Между ужасным и прекрасным: эстетика зла в повести А. Королева Голова Гоголя

Abstract

In the postmodern novel The Head of Gogol Anatoly Korolev discusses moral and philosophical issues (good and evil, beautiful and horrible, beauty and death), which are the most important to mankind of any historical epoch. As a rule, interest in such problems increases during a transitional period, in a situation of change in value paradigms. The object of artistic understanding of the writer is the aesthetics of the "new time", the aesthetics of evil, which is based on the category of the horrible. In Korolev’s perception, aesthetic category of horrible acts not only as the opposition or as negation of beauty, but poses a threat to human existence. The writer opposes the aestheticization of death and pain, shows the absurdity of the world in which the line between horrible and beautiful disappears. From the writer’s point of view, anesthetization of evil is unac ceptable even for a good purpose. Korolev contrasts «bloody» beauty of the new world with immaculate divine beauty, based on the harmonious combination of kindness and love.