Transformation of the mythopoetic image of the "city woman" in the novel "Burn" by V. P. Aksenov

Ul'yanova Anna Vladimirovna ORCID: 0000-0001-6079-5034 Senior Lecturer, Department of Domestic and Foreign Literature, Synergy University Russia, 142451, Moscow region, Noginsk, mkr-N novoe biserovo-2, 10 nebo_prior13@mail.ru

Introduction A city in its original meaning is a fence, a fence, and later the word acquired the meaning of "fenced place".

Man needed the city in order to protect himself from space and the chaos reigning in it, from enemies and danger. Over time, the city begins to be filled with symbolic meanings, turning into an archetype, reproduces the model of the world of the culture to which it belongs.

         The image of Moscow is one of the key spatial images in Russian literature. First mentioned in the chronicle in 1147, Moscow by the end of the XIV century became the center of the unification of Russian lands, by the end of the XV century the idea of the third Rome was born due to eschatological views. Thus, Metropolitan Zosima in the "Presentation of Paschal" called Moscow the New City of Constantine, Abbot Philotheus in his letter to Grand Duke Vasily Ivanovich III expressed the idea that Moscow is the third Rome, in the middle of the XVII century it was reflected in a number of literary monuments, among which "The Tale of the Conception of Moscow".  Thus, Moscow is perceived not only as the Mother of Russian cities, but also as the cradle of the Orthodox world, the kingdom of heaven on earth. M. V. Selemeneva notes: "From the first mentions in Russian literature, Moscow acts as a savior city, a temple city, a coronation city, a city-state, a city on blood" ^{[1, p. 93]}. Russian Russian space becomes the center of Moscow, absorbs the cultural and historical millennial experience of the Russian people and the state, plays a major role in it, but it transforms, changes its material appearance, and, consequently, its verbal embodiment as an object of myth-making. Over time, the old Moscow myth develops, reflected in the "Moscow text" thanks to the works of N. M. Karamzin, A. S. Griboyedov, A. S. Pushkin, A. I. Herzen, L. N. Tolstoy, etc. The semantic field of the "Moscow text" is the idea of Moscow as a hospitable, ancient, cathedral, patronal city in which the veneration of traditions, the comfort of nepotism and the measured course of life prevail. It is interesting that the very foundation of Moscow, for example, in N. M. Karamzin is connected with the legend according to which Yuri Dolgoruky killed the owner of the village, boyar Kucka, and, "captivated by the beauty of the place," founded Moscow there, married his own son to the daughter of the executed. O. V. Klyuchevsky in "Russian History" contains lines from a folk tale, even preserving the regularity of the epic verse: "Who thought-wondered that Moscow was a kingdom, and who knew that Moscow was a state? The villages of Krasnye boyar, Stepan Ivanovich's good Bunch, stood on the Moscow River" ^{[2, p. 115]}.It should be noted that the Moscow topos is closely connected with myth-making, that is, with the process of mythologizing reality. The concept of "topos" has two main meanings: 1) this is a significant "place of unfolding meanings" for a literary text, which can correlate with any fragment of real space, usually open, 2) a "common place", a set of stable speech formulas, common problems and plots characteristic of national literature ^{[3, p. 89]}. Moscow is becoming not only the personification of patriarchy and conciliarity, but also of ruthless fate and depravity. In the mythopoetic perspective, the city acquires not only the gracious features of the "Third Rome", but also the features of infernal space, a parallel is drawn between Moscow and Babylon. Historical reality contributed to this not a little: many buildings of the capital were built on the sites of mass massacres, temples, sacrifices, churchyards. A reflection of such views can be found, for example, in the poem "Repentance" by G. R. Derzhavin:

O hail of luxury, debauchery and harm!You are a sorrow and a misfortune to young people!

Moscow, although there are amusements in you,

Fun, the joys of living delight;

But you, Moscow, are the same Babylon:

You weaken the spirit as much as he did before.

You fill people's inclinations with poison,

You are forcibly attracted to sensuality ^{[4, p. 253]}.

