Poetics of the Eschatological Plot in the Novels by G. Gazdanov
The article analyzes eschatological poetics by G. Gazdanov. The author's dramatic emotional experience of the catastrophical essence of human history and being is based on the conviction that the history of the mankind started “on the day when Cain slew his brother” (“The Spectre of Alexander Wolf”), i.e. at that very moment when man perceived in his own nature “the appeal of murder”. The novels by Gazdanov are abundant with various kinds of deaths, both real and potential, merging into a single hyper plot of life under the sign of death. Among the manifestations of eschatological poetics in the whole Gazdanov's metanovel prose there are the motives of Apocalypse appearing in the characters' visual images, aural associations, physical sensations. Meanwhile, Gazdanov ranks peculiarly in the historical and literary context of the young emigration. The author's artistic strategy is marked by an optimistic stoicism uncharacteristic for the self-consciousness of the generation. His entire literary path represents the overcoming of tragic sensation of being. Herewith, a peculiar role belongs to the character, who more often becomes the winner in the combat not so much with real mortal circumstances as with overpowering mental apathy threatening him with spiritual death.