historical novel

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.

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.

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.

 

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.

«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.