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

Literary criticism

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.

Genre focus in the works by professor T. M. Akimova

The article provides the retrospect review of the works by professor T. M. Akimova (Saratov State University). It highlights the researcher’s interest in the poetic character of the folklore and literature genres both on a standalone basis and in their interaction. The existence of this interest is defi ned as the focus of T. N.

Russian literary criticism of the 20th century on Moliere’s comedy “The Misanthrope”

The article addresses the reception of J.-B. Moliere’s comedy “The Misanthrope” (1666) by the Russian literary critics of the 20th century, refl ected in monographs, academic publications, textbook, articles and the scientifi c apparatus to the complete works of the great French playwright. The reason of this persistent interest to this play is determined by two essential factors: its ambiguity and its infl uence on A. S. Griboyedov’s comedy “Woe from Wit”.

“The war between the sexes” in the works of F. Norris (The novels “Moran of the Lady Letty” and “A Man’s Woman”)

The article seeks to explore the concepts of masculinity and androgyny in the works of the American writer Frank Norris (1870-1902). Based on two novels, “Moran of the Lady Letty” and “A Man’s Woman”, the study examines the peculiarity of male and female images. The interaction of the sexes often grows irreconcilable, and the theme of emancipation becomes one of the key ones in the writer’s work.

Paul Claudel, an interpreter of the Song of Songs

«Paul Claudel interroge le Cantique des Cantiques» («Paul Claudel questions the Song of Songs») is a landmark work in the oeuvre of Paul Claudel (1868-1955), it is one of the largest artistic and exegetic commentaries in the collection of prose «Le Poëte et la Bible» («The Poet and the Bible») (1998, 2004). The writer creates a new «Claudelian novel» in Bakhtin’s understanding of the novelistic word, based on the centuries-old tradition of multiple interpretations, on the one hand, but built into a work of art, on the other.

A doll as a character of the Rococo novel “La Poupée” (1747) by Jean Galli de Bibiena

The article analyzes the novel “La Poupée” (“Doll”) by a French writer of Italian origin Jean Galli de Bibiena, which introduced into the literature of the 18th century the theme of the doll mentoring an adult. The doll character combines, on the one hand, the ideas of the era about “man-machine”, the fascination with “live” automations, on the other hand, the tradition of depicting fairy-tale creatures, concentrated in Montfaucon de Villar’s book “Count Gabalis”.

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