         In addition, according to M. V. Selemeneva, the element of fire is of great importance in the "Moscow text", "there are variations of the myth of ekpirosis (cosmic fire)", and "in the novel "The Master and Margarita" fire as an image-symbol and the most important component of Bulgakov's mythopoetics becomes the basis for the formation of an individual author's eschatological myth about Soviet Moscow, burned down for the unrighteous way of life of its inhabitants" ^{[5, p. 25]}.

The main part        

In the fiction of the twentieth century, there is a similar ambivalence of the creation of the Moscow myth and the image of the capital, in which a deeply personal, intimate feeling for the golden-domed Moscow is polemicized, for example, as in the poetry of M. I. Tsvetaeva: "And Hallelujah is pouring // To the dark fields. // I kiss you on the chest, // Moscow Land" ^[6] – and existentially tragic irony, for example, as in the novels "Happy Moscow" by A. P. Platonov and "The Master and Margarita" by M. A. Bulgakov. Russian Russian text, taking into account the peculiarities of the "Moscow text", we can conclude that Moscow is, on the one hand, a real topographic space that materially reflects the cultural and spiritual life of the Russian people and the historical infinity of the state, and on the other hand, a metaphysical, mythopoetic space, urbs aeterna, the heart of the Russian cosmos, which is a symbol of sacredness and exclusivity.

It is also important that the description of Moscow, as a rule, emphasizes the dominant feminine principle. S. Yu. Neklyudov, exploring the issue of the image of a "woman-city", writes: "In general cultural terms, the attribution of feminine nature to the earth in general and to a specific locality is archetypal, then such feminine nature is projected onto the city" ^{[7, p. 367]}.Thus, the archaic metaphor emphasizes fertility, the gift of life as the basis of female nature; the mythologeme "woman-city" goes back to the oldest ideas about the Mother Goddess, whose "giving birth to the womb ... is expressed by images of the bottom of the sea, spring, earth, cave, city" ^{[8, p. 73]}. Literary plots related to the city (protection, coronation, deposition), as a rule, are filled with ritual and mythological meanings, in which the city is likened to a widow, bride, wife, mother, captive. For example, the lyrical hero of A. S. Pushkin, as if in love, admits: "How often in a sad separation, // In my wandering fate, // Moscow, I thought about you!" ^{[9, p. 307]} Or the image of Moscow by L. N. Tolstoy in the novel "War and Peace", when Napoleon looked around Moscow from Poklonnaya Hill and "felt as if the breath of this large and beautiful body", "looked at the oriental beauty lying in front of him, which he had never seen before" ^{[10, p. 319]} and said: "...Moscow, their holy Moscow! <...> A city occupied by the enemy is like a girl who has lost her innocence" ^{[10, p. 319]}.

The artistic space of many of Vasily Pavlovich Aksenov's works is connected with Moscow ("The Island of Crimea", "Burn", "Say a raisin", "Moscow Saga", "Moscow Kva-Kva", etc.).  Creating the image of the city in the novel "Burn", the writer uses various motifs, the structure-forming ones among which are the following: first, the motif of an ancient, Orthodox city ("here is the remnant of the monastery wall and the narodovolcky house embedded in it, here is the long spire of the Orthodox church in an un-Russian way" ^{[11, p. 356]}) secondly, the motive of unfreedom ("The enemy press often notes that rumors breed in Moscow like a fruit fly. And where would they seem to come from? It seems to be a gloomy, taciturn city, filters and mufflers of the latest systems ..." ^{[11, p. 380]}), thirdly, the motif of the house ("Only the Motherland, only Moscow owned the creations of Khvastischev" ^{[11, p. 234]}, "I'm still going around my native Moscow!" ^{[11, c 288]}, "the profile of these roofs excites me even now, at forty, almost as much as then, at less than sixteen" ^{[11, p. 356]}). I must say that for V. P. Aksenov, Moscow is partly a gray, gloomy city in which "hosts of Muscovites were kneading porridge on Gorky Street in search of sweets" ^{[11, p. 115]}, and this is primarily due to the fact that it was in the capital that evil was concentrated in the face of representatives of the system suppression of personality, ardent supporters of the fight against the enemies of the people, so it is perceived as a city of werewolves in the person of Cheptsov, a cloakroom attendant, poet Fructose, a friend of Silver. Of course, after all the twists and turns in the life of V. P. Aksenov, caused by the unfavorable attitude of the authorities to the writer, after his expulsion from the country, he recalled in 2004: "In 1989, when I returned to Moscow after nine and a half years of absence, there was a thick "smell of alienation" in the air, resembling the smell of shit" ^{[12, p. 332]}. Nevertheless, in every work of the writer there are lines in which there is a deep, strong, personal feeling for Moscow. Thus, the description of the night capital through Malcolmov's eyes – "steep ascent", "intersection", "small descent and small ascent", "steep slope" – resembles the description of a woman's body by a man in love with her, who knows every curve of this body, admires it.

