The Motif of Death in the Artistic Works by Leo Tolstoy: Poetics, Problematics and Periodization

This paper is devoted to the evolution of the motif of death in the works of the great Russian writer of the second half of the XIX century Leo Tolstoy. Conclusions about the periodization in the development of narrative techniques related to the motif of death in Tolstoy are based on a systematic comparative analysis of the works of art on different stages of his creativity. Here is an attempt of destruction of a stable stereotype, which has developed in the critical and scientific traditions, about the existence of a strict boundary between the early and late works of Tolstoy. Such a functional connection is established between the elements, the coexistence of which in the works of one writer when considered outside the structural analysis, gives rise to semantic contradictions. The image of death is considered as one of the key motifs of Tolstoy’s art, the analysis of which opens the way to exploring Tolstoy’s heritage in its integrity.