THE IMAGE AND PROTOTYPE IN SHMELEV’S SHORT NOVEL “TOWARD A NEW LIFE”

I. S. Shmelev began his literary career as a children’s writer, his works were published in such publications for young people as “Spring” and “Young Russia”. The article deals with Shmelev’s short novel “Toward a new life”, one of his earliest works. Scene motives of early writer’s prose are often repeated, aligned with each other. The motif of a “cherished meeting” of the a child with an adult, who becomes a mentor and assistant of the latter in choosing his way of life, is one of those recurring motifs. The article is devoted to comparative analysis of one of the central images of the story “Toward a new life” ? Professor V. V. Fryazin, who became a mentor of the main character, and his real prototype K. A. Timiryazev. Comparative analysis is conducted both at the level of biographical data, and at the level of textual echoes with the writings and ideas of Timiryazev. The analytical material for the article was the short novel “Toward a new life” published in 1907. The study of its manuscripts kept in the Research Department of Manuscripts of the Russian State Library allows us to show better the relationship between the artistic image and its prototype.