Literary criticism

Poems of Goldfinch and Their Place in Mandelstam’s Second Voronezh Notebook. Article two

The article is the continuation of the first one and is devoted to the place of uncollected ‘goldfinch’ cycle in the structure of Second Voronezh Notebook. The article shows the hierarchy of cycles, their various types and forms of cyclic relationships. Inner story lines, imagery and motive complexes of the Second Voronezh notebook and other manifestations of its integrity are revealed.

Genre and Style Peculiarities of I. G. Ehrenburg’s Cycle Six Novels with Easy Endings

The article presents the characterization of one of the least researched texts from the body of I. G. Ehrenburg’s prose texts – Six novels with Easy Endings. The features of this work are analyzed in connection with the context of the literary controversy of the 1920s, which predetermined the author’s creative endeavors.

On the Contradictions of the Term ‘Method of Dialectic Materialism’ in the History of Literary Criticism

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.

Turgenev and Symbolists: to the Issue of the Artistic Experience Impact of Turgenev as a Novelist. Article 1: the Plot and Overplot in Turgenev’s Novel Smoke

The object of analysis in the article is the multidimensional structure of Turgenev’s novel Smoke and the ways of ‘overplot’ formation, ‘double perspective’ of the plot lines: allusions, symbolic motives and images, color narration. The author assumes that the artistic experience of Turgenev as a novel writer allows to see the genesis of some signature elements in the poetics of the symbolist novel.

Moral Conflicts of the Modern Prose in the Young Readers’ Perception

The article analyzes criteria and results of text perception, tender points of the moral dialogue of the young with the modern prose. The analysis is held on the material of reader reviews of modern school pupils and students of humanities of the contemporary works of the Russian literature.

Zahar Prilepin’s «Boundary Lyricism»: the Author and the Reader in Prose Works of the turn of XX–XXIst centuries

Interaction between the author and «one’s own» reader inside the literary text (in broader meaning – the problem of the reader) is the main object of the following article. Philological analysis is based upon the prose works of Zakhar Prilepin. The main goal of the research is to determine the parameters of the author’s strategy which is personified in the fiction of the most popular Russian writers at the turn of the XX–XXIst centuries.

Picturesque Ekphrasis as a Means of the Protagonist Characterization in D. Rubina’s Novel The White Dove of Cordoba

The article discusses the oeuvre interpretation of Zahar Kordovin, the protagonist of D. Rubina’s novel The White Dove of Cordoba. The pictures of the artist are analyzed from the point of view of ekphrasis which is defined as a verbal description of visual art images in literary text.

What a Carve Up! by Jonathan Coe as a Postmodern Detective Story

What a Carve Up! by Jonathan Coe is analyzed as an example of application of traditional detective conventions in postmodern narrative; their ideological and compositional functions in the novel are revealed.

Karamzin’s Code in B. Okudzhava’s Novel A Date with Bonaparte. Article 2: Liza Svechina

The article regards how significant elements of the main character image in N. M. Karamzin’s novel and «Liza’s complex» described by V. N. Toporov are transformed in the plot lines of B. Sh. Okudzhava’s novel A Date with Bonaparte related to Liza Svechina. The motives of the incongruity of reality and the ideas from books and the topic of suicide set in Poor Liza, associated with the Decembrist theme, accentuate the problems of forced reorganization of society and personal responsibility.

The Roman Empire in the Lyric Poetry of the Late Soviet Period (Jaаn Kaplinski and David Samoilov)

In the present paper the extent of allusions to topics in the history of Ancient Rome is assessed within the officially accepted Soviet literature. Different instances of interest towards the Roman antiquity among the poets of the second half of the ХХ century are classified and accounted for. The social and literary context of Rome-inspired Jaаn Kaplinski’s ( Vercingetorix, 1967) and David Samoilov’s ( Remus and Romulus, 1969) lyric poetry is assessed, as well as their relationship with the Classical subject matter and the 19th century civil poetry.

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