The metaphor of the mirror in anniversary critical speeches about L. N. Tolstoy (V. V. Rozanov, V. I. Lenin)

The object of research is the literary critical reception of L.N. Tolstoy’s work in the anniversary year of 1908, when Tolstoy, involved in the historical, political, philosophical and religious disputes of his time, was perceived not so much through the prism of the canons of the anniversary genre, but was the subject of heated discussions. On the basis of the speeches of V.V. Rozanov and V.I. Lenin, the use of the mirror metaphor is analyzed, which is seen as one of the components in the mechanism of the formation of the myth of Tolstoy in the early 19th century. Rozanov’s and Lenin’s evaluations are compared. The logic of argumentation in Rozanov’s article “L.N. Tolstoy” (1908) is traced in detail. A careful reading of the article shows that Rozanov as if prepares the final conclusion, creating an image of a living impression of Tolstoy’s reader. The characterization of Tolstoy’s “eye” allows Rozanov to explain Tolstoy’s depiction ability, in comparison with Turgenev and Dostoevsky, and at the same time, to convince that mirroring paralyzes Tolstoy’s thought, he appears as an absolute mirror of all Russian life. Lenin’s article “Leo Tolstoy as a Mirror of the Russian Revolution” (1908), while not possessing such a variety of expressiveness as Rozanov’s, contains the metaphor of the mirror already in its title. Lenin, without referring in any way to Rozanov’s pretext, picks up his image, but narrows the meaning to the reduction of Tolstoy’s personality and work to the reflection of the Russian Revolution alone. The connection between Lenin’s work and Dobrolyubov’s method of “real critic