The Works of Gleb Uspensky and Russian Symbolism: “She Straightened Out” and Zinaida Gippius’ Short Story “The Goddess”

The article is devoted to the analysis of the previously unnoticed connection between Gleb Uspensky’s story “She Straightened Out” (1885) and Zinaida Gippius’ story “The Goddess” (1893). The starting point of this research is the T.V. Dyachuk’s paradoxical thesis about the influence of the personality and creativity of Gleb Uspensky on the aesthetic and religious searches of the thinkers of the Silver Age. During the analysis of the Gippius’ story it was found that the connection between the two texts is based on the main female character’s image, which is created by “layering” associations with the statue of Venus. It is also noted that the key characteristics of this image, as well as the image of the statue of Venus de Milo in the Uspensky’s text, are visuality and sacrality. The image of the main male character is also analyzed: his main features (absent name, “spectator” behavior and experienced “straightening” effect) reveal the connection of the story with the story “She Straightened Out”. Other numerous coincidences in the Gippius’ text at the lexical, figurative and semantic levels are also described. The key device influencing the structure of the story “The Goddess” is the qui pro quo: a catastrophic substitution of the “goddess” by an “ordinary young lady” is performed in text. It is concluded that the functioning of the source text in the story is implicit: the ideas and images of “She Straightened Out” were perceived by Gippius as related and, transformed, embodied in her own text without setting them to be recognized by the reader and/or to be polemic with Uspensky.