An Introduction To Andreyev 's Novel The Chronicle Of Satan

Leonid Andreev, an artistic writer with the unique talent at the silver age, became a famous person at the turn of the century in the Russian literature due to his richness and diversity on the artistic creation. For him, many researchers focus mostly on his novels and dramas instead of “Satan’s Diary”, which is the representative novel at his career. This paper tries to analyze the theme, characters and artistic features so that we can have a newly understanding about “Satan’s Diary” aesthetic features.In addition to the introduction and conclusion, this paper can be divided into three chapters. The first part mainly discusses the main idea of the passage. Living in the turbulent turn of the century, Andreev experienced and witnessed various social illnesses in Russia. At that time, the whole country was in the struggle between virtues and vices. The writer expressed his strong hatred for the deformed morality and the dark social reality. At the same time, he also felt pessimistic for people’s fate and their future.The second chapter mainly aims to analyze the characters. Toppling the prototype in the Bible as a devil, in this novel, Satan became a sacred victim, who epitomized the writer’s attitudes towards the reality, ethics and philosophy. While Maria, looking like a virgin, completely was a chippie without soul nor shame, who totally overthrew the value of eternal female in Russian culture. She was also a tragedy of humanity. Magnus, a crazy experimenter, had transcended the Satan in evil. Wearing the Catholic garment, X cardinal was a soul degenerate person and the writer also criticized the false nature of the church.The last chapter mainly discusses the artistic features of the novel. Using the subjective mood, deformation and irony piles up the novel’s absurd and tragic atmosphere, strengthens the irony effect and deepens the novel’s main theme. The symbolic and opposite space-time is not only the basic elements for the writer to build the structure but also the important method to express the main idea. At the same time the novel has the comprehensive features of diary and drama.