The Biblical Pretext in Valery Zalotukha’s Novel “The Candle”

The article reveals the connection between modern Russian literature and its Christian cultural foundation, which is mediated by the experience of Russian classics, particularly the works of Fyodor Dostoevsky. This tradition sets the direction for the transformation and actualization of key biblical stories, particularly the Book of Job, in contemporary Russian literature. A representative example is the novel “The Candle” by Valery Zalotukha (2015). The article explores its place in the tradition of artistic and philosophical interpretation of the Christian worldview. In this regard, the Book of Job appears to be the most active element of the intertext of the modern novel and a universal key to its semantic structure. The fate of the main character in V. Zalotukha’s work fits entirely into the plot scheme of the biblical book: the testing of a righteous man by undeserved suffering. At the same time, the righteousness of the main character is presented in a comic manner, which refers to a range of typologically similar characters (from Don Quixote to Prince Myshkin). The novel also features the author’s search for a hero, which is in line with the tradition of the Küns- tlerroman. The overall meaning of the novel “The Candle” as a story about a man’s journey to God is structured as a combination of these two narrative structures. In accordance with the Russian literary tradition, particularly the tradition of Dostoevsky, this journey involves the symbolic death and spiritual resurrection of the protagonist.