Izvestiya of Saratov University.
Philology. Journalism
ISSN 1817-7115 (Print)
ISSN 2541-898X (Online)

Literary criticism

Intertextual elements as a means of creating a comic effect (based on the 17th century Russian satires)

This study aims to determine the role of intertextual elements in creating a comic effect in the 17th century Russian satires. Two novels representing the humorous literature of the 17th century Russia serve as the material of the research: The Tale of Drunkard and The Tale of the Peasant’s Son. Medieval culture is based on Christianity with the biblical text at its core.

Gastronomic accounts of the Ancient Rome in the poem Dinner by V. S. Filimonov (1837)

The article considers Dinner by V. S. Filimonov (1837) as a literary and gastronomic poem. The dishes mentioned by the poet are not only of practical use, they are incorporated into the system of literary relationships, and become a source of intertextual connections and allusions. V. S. Filimonov’s characters taste not only and not so much the dishes and drinks served; they rather taste life itself: over dinner they satisfy their hunger of long-expected meetings with true friends, have polemic conversations, relish literary novelties.

“To be” and “to seem”: The semantic dimension of life in the play Ivanov by A. P. Chekhov

The purpose of the study is to consider the philosophical and social aspects of the early play by A. P. Chekhov Ivanov, to analyze the relationship between reality and illusion in the semantic dimension of the characters’ lives. We are talking about the “struggle against the struggle for existence”, mentioned by K. A. Timiryazev, about the loss of the key goal in the clash of the heroes’ hopes and the surrounding reality. The categories of “to be” and “to seem” under study play a significant role in the life of the characters.

“When over the field glow green...” by V. Khlebnikov: The memory of the genre vs. experiment

The paper analyzes the poem by Velimir Khlebnikov “When over the field glow green...” (1911–1912) concerning the issue of how the sonnet genre functions in the author’s verse. This genre, present in the works by futurists and their followers, has been scarcely studied and requires serious scrutiny.

The history of Saratov Association of Proletarian Writers: From the period of formation to the conflictThe history of Saratov Association of Proletarian Writers: From the period of formation to the conflict

The peculiarity of Saratov literary process of the 1920s is determined by the facts that the local budget was insufficient to implement cultural initiatives, by slow paperwork, and by the creeping pace of accomplishing cultural initiatives. At the time in question Saratov played the role of a buffer territory, where all public figures from the capital suspected of non-conformism were sent. Thus, people noticed to be politically pro-opposition and favoring formalism, were delegated to the provincial town.

Chinese loanwords in the novel Blue Lard by Vladimir Sorokin

The article discusses the Chinese loanwords that appear in the novel Blue Lard by Vladimir Sorokin. The novel contains an allegory of the Russian language of the future. Most of the neologisms created by Sorokin in Blue Lard come from foreign words, including an abundance of Chinese loanwords. The author of the article analyzes the Chinese loanwords from the point of view of phonetics and semantics, points out the mistakes in pronunciation in the novel, when Sorokin uses Chinese words or expressions.

Alexey Slapovsky’s prose in the perception of Andrey Nemzer

A literary critic Andrei Nemzer was one of the fi rst to draw attention to the work of Alexei Slapovsky, a writer inextricably linked with Saratov. Responses to his works have been published in newspapers and “thick” journals since the early 1990s. The list of the main characters of literature, which Nemzer compiled annually, is not complete without the name of the prose writer, and the mass of reviews is ostentatiously apologetic.

On the infl uence of the novel What is to be done? by N. G. Chernyshevsky on the story Yar by S. A. Yesenin

There is evidence of Yesenin’s acquaintance with What is to be done? by Chernyshevsky, which happened during the adolescent years of the future poet, while he was studying at the Spas-Klepikovskaya second-class teacher’s school in 1909–1912. From the novel by a 19th century writer individual plot twists (the “living corpse” line), some stylistic fi ndings and the author’s judgments (about the mystery, the liar, Hamlet) seem to have migrated to the story of the 20th century poet, of course, in a veiled and transformed form.

The symbolism of a spinning top: A sound detail in A. P. Chekhov’s play The Three Sisters

The article deals with the study of the sound features of Chekhov’s creative legacy, and in particular, with the analysis and interpretation of the place and role of the sound detail of the spinning top in the play by A. P. Chekhov The Three Sisters, which has not been previously conducted by researchers. The analysis involves stage readings of the drama by major Russian and European directors of the 20–21st centuries – K. S. Stanislavsky, Vl. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko, A. V. Efros, P. Stein, E. Nyakroshus, P. N. Fomenko, L. A.

A. A. Fet and D. A. Stolypin: A dialogue on the peasants’ land ownership (On the material of unpublished letters)

The article presents an analytical review of D. A. Stolypin’s unpublished letters to A. A. Fet, dated back to 1889–1892. The article considers the relationship between the authors, defi nes the reasons for their bonding and further friendly communication. Discussing the issues of agricultural development in Russia is central in Stolypin’s letters to Fet, both correspondents having dedicated opinion articles to these questions.

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