The article provides general remarks on the new type of drama in Russian literature. Generally, artists tend to stress individual nature of their works, and therefore they withdraw
from being labeled or associated with particular trends. Among many contemporary playwrights there are some highly original ones, who have already become recognized and are classified as Russian postmodern classic artists. Further, the article discusses their opinions on the craft of dramatic writing.

To justify its aggressive religious policy in the former Republic of Poland, Russian tsarism took many propaganda initiatives, which — claimed righteous — were targeted at the public opinion. In many publications, Russian writers and historians made attempts to prove the acts of dissolution justifiable, but also show enthusiastic support for highly radical acts of tsarism by the Eastern Slavonic people.

Jakov Galinkovsky (Galenkovsky; 1777—1815) was a writer, poet, literary critic, translator, publisher of the periodical “Corypheus, or the key to the European literature” that contains a review of the history of the European literature from the ancient times to the 19th century. The article consists of three parts: 1. The presentation of works by Jakov Galinkovsky (novels, their links with sentimentalism and its criticism, the poem [Imitation of a Satire of V. Kapnist]), 2. The image of the West-European literature in the periodical “Corypheus, or the key to the European literature,” 3. The reviews of the periodical “Corypheus, or the key to the European literature” in the Russian periodicals in the early 19th century (“Moskovsky Mercury,” “Severny vestnik,” etc.).

The article presents a brief analysis of philosophical and literary ideas forwarded by Leonid Andreyev, with special focus on the theory of theater, that is panpsyche. The example of a drama by Yekaterina Ivanovna shows characteristic features of the new drama, such as the animation of the physical world as well as the spiritual one.

The article is devoted to a presentation of the eponymous protagonist in a Story about Siergiej Pietrowicz written by Leonid Andreyev. The writer creates a character, who — enchanted with Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophy, that is the “Nietzschean bible” in particular, namely, Thus Spoke Zarathustra — wants two free himself from the herd-like mentality and find the Overman in himself. Having awareness of his own weaknesses, Siergiej Pietrowicz wishes to endow his own life with highest sense by letting a suicidal act happen, which he understands as a “successful death”.

The article discusses issues of impermanence, the absurdity of life, the inevitable death in short stories writtten by Aleksander Kuprin. According to the spirit of the epoch, the protagonists are representatives of various approaches to the phenomenon of death; they both experience fear, they rebel against the inevitable nature of death, and come to a reconciliation of death in the end.

Zamyatin’s dramatic works cannot boast popularity. The Flea was staged twice in the 1920s, after which time it fell into oblivion for quite a long time. After 80 years the drama was staged again, it was not very successful though. The author makes an attempt to point to the reasons for its oblivion as well as its later unsuccessful stage production. Text analysis proves that the drama is a reflection of the postulates formulated by such reformers as Wachtangow and Jewreinow. Their production concepts, theatricality of performance is hidden in the construction of space. What brings it closer to a reform is its connection with the folk theater, or a use of stage acting which is characteristic of the reform. The author claims that all this might have been the reason for its unfavorable acclaim. In fact, the text makes use of particular postulates, and therefore it has to be staged in a particular theatrical convention.

The article presents a particular aspect of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s approach to the issue of literary genre. The article is based on a 24-hour novel Adlig Schwenkitten, whose characteristic features are illustrated against other Solzhenitsyn’s subgenres as well as his critical essays. The 24-hour novel functions here as a story of a certain historical time. Moreover, it serves as an example of artistic quest attempted by Solzhenitsyn as well as a form that provides links between many of Solzhenitsyn’s genre suggestions.

The article is devoted to one of the last dramas by Nina Sadur. The author of the article, pointing to the senses included in the work, makes use of the writer’s ideas, investigates dependency of Sadur’s literary views on her individual opinions. The author of the paper tries to determine the role biographical events played in Sadur’s writings by using the topic of a city as an example. The picture of Moscow that is shown in the drama can be compared to the literary myth of Saint Petersburg, which was created by Alexander Pushkin. Contemporary Moscow depicted as a phantom city shows its dark and tragic look, which is close to the worldviews of Sadur.

The article analyzes specific type of personages form plays by Diana Balyko, a young writer who belongs to Generation X. Based on sociological research it is possible to identify characteristics of dramatis personae who share a world with the Generation of Millennials — potential/virtual consumers, whose characteristic behavior is active use of multimedia technology and Internet resources. The author considers concepts of sex, love, and reality — regarded as „traditional” for the „X-es” — where ideas and principles of „Y-es” are becoming more and more conspicuous.

The article deals with Russian contemporary prayer poems where poets beg, thank and adore God. They write texts by paraphrasing ritual prayers and imitating them by anaclesis, anamnesis and addressative forms. Also, the poets make use of Orthodox formulas, and thus sacralize texts by introducing archaisms, syntactic parallelisms and repetitions of the whole stanzas and lines. The analyzed poetic prayers prove that a modern man makes requests to God in the main; seldom does he/she thank for God’s blessing or praise God.

The article takes up the subject of „redundant people” in the interwar Ukrainian literature. Although this literary image originated in English literature, it evokes almost immediate associations with Russian literature, including writings by Alexander Pushkin, Ivan Turgenev, or Ivan Gonczarov. The present article proves that this literary motif can also be traced in Ukrainian literature, especially in the writings by Mykola Khvylovy. The author of the article makes an attempt to prove that Khvylovy did not limit himself to draw from Russian literature, but forwarded his own idea of a “redundant man.” In his own view, the idea referred to a “redundant revolutionary” — a former participant of the revolution, who — after it has ended — feels abandoned, which in fact deepens his frustration and disillusionment.