Cinema As A Symbol Of Unspirituality In The Novel “The Devil’S Doll”

Abstract

The mutual influence of literature and cinematic art has appeared since the early days of cinema. At the beginning of the XX century, lots of literary texts acquired some elements and features of cinema. The complex of cinematic techniques and practices along with certain poetic and stylistic peculiarities brought together literary art and cinema. All this led to the formation of cinematic literature which is being successfully developed for well over a century. The novel "The Devil's Doll" by Zinaida Gippius (1911) is a striking example of literary cinematography in the texts of the Russian Symbolism. Despite the strong research interest in issues of interaction between literature and cinematography, no one has ever analyzed the novel in this regard. However, it can be affirmed that the structural, compositional, and poetic features of the novel were greatly influenced by cinema. In the meantime, the novel presented cinema, one of significant phenomena of the cultural life of society, as a symbol of loss of spirituality by many people after the defeat of 1905 Revolution. Understanding the symbolism of this phenomenon in the literary work of Gippius and uncovering the cinematographic features of the novel at multiple levels makes it possible to reveal the meaning of the novel and to interpret it following the author's intention.