Realism of Affects: Corporality, Physiology and Mental Disorder in "King Lear of the Steppes" by I.S. Turgenev

This article explores the interaction between the Realist literary style and contemporary scientific discourse in Ivan Turgenev’s novella King Lear of the Steppes (1870). Drawing on recent research on the intersections between Realism and modern scientific knowledge, the analysis focuses on the influence of 1860s physiological psychology and affect theory – fields that, as the article argues, were of particular interest to Turgenev. Through a close reading of the physiological depiction of the protagonist, Martyn Charlov, and his body, the article demonstrates how Turgenev constructs the character’s subjectivity at both the stylistic and narrative levels through descriptions of his affects, especially those caused by melancholy. The article also uncovers the medical connotations of the term “melancholy” in the 1860s, when it was regarded as a form of mental illness and clinical diagnosis. Consequently, Charlov’s episodes of melancholy may be interpreted as an authorial allusion to this disorder, casting an ironic light on the narrator’s claims regarding the protagonist’s authentic “Russianness”.