In the architectonics of the novel "Burn", an important place is occupied by the mythopoetic component, which is included in the system of artistic coordinates in the form of individual images, situations, characteristics. For example, the patronymic of all the doppelgangers Tolya fot Shteibok – Apollinarievich (goes back to Apollo), Petyusha flying on a business trip with the expectation of future victories is ironically likened to Hercules ("You flew, like Hercules, to the land of impotents, but ended up in the realm of kebabs and garlic, where men's trousers crack, and women are tired of love and where you with your modest data are only good for kindling" ^{[11, p. 156]}); clouds over the coast of Yalta fly from Hellas, lines from O. E. Mandelstam's poem "Insomnia, Homer, tight sails..." are recalled and ironically conjectured: "Elena is foam, and men are, of course, snakes" ^{[11, p. 157]}; the myth of the battle of the gods and titans on the Phlegrean fields (in the novel it is the "Phlegrean swamps", "where the company gathered that morning: Porphyrion and Ephialt, Alkina and Clytius, Nisyros..." ^{[11, p. 382]}) is implanted in Soviet reality and "Cockroach", and "the son is not responsible for the father" ^{[11, p. 384]}, or rather, Samsik remembers this while on compulsory treatment; the heroine of the novel, the red–haired beauty Alice, personifies the city ("My love, my tenderness is Russia, Alice, Moscow!" ^{[11, p. 413]}).

         "The mythologeme is a phenomenon of linguistic consciousness that goes back to a certain archetype (the World Tree, the Great Mother Goddess, etc.) ^{[13, p. 139]}, and it should be noted that the mythologeme "woman–city" was also introduced by V. P. Aksenov in the novel "Moscow Kva-Kva":  "The main woman is still Moscow Kva-Kva. It stands, hanging colored skirts. He paints his mane on his Shoulders, turns red, turns purple, and stands out" ^{[14, p. 297]}. According to the traditions of Russian literature, Moscow was identified with a woman, folklore connotations were strong ("mother of grads", "mother Moscow", "Moscow is getting married"), which formed the archetypal basis of the metaphor "city-woman". However, in the XX century Moscow became a place where the "political theater" unfolded and the extremes of the restless spirit of the era seemed a grotesque leapfrog: dynamic avant-gardism, the Stalin era, the Khrushchev thaw, the dissident movement, postmodernism. Thus, Moscow lost the poetry of the ancient and Orthodox city-savior, the features of the "lost city", Babylon, were actualized in it, it turned into the center of the Soviet state, that is, the foreground, where the most important historical processes took place. So, in N. V. Gogol's "Moscow is an old homebody, bakes pancakes, looks from afar and listens to the story, without getting up from the chairs, about what is being done in the world ... <...> Moscow sleeps all over at night, and the next day, crossing herself and bowing to all four sides, goes to the market with rolls ^{[15, p. 177]}, and in V. P. Aksenov she is like a cunning and seductive red-haired beauty Alice.

