“Svetotomy” N. М. Kononov and Plato’s “The feast”: a dialogue of cultures
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Abstract
The article is devoted to comparative analysis of N. M. Kononov’s short story “Svetotomiy” and Plato’s dialogue “The feast”. The research aims at identifying intertextual links between these text while the analysis establishes the dialogic nature of the texts on a conceptual level and they are united by the motifs of Feast and Love. The feasting narrative in Plato’s dialogue is a celebration of the elite, described in the traditions of ethics and philosophy of antiquity. The characters of “The feast” are historical figures, their friendly conversation demonstrates the search for truth, love is understood as a desire for beauty and for eternity. The friendly feast in Kononov’s story is a feast of sinful flesh, “a feast during the plague”. The artistic images of the story are simulacra, attractive in appearance, but morally corrupted.