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


Literary criticism

The image of Lermontov in the Soviet poetry and Meeting by Bulat Okudzhava

The article examines the literary context of one of the most important poems of Bulat Okudzhava. Special emphasis is placed on the pattern of making a classic poet a myth in the belles-lettres of the Soviet era. The connections of the poem Meeting with Lermontov’s poetry are noted, the functions of reminiscences are examined. The place of Lermontov’s image in the ‘poetic mythology’ of Okudzhava’s poetry is defined.

Solzhenitsyn’s writing desk in Norway

The article analyzes the image of Norway in A. I. Solzhenitsyn’s memoir sketches The Oak and the Calf and Between Two Millstones and his letters. The writer intended to settle there in case he was exiled from Russia, because he felt the affinity of living in Norway with that in Russia, he called Norway his ‘second motherland’. The author of the article considers Norway as a significant place in A. I. Solzhenitsyn’s worldview geography.

The influence of the Russian literature on Chulpan’s oeuvre: Novel Night and Day

The novel Night and Day was initially published in the journal Sovetskaya Literatura (Soviet Literature) in 1934, but was soon banned. In 1989 the Russian translation of the novel was published. The influence of the Russian novel writing school is manifested in the conflict, composition and imagery of the work. In this article, the novel Night and Day is reviewed from the point of view of literary influences on the author.

Vsevolod Ivanov’s story Partisans: Historical and literary contexts

The article examines the responses of critics and leaders of the Siberian partisan movement to Vsevolod Ivanov’s story Partisans, as well as the historical events of 1919–1920 in Siberia, which influenced the formation of the idea of the story. The author identifies the historical and literary contexts that contribute to understanding both the writer’s work and the period of the Civil War in Russia.

Two kinds of music in B. Poplavsky’s poem Dark Madonna

The article studies the topic of music and its functioning in the poem by B. Poplavsky Dark Madonna. Its motivational and symbolic structure, as well as its composition and intertextual ties with the modernist poetry are considered. The article focuses on the description of the ‘spirit of music’ concept in the poet’s philosophy and its interpretation in the text of the miniature.

Medical discourse and / or morbual code: Problems of terminology of modern literary criticism

The article deals with the problem of differentiating the spheres of use of the terms ‘medical discourse’ and ‘morbual code’ while analyzing a literary text. The theoretical definition of the morbual code of literature has been clarified and its varieties and main representatives have been described on the basis of semiotic, linguistic and cultural approaches.

On author’s strategies in literature

Though the term ‘author’s strategies in literature’ is being widely used, its extended definition has not been coined in literary theory encyclopedias and reference books yet. In an effort to partially fill in this gap, I would like to make an attempt to answer the following questions: What is the meaning of the notion ‘author’s strategies’ in literary studies? How do author’s strategies manifest themselves in the literary process? What is the role of the reader in author’s strategies? How do author’s strategies function in the text?

Genre experiment of Samuel Beckett’s Nouvelles et Textes pour rien

This article regards conceptual, structural and thematic strategies used by Beckett in the works of the short story collection Nouvelles et Textes pour rien. It indicates that the late Beckett builds upon the modernist short story with the finishing event of epiphany.

Characters outside the opposition ‘one’s own – other’s’ in Bulgakov’s plays of the 1920s: Days of the Turbins, Zoyka’s apartment and Flight

This article studies the functions of the opposition ‘one’s own – other’s’ in the system of characters in M. A. B ulgakov’s plays Days of the Turbins, Zoyka’s Apartment and Flight. A group of characters is singled out, from whose perspective this opposition is not relevant, not significant. Particular attention is paid to their common features. The conclusion is made that the opposition in question is marked in the problems of Bulgakov’s plays of the 1920s.

The image of a house as a value dimension in the artistic picture of the world (Based on the novel Summer of the Lord by I. S. Shmelev)

The article reveals the originality of the artistic embodiment of the image of the house in the novel Summer of the Lord by I. S. Shmelev, interpreted as the space of love, coming from the family and people around them. The house takes on the significance of a Temple and includes an image-symbol of Russia – the gracious world of God, forever lost in the world’s cataclysms.

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