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

Literary criticism

David Lindsay’s fictive flyting

The article examines the specifics of The Answer to the Kingis Flyting written by the Scottish poet David Lindsay (c. 1490 – c. 1555). This work is the only extant part of the poetic dialogue between the Scottish king James V and his mentor and courtier. It follows the tradition of Scottish court flyting, which traces back to the end of the 15th century and is analyzed in the article on the example of The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy which is supposedly the first work written in this genre.

“Left Skaftymov’s ‘nest’ too early”: V. A. Bochkarev about A. P. Skaftymov

The article discusses the relationship of V. A. Bochkarev, a graduate of Saratov University in 1930, the first postgraduate student of A. P. Skaftymov in 1930–1933, subsequently Doctor of Philology, professor, the head of the department of the Russian and Foreign literature of Kuybyshev (Samara) Pedagogical Institute (University) for many years, the author of the fundamental works on the Russian historical drama, and A. P. Skaftymov, the founder and the creator of Saratov School of Philology, a scientist of world renown. A. P.

A “new woman” or a “superwoman”? A Silver Age project

The article analyzes literary texts and critical speeches of women and men-writers of the turn of the 19th – early 20th centuries, where the gender role models of the “new woman” and “superwoman” received the most vivid and original embodiment. Both models of femininity reflected the breaking of the usual gender order and the formation of a new system of values, in literature itself as well. The complex of feminist ideas associated with these types of models interested not only representatives of “high” literature.

“A strange mystical village” in Bunin’s short novel Dry Valley: To the problem of sources

The subject of research in the article is the image of the Dry Valley in Bunin’s short novel and its possible sources. The author believes that the main precedent texts for Bunin’s short novel and the concept of national life and national character embodied in it, are the novels by Fyodor Dostoevsky The Brothers Karamazov (as the researchers have already noted) and The Silver Dove by Andrey Bely. Bunin both argues with the writers and develops their ideas about the essence of the Russian character and the Russian life.

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.

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