Literary criticism

The article analyzes genre peculiarity of the Vice-King vaudeville – one of the first experiments in drama by I. Ilf and Ye. Petrov. The interaction of artistic means characteristic of the vaudeville genre and satirical comedy is considered; the focuses of dramaturgic action and the vector direction of the traditional vaudeville form update are identified.

The article puts forward a problem of the genre classification of the works containing philosophical and historical issues; qualitative characteristics of the historiosophic discourse are regarded; its boundaries are defined within philosophic and historic learning; axiological criteria of the historiosophic novel qualification are developed.

In the article the image of the governess Sharlotta Ivanovna, a character from Vishneviy Sad (The Cherry Orchard), is analyzed. The motives of the play realized in the text are key to understanding the character. The story of creation and the stage fate of Sharlotta Ivanovna are also considered in the article.

The article regards image and notional parallels in the works by A. P. Chekhov and S. V. Rakhmaninov revealing similar features of the writer’s and composer’s artistic outlook as of those who reveal national identity of the Russian art.

The article presents a feature story by B. B. Glinsky ‹Vissarion Grigoryevich Belinsky: in honour of his memory›. This story appears not to have been taken into account or registered in reference lists of the existing research papers on Belinsky, although it clearly deserves the researchers› attention.

The article contains a first time comprehensive analysis of A. F. Pisemsky’s major epistolary addressed to the editor of the journal Otechestvenniye Zapiski A. A. Krayevsky. This literary work exhaustively features the writer’s point of view on the issues of contemporary literature, literary censorship, and free thought in Russia. The letter is regarded as one of the unregistered acts within the framework of Russian writers’ public campaign of 1861 for the ease of censorship.

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 regards different occurrences of Germans and Germany in Gogol’s poem Dead Souls and, consequently, the author’s own perception of German mentality during the time when he was working on the poem.

In the article Petersburg stories are analyzed in terms of the motive of the steadfast gaze. The process of visual «completion» of reality by Gogol’s characters is described.

This article discusses the specifics of expressive sayings associated with mentioning the devil; the dynamics of changes these forms are undergoing is revealed. It is concluded that mentioning evil spirits is one of the most important elements of Gogol’s poetics, which helps to convey to the reader the bitter truth.