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

Literary criticism

Animal symbolism and its role in creating comic effect in the satires of medieval Germany

This study aims to determine the role of animal symbolism in producing comic effect in the satires of medieval Germany. The following satires were taken for this study: “The ship of fools” (“Das narren schyff “ 15th century) by Sebastian Brant, “A deceived husband” (“Der verkêrte wirt“ 13th century) by Herrand von Wildonie and “Priest Amis” (“Der pfaffe Ameis“ 13th century) by Der Stricker. The analysis allows to note that in these pieces the images of the animals are a significant element of the plot and composition structure.

“Ekphrasis of the Constellations” in J. Metham’s romance Amoryus and Cleopes (15th century)

In this paper, the research material is a fragment of the chivalric romance Amoryus and Cleopes by John Metham, an English scientist and poet of the mid-15th century. The object of the study was Metham’s description of the constellations of the Northern and Southern Hemi spheres, contained in the text and considered as ekphrasis.

The image of princess Sophia in historical novels of 1870–1880

The article analyzes of the image of princess Sophia in historical novels The Throne and the Monastery (1878) by P. Polezhaev, The Tsar Maiden (1878) by Vs. Solovyov, For Whose Sins? The Great Schism (1878) and Tsar Peter and Ruler Sophia (1880) by D. Mordovtsev, On the Height and in the Dale: Princess Sophia (1879) by E. Karnovich.

Epistolary genre in the work of G. Galbatsov: Author and addressee

The article attempts to consider the originality of the style of the modern Dagestani novelist Gazimagomed Galbatsov on the material of the epistolary genre: in “Letters to the next world” to the classics of Avar literature of the second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries and “To himself”, reflecting the creative quest of the author. The structural and comparative research methods, as well as the method of intertextual analysis of the text, make it possible to identify the elements of the author’s pastiche of the literary style of the addressees.

Types of narrators in A. Slapovsky’s cycle Foggy Alleys

The article deals with the study of the narrative aspect of the cycle of stories by A. Slapovsky Foggy Alleys. The author uses narratological method of analysis developed by the Russian and foreign specialists in literature. The research is aimed at studing different types of narrators in A. Slapovsky’s cycle. The typology is based on the binary opposition: there are non-diegetic and diegetic narrators in the cycle. The non-diegetic narrator of A. Slapovsky’s stories is characterized by implicitness, by the focus on the character’s point of view.

Aesthetics of French classicism: Between norm and freedom

This article deals with understanding the aesthetics of French classicism, which not only assumes compliance with norms, but also establishes “freedom” as the leading aesthetic component of the text. The first part of the study demonstrates the deformed logic of perceiving classical aesthetics in Russian philological science, which largely followed the French ideological attitudes developed during the 19th century.

Byron and Pushkin by V. M. Zhirmunsky

In 1917–1921, being the first Professor of World Literature at the recently (1914) opened Saratov University, young Victor M. Zhirmunsky taught general courses in World literature – and seminar “Byron’s Contemporaries in Literature”, which concentrated on literary sources for Byron’s poems and their influence on Russian poetry. Zhirmunsky’s letter to B. Eichenbaum of July 29, 1918 contains an outline of his idea for a doctoral thesis on Byron’s poetics with “a long excursion” based on the seminar’s work – a research into “Byronic” Pushkin’s poems.

Cypress by a cave: Erotic frustration, agon and death in Theocritus’ Idyll XI

The author offers a possible explanation of a stable thematic complex including the themes of erotic frustration, agon and death as a constitutive for idyllic genre. The choice of Theocritus’ Idyll XI for the analysis is motivated by its undoubtedly intimate character (along with Idylls VII, XIII and XXVIII), which makes them part of some specific personalized contexts: the people mentioned were Theocritus’ colleagues along with being his friends.

The tale “Sleeping Beauty” by Ch. Perrault in the mirror of libretto by I. A. Vsevolozhsky and M. Petipa

The premiere of the world-famous Russian ballet “The Sleeping Beauty”, composed by P. I. Tchaikovsky, I. A. Vsevolozhsky and M. Petipa, took place on the stage of the Mariinsky Theatre on January 3, 1890, and became a significant event in the cultural life of Petersburg. Since then, the ballet has been performed on stages around the world, undergoing various revisions and updates, but the original author’s libretto has sometimes been neglected and replaced with adaptations and reinterpretations of the story during subsequent productions.

Z. N. Gippius’s letters in diary discourse of S. P. Kablukov

The article analyzes Z. N. Gippius’s correspondence with the secretary of the St. Petersburg Religious and Philosophical Society S. P. Kablukov. The material for the article contains Z. N. Gippius’s letters of 1909, received by Kablukov and rewritten by him in a diary. Since the folder with Z. N. Gippius’s letters was not preserved in the S. P. Kablukov’s archive, this documentary evidence is of apparent interest and allows us to get an idea of the nature of the correspondence between Gippius and the author of the diary. The subject range of Z. N. Gippius’s and S. P.

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