“SWARM LIFE” AND THE JOY OF BEING IN THE WORKS OF LEO TOLSTOY

Abstract

The author of the article refers to the study of the artistic bestiary of L. Tolstoy, the most important component of which is small creatures - flies, mosquitoes and bees. The main function of insects in the writer's world is to denote the joy of being. The appearance of insects entails a change in the role of a self-referencing character: he is transformed from an observer to a participant in the life process. The objects of the analysis are the scenes in the stories “Childhood”, “Youth”, “Family happiness”, “The Cossacks”, novels “War and Peace”, “Anna Karenina”, “Resurrection”. The author of the article distinguishes between the functions of mosquitoes and flies in L. Tolstoy's texts. Flies are associated with daytime joy, mosquitoes-with night “pleasures”. The scene of the epiphanical moment in the story “The Cossacks”, when in the deer's lair the character gains the experience of self-knowledge and cognition of life, is investigated. The symbolic role of mosquitoes is reinforced by the mythological component, which goes back to the myth of Dionysus. Flies and mosquitoes in the works of Tolstoy are combined with the concept of “swarm life”, which should be lead by all mankind.