The symbolism of ascent; magic flight as a modus of recognition on the noetic pilgrimage; Belyj´s novel Petersburg.

The article deals with the essential thematic layer of the novel (magic flight, the symbolic astral pilgrimage of the human soul as the phenomenon of reincarnation). Here we can find the inward meaning of the novel. The article combines the psychoanalytic approach with the spiritually oriented discussion over the reason of the human existence. The magic flight can be seen, from the viewpoint of one of the oldest folk motifs, as the insane escape from the realm of death?. It is the strain to run away from the frightening present, to be freed from the burden of earthly life. In the novel the phenomenon plays a crucial role in respect to the genesis of the pilgrimage of the main characters. The pilgrimage results in a myth of the New Testament about the apocalyptic destruction of the present world and creation of the new one.