Article

Name: Viktor Zilov: a crying daemon or a laughing trickster? (Оn typological identification of the character)

Authors: Natalia V. Shestakova, Irina I. Plekhanova

Irkutsk State University, Irkutsk, Russian Federation

In the section Study of literature

Abstract: The paper aims at solving the “Zilov’s mystery,” in particular, at discovering why a character who is negative in the social perspective is very charming at the same time. Also, an attempt is made to forecast his further personal development. The central purpose is to determine the character’s moral potential and provide his typological identification by analyzing the images that have special suggestive power. Zilov’s identity balancing between a daemon and a trickster is revealed by the characters’ relationships and the final note when it is unclear whether Zilov is crying or laughing after a failed suicide attempt and also in the fact that he goes hunting after all. The open finale can be interpreted as being indicative of the trickster’s vitality, or the daemon’s cruel suffering, or the character’s rebirth into a completely new person. In the theoretical section of the paper, that is mainly based on the works of E. M. Meletinsky and M. Eliade, the progression from the trickster archetype to the daemon image and the cultural differences between them are discussed. The daemon image is viewed as trickster’s evolution in a new cultural epoch (romanticism, the psychological novel of the XIX century), filling the matrix with tragic omniscience and extreme tedium. The behavioral model of the archetype that C. G. Jung considered as a psychologem, is consistent with Viktor Zilov’s actions but not with his reflections. “Resurrection” as the third metamorphosis of the character lies outside any socio-cultural definition.

Keywords: A. Vampilov, “Duck hunt”, Zilov, trickster, daemon, mythopoetics, psychologem, typology, tragedy, vitality

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