The phenomenon of “childhood” in the Russian artistic consciousness in the XIX and XX centuries against the background of “postmodernity”. Through the eyes of a sociologist

It is known that the attitude towards a child in society as a child, as well as understanding of the nature of childhood, is a relatively recent phenomenon by historical standards. At the same time, to realize these two tasks, today’s society seems to have a correspondingly good economic and epistemological resource. However, the problems remain and even get worse. Modern postmodern civilization noticeably and arbitrarily deviates from the classical paradigm of “childhood”, giving way to “new” practices and concepts: “childfree”, “disappearing childhood”, “parental infantilism”, “childhood under the protectorate of adults”, etc. In this regard, the experience of understanding and depicting childhood in serious fiction — specifically, in Russian prose of the 19th and early 20th centuries, which presents childhood images that are not distorted by the “doubtful uncertainty” (J. Habermas) of the current modernity, should be of interest for “childhood sociology”. The article explores the theme of “childhood”, as it is reflected in the works of Tolstoy, Chekhov, Bunin and others.