The Poet as <i>homo viator</i>: on the Existential and Spiritual Path of Fyodor Sologub

The works of Fyodor Sologub, unlike most Russian symbolists, such as Alexander Blok, are described by researchers and contemporary writers (Vladyslav Khodasevich and others) as ‘static’, alien to the idea of path, evolution. The aim of the article is to break this academic stereotype and thought patterns about the author of The Little Demon. Analysis of the research material: critical literary statements and selected poems by the poet, allows us to notice his spiritual and aesthetic evolution. Firstly: in fulfilling his artistic vision, Sologub not only does not “tread water” (“topchetsya na odnom meste”, as Leo Shestov stated), but, as Maria Cymborska‑Leboda writes, his poetic thought remains in motion, i.e. there are noticeable ‘points’ on his artistic way, to which he reaches. Thus, in the words of the mentioned researcher, in a certain sense, like Blok, he is a ‘path poet’, while remaining faithful to himself – his ‘sweet dream’ (paradise). Secondly: the interpretation of the symbol of the ‘path’ and related concepts that fit within the semantic field of the poet’s works point to the biblical sources of his thinking – the author’s lyrical subject often takes the form of a pilgrim, a wanderer traversing the ‘desert of life’, struggling with the world (мироборчество), he conducts a dialogue, often turning into a dispute with the Creator (богоборчество). This dialogue, subjected to reflection in the article, is interpreted as one of the manifestations of the spiritual growth of the lyrical hero and the poet himself (the vertical and existential dimension of the concept – homo viator)