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| 1 | Introduction. It is suggested that V. Nabokov’s story “The Spy” (1930) largely grows out of his drama “Death” (1923), which remains on the periphery of the interest of the researchers of Nabokov’s fiction. The grounds for comparing the works are found, first of all, at the plot level: the hero’s attempt at suicide and the experience of imaginary death. The aim is to compare the plot situations of imaginary death in the drama “Death” and the story “The Spy” in order to reveal the change in the author’s attitude to the mystification of his own life by a person, moreover, to the possibility of metaphysical (post-death) reality. Material and methods. The article examines the early V. Nabokov’s drama “Death”, which is close to the symbolist drama, and the story “The Spy”, which reflects the creative maturation of the writer. The research is based on the comparative historical method, as well as on the provisions of E. Erickson (personal identity) and V. I. Tyupa (narrative identity). Results and discussion. The author reveals a different interpretation of a similar plot situation: the situation of imaginary death outlined in “Death”, in “The Spy” is plotted, the author’s attention is focused on how a modern person will behave in a situation of freedom from previous conditions of existence. In Death, the hero in an attempt at suicide turns out to be an object of manipulation by another, and in The Spy, the hero performs lynching and himself mystifies further events. For both heroes, imaginary death brings imaginary freedom: but for a person with a romantic outlook it is an opportunity to free themselves from the crisis and acquire an identity (“Death”), and for an intact person of modern civilization – liberation from ethical boundaries in the ability to change identities in observing himself as another narration, and in the stories-hoaxes of the character about himself (“The Spy”). But according to Nabokov, rewriting oneself, playing with fate are doomed to failure. The finale of both works is the heroes’ awareness of their imaginary death and their freedom, but for the hero of the drama this is spiritual death, and the hero of the story renounces self-identity and assumes the position of a “spy” – self-observation while refusing moral responsibility. Conclusion. The conclusion is made about Nabokov’s concept of human existence, which is associated, first of all, with visual perception, the ability to see. Nabokov denies a person the opportunity to comprehend the essence of posthumous existence, the modality of vision is negative: imagination-composition is destroyed by the vision of reality. Keywords: V. Nabokov, “Death”, “The Spy”, identity crisis, the situation of imaginary death | 1270 | ||||