The issue of self-knowledge and the ways of its artistic solution in the novel “The philosopher's stone” by M. Yourcenar

The article deals with the analysis of the issue of the self-knowledge in the novel “The Philosopher’s Stone” by M. Yourcenar. There is paid special attention to the artistic ways of its solution. In this connection there are considered the role of the headings of the work, in common, and its isolated chapters, the meaning of the epigraphs and the spatial and time text organization. The author studies the alchemic symbolism of the novel, the image of the central character and his trajectory of life.