The Demonic: Imagination or Reality?
Natalia
Lechtchenko
This paper is the first step in my attempt to investigate the
problem of phenomenology of the demonic in literature and in
reality. Does the demonic exist apart from human experience? Does the
perception of the demonic in the works of Russian literature exhibit
any significant patterns which go beyond mere dependency on earlier
works of literature? I would like to begin this line of investigation
with the theme of demonism in Lermontov's Demon in the
light of the phenomenology of demonism by placing the poem in the
context of its European predecessors. The large body of scholarship
that exists on the phenomenology of the demonic
outside of literature has been, unfortunately,
often ignored by writers on the demonic in literature. I will try to
incorporate the realm of the imaginary—the works of writers of
the Romanticism—into the realm of the apparently real, and try
to analyze the literary encounters with the demonic in comparison with
mystical encounters with the demonic which real human beings seem
occasionally to experience. What characterizes Lermontov's Demon is a
peculiar blend of human and satanic traits. The incompatibility of the
human and the satanic in Demon raises an issue that is
not limited to the Demon's complex characterization and his uniqueness
in the context of Romantic ideology, but presents a theological
problem: the problem of Evil and the tragedy of Evil for Evil's sake
as perceived by Lermontov. By examining parallels between Lermontov's
Demon and its predecessors (especially Milton's Satan and Byron's
Lucifer and Cain), I will underscore the complexity and ambiguity of
the Demon's tragedy. In order to demonstrate the importance of the
unique approach taken by Lermontov this study will also establish and
analyze: (i) the nature of the Demon as reflected in the antithetic
co-existence of human and satanic in light of the phenomenology of the
demonic as well as traditional Romantic demonism and (ii) the
resolution of this contradiction in Lermontov's approach. The
analysis is based in part on the qualities of Romantic hero and
considers such notions as love, temptation, alienation, and
especially, the quest for possession.