Sasha, Hello! [Sasha, privet!] On philosophy of death in Dmitry Danilov’s novel

Abstract

An exercise in close reading, the article explores D. Danilov’s novel Sasha, Hello! [Sasha, privet!] through critical reviews and perceptions of the novel and Danilov’s works in general. The critic considers the book in its axiological and ontological aspects as a reflection on life and death. While he found death abhorrent in his earlier works, Danilov reconsiders in 2022 and begins to perceive it as life’s successor — a ‘journey.’ His novel Sasha, Hello! serves as a philosophical bridge that spans the two concepts. The theme of death is instrumental in creating the book’s imagery and plot structure. In parallel to the philosophical quizzing about life and death, the novel portrays the modern society of ‘dead souls.’ The characters in the novel — professors, writers, and religious workers — appear prejudiced and petty-minded: people who have lost any concept of the true scale of human character. Critics have described Danilov’s novel as a humanistic dystopia. It is also possible to interpret it as a dystopia of liberalism, which robbed ‘progressive’ humanity of the notion that life and death are two legs of the same journey.