The place of landscape in the narrative structure of Kryukov’s works

The purpose of the article is to analyze the main functions of the landscape in the works of F. Kryukov. Nature in his narrative system acts as an independent object of portrayal and a toolkit for description, as the place of the character’s residence and the contemplated landscape, as an integral picture and a set of contrasting elements. The emphasis is placed on the narrative role of the landscape in the development of the author’s point of view, the structuring of the artistic space, and plot formation. Through the landscape in the novels and short stories of Kryukov, preceding the prose of M. Sholokhov, the organic essence of the Don Cossacks’ way of life, their perception of the world, characters, life, the search for new opportunities for the development of living space, the specifi city of the aesthetic refl ection are depicted. Nature is perceived by Kryukov as part of the picture of the world. The emphasis is made on the correspondence of the psychological states of the characters and the states of nature, the role of images of the natural world in disclosing social problems and family plots is revealed, axiological dominants in the symbolic and philosophical content of landscapes are noted, their role in the depiction of vital and mortal meanings of life is determined. The article discusses Kryukov’s description of the grave topos as a continuation of the literary tradition. A statement about the priority of the organic state of the world in Kryukov’s worldview values is put forward. The landscape in the works of Kryukov is directly related to the characteristics of the idiostyle. Particular attention is paid to the principles of depicting nature. Constant images of the landscape (steppe, the Don, forest, sky) are named, their subjective perception by the heroes and the author is noted, which brings the mythopoetic aspect to the realistic depiction of the landscape. Conclusions are drawn on the preference of a panoramic landscape to a close-up while preserving the role of detail, the combination of vertical and horizontal coordinates in nature pictures, the signifi cance of binary characteristics in depicting the integrity of nature, the frequency of perception of the landscape in perspective, the infl uence of nature pictures on the pace of narration, the semantics of color, the place of direct author’s comments.