“Свое” и “чужое” в романе Э.М. Ремарка “Возвращение” и повести В. Некрасова “В родном городе”
“Own” and “alien” in the Novel “The road back” by E.M. Remarque and the Story “In the Hometown” by V. Nekrassow

Summary/Abstract: The article is devoted to the comparative analysis of the image of the hero in the war prose about the First and the Second world war. The study highlighted common stages,which are typical of the main character of Remarque and Nekrassow. The features of the stages are described with the help of the opposition “own” – “alien”, allowing to trace the transition from stage to stage, as well as to examine the system of the characters in the novels with more detail.Within the stage of “soldiers” that develops during the stay of the heroes at the front, the Remarque’s central character, Birkholz is characterized by an unconventional attitude towards the end of the war and his future return to home: for him, the front becomes a “native place” (as it is related to his fellow soldiers), and the upcoming world carries only the unknown. Such attitudes are further reflected at the level of the opposition“own” – “alien”, the components of which are reversed: the “own” for Birkholz becomes“alien” and “alien” is “own”. Despite the development of the fable – the exception of the space-time sphere of “war” – Nekrasow makes his hero (Nicholas Mitasov) return (in flashbacks) to his front-line experience. Returning to the ruined city and leaving friends fellow soldiers causes Birkholz the feeling that he is an `outsider` and the desire to return back to the front, where he feels his `own` place.

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