“THE MASTER OF THE SHIP” BY YU. YANOVSKY AND “THE LOVE OF THE LAST TYCOON” BY F.S. FITZGERALD: TYPOLOGICAL COMPARISON

Abstract

The paper provides a comparative analysis of Yuriy Yanovsky’s first novel “The Master of the Ship” (1928) and Francis Scott Fitzgerald’s last and unfinished novel “The Love of the Last Tycoon” (1941). Biographies of these authors contains a great number of parallels, one of which – the career in the film industry – gave rise to these works. The novels are built on a documentary basis and their characters have real prototypes. The focus on cinema is seen not only in the theme, but also in the application of cinematic techniques, the study of which requires a further investigation. There are the spirit of adventurism (for Yu. Yanovsky it’s adventurism of youth, creativity and travel, for F. Scott Fitzgerald it’s about the movie business which is compared to the Wild West), metaphorical, didactic and ironical language among other common features. Narrators are characterized by self-irony and self-reflection (both, despite belonging to different age groups, are attracted to the idea of writing memoirs). The main female characters – actresses Tayah and Kathleen – appeal to the archetypal image of a whore who seeks to be reborn for a new life with the help of a messiah-man. The role of biblical allusions in both novels is to interpret the phenomenon of cinema as a new religion for the masses and emphasize the uniqueness of its “preachers”. The biblical concept of messianism, which is also regarded as the basis of the idea of obsession with work, in “The Master of the Ship” is melted with the ancient philosophy of hedonism and overemphasized from activity as such to the joy of activity. This is one of the foundations, on which the ideal of a man of integrity and happy person is based. It is the most consistently embodied in the image of an elderly filmmaker and writer, the father of two sons To-Ma-Ki. Instead, one can find out Fitzgerald’s interest in the motive of disappointment in the idea of the American dream in the image of young and successful Hollywood film producer Monroe Starr, who is at the same time a lonely, sick and unhappy man.