In the article Gogol’s image of the blacksmith Vakula is studied as one of the so-called «liminal beings», typical for the writer’s works. In the nature of such creatures there is a transition from the supernatural world into the real one, which allows them to act as mediators.
The article deals with various aspects of interrelation between plot and space structure of Klaus Mann’s émigré novel «The Volcano». The author of the article analyzes the heroine of the novel crossing the symbolic border between the world of the dead and the living, which presupposes crossing the border between different zones of the exile space. In the article it is shown that sacrifice is a necessary condition of the border crossing.
