literary criticism

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.

In the article the publications of the literary critic and historian Andrey Nemzer which appeared in the 1980s in the journal Literaturnoye obozreniye (Literary review) are analyzed. The articles of this period dealt more with historical and literary works and to a smaller degree with literary-artistic ones. The aim of this work is to identify the author’s status. A range of arguments is off ered proving that Nemzer’s contributions on the pages of the journal are strictly of literary-critical nature. The key feature is the evaluative statement which is most pronounced in negative comments.

The article attempts to identify the key moments of F. Dostoevsky’s presence in the context of the literary and critical declarations of the journal Zavety, primarily, by its co-editors, V. Chernov, and especially by Ivanov-Razumnik. His attitude towards the writer as a “world genius”, “the apogee of ethical individualism”, expressed in a number of articles, should be considered programmatic for this journal. A. Dolinin’s critical reception and reviews in the bibliographic department are in line with this attitude.

A. Slapovsky’s prose cannot fit the clearly defined frame the critics and literary scholars try to set. The article considers their attempts to characterize the writer’s oeuvre, special emphasis is placed on the arguments about the author belonging to the postmodern or neorealist movements.

The contradictions of the term ‘method of dialectic materialism’ are shown. The information about the most important discussions in the sphere of the method of literary criticism is provided.

The Russian literary process of the XXIst century is influenced by the highly developed information technology; the works of literature and the authors’ statuses find a new embodiment in the sphere of social media instead of traditional publication forms. The article is dedicated to the controversial literary dialogue between Zahar Prilepin and Tatуana Tolstaya which took place «on the ring» of Facebook.

The article presents the point of view of V. F. Savodnik – a leading literary reviewer of Russkiy vestnik (Russian Bulletin) in 1900-1901s – on the issue of the development of contemporary national poetry; it is explained why the reviewer’s opinions were unconventional for the members of the journal writers.