The influence of Leo Tolstoy on the work of european writers from the standpoint of developing family themes

The family theme permeates the work of the three titans of literature - Leo Tolstoy, Hervé Bazin and John Galsworthy. As is well known, these are great representatives of different generations and nationalities. The importance of the problem statement is self-evident; it is included in the register of the so-called "eternal plots". The institution of marriage and family, as well as issues of the extinction of love and the identification of the causes of the breakdown of relationships, will draw attention to themselves as long as humanity is alive. The family theme in the work of Leo Tolstoy is so voluminous, and the breadth of conclusions and generalizations in the work is so deep that it is fundamentally impossible to fit it into the framework of one article. Therefore, we limited ourselves to the most striking examples from Tolstoy's "flash fiction". To complete the picture, we pointed to the creative borrowing of a number of Tolstoy's ideas in the family epic sagas of Bazin and Galsworthy.

An Acceptable Sacrifice

An Acceptable Sacrifice is a flash fiction story. It explores Awah’s relationship with tradition, culture, and as an individual. She is ready to shed the weight of her inheritance and provide the only sacri6ce that would ensure her freedom.

THE IMPORTANCE OF ARTICSIC DETAIL AS A FACTOR OF PROSE POETICALNESS IN THE SGORT STORIES OF THE CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN AND CANADIAN WRITERS

The article considers the role and functions of artistic detail in the contemporary short stories. The investigation involved the flash fiction stories by the American writers written after the year 2020 and several short stories by the outstanding Canadian writer Alice Munro. The aim of the research is determining the major devices of prose poeticalness in these texts and revealing the role of artistic detail in creating poeticalness.Prose poeticalness is defined as such property of a prose text which involves the priority of poetic function and envisages the introduction of poetical features into prose – stylistic convergence, phonetical repetitions, parallelism, rhythm. Stylistic convergence can be considered the most foregrounded device of poeticalness as it involves the accumulation of different stylistic devices which add expressiveness to each other (M.Riffaterre). Our investigation shows that convergences function in strong positions of texts- the initial or final text fragments. Artistic detail is the object or some feature of the object which acquires special importance in the literary text (V.A.Kukharenko). Artistic detail is usually associated with metonymy or synecdoche, but unlike these tropes, it embraces the whole text. In the flash fiction stories and the short stories by A.Munro the major artistic details are objects like a coin (L.Wilson), a brooch (A.Munro), a glove (D.Shea) or a feature of appearance like a bruise (S.Dybek). These details characterize people’s behavior, their dreams and aspirations. Therefore, they symbolize love, friendship, sympathy and give polysemantic character to the narration. Another result of our investigation is determining the metaphoric detail (G.Paley) in the description of the woman, the mother of the defendant. Thus, the emotional effect of the artistic detail is realized in the metaphoric similes comparing the woman to the faded flower. These artistic details in combination with stylistic convergence create the impression of the texts as modern parables. The theoretical novelty of our research lies in the analysis of artistic details from the viewpoint of poeticalnees as well as in revealing the significance of emotional effect for prose poeticalness.The prospects of further research lie in the investigation of poeticalness in other genres of modern prose.

A Rush Hour Ride on the Dwarf Planet: Neotropical Imaginings from a Postpandemic Colony

In this dystopian flash fiction piece, a colonist on the Dwarf Planet takes the train back to her cubicle after another hard day’s work. As she struggles amid the harsh environmental conditions, KÆ reflects on why she volunteered to come out to this remote colony in the far reaches of the solar system. It is revealed that the great pandemic of 2020 never ended; the virus mutated and humans fled the Earth to build new worlds on other planets. But glimpses of the world left behind beckon as KÆ and her fellow colonists are now being enticed to return to a revived Earth; in particular, to the land of her forebears, Borneo, where orangutans roam in the resurrected rainforest and holiday-makers frolic in the famed underwater world of Sipadan and play on the island’s pristine beaches.