Literary criticism

The article describes an attempt to study the peculiarities of color in the work of the Kabardian poet Zuber Thagazitov for the first time. The author reveals the national specific features of color symbolism and the interdependence of historic and artistic reflection of the national reality in the context of the «greater time».

The article researches the play poetics of the theatre piece «Lickspittle» by I. Ilf, E. Petrov, M. Volpin on the level of the plot, characters, literary reminiscences, language humor. Functions of the co-authors’ play strategy are identified, such as achieving the synthesis of satire and vaudeville principles and the techniques of text structure. The link between «Lickspittle» and the novel by I. Ilf and E. Petrov «The Golden Calf» is revealed.

The article analyses Kuzebay Gerd’s creative work that had been developing at the turn of the centuries. The events of this period impacted the artistic consciousness of the Udmurt poet. Painfully perceived historic disasters are reflected in the tragic world-view of his works.

The subject of research in the article is the function of color in the description of objects’ details and the plants – counterparts of characters – in Sologub’s novel «Bad Dreams». The author presumes that a peculiar ‘language of flowers/colors’ is created in the novel: flowers and colors are the signatures of the characters’ spiritual path indicating its mysterious and eternal meaning.

The author analyzes L. Tolstoy’s editing short stories «The Darling» by A. Chekhov and «The Living Relic» by I. Turgenev as an example of unsanctioned editing. Motives and methods of the editor’s unapproved changes are considered.

The article raises the question of whether the people from M. E. Saltykov’s circle in his provincial periods of life should be noticed. N. S. Rzhevskaya, a talented singer and composer, a friend of Saltykov in his Tver and later Ryazan periods, was one of them; her relationships with the writer were based on trust.

The present article analyzes J.-B. Almeida Garrett’s work as an attempt to create a Portuguese national myth. The author points out that the writer, criticizing the present he lives in, tries to revive the past by the means of the country’s history and national folklore where he finds irreproachable examples to be followed.

The article regards the character of General Varravin – the main and only character moving the scheme forward in the drama «The Case» by A. V. Sukhovo-Kobylin. The ambiguity and inconsistency of this character are specifically highlighted.

The article considers Mlle de Montpensier’s approach to depicting childhood on the materials of her «Memoires». The viewpoint of the memoire writer is analyzed as compared to the image of the protagonist; the significance of the ‘childhood’ piece in the context of the whole book is determined.

The experience of a dictionary entry ‘Author’ offered here provides essential help in mastering the course of “Introduction into Literary Studies” and deals with the meanings of one of the key notions of philology. Some general ideas are presented: of the author as a biographic individual, of the author as the creator of a literary text, of the implicit author, and of the two approaches outlined in the XX century to the issue of the reader and author relationship.