«BEFORE SUNRISE» BY M. M. ZOSHCHENKO:THE TRIUMPH OF MIND AND INDIVIDUAL CONSCIOUSNESS

The article explores the famous work of M. M. Zoshchenko «Before Sunrise». The story, written during the World War II, is presented by the author as anti-fascist. The theme of the story is the formation of his own «I», psychological motives that encourage one to agree with suffering and violence or to fight them. Fascism in the perception of the author is a complete defeat in the fight against brutality and cruelty, a fear of fight with suffering. Zoshchenko refers to science as a bright hope to prove the existence of consciousness conquering the irrational nature of the soul. The story was a part of the war and post-war era: writers and philosophers (H. Arendt, J. P. Sartre, K. Popper and others) actively discussed the nature of totalitarian regimes, the reasons for their support, the role of personal perception in their affirmation, the possibility of individual rather than collective defining the good, the role of rationality destroying the individual for the sake of universal rational laws and at the same time encouraging individualism and critical thinking. The question of the role of individual consciousness is shown as one of the ancient questions of European philosophy, answered differently in the traditions of Platonism and Christianity. M. M. Zoshchenko is more a humanist writer who paid attention to the individual experience of a person. Trying to show that the triumph of consciousness can be a personal choice he discusses the role of artistic creativity, the nature of neurosis in experiences of many art geniuses. Zoshchenko is trying to make his story a clear demonstration of the possibility of combining the triumph of reason with the sincerity of personal artistic style and hence personal choice in favor of reason.