Modes of Existence of Characters in M. Elizarov’s Prose

Mikhail Elizarov (b. 1973) is a modern Russian writer, in whose prose elements of traditional realism are organically combined with mystical components. The characters of Elizarov’s works exist in a reality formed by the collision of two equivalent dominants – the ordinary and the mystical – their existence depends on their relationship with both dominants. This article attempts to describe the projection of the characters’ relationship with the ordinary and mystical to their unique individual existence using the term “mode of existence”, first coined by Martin Heidegger and actively used in non-classical philosophy. If the traditional use of the term implies understanding it as a philosophical construct that unites the individual (immanent) and the absolute (transcendent) in a person’s life experience, then in relation to Elizarov’s artistic world, the individual in this definition will correspond to the ordinary, and the absolute to the mystical. The author of the article identifies four modes of existence in Elizarov’s prose: the philistine, the marginal, the warrior and the magician. The philistine modality presupposes the character’s affiliation with the ordinary, the magical modality presupposes the character’s affiliation with mysticism. Marginal modality presupposes the character’s loss of affiliation with the ordinary and the emptying of his existential contour, which gets the opportunity to be filled with mystical substance. The warrior modality presupposes the marginal’s awareness of this opportunity and willingness to achieve its realization at any cost.