The article analyzes the set of mortal motifs in the Vodolazkin’s «Laurus», states that the image-concept of death in the novel «Laurus» is structural, plot- and meaning-forming, reveals some binary oppositions finding their solution in the idea of God: the main (physical – spiritual, dead – living, time – eternity) and the secondary ones (silence – cry, stiffness – motion, coldness – warmth). It argues that the idea of God underlying the author’s philosopheme «time doesn’t exist» reveals the cyclic nature of a man’s earthly path (birth – life – death), allowing to overcome its finitness, and the vertical direction of the human spiritual path (sin – penance – redemption): both of the paths, merging, form a spiral of human living.
E. Vodolazkin; Laurus; mortal motifs; death; birth; biblical motifs; foresight motif; tree; silence; cemetery; coldness; warmth; physical; spiritual; time; eternity.