The object the article is to study the parallels between E. Zola’s novel La Curee and F. Sologub’s novel The Petty Demon. In the author’s opinion the similiarity of the plot collisions and techniques of depicting a person’s unity with the ‘environment’, which characterize the two novels’ poetics, is indicative of the unquestionable impact of the naturalist writer’s creative experience on Sologub’s seeking.