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Abstract:

The article examines the reflection of the antinomy/mythologem of the “two Aphrodites” (Aphrodite Urania and Aphrodite Pandemos) in five prerevolutionary historical novels by D.S. Merezhkovsky, the émigré novel “The Story of a Love” by I.S. Shmelev, and the émigré short story “Natalie” by I.A. Bunin. This is the first time that these writers have been compared within the framework of this mythologem; previously, the mythologem had only been identified in Merezhkovsky’s prose. This work indicates the source of the mythologem (Plato’s dialogue “The Feast”) and its subsequent transformations (Plotinus’ treatise “On the Good, or the One”, comments on “Fiametta” by G. Boccaccio, “Comments on Plato’s Feast” by M. Ficino). Based on the analysis of plot collisions, epithets and comparisons in the description of the heroines, the following conclusions are drawn: Merezhkovsky focuses specifically on the myth of Plato and on the interpretation of Plotinus, the poetics of the writer becomes a mythopoetic. Shmelev’s prose is intertextual, and the mythologem of the “two Aphrodites” appears in his work as a tribute to I.S. Turgenev. Bunin’s prose is characterized by deep psychological insight, his story seems to be an illustration of coincidence, rather than a causal relationship with the source.