On the topic of the beginning of existential prose by M. Yu. Lermontov

This article is devoted to study of M.Yu. Lermontov’s existential prose. Considering the issues of the formation of the existential paradigm in the first decades of the 19th century Russian literature, the author refers to Pushkin’s poem “A Vain Gift, an Accidental Gift” as an exemplary work expressing the problematic of modern literature, which is characterized by ideological and stylistic diversity as a result of the interaction of different intellectual systems in Russian artistic thinking (the ideology of late romanticism, the philosophy of objective idealism for Hegel and the existentialist concepts of Kierkegaard, and other thinkers). The development of the existential theme is found in Lermontov's lyrics and prose (“Princess Ligovskaya” and “A Hero of Our Time”). The main research methods used in this article are comparative, hermeneutic, axiological, and literary-historical. The novelty of the article is explained by the fact that the author formulates the main provisions of existential literature and clarifies their manifestations in the literature of the 1820s–1949s in Russian literature, compares aesthetic practices with modern, primarily Lermontov’s literature. Focusing on the demonic theme, the author argues that in the early period of Lermontov’s work (1829–1836), two trends in the evolution of this theme are observed: the first is called the demonization of the hero, ending in the mature period of Lermontov's work; the second is characterized by overcoming the demon in oneself. It begins with the first editions of the poem “Demon” (the work turned out to be decisive in the transition to the main theme of existential prose in Lermontov’s work), and reaches its culmination in “A Hero of Our Time” (1837–1841).

existential, Lermontov, faith, Kierkegaard, the Russian literature, life, human, demonize the hero, demonic theme, A Hero of our time