The image of Alice in the novel "Burn" is multifaceted and complex. The name Alice goes back to Adel or Adalheid (Adelaide) and means "noble maiden", however, some linguists believe that it goes back to the name of one of the sirens (mythical maiden) Lefkosiya. In addition, the author gives the heroine the speaking surname of Fokusov, thereby emphasizing the duality of her character. The portrait and author's characteristics of the heroine are built on the principle of the antithesis: "with her quick and sly look, with her mouth, sometimes bitter, then bold, with her naughty mane of red hair" ^{[11, p. 54]}, "immediately distracted by a glance into the crowd, directed her secret quick concentrated search into the crowd" ^{[11, p. 54]} and "the face of a wonderful lady", "Mon Amour!", "God sent you to me. You are my salvation" ^{[11, p. 54]}, "You are my destiny", "I have been dreaming about you for several years" ^{[11, p. 55]}. Such a series of epithets indicates the danger emanating from this woman, but on the other hand, her sacred, wonderful role in the life of the hero is opposed to her. Analyzing the image of Alice according to four semantic fields (according to E. V. Golovina) ^{[16, p. 12-15]} – details of the portrait, external reflection of emotions, characteristics of action, relationships with others – one can state both the duality and the unreality of the essence of the heroine.

The semantic field "details of the portrait" includes two portrait images of Alice: the girl in the column, whom Tolya saw in his youth in Magadan, is "light, thin, airy and gentle", "golden hair escaped from under a monk's scarf, and the whites of her eyes were huge and clean and as if a little blue, like blue, the paint of the European sky did not fit all in her pupils", "how timid she was" ^{[11, p. 218]}, her hair "covered her face with a golden wave" ^{[11, p. 220]}, and Alice in Moscow – "Flared jeans, a spotted T-shirt a la hippie... all the colors of her clothes, and faces, and bodies were playing according to now, like a medium-tempo rock 'n' roll" ^{[11, p. 300]}, I saw "the red-haired beauty Alice". It is obvious that the image of the Magadan Alice is filled with a kind of heaven, sublimity, and against the background of the "old women's faces" ^{[11, p. 218]} of the stage and their vulgar jokes, she was very special, pure, young, frightened.  T. M. Kolyadich, a researcher of V. P. Aksenov's creativity, writes: "Perceiving beauty as an archetype, Aksenov undoubtedly refers to Solovyov's idea of Sophia as the Soul of the world, a kind of mystical creation uniting God with the earthly world..." ^{[17, p. 81]}. Sharing the scientist's point of view, it can be added that the basis of V. S. Solovyov's philosophy was the doctrine of "unity", consisting in the unity of the divine and human principles, which subsequently gave rise to the concept of the moral significance of Eros. The philosopher saw in love both a natural manifestation and an ideal one, but ultimately the image of God had to be revived in love, since the fusion of male and female is primarily a fusion with Sophia, that is, the universal substance of the Divine Trinity. Thus, we can conclude that the author gives the image of Alice a sacred meaning, since the hero of the novel could become accessible to the highest (and creativity as one of its manifestations) only when he connects with his girlfriend, that is, with Alice, after seeing whom he said: "It was mine, mine, mine, my only girlfriend for life!" ^{[11, p. 218]}. We see confirmation of this idea in the words of the hero himself, deifying the appearance of Alice: "God sent you to me. You are my salvation", "You are my destiny" ^{[11, pp. 54-55]}, "Alice, save me, I remembered his name!" ^{[11, p. 141]}, as well as in the words of the author: "Alice was now needed by Panteley for a new, simple and sober life" ^{[11, p. 411]}.

In addition, it is worth paying attention to the color painting in the portrait of Alice: golden hair, the whites of the eyes are blue, like blue. It is probably appropriate here to turn to the tradition of artistic depiction of Moscow. For example, N. M. Karamzin in "Poor Liza": "a magnificent picture, especially when the sun shines on it, when its evening rays blaze on countless golden domes, on countless crosses ascending to heaven!" ^{[18, p. 7]} or A. S. Pushkin in "Eugene Onegin": "But it's really close. In front of them // Already white-stone Moscow, // Like heat, golden crosses // Old chapters are burning" ^{[9, p. 307]}. As we can see, the gold of the domes and crosses of the cathedrals and temples of Moscow, rising to the sky and drowning in its blue, symbolizes the continuity of the Orthodox eternal city with the upper world. So in the portrait of the heroine, the elevation, the connection with the heavenly world is emphasized.

