“Master and Margarita” and “Doctor Zhivago” in the story by Yu.V. Trifonov “Another life”

The article deals with the dialogical nature of Yu.V. Trifonov’s story ‘Another Life” (1975), in particular, its interaction with two key novels of the 20th century - “Master and Margarita” by M.A. Bulgakov and “Doctor Zhivago” by B.L. Pasternak. A hypothesis is put forward that if the life of Sergei Troitsky to some extent resonates with the history of the Bulgakov’s Master, then his sudden death is more likely does so with the death of Yuri Andreevich Zhivago. Markers that bring the first pair of characters closer together are the service in a museum, an attempt to restore history, the motive of surviving manuscripts (documents), the contact or an attempt of contact with the other world. Sergei, like the Master, is a historian not as much by education but more as by his world outlook. His understanding of history as a continuous thread, the desire to “guess” the past, the complexity of his mental organization, taken even by the closest people almost for madness, are weak echoes of those character traits and worldview that were formed in the characters of Bulgakov and Pasternak in pre-Soviet times. The death of Sergei Troitsky, which, according to the chronology of the novel, falls at the end of the “thaw” (1969 or 1970), correlates with the death of Yuri Zhivago in the “year of the great turning point.” The history of Sergei in this series becomes another confirmation of the continuous thread of history that connects him not only with his immediate ancestors, but also with his literary predecessors. The article analyzes both direct reminiscences and subtle allusions, which are important for understanding the three “Moscow texts”. The analysis allows us to consider “Another Life” as one of the significant literature works about “the surrender and death of the Soviet intellectual”.