Abstract: The article aims to consider narrative strategies in Russian and Western European prose about childhood in the 18th and early 19th centuries. The research relies on the novels A Knight of Our Time by N. M. Karamzin and Emile, or On Education by J.-J. Rousseau. The work of Karamzin preserves the traditional view of the character’s childhood as a period of preparation for future life at the declarative level. However, in the principles of depiction, he departs from this logical construction and questions the linear interdependence of different periods of the heroes’ lives. The text published by him is presented as an artificially interrupted narrative, which involuntarily emphasizes the intrinsic value of the character’s childhood. This effect is enhanced by the use of idyllic time and space in the work. The narrative strategy of Rousseau is based on other principles. The narrative structure is dominated by the concept of “linear time.” The character’s childhood turns out to be significant only in the perspective of subsequent life periods.
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