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Abstract:

The article is devoted to a contextual analysis of the novel by the German writer Andreas Eschbach “Das Jesus-Video” (1998). The key vectors of the God-man’s fate understanding in the literature of the 19th — 20th centuries were identified within the article, and the metaphorization of the image of Jesus Christ in the world literature of recent decades was examined. It is proved that: 1. Eschbach adheres to all the canons of entertaining literature, designed for both mass and intellectual readers (from a genre point of view, the novel combines the features of a science fiction, adventure, detective work with elements of alternative history). Numerous scientific and pseudo-scientific argu- ments about spatial and temporal dislocations are inserted into the plot of the novel. The nesting doll method of construction is used. 2. The key problem of the novel is the perception of Jesus Christ by ordinary people nowadays and two thousand years ago. 3. Eschbach attacks the collective unconsciousness of his contemporaries, mired in the grip of consumer society. 4. The images of the apostles Paul and Judas Iscariot constitute a meaningful symmetrical antithesis in the novel space. Eschbach synthesized the extremes of literature for the elite and literature for all people, providing the phenomenon of aesthetic compromise.