«City under the dome» or «reserve»: brought to the absurd reality

Modern culture is the era of "secondary" myths that have symbolic nature. In this article the author discusses the destiny of the myth about Pushkin in the modern Russian prose. This culture myth is verified by the absurd. The author of this article chooses to illustrate these process two novels written in the middle -the end of the 20th century. In the A. Bitov’s story «Photo of Pushkin» absurdity of the image is making through the realization of the metaphor «city under the dome». The foundation A. Bitov’s story is a fantastic plot: the transformation of the earth into a large museum. On the one hand, a great culture has remained intact. On the other hand, once a closed dome, this culture has become inaccessible to the former inhabitants of the earth: they kept the shell, but forever lost culture’s content. According to the author, these processes take place today with the name of Pushkin. The cult of poet’s veneration reaches the absurd in the S. Dovlatov’s story «Reserve». Biography of Pushkin, his appearance becomes the attribute of the museum, its property. Readers replaced by enthusiastic crowds of tourists, the study of the poet - by tours. This perception of the poet's image was made possible because Pushkin is seen as a sign of cultural. Strengthening mythological beginnings in Pushkin’s image comes to the absurd, which can not be overlooked. The author concludes that the absurdities of the myth leads to a reduction of the image, and this is equal to the destruction of the cultural myth. But the demythologization gives a new pulls to its development through the clash with the absurd situation of estrangement way.