Circular Imagery in Bely's Petersburg
             In Petersburg, Andrei Bely thematically connects circular imagery with violence, rapid expansion, dismemberment, and especially explosions. This modernist representation of circles and orbs as objects of chaos and destruction prefigure both the explosion at the end of the book, and the apocalyptic explosion of revolution.
             Even before the reader is made aware of any explosive device or sinister scheme, Bely foreshadows both by combining images of Apollon Apollonovich's eyes and heart with a rapidly expanding sphere. After the reader's first encounter with cerebral play, Bely describes Apollon Apollonovich's daily carriage ride to work, in which he locks eyes with a pedestrian, who changes from ordinary silhouette to shining dot to an "immense crimson sphere" that rapidly flies at him . The reader immediately makes the connection to cerebral play but this vision is understood as a threat to Apollon Apollonovich, especially after talk of revolutionaries in Petersburg and the knowledge that Mr. Ableukhov holds an important position with the government . Following this startling vision, Apollon Apollonovich spots a pair of eyes on the street that
             seemingly float without being connected to a body. Just then, he realizes that the pedestrian is returning his stare, at which point, the pedestrian's eyes "grew rapid, dilated, lit up, and flashed " as if exploding at the recognition of the senator. When Apollon Apollonovich witnesses this explosion, which he and the reader perceive as hostile, his heart pounds wildly and expands, as if it was a "crimson sphere about to burst into pieces ." Bely conjures up explosive imagery both by describing it and by linking it to individual body parts severed from the whole, as if they were scattered in an explosion and now stand apart from the body that was presumably torn apart because of this catastro...