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


existentialism

Semantics of Names in Samuel Beckett’s Plays of the 1950s–1960s

This research examines the etymological meanings, morphological patterns and semantic complexes associated with the character names in three of Samuel Beckett’s major plays: Waiting for Godot (1953), Endgame (1957) and Happy Days (1961).

American underground spirit: Dostoevsky’s Notes From Underground and the 20th century USA literature

F. Dostoevsky’s Notes from Underground (1864) exerted a considerable influence on American literature since 1940s. The works by outstanding authors beginning with Saul Bellow (Dangling Man, 1944) or Jerome Salinger’s prose and up to Bret Easton Ellis (American Psycho, 1991), Percy Walker, David Foster Wallace, show a persistent fascination of American writers with the novella and are based on re-reading and re-interpreting Dostoevsky’s ideas, motives and imagery.