“The devil's law-case”: transformation of the plot of a human contract with the devil in A.N. Tolstoy's stories

The article is devoted to the study of the short story The Devil's Case, which used to be excluded from A.N. Tolstoy's works and did not attract the attention of researchers, in the context of the writer's early works. The scientific novelty of the applied approach is the use of textological and biographical methods to study Tolstoy's works of the 1910s. The need to study the short story The Devil's Case in the context of his early works is determined by its thematical connection with the works of the 1910s, in which the intricacy of science fiction relates to everyday life of a big city. As in the short stories Fawn and American Underwater Inhabitant the appearance of evil spirits occurs in the dream of the hero, which allows Tolstoy to show the most unsightly side of the modern writer of the city and its inhabitants. The story The Devil's Case was published twice in the newspaper Russkie Vedomosti (1914. No. 80. April 6) and in the collection Common Man (Moscow, 1915). In the course of the textual work there were identified features important for the reconstruction of the writer's work on the images (Abramova, “the adversary”, a collective image of the Moscow public). In the text published in the newspaper Russkie Vedomosti, the strange disturbing voice is becoming stronger due to the improprieties done (a peeped card, a stolen wallet) and materializes in the final scene. This transformation does not occur in the collection, as the author removes the details and characteristics associated with the appearance of the “adversary”. In the second publication, phrases become more concise and easier. As a result of editing for the collection Common Man the final scene of the story was changed. The author emphasizes the realities of time and the characteristics of modern society writer, which are also subject to the author's alterations. In the course of the study, conclusions were drawn that in the short story The Devil's Case Tolstoy combines a fantastic story about the contract with the devil with specific historical realities.