Dostoevsky in the 19th century. He wrote about a „casual family”. Nowadays the relationship pattern called “patchwork family” is becoming more and more widespread. One-act play House and Tree 1986 by the renowned playwright L.S. Petrushevskaya is under analysis in the article. The playwright considers family the kind of environment which defines not only a man’s personality, but his fate as well. Family may be compared to gravity which one does not feel, but which is constantly in effect, being a law. That is why patchwork family is inevitable and manifest. The writer does not only state that fact, but also makes it clear that a person is always yearning for heaven on Earth, notwithstanding common sense. That heaven is family and children. Thus, it discloses the significance of the symbolic and optimistic finale of the play.