“THE LAST PROPHET” NOVEL BY LEONID MOSENDZ: SOURCES, GENRE, STRUCTURE, IMAGE

Abstract

The paper analyzes the novel “Th e Last Prophet” by Leonid Mosendz focusing on its sources, the genre nature and structure, and the genesis of John the Baptist’s image. There were objective and individual reasons for Mosendz’s appeal to the biblical myth of John the Baptist, which have been explained. Attention is drawn to problematic areas in the interpretation of the novel by Mosendz’s critics. Among the sources that the writer turned to while working on the novel were “Jewish Antiquties” by Josephus Flavius, “The Life of Jesus” by Ernest Renan, and “Christ Unknown” by Dmitry Merezhkovsky. The traces of these books are recognizable in the text of Mosendz’s novel. “The Last Prophet” combines the elements of several genres, the most important of which are three: apocryphal, historical, and didactic. Mosendz’s work has a complex multifaceted structure. Th e novel’s three parts have their parallels with the biblical text: the Old Testament poetic model corresponds to the first part, the biographical model of the Gospels to the second, and the historical model of the Acts of the Apostles to the third. Special attention is paid to the connection of the novel to the literary biography of Joan the Baptist, an iconic figure in the European tradition. The interpretation of this image by the author is peculiar and unique to European literature. Thus, Mosendz’s “The Last Prophet” is a lengthy multifaceted epic story about John the Baptist, based on historical sources and religious texts and reproduced at high ideological and literary levels.