Nevertheless, it is important to take into account the duality of Alice's image. The portrait description of the Moscow Alice emphasizes looseness and sensuality, which, on the one hand, is a manifestation of feminine nature, and on the other – a manifestation of the relatively liberal mood of the late 60s of the XX century.  In general, V. P. Aksenov in the novel "Burn" depicted a number of images of Soviet women, who can be referred to as a female comrade. The writer himself called such ladies "aunt": "In this case, the addition of the ending "-ka" to the concept of the aunt speaks of a separate social stratum in Russia...<> a sad, indifferent face, a woolen shawl on his head, an oblique short coat, broken boots..." ^{[12, p. 387]} Through the inclusion of such women in the sitem of the characters of the novel "Burn" V. P. Aksenov showed the disastrous effect of imposing the socialist system on a woman the role of a comrade, since it leads to the atrophy of sensuality and femininity, which contradicts the feminine nature. N. A. Berdyaev in his philosophical work "The Meaning of Creativity" wrote: "A man-man through a woman is connected with nature, with the cosmos, outside of the feminine he would be cut off from the soul of the world, from mother earth. <..> A woman is a cosmic, world carrier of the sexual element, the elemental in the field. The natural-generic element of gender is the feminine element" ^{[19, p. 140]}. Obviously, female images were created by V. P. Aksenov under the influence of the philosophical ideas of V. S. Solovyov and N. A. Berdyaev, therefore Alice differs from all the women depicted in the novel in that she has a strong cosmic energy, sexuality, necessary for von Steinbock's doubles as creators — the musician Sabler, the scientist Kunitzer, Dr. Malcolmov, the sculptor To Khvastischev, the writer Panteley.

Despite the fact that the main character sees his salvation in Alice, he gives her different characteristics, in which her depravity is especially highlighted: "Alice the fox" ^{[11, p. 146]}, "to his red-haired slut-wife with her cute tricks", "the mistress of the whole Moscow bastard" ^{[11, c. 399]}, "chasing a whore all evening" ^{[11, p. 414]}. But, for example, one of the doppelgangers, the sculptor Khvastischev, saw his dream in her, "he wanted to sculpt, immortalize in bronze a sharp face and flowing hair, a thin shoulder – the line of the goddess Isis" ^{[11, p. 398]}. It should be noted that Isis is one of the most significant goddesses of ancient Egypt, the ideal of femininity, the divine personification of the power of the pharaoh. Thus, the allusions of the myth are included in the plot of the novel: Alice Fokusova had the rank of major of state security ^{[11, p. 425]} (the title of employees of the commanding staff of the NKVD and NKGB of the USSR, later from 1954 to 1978. KGB under the USSR CM), therefore, was a representative of the Soviet government, namely, an employee of the organization that dealt with among other things, the fight against dissent, anti-Soviet activities. In support of this conclusion, we cite lines from the novel: "she immediately distracted her gaze into the crowd, directed her secret quick concentrated search into the crowd" ^{[11, p. 54]}, "she was the image of a walking and cunning, corrupt, "exit", pseudo-Hemingway, deceitful and fleeting Moscow" ^{[11, p. 54]}. 411], "after all, she was forty-three years old, and during her life she used to lie under a man with her eyes closed" ^{[11, p. 461]}. In addition, the mythologeme "city-woman" is important for interpreting the image of Alice as the mistress of "the whole Moscow bastard". Let us recall the biblical phraseology "the whore of Babylon", which is a metaphor, a periphrastic naming of Babylon: "BABYLON, THE GREAT CAPITAL, THE MOTHER OF DEBAUCHERIES AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH" ^{[20, p. 1327; Revelation of John, 17:5]}. Babylon during the compilation of biblical texts was perceived as a symbol of apostasy, spiritual debauchery, a focus of vices. In general, the theologians often use the image of a harlot as the personification of cities (Rome, Jerusalem, Moscow). In this regard, the image of Soviet Moscow, desecrated by a seventy-year period of godless power, which replaced Christian values with ideological postulates, is expressed in the novel in a similar metaphorical way. V. N. Toporov, exploring the image of the "virgin city", wrote: "But another image of the city is also known — one that does not guard its own fortress and integrity, goes to meet its fall, looking for someone to surrender to and not asking who takes it. This harlot city is "open" to all four sides ..." ^{[21, p. 55]} V. N. Toporov's thought is another argument in favor of the fact that the image of Alice Focusova is a mythopoetic image of a "city woman", and moreover, a "harlot city". The scientist I. S. Veselova concludes that "the long-standing talk about the "femininity" of Moscow is not without foundation and the existence of Moscow as a "social organism" (N. P. Antsiferov's term) is subject to the laws of female logic" ^{[22, p. 116]}.

