THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS FOR THE «SUPERFLUOUS MAN»:AN ATTEMPT AT A BUDDHIST READING OF MAXIM GORKY'S FINAL NOVEL

Abstract

The aim of the study is to identify typological correspondences between the artistic universe of M. Gorky's novel «The Life of Klim Samgin» and the key concepts of Buddhist philosophy. The article analyzes how fundamental Buddhist ideas – the Four Noble Truths, the doctrine of suffering (dukkha), the non-self (anatman), emptiness (shunyata), and the cycle of samsara – are implicitly reflected in the psychological portrait of the protagonist and other characters. The focus is on Samgin's absenteeism as a form of distancing from the «samsaric» world of passions and the implementation of the concept of emptiness in his fragmented consciousness. Based on comparative typological and hermeneutic methods, the study consistently examines the universal nature of suffering (dukkha), the problem of the extinction of desires, the fragmentary manifestation of elements of the Eightfold Path, and the episode with H. Bosch's painting as a moment of the hero's insight into the samsaric nature of reality. The scientific novelty lies in the first systematic analysis of Gorky's final novel through the prism of Buddhist philosophy, which allows us to move beyond the traditional socio-historical or existential reading of the text. The results show that, without being a conscious follower of Buddhism, Gorky created a work whose artistic fabric reveals a deep typological kinship with Eastern thought. It is demonstrated that Samgin's absenteeism represents not only a social or psychological trait, but also an ontological alienation in the stream of being.