"World model" and the character's deed in A.I. Herzen`s "Legend"
This article studies some features of the artistic world model, represented in A.I. Herzen's story entitled «Legend». Particular emphasis has been placed on the concepts «character» and «deed», which are the fundamental ontological categories in M.M. Bakhtin`s literary and philosophical conception. The author refers to some scientific and critical works devoted to the study of particular aspects in A.I. Herzen's «Legend»: M.N. Klimova, L.V. Krestova, I.S. Novich, E.A. Petukhova and others. It's noted that in general this work is studied insufficiently: researchers have not considered in detail the world model and the image of the character in the story. The article analyses the factors that prompted A.I. Herzen to resort to the literary adaptation of St. Theodor's hagiography. The author also considers the most important sources of Herzen's «Legend» and defines the basic tendencies in Russian literature of 30-40-ies of the XIX century: critical perception and reflection of surrounding reality, loss of the complete ideas about the epic hero, the idea of desacralization of the world, appeal to the spiritual literature and traditional religious plots. The author concludes that A.I. Herzen's «Legend» presents a complex model of the world, structurally consisting of the following models: a small world and a big world, a heavenly world and an earthly world, a far world and a near world. The structural elements, constituting the model of the world acquire some specific semantic content here. There is a real righteous character on the border of two worlds: the righteous man carrying some active start and performing a deed, following the divine will for the good of the world.