The process of mental death of a character in the novel by S.D. Krzhizhanovsky Autobiography of a corpse

Statement of the problem. The article examines the phenomenon of soul disease in the novel Autobiography of a Corpse. That disease is a psychorrhea (the outflow of the soul). It is an author’s neologism. According the logic of the novel narrative, the psychorrhea’s virus is dangerous, because it leads to the general necrosis. All of the humanity is infected with it. The purpose of the article is to find the prerequisites of the beginning of psychorrhea, and to identify the features of its course. Methodology. The research uses structural-semiotic, historical-typological, and intertextual methods. Research results. The reason of the soul mortification is the character’s rejection of the God. This feature is explained by the biographical code of the writer. Krzhizhanovsky had a complex attitude to faith, he searched for the God, and was interested in the theosophy and the anthroposophy. The interest of the author of The Fairy Tales for Children Prodigies in the theories of R. Steiner is confirmed not only by the facts of his biography, but also by scientific studies.