The symbolism of life and death in the short prose of L. Petrushevskaya, based on the story "The Black Coat"

The aim of this study is to examine the binary opposition of "life-death" and the symbolism in which it is expressed in the story "The Black Coat" by L.S. Petrushevskaya. The article analyzes the image of the main character as an embodiment of the active hero and the journey she undertakes, following the scheme of J. Campbell. In addition to the image of the main character, the study also considers the images of secondary characters who play the roles of magical helpers, mentors, and adversaries. The main symbols that constitute this antinomy include: the black coat, fire, laughter, and the colors black and dark. The characteristic uses of these colors are identified and explained—the abundance of dark shades and the specific use of black. The image of death, which is present in the story in an indirect manner but occupies one of the key places, is analyzed. It is expressed through themes, issues, portraits and actions of secondary characters, as well as the interior and exterior settings. The work utilizes scientific methods of analysis, synthesis, and generalization, alongside thematic analysis, hermeneutic, and structural-semantic methods. The scientific novelty of this work lies in the examination of L. Petrushevskaya's creativity from the perspective of antinominism and artistic conflict. This allows for a deeper understanding of the text and the discovery of new semantic facets within it. It has been established that thanatological symbolism in Petrushevskaya's stories is expressed through a color refrain (the "dark" color is used by the author to create "blurriness" and ambiguity regarding the surrounding world, while "black" is a detail associated with death), folkloric reminiscences, character portraits, and landscape sketches. The image of death itself serves as a pivotal element in the story "The Black Coat" for the realization of the main character's "monomyth." It is noted that the conflict of life and death is observed not only in the discussed story but also in the cycles of stories "Labyrinth" and "Songs of Eastern Slavs." In these collections, as well as in the analyzed work, Petrushevskaya's poetics tend to resolve the conflicting antinomy of "life-death" in favor of the category of life

Ambiguity · Antinomy · Binary opposition · Creativity · HERO · Portrait · Discourse Analysis and Cultural Communication · Historical and Modern Theater Studies · Logistics and Transportation Systems