Literary criticism

The linkages between two levels of Chekhov’s and Andreyev’s plays – everyday life and existence – are considered in the article. Such aspects of main characters’ life as the existential tragedy of being, the state of alienation, loneliness, ambivalence, untrue existence, breakthrough to the beauty and divine grace are analyzed.

Stylistic function of the motives of hearsay and fame are studied in the plots of «Old-World Landowners», «Viy», and «The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich» by N. V. Gogol. Their role in the plot and the chronotopos of the works is considered, as well as their meaning in the space of the stories, their linkages with the motives of emergency and disclosed mystery are regarded.

The article deals with different instances of Germany being mentioned in Gogol’s cycle «Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka», as well as the issue of the author’s understanding of the word «German» while working on his stories, and some parallels with the works of other writers.

The article regards poems published in N. M. Karamzin’s Almanac
Aonides that were written by women: N. I. Starova (A. P. Svinyina),
A. M. Magnitskaya, E. P. Svinyina, E. V. Kheraskova, E. S. Yrusova.
Problem matter and poetics of these works are analyzed against the
background of historic, literary and cultural processes of the turn
of the XVIII–IXth centuries: the interaction of movements, genres,
formation of the authorship category, formation of a unique image of
the author in literature; processes of the interaction of «female» and

The article characterizes the state of the leading sphere of the Russian folklore – folk and literary lyric poetry – in the publications and studies of the folklore researchers of Saratov State University in 1940–2010. The contribution into the sphere by the outstanding folklore specialist T. M. Akimova, whose 115th a nniversary i s c elebrated in 2014, as well as the input of professor V. K. Arkhangelskaya are given a more in-depth consideration.

The article contains the description of yet not thoroughly studied specific signs of a scientific
biography of a writer, its internal methodology, its source-based capacities, and basic principles of its structure.

The paper focuses on the features of an island as geographical and literary space, as a historical and cultural context for the formation of individual and national identity. Being a brief overview of some of the works of Western scholars, it’s an attempt to identify the literary potential of the island. The paper analyzes the reasons why the island may become a place of revelation and spiritual rebirth, be subjected to mythologizing, and reveal through symbols some deep psychological mechanisms inherent in man.

Two recent British comic novels are analyzed in the aspect of the authors’ treatment of the topic of climate change. Their representation of ecological and climate issues is shown to cover a wide range of existing attitudes. Special attention is given to how scientific matters are incorporated in the comic novel.

The article researches the problems and the poetics of the play by V. Katayev «A Million Pangs»: devices of creating satirical images are regarded; the problem of a literary dialogue of the author with his contemporaries (M. Bulgakov, N. Erdman, I. Ilf and E. Petrov) is revealed; the peculiarity of Katayev’s satire on pre-revolutionary intelligentsia is identified.

The article treats the literary critics’ works of 1923–1925 concerning the perception of Sergei Esenin’s book of poems «Moskva Kabatskaya» (Tavern Moscow). The book in question provoked different interpretations and numerous contradictory responses of critics of diverse aesthetic beliefs belonging to various literary groups.