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Abstract: Published in 2011, D. A. Granin’s autobiographical novel My lieutenant is one of the latest works on the Great Patriotic War written by its actual participant. Reviews and literary criticism articles view it within the framework of the 21st century “lieutenant prose” (B. Vasiliev’s An Extraordinary Century, V. Bogomolov’s Have I dreamt my life up?, I. Nikolaev’s The Lieutenants). The critics single out its main artistic features: confessional nature of narration, combination of two narrators (the author-narrator and “lieutenant D”) from different periods of time, as well as a chronicle plot and fragmentary narration, through which the author gives his description of the military actions on the Leningrad front and depicts the blockade and the first post-war years. The paper focuses on the author’s personal image of the War, comprised by a unique depiction of life in the trenches and military actions, tangible representation of the system of conflicts and relationships, and the author-narrator’s first-hand experience and his evaluation of the 1941 summer campaign, all of which sum up to “the truth about the War”, which Granin tries to bring to his readers. In the course of research, the study has analyzed the system of characters and plot-building conflicts in the novel, as well as the author’s digressions and evaluations of the events. The author explores and describes the images of the Soviet people, the authorities, the enemy, and the Soviet soldier in terms of their interrelation and interaction. The findings make it possible to argue that the principal content of the novel lies in the discussion of “the price of Victory”, and that the image of the Soviet people (its indispensable parts being the images of the authorities and the Soviet soldier, including the image of “lieutenant D”), fighting against the merciless enemy for their right to live, is the main component of the image of the War. The traditional narratives of “unpreparedness for the War”, systematic blunders and abuse of authority by the military commanders underscore the idea of the people’s heroism. This interpretation of the historic events summarizes and represents the traumatic experience of the war generation.

About the author(s) :

Aleksandr M. Lobin

Ulyanovsk State Pedagogical University (Ulyanovsk, Russia)

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6885-0963

Publication Timeline:

Date of receipt: 14.03.2025; date of publication: 30.06.2025

References:

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