Important for the interpretation of Alice's image is a fragment from the last chapter of the novel, in which the Victim, having stolen a rubber fish, swims in a dumpster, "goes deeper and deeper, resisting the one who pulls him by the leg – come back!", and hearing Alice's voice, he thinks: "What a sweet bait! That's how Odyssey once wanted to buy sirens! How, Alice, do you want to give me to my executioners, to all this rabble from "Supersamson"? ^{[11, p. 457]} Firstly, the images of ancient Greek mythology included in the denouement of the novel are a paraphrase. The victim is like Odysseus, the mythological king of Ithaca, doomed to wander: "A man swims through the waves of garbage ..." ^{[11, p. 457]}, Alice Fokusova is like a siren, that is, a demonic creature ready to tear apart the body of the "navigator", therefore Alice's rescue of the hero is perceived as imaginary, as his inevitable death. Secondly, the victim stole the fish, and yet in Christianity it is a symbol of Jesus Christ, since in the Greek word "ICHTHYS" (fish) Christians saw an acrostic composed of the first letters of the sentence: Iesous Christos, Theou Yios, Soter – Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.The reason for such an allegorical interpretation was the words of the Lord in the Gospel: "Is there a man among you who, when the son asks for bread, will give him a stone? And if he asks for fish, will he give him a snake? And if you, bad people, know how to give your children something good, then all the more so will your Heavenly Father bestow good on the one who asks Him!" ^{[20, p. 1007; Gospel of Matthew, 7:9-11]}.The following interpretation of the symbolism is assumed: the fish points to Christ, the snake to the devil.

Alice's attribute color is red. Interestingly, the origin of the name Judas Iscariot is revealed by five theories, one of which connects it with the word meaning red, red. This theory did not have a solid foundation, but nevertheless it was confirmed in the moral and allegorical interpretation of the image of the traitor, which was used, for example, by L. N. Andreev in the story "Judas Iscariot": "None of the disciples noticed when this red-haired and ugly Jew first appeared near Christ ... <..> Short red hair did not hide the strange and unusual shape of his skull..." ^{[23, p. 64-65]}At the same time, L. N. Andreev, relying on the gospel plot, created a psychologically contradictory portrait of Judas, who is overwhelmed with love for Jesus, but despite this, he betrays the Teacher. However, Jesus also loved Judas, although he foresaw betrayal on his part. In the novel "Burn", the biblical plot and its characters are fantasmagorically comprehended – the Victim (all Apollinarievichi in one person) as the Creator, a rubber fish, a red-haired woman, the Last Supper. In addition, the leading motive of betrayal in the novel unfolds in the mystery line of the Victim – Alice, but the traditional plot is transformed by the author: firstly, the victim stole the fish, and Alice paid for it and thereby stopped the chase (Judas was suspected of theft, and Jesus entrusted him with a money box), secondly, washing his feet at the beginning of the Last Supper – "Jesus ... gets up from the table, takes off his outer dress and, taking a towel, ties it. Then He poured water into a wash basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and wipe them with a towel with which He tied himself" ^{[20, p. 1130; Gospel of John 13:3-6]} — in the novel it is presented as follows: "I was blissful in budozan foam, and Alice, in one bra and small panties, was scratching my head ..." ^{[11, p. 459]}. So, the creator and the traitor change places, therefore, the Victim could not personify only virtue and wisdom, just as Alice could not be identified only with venality and betrayal.

