РОМАН ДЖ. ФАУЛЗА «КОЛЕКЦІОНЕР»: СВОБОДА МІЖ ЕЛІТАРНІСТЮ МЕНШОСТІ Й НЕВІГЛАСТВОМ БІЛЬШОСТІ

The literary heritage of John Fowles, despite the variety of themes and images, the wealth of techniques of artistic representation, is united by a leading problem: the formation of self-awareness as a necessary condition for achieving freedom and developing the creative potential of an individual. This problem clearly appears already in the first published work of the writer – the novel «The Collector». The basis of the novel's structure is the conflict between its two central characters – Frederick Clegg and Miranda Grey. This conflict has a parable-symbolic meaning, revealing the significance of the confrontation between the elitist Few and the ignorant Many. Clegg strives to win Miranda's favor, fulfills her every wish, but cannot realize that by taking away her freedom, he is depriving her of the most important thing in life. The figurative space that forms the poetics of the novel is focused primarily on Shakespeare's play «The Tempest». It plays the role of a leitmotiv "code" that works at all levels of the novel's system. The ambiguity embedded in the conflict of the Few and the Many excludes the author's relativity regarding the absolute value of the central element of his moral and philosophical paradigm – individual freedom as a decisive factor of person's existential essence.The literary heritage of John Fowles, despite the variety of themes and images, the wealth of techniques of artistic representation, is united by a leading problem: the formation of self-awareness as a necessary condition for achieving freedom and developing the creative potential of an individual. This problem clearly appears already in the first published work of the writer – the novel «The Collector». The basis of the novel's structure is the conflict between its two central characters – Frederick Clegg and Miranda Grey. This conflict has a parable-symbolic meaning, revealing the significance of the confrontation between the elitist Few and the ignorant Many. Clegg strives to win Miranda's favor, fulfills her every wish, but cannot realize that by taking away her freedom, he is depriving her of the most important thing in life. The figurative space that forms the poetics of the novel is focused primarily on Shakespeare's play «The Tempest». It plays the role of a leitmotiv "code" that works at all levels of the novel's system. The ambiguity embedded in the conflict of the Few and the Many excludes the author's relativity regarding the absolute value of the central element of his moral and philosophical paradigm – individual freedom as a decisive factor of person's existential essence.