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


исторический роман

Christian truth and political power in Evelyn Waugh’s Helena

The novel Helena (1950) is analyzed as Evelyn Waugh’s profound statement on his most significant problems: the possibility to resolve the crises of the 20th-century consciousness through Christianity and on the nature of power. Cradle Anglo-Catholics were always suspicious of Waugh, seeing him as an errant Catholic; the paper uses the work of Waugh’s biographers and interpreters to pinpoint his personal reception of Catholicism as the most sophisticated, strictly logical system, firmly grounded in historical fact. Waugh’s story of St.

Образ царевны Софьи в исторических романах 1870-1880 гг.

Статья посвящена анализу образа царевны Софьи в исторических романах «Престол и монастырь» (1878) П.В.Полежаева, «Царь-девица» (1878) Вс.С.Соловьева, «Великий раскол» (1878) и «Царь Петр и правительница Софья» (1880) Д.Л.Мордовцева, «На высоте и на доле: Царевна Софья» (1879) Е.П.Карновича. Особенностью этих произведений является то, что они созданы примерно в одно время на материале одних и тех же исторических источников, имеют близкий сюжет и различаются трактовкой изображенных событий и характеров.

Old Russian Feeble-Mindedness Phenomenon in the Fiction Space of the Novel «Yuri Miloslavsky, or Russians in 1612» by M.N. Zagoskin

The 17-th century is the Time of trouble and the age of feeble-mindedness flourishing in Russia. Composing the first Russian historical novel M.N. Zagoskin could not help bringing the figure of Christian associate in the narration. The article shows ways of interpretation of some episodes with the «God’s fool» using Scriptural passages.

Христианская истина и политика в романе Ивлина Во «Елена»

Роман И.Во «Елена» (1950) рассматривается как выдающееся художественное размышление писателя о наиболее близких ему проблемах: о природе власти в обществе и о возможности обрести выход из кризисного сознания ХХ в. в истине католической религии. В католической церкви Англии к Во всегда относились с подозрением, подчеркивая его «неправильный» католицизм; с опорой на труды биографов и интерпретаторов творчества Во анализируются особенности рецепции писателем католической ортодоксии.

«An Eye for Risk»: Thomas Cromwell in Hilary Mantel’s historical novels

The figure of Thomas Cromwell in the first two parts of Hilary Mantel’s trilogy is seen as the embodiment of the idea of efficient risk control. Cromwell’s evolution from the value system of the rising bourgeoisie towards old feudal ways is traced; Mantel’s mastery in psychological characterization analyzed.

Category of Genre in Contemporary Literary Studies

The article considers well-established approaches to genre as a category of literary studies; alternative approaches to its understanding are revealed, methodological principles of genre identity of historic and philosophy of history novels are defined.

RUSSIAN REVIEWS ABOUT MARGERIT YURSENAR

The article offers a history of the publication of translations of M. Jursenar's works into Russian since 1984 and systematizes the assessments and approaches to the work of the French writer, which have been developing in parallel in domestic criticism.

 

Post-historiographical metafiction: Maggie O’Farrrell’s Hamnet

Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet (2020), the novel about Shakespeare’s son and wife, is considered as the continuation of postmodernist interest in Shakespeare exemplified by A. Burgess’s and R. Nye’s novels about the Bard. However, O’Farrell’s approach to history through the lens of everyday family life, her present-tense narrative and especially her manner of reinterpreting the historical facts all point to another, more recent literary influence – Hilary Mantel’s Cromwell novels.

Genre modifi cations and “search for a genre” in Timur Kibirov’s novel The General and His Family

Genre defi nition of Timur Kibirov’s The General and His Family caused disagreement among literary critics. The range of opinions concerning the defi nition of the novel’s genre include historical novel, family saga, cento novel, the novel about psychology and morality of the late years of the USSR. This article is concentrated on the novel’s genre defi nition. The genre framework of the text is the epoch-standard local family story depicted against the background of massive Soviet history.