The Temptation of Vasily Thebesky: the Concept of Man in the Story of L. N. Andreev "The Life of Vasily Thebesky"
The purpose of the article is to consider the plot, the figurative-symbolic system of the story «The Life of Basil Thebesky» by Leonid N. Andreev and to reveal the author’s concept of man on the basis of this work. The research methodology is based on a systematic approach to the analysis of the poetics of a work of art in the context of the Orthodox cultural tradition. The plot, motives, images, symbolism of the story are investigated and an attempt is made to identify the concept of a person on this material. In the story, the following concept of man is built: man is a temple in which there are two principles: light and darkness (love and instinct, harmony and chaos, life and death, good and evil). Initially, only light and harmony live in a person, but due to the pressure of external darkness and internal temptations, darkness and chaos penetrate into the temple, which destroy the light principles and, together with them, the temple itself, and themselves.