Poetics of the Eschatological Plot in the Novels by G. Gazdanov

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

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