Hero Image in Zahar Prilepin’s Prose (By the Material of the Novels “The Pathologies”, “Sankya”)

The article is devoted to interpreting a hero image in Zahar Prilepin’s novels. Using typological and comprehensive analysis methods the author identifies the key features characterizing Prilepin’s “new hero”: marginality, lack of clear life values, and tendency for reflection. Though their fates differ - Egor (“The Pathologies”) undergoes the tragic war experience, Sasha (“Sankya”) becomes an active participant of the “naïve revolution” - both heroes are described as true patriots trying to find their place in new socio-cultural realia. But if one of them (Egor) does not become hardened, preserves the essential human qualities (charity, appreciation of the family and clan), then the other (Sasha) is fanatically devoted to the idea of political struggle, for the sake of which he abandons generic relations.