Bitter "Chelkash"
The hero of Maxim Gorky’s story “Chelkash” is Grishka Chelkash, an old wounded man, an avid drinker and a clever, courageous thief and smuggler in one of the southern Black…

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Books about the art market
Several years ago I bought almost all books on the art market almost in a row and gradually created my own library of this literature. I have it all in…

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Heroes "Minor" Fonvizin
The most famous comedy of Fonvizin, “The Minor,” is one of the first-class works of Russian literature. The playwright portrayed in it, firstly, the ignorant, ancient education of noble children;…

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“The Tale” by Abraham Palitsyna

The famous figure of the Time of Troubles, Avraham Palitsyn, described the circumstances of protection from the Polish troops of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and his personal exploits in a work entitled: “The Legend of the Troitsky Sergiyev Monastery siege from the Poles and Lithuania, and the insurgencies later in Russia, composed by the Holy Trinity Monastery Kelarem Abraham Palitsyn. This “Legend” is a monument, remarkable as much in literary as in historical terms and reveals in the author remarkable literary talent and not only the reading in books of theological content, but also familiarity with the facts of the history of civil and even philosophy. Continue reading

“Woe from Wit” and “Misanthrope” by Moliere

Of foreign works, the comedy by Moliere “Misanthrope” was especially important for “Woe from Wit” (see the summary, analysis and the full text). Studies by Professor Alexei Veselovsky showed that the image of Alceste was reflected in Chatsky: in the work of Griboyedov, the love story of the main character of “The Misanthrope”, Alceste, was repeated. Finally, the similarities are observed in some trifles. Of course, such a borrowing doesn’t make Griboedov’s comedy non-independent: if the form and some details were borrowed, then its content remained deeply Russian. Continue reading

“Woe from Wit” – analysis, briefly

“Woe from Wit” is the main work of Griboyedov’s entire life and is one of the best works of Russian dramatic literature. Despite the fact that Griboyedov describes Russian society in a very specific historical era (the first half of the 19th century), the comedy has not lost it and will never lose its freshness, will not become outdated, will enjoy the same success. In this we see undoubted proof of her genius of the work.

“Woe from wits” – and the picture of morals, and the gallery of living types, and the ever-acute burning satire on “Famusov society”, and at the same time, comedy, most of all – comedy, which can hardly be found in other literatures, ”writes another major Russian writer, Goncharov, in his remarkable article “A Million Torments”. Continue reading

Byron "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage"
The hero of Byron's poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage is a young aristocrat, full of pleasure and disappointed in life. Leaving the "father's house", his "ancient castle", Harold sits on the…

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Aristophanes "Clouds"
Somewhat different from the usual carnival type of Aristophanes are his comedies, which pose problems of a non-political, but cultural order. Already the first (not come down to us) comedy…

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