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«IZVESTIYA IRKUTSKOGO GOSUDARSTVENNOGO UNIVERSITETA». SERIYA «POLITOLOGIYA. RELIGIOVEDENIE»
«THE BULLETIN OF IRKUTSK STATE UNIVERSITY». SERIES «POLITICAL SCIENCE AND RELIGION STUDIES»
ISSN 2073-3380 (Print)

List of issues > Series «Political Science and Religion Studies». 2026. Vol 55

Dualism of the Divine and the Computer in V. F. Tendryakov's Novel “Attempt on Mirages” (1989)

Author(s)

M. A. Shchukina1, 2

1 Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia named after Patrice Lumumba, Moscow, Russian Federation

2 Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russian Federation

Abstract
This article examines V. F. Tendryakov's last published novel “Attempt on Mirages” (1989). The aim of the study is to show how the question of attitude to religion is raised anew in the conditions of late-Soviet creativity and the recent atheistic state. In doing so, important tasks are solved – to trace how the work depicts the clash between the religious worldview and the emerging computer reality (this determines the relevance of the study today); clarify the place of the concept of the “divine” in such a dualistic world. For this purpose, the most significant semantic plots from the novel itself are given, as well as a comparison with statements on this subject by modern philosophers, religious scholars and creators of futuristic concepts. The study fits perfectly into the problem field of contemporary discourse, as it uses the methodology of comparative religious studies, as well as retrospective analysis of literary texts using AI optics. We see the main result of the work as follows: instead of the expected disenchantment of the world in his final novel, the author writes about elements of “digital religion”, significantly ahead of the agenda of his time.
About the Authors
Shchukina Maria Alekseevna, Assistant, Department of History of Philosophy Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia named after Patrice Lumumba 6, Miklukho-Maklai st., Moscow, 117198, Russian Federation Postgraduate, Department of Philosophy of Religion and Religious Studies. Lomonosov Moscow State University GSP-1, 27-4, Lomonosovskij ave., Moscow, 119992, Russian Federation e-mail: masha.filkina.1@mail.ru.
For citation
Shchukina M.A. Dualism of the Divine and the Computer in V. F. Tendryakov's Novel “Attempt on Mirages” (1989). The Bulletin of Irkutsk State University. Series Political Science and Religion Studies, 2026, vol. 55, pp. 113-123. https://doi.org/10.26516/2073-3380.2026.55.113 (in Russian)
Keywords
religious revival, comparative religion, cognitive religious studies, digital religion, scientific and technological progress, artificial intelligence (AI), technotheism.
UDC
291
DOI
https://doi.org/10.26516/2073-3380.2026.55.113
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