The Motif of Memory in the Stories of B.L. Vasiliev «Exhibit no. ...»and E.M. Remarque «Annette’s Love Story»

The article considers the realization of the memory motif in the stories of two famous masters of war prose – B.L. Vasiliev and E.M. Remarque. The relevance of their works is connected with the formulation of problems of universal human value, for example, the memory of the war and the attitude of post-war generations towards it. The most significant point of contact is the drawing of a line of succession in such important topics for Russian and German literature as «man and war», «war: past – present», since it is precisely such a category as national memory that, in its own way, «cements» both Russian and German literature of the twentieth century in the historical paradigm. The motif of memory is considered by both authors through the opposition «past – present». The component of «past» at E.M. Remarque’s work is associated with the time before the war and the time of the first months of the war: this is the childhood of the characters, their growing up, getting married while on vacation from the front and the death of a young man during the war. The life of a young widow develops in such a way that in the whirlwind of events she seems to forget about the deceased, but, getting married for the second time, she comes to her hometown, where surging memories force her to look at the past in a different way and appreciate the sacrifice made by her husband in the name of the peaceful present. Remarque’s work tells about the return of memory, that the sacrifices for the benefit of humanity are not in vain. In the story of B.L. Vasiliev, the past is also connected with pre-war peaceful life, but for the mother of the deceased young man it is closely connected with the present. With his work, the author warns that an attempt on memory, in any form, is dangerous for the present, because memory must live so that the mistakes of the past do not repeat themselves. The scientific significance of the work lies in the appeal to the motive level of the analysis of the prose works, the practical significance lies in the comparative analysis of works created by humanist writers of the countries whose peoples often opposed each other in military conflicts.