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DOI: 10.15862/31FLSK126 (https://doi.org/10.15862/31FLSK126)

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Poltavets M.A. [M.Yu. Lermontov’s «The Demon» in the mirror of Karolina Pavlova’s «A Double Life»: an experiment in intertextual analysis] World of Science. Series: Sociology, Philology, Cultural Studies, 2026, Vol. 17, No. 1. Available at: https://sfk-mn.ru/PDF/31FLSK126.pdf (in Russian). DOI: 10.15862/31FLSK126

M.Yu. Lermontov’s «The Demon» in the mirror of Karolina Pavlova’s «A Double Life»: an experiment in intertextual analysis

Poltavets Margarita Aleksandrovna
Shenzhen MSU-BIT University, Shenzhen, China
E-mail: margaritapoltavets@yandex.ru
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-5451-7809

Abstract. The article examines intertextual connections between M.Yu. Lermontov’s poem «The Demon» and K.K. Pavlova’s sketch «A Double Life». A systematic comparison of the Demon’s monologues addressed to Tamara and the speeches of the mysterious «spirit» that sound in the dream of Pavlova’s heroine reveals the ways in which the Romantic model undergoes semantic transformation. The study employs methods of intertextual and structural-typological analysis, as well as a parametric comparison method, which allows the results to be presented in a system of tables. The article analyzes key parameters of the speaking subject: his ontological status (who speaks), the nature of the addressee (to whom the speech is addressed), the illocutionary goal of the utterance (for what purpose), as well as spatial organization (where and under what conditions the voice sounds) and rhetorical strategies (how the utterance is constructed). The study identifies speech and motif parallels between the works: the formula of recognition, rhetorical negation, the motif of exile, the antithesis of two worlds, and the motif of the awakening of the soul. It is found that Pavlova does not reproduce Lermontov’s structures verbatim but reworks them, transferring them from the ontological plane to the socio-psychological one. The study identifies four main directions of transformation of Lermontov’s text in Pavlova’s sketch: the desacralization of the «demonic» principle, the inversion of the female image, the sublimation of amorous passion into creativity, and the internalization of conflict. It is demonstrated that Pavlova, while preserving the typological structure of Lermontov’s text (voice — heroine — existential choice), transposes the metaphysical conflict into the socio-psychological realm, reflecting the transition in Russian literature from Romantic universalism to psychological realism.

Keywords: Lermontov; Pavlova; «The Demon»; «A Double Life»; intertextuality; poetics; internal conflict

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