Poor scoundrel: transformation of the prototype and literary models updating in Bulat Okudzhava’s story The adventures of Shipov

Statement of the problem. Okudzhava’s story, underestimated by the first generation of interpreters and rediscovered by modern literary criticism, is remarkable for the research as a work that emphasizes the issue of mercy for the fallen. The purpose of the article is to analyze the correlation between the image of Shipov and the historical prototype and the literary type of the “little man” that is significant for the author; the above mentioned basis lets the author of the article point out the unique status of the leading character of the story in the artistic world of Okudzhava. Review of the scientific literature on the problem. The opportunity to analyze the image according to the chosen perspective has been prepared by the works of E. Klepikova, А. Tsurkan, М. Nazarenko, S. Boyko, Yu. Lotman. Methodology. The descriptive and hermeneutic method, and comparative analysis are used. Research results. The author of the article shows that Okudzhava, who based the plot of the story on real facts related to Tolstoy, abandoned a number of features of the prototype of the leading character. This creative decision is due to the following principle: 1) symbolization of the marginalized person; 2) elevation of the tragedies of the scoundrel to the rank of universal human problems; 3) understanding of the deep “brotherly” bond between the antipodes - a great man and the one, who is the most insignificant. Recreating the phantasmagoria of the real circumstances of political surveillance of Leo Tolstoy, Okudzhava shifts attention from the harmful function of a secret agent to his own vulnerability from the state. The psychology of social inferiority inherent in the prototype is transformed into the little man’s “longing” for haven in life.