“Distant death” in Maxim Gorky's short story “Obsession”

The paper analyzes the short story “Obsession” written by Maxim Gorky in Nizhny Novgorod period of his work, which has been given little attention philological works. On one hand, author himself defined its genre as a Christmas tale; on other this work cannot be brought into line with tales and novels Gogol Dostoyevsky, since Gorky’s story, no miracle occurs. However, small text still deserves literary scholars’ attention. introduces an interesting paradox artistic space time: outward appearance, action takes place within room, couch, but hero’s internal experiences, conflict alter ego carry reader distant past, days main character’s family, then imagination, vision that visited Foma Mironovich come to fore become plot-forming feature. form content is presented (obsession, dream, delusion) typologically similar structure Russian folklore telling about encountering phenomena “other world”. results study may interest both cultural scholars.