Peter I as a demiurge: “The bronze horseman” by A.S. Pushkin and St. Petersburg cycle by B.L. Pasternak

The article presents a comparative analysis of the syncretion of the image of Peter I as a demiurge in the poem by A.S. Pushkin “The Bronze Horseman” and the St. Petersburg cycle by B.L. Pasternak. The author substantiates the relevance and significance of the research topic. It is noted that the problem of demiurgation of personality was raised in world history by ancient thinkers, as a result of which the philosophical context still retains its dominant position in related scientific and artistic concepts. Proof of this is the author’s desire to endow the personality of a famous person, a major figure in a certain field, in other words, a “creator”, to prove the national and cultural significance of his heroic genius in the life of a particular people. A similar technique is also relevant for Russian poets and writers, who organically synthesized the mythological and symbolic solution to the theme of the demiurge as a creator, as the embodiment of great undertakings of high significance. Arguments are presented to support the position that such an extraordinary and important personality for Russia, Russian history and Russian culture as Peter I underwent demiurgation. His policy of reforms, his radical change in the way of Russia’s development, and finally the foundation of the city of St. Petersburg in Russia with the status of the capital gave rise to a huge number of myths around his figure in the popular perception of the people, for example, he was called the “devil king” and the “Antichrist king”. This mythologization could not but affect the features of the depiction of this figure in literary works. The process of its mythologization in literature was started by A.S. Pushkin in the poem “The Bronze Horseman”, where the statue of Peter I is the embodiment of statehood, severely punishing the “little man”. Poetic cycle by B.L. Pasternak’s “Theme with Variations” represents a new word in the development of the same theme, asserting the equal genius of Peter I as a historical figure, and A.S. Pushkin as an inspired poet and creator. Based on the results of the study, the author concludes that there are parallels in the retranslation of the image of the demiurge, a national and cultural hero in the works of Russian writers of different eras. It is clarified that in the retrospective tradition of literary ideology, this allows us to consider mythologems in synthesis with images of heroes who are frontier symbols of the historical memory of the people.