Танатологические образы и мотивы в творчестве А. К. Толстого и И. В. Гете (на примере баллад «Слепой» и «Певец»)

Abstract

The aim of the study is to identify specific typological similarities in the realization of thanatological images and motifs in the ballads by A. K. Tolstoy and J. W. von Goethe (using the example of the ballads “The Blind Man” and “The Singer”). Although literary critics have already analysed similarities between certain aspects of A. K. Tolstoy’s creative work and Western European literature (in particular, German Romanticism), the identification of typological similarities at the level of such poetological categories as the thanatological motif and the thanatological image has not yet been undertaken, which accounts for the scientific novelty of the study. The paper examines in detail the interaction between the two ballads at the levels of the plot and images. Attention is paid to common mythological plots and motifs, similarities and differences in the images of the central characters. The role of thanatological poetics in the creation of world duality, which is typical for the ballad genre, is traced. As a result, the comparative analysis made it possible to shed light on the specifics of thanatological images and motifs in the ballads by A. K. Tolstoy in comparison with German Romanticism (J. W. von Goethe). The revealed connections and similarities indicate literary contact between the authors and the literatures and demonstrate the specifics of contact links and typological similarities in A. K. Tolstoy’s and J. W. von Goethe’s creative work.