The image of Alice Focusova is also revealed in semantic fields (according to E. V. Golovina) ^{[16, p. 12-15]}:

1) relationships with others: "her attention was captured by another lover", "she looked not at her beloved, but at her husband's back" ^{[11, p. 423]} – show that rationality, prudence, composure prevail in the image;

2) characteristics of the action: "she gesticulated with restraint and beautifully", "like a movie actress portraying a foreigner" ^{[11, p. 297]}, "she seemed to be sitting in front of the camera and cared mainly about gestures", "she ran - desperately and dramatically, a sickening Soviet plot–a vernyachok" ^{[11, p. 297]}. 424] – allows us to conclude that there was no naturalness in the actions of the heroine, she seemed to play the role assigned to her, controlled her every word, every gesture;

3) external reflection of emotions: "the woman looked at him with humble tenderness" ^{[11, p. 461]}, "laughed with relief" ^{[11, p. 464]}, "she shuddered and turned her face to him, wrinkled from some heavy thought" ^{[11, p. 465]}, "pleadingly whispered" ^{[11, p. 463]} – testifies that Alice loved the Victim, and therefore a struggle was taking place in her ("relieved", "shuddered", "heavy thought", "pleadingly"), because she knew that she would betray him and that she was waiting for the Victim.

ConclusionSummarizing all the above about the image of Alice Focusova, we can conclude that the key to understanding its duality – Alice of Magadan and Alice of Moscow – are the following lines of the novel: "Isn't it a mythical Alice that dissolved in the forest tundra of the 49th year?

I'm not sure about you" ^{[11, p. 392]} and "Heron and Fox, Fox and Heron, in her youth she was a Polish swamp heron, and now she has become a cunning and smooth, golden Moscow fox ..." ^{[11, p. 413]}. Magadan Alice is a mythical, unreal image embodying the Christian–sophiological ideas of V. S. Solovyov and the ideal-mystical image of the Beautiful Lady A. A. Blok. Moscow Alice, that is, Alice Fokusova, has only an external resemblance to the Magadan golden-haired Alice; she is a "cosmic, world carrier of the sexual element" ^{[19, p. 145]} and she is really necessary for von Steinbock's doubles to live and create, but Alice is the embodiment of her time, that is, the Soviet system with a developed denunciation, therefore, is allegorically compared to the golden fox. In addition, Moscow Alice, having lost the golden color of her hair (gold in Orthodoxy is a symbol of Divine light), turned into a red—haired beauty, which indicates the danger that comes from her, and hints at the myth of ekpirosis (cosmic fire), threatening the destruction of Moscow.

The mythopoetic image of Alice consists of a sophiological concept (archetype), allegory (fox), metaphor (the whore of Babylon), mythem (Isis, siren, Judas) and mythologeme (city woman). Interestingly, in the novel "Burn", the traditional mythologeme "city-woman" is transformed into the mythologeme "woman-city". Thus, Alice, beautiful, cold-blooded, seductive, fake, personifies Soviet Moscow of the late 60s of the twentieth century. Moscow as a spatial image, traditionally represented in fiction by the third Rome, the savior city, the hospitable city, Babylon, in V. P. Aksenov's novel acquires a different "portrait" image: "Laboratory assistants, typists, assistants, innocent victims of the capital ran past in flocks" ^{[11, p. 17]}, "In the subway. Hum. The slapping of soles. Laughter. Barking. Laugh" ^{[11, p. 18]}, "gray, thin, swollen, bluish-intoxicated faces" ^{[11, p. 115]}, "dog's life – you won't find a piece of bread in Moscow after ten..." ^{[11, p. 140]}, "... but is God alive over Moscow?" ^{[11, p. 440]}. These quotes allow us to conclude that in the novel "Burn" Moscow is a kind of infernal space, because there is "dog life", "laugh" is heard, and human soul speech, people are "victims".