Transformation of Gothic Demon’s Image in V. Orlov’s Novel “Danilov, the Violist”

The paper aims to identify specificity of the gothic demon’s image representation in V. Orlov’s novel. Scientific originality of the study lies in the fact that the demon’s image in “Danilov, the Violist” is for the first time analysed in the context of the gothic tradition. The conclusions are justified that referring to “classical” demonic images (M. Bulgakov, J. W. Goethe, O. Wilde, R. L. Stevenson), the writer reinterprets the image of a “contract demon”: called to commit evil, endowed with infernal power, possessing supernatural abilities, he does not apply them in the human world; upon concluding a deal with dark forces, he did not lose his soul, he gained it, which finally leads to transformation of a demon into a human.