The poetic and philosophical concept of "mirror" in S. Kierkegaard and B. Pasternak

The author examines the problem of intertextual interaction between the works of Kierkegaard and the lyrics of Pasternak, who was oriented toward his philosophical ideas. The primary materials of the study are Kierkegaard's treatise Either/Or and Pasternak's poems "Ballad" and "Mirror." The focus is on the metatextual field, the core of which is the poetic-philosophical concept of the 'mirror,' which in the works of both authors is represented through a series of metatrope. The work begins with a general overview of the metaphorical paradigm of the "mirror," which developed in philosophy from antiquity to the present day. The author highlighted the most illustrative examples confirming its conceptual significance, linked to the relationships between phenomena of different orders or different subjectivities: God and nature/human history, human consciousness and the world/his existence/the existence of others, creativity and the world. Within this paradigm, the place of Kierkegaard is defined, who, through the metaphor of the "mirror of possibilities," constructs a conception of the threshold state of human consciousness between false and true subjectivity, between aesthetic and ethical consciousness. The author considered the research results of other scholars, showing that in the poetry to which Pasternak turned after serious study of philosophy, he introduces the theme of the mirror, marking the threshold state between inner consciousness and the external world, life as such, the realization of the inner human reflecting moments of life and history. Next, parallels are drawn between the artistic passages in Kierkegaard's texts and the themes, motifs, and images in Pasternak's texts. Corresponding complexes accompanying this concept are identified, forming a similar context around it. This allowed for a series of the following conclusions. The oppositions developed by both compared authors address the problem of breaking through to true being, which expands the boundaries of spatiotemporal limitation. In both authors, these figurative and motific-thematic complexes are structured into similar microplots: visiting the count, a room with mirrors reflecting a garden, in which a girl-child is playing. The manifestations of this being are unstable, hence the shared motifs of silvery glimpses, flickering, disappearance, and hide-and-seek. It is dynamic, characterized by counter-directional movement, expressed through themes of swings, galloping, and running. The capacity for disappearance and the motif of sacrificing the ethical for the aesthetic are conveyed through the image of music (and the organ). The path to truth is presented as the path to a mysterious count. These points of contact indicate the presence of a common metatextual field around the concept of the "mirror" in the works of Kierkegaard and Pasternak. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

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