Literary criticism

The article researches the interaction of the satirical and vaudeville origins in E. Petrov’s play The World’s Island. The functions of the vaudeville poetics are identified on the level of the action development and character images.

The article considers self-referential items in the oeuvre of Gaston Leroux – the master of a popular novel – particularly on the example of the Rouletabille cycle. The author pays closer attention to the novel Rouletabille and the Tsar in which Leroux inserted the data from his earlier articles and sketches about Russia.

The article considers the image of I. N. Arkadina from the point of view of the acting phenomenon. An actress not only by her profession, but throughout her life, Arkadina constantly changes types, acts a part, does everything ostentatiously, which other «non-theatrical» characters behaving naturally put into even sharper relief.

In the process of studying drama, direct contacts between characters outlined by the author deserve special attention. Such contacts help to clearly identify the characters’ dispositions, the nature of their relationship, features of the mise-en-scène pattern. The article focuses on the role of such contact motives in A. P. Chekhov’s comedy The Seagull.

The article contains an overall systematic and comparative analysis of the critical reviews on A. F. Pisemsky’s novel A Thousand Souls in the contemporaneous printed media. The analysis is done from the following points: journal discussion of the type of Pisemsky’s talent, innovations in the image of the main character, and the novel problem range and its relation to the «accusatory literature» of the 1850s.

In two articles we propose to consider Karamzin’s reminiscences (predominantly from the novel Poor Liza) in the novel by B. Sh. Okudzhava A Date with Bonaparte. The first article is dedicated to the plot lines of the novel related to the image of the serf Arina. One of the most important historic problems of the novel is actualized in them (serfdom); they also contain links to the up-to-date issues of the relationships between the intelligentsia and the people, inner and outer freedom.

The article regards how the fantastic constituent is revealed on the plot, composition, and image levels of the text of The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.

Four expedition periods have been identified in the process of P. G. Bogatyrev collecting fairy-tales (in Moscow, Saratov, Arkhangelsk regions, in the Carpathian Rus’ and in the Carpathians). The history of the first one is traced on the basis of the archive materials (expedition records, minutes of the Society of Natural Science, Anthropology, and Ethnography at the Imperial Moscow University, folklore specialists’ reviews) and the publications of P. G. Bogatyrev and other scientists.

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 studies the play poetics in I. Ilf, E. Petrov, V. Kataev’s play The Rich Bride. The role of the play is singled out on the level of character and action development, and the language strategies of the co-authors. The satirical (social and political) underlying message of the new time vaudeville is revealed, as well as the ambiguity in portraying the kolkhoz life of the 1930s in the play.