фабула

The single sentence by Mikhail Bulgakov about the final of Nikolay Gogol’s play «Revizor» provokes the author of this work to contemplate the finals of Bulgakov’s plays as well. The researcher suggests that Bulgakov considered the Gogol’s final an excellent example of a grotesque («thunderous», as Bulgakov himself called it) end of action. He proves that such type of an unnatural, unexpected denouement distinguishes many Bulgakov’s works.

This article offers a new view of the storyline and dramatic conflict in Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin’s dramatic satire Shadows. According to the author’s hypothesis, the driving force of the plot is an off-stage character Schalimov whom literary critics have often considered as an ‘ideal’, quixotic character. In the article Schalimov is analyzed from the point of view of political intrigues in which the characters of the play are involved. The author of the article also offers his idea of the reasons behind Saltykov-Shchedrin’s sudden loss of interest to this play.

The article is dedicated to “Theatre de la Revolution” of R. Rolland – a cycle of plays about the French revolution of 1789, which is viewed in the aspect of the problem of the synthesis of the arts (in this case – the literary and musical arts). As a result of the analysis of «Theatre de la Revolution» poetics compared to the symphonic quality of Beethoven (who Rolland was guided by), the naturalness and the reasonableness of Rolland’s including the musical symphonic element in his dramaturgic cycle is proved.