“Fight with dragons”: the theme of literary creativity in R. Gary's novel "The enchanters"

The article analyzes the theme of literature and literary creativity in the novel by the French writer Romain Gary «The Enchanters» (1973). The conceptual influence of the picaresque tradition on the novel «The Enchanters» and on the creative worldview of the writer as a whole is noted: the novelist, like the picaro, is free from any kind of power, mystifies the reader, plunges into the world of illusions. In the context of the analysis of the theme of literary creation, the main attention is paid to the motive of dragon fighting. It is concluded that through the metaphor “dragon” the hero-narrator demonizes Time and Reality, enslaving man, declares his creative credo as dragon-fights in the name of freedom and eternal love, which are bestowed by the illusion of art.