героя

In recent years, Soviet criticism and literary studies have been characterized by very lively theoretical discussions and creative disputes. The peculiarity of these disputes lies in the fact that they are conducted not by people who hold opposing political and aesthetic positions, but by like-minded people on the main points, who discuss one or another problem and the possible ways of resolving it. Recently, a lively discussion has developed on the issue of the diversity of forms and styles in the art of socialist realism, on artistic convention, on the modern hero. The polemic about the positive hero is not the first time that this problem has not yet found comprehensive illumination in aesthetic science, and in this circumstance we cannot but see a serious drawback of our work. Now it would be a clear anachronism to argue about whether the positive hero is necessary or unnecessary, whether he should or should not be the center of attention of socialist realist artists. The participants in the creative discussions taking place in the Soviet Union are united in their determined struggle against bourgeois writers and revisionists who vainly try to ridicule and discredit the heroic, affirmative pathos of socialist art.

Here the curtain is lifted and the reality, which is supposedly so familiar to us, is revealed in some unseen, unsuspected light. The reason, of course, is at least in the modern, unfamiliar, often a little bizarre artistic means, although they are sometimes necessary. The reason is in the unusually fresh, wise, communist contemporary view of the author, in his new discovery of the world. The bearer of "innovative power" in the play, of that dreamed thing that the viewer seems to want to take with him after the performance, is the dramatic image. Through it, the playwright achieves his ultimate goal: to influence the viewer. Without a dramatic image, the most fulfilling idea, the most complexly conceived conflict, and the most original dramatic composition hang in the air. Only the dramatic image-discovery can give them flesh and blood, revive the author's innermost thoughts, excite the viewer with his fate, make him think, believe in the improbable.