Abstract
This article examines the motif of madness in F. K. Sologub’s works, using the story “Death by Advertise” as an example. An analysis of the protagonist's psychological profile and emotional dynamics, an examination of the logic of plot development, the interaction between the protagonist and the world, and the specific use of different points of view revealed the following contexts for the functioning of the motif of madness. The motif of madness serves as a key meaning-generating tool: at the micro level, madness determines the protagonist's variable spectrum of emotional states, making him hypersensitive and prone to sudden mood swings, while at the macro level, this motif reveals the inability of the protagonist, immersed in the world of feelings, to distinguish between the real and the fictional. In our opinion, the ambivalent function of the motif of madness reveals its key role both in the formation of F. K. Sologub's philosophical and aesthetic system and in representing the characteristics of his artistic method within the framework of anthropological problems at the turn of the century.
Keywords
F. K. Sologub, madness, motive, destruction of personality, real and fictional.