N.V. Gogol’ “Portrait” as an ethical code for K. Kinchev's creativity

The article examines the story “The Portrait” by N.V. Gogol interpreted as the «ethical code» of K. Kinchev’s works. The author consistently analyzes the linguistic, semantic, and ethical layers of the above-mentioned story, resulting in establishing the fundamentals of any act of creativity at all. Reconstructing the semantics of the title of Nikolai Gogol’s story “Portrait”, the article contributes to the disclosure of the ethical portrait of the author himself embodying his religious and philosophical quests. The emphasis is placed on the fact that for understanding the true nature of creativity, both 1835 and 1842 editions of the novella are important as autonomous works reflecting the ethical dynamics of the author’s views on the essence of art. In the 1835 “Portrait” in Chertkov’s image, N.V Gogol seeks to embody the essence of the artist whose moral consciousness cannot fully resist the forces of evil persecuting him, whereas in the second edition of the story the author changes the protagonist’s name. As a result, the artist Chertkov turns into Chartkov, which is an important evidence of the transformation of the “cognitive-pragmatic program” of the writer, behind which there is a change in the author’s own ethical position. Comparing Gogol’s versions of the “Portrait” and the stages of K. Kinchev’s career (his songs from 1985 to 1994 and from 1995 up to the present), a conclusion is drawn about the universal laws inherent in creativity, which are based on ethical collisions (light / darkness, God / devil, selfdeification / service to Truth), crucial for the existence of true art.