DOI: 10.25136/2409-8698.2024.4.70314

Abstract: Despite the large number of literary works written, there are still debates in determining the genre structure of the historical novel and the features of its poetics. This is apparently due to the fact that for most experts the focus should traditionally be on history, and not on genre theory. Authors of historical novels help recreate historical images of the past, allowing readers to see the world through the eyes of people who lived in other eras. The historical novel can be both an entertaining genre and a tool for the study of history, stimulating interest in the past and raising important questions about how people lived and acted in different times. Different points of view allow us to better understand the versatility of the genre and its influence both on literature and on the understanding of history and life. The author used the technique of “new historicism” literature. Along with the canons of the historical novel of the 19th century, B. Unsworth resorts to the traditional techniques of the historiographical meta-novel of the postmodern era. This novel represents a new approach to the genre of historical fiction, different from the traditional Walterscottian one. The new historical novel and metaphysical mystery can be viewed through the lens of the new historical novel, which focuses on the historical aspects of the story, accurately recreating the setting of a specific era with each fictional character and event, and taking the reader back to the reality of the 14th century. The murder investigation is an important element of the novel's plot, but it only makes sense if the setting of the era in which everything takes place is recreated. Medieval drama plays an important role here, especially the author's transformation from religious to secular drama. Transformation of genre form is a characteristic feature of modern literature. Barry Unsworth's novels are interesting in that they synthesize several genre combinations and at the same time reproduce aspects of the formation of a new genre for its time – morality tales.

DOI: 10.25136/2409-8698.2024.4.70179

Abstract: The article examines the features of the concept of the historical novel by Walter Scott on the example of Barry Unsworth's novel "Morality Play". The purpose of this article is to identify the features and principles of the historical method. The great merit of the outstanding Scottish writer Walter Scott (1771-1832) is that he introduced the principle of historicism into literature and wrote a number of brilliant historical novels. In them, readers see a picture of the struggle of contradictory and complex interests of various social groups, parties, and religious sects. His historical novels provided a better understanding of contemporary issues. He combined historical truth with fiction, explaining the validity of such a connection by saying that “the most important human passions in all their manifestations, as well as the sources that feed them, are common to all classes, states, countries and epochs; hence it invariably follows that although this state of society affects opinions, way of thinking and the actions of people, these latter are extremely similar in their very essence. Walter Scott was the founder of the historical novel in its modern sense. In the XIX century, he developed the principles of the historical method, which made it possible to create fascinating novels, freed from excessive archaization of language and at the same time fully conveying the originality and recognizable imprint of the described epoch. In the 19th century, along with the tradition dating back to Walter Scott, another form of aesthetic insight into the past also asserted itself. Real historical characters in such works are optional, although their presence is not excluded. The "hero" for the writer is not a historical event, but an "epoch". The author of such a work creates his own self-sufficient world, achieves credibility not by more or less accurately following historical material, but by the reality of the psychological experience of the characters, the reality (often illusory) of everyday life. The novel "Morality Play" is a historical detective novel by British writer Barry Unsworth, was published in 1995, and was first published in Russian in 2005. The novel is an example of a fruitful combination of two updated genres: new historical fiction and metaphysical detective.

DOI: 10.25136/2409-8698.2023.5.40518

Abstract: The author examines the features of the narrative structure of the novel of English postmodernism "Morality Play" (Unsworth "Morality Play"). The purpose of this article is to identify the features of the construction of the novel of postmodernism. Postmodern writers tend to transform genres of high literature, making them accessible to mass reading. Moralite is a special kind of dramatic performance in the Middle Ages and in the Renaissance. A detective novel is a phenomenon of mass literature. The detective genre is based on three main elements that form the plot: crime, investigation and solution. In the article, these three elements are considered on the example of the novel "Moralite". Despite the fact that the plot-forming element is a detective component, the author does not fulfill all the genre strategies of the detective. In the presented work, the detective influence of the construction of a postmodern novel will be considered, in which readers are involved in the active process of reconstructing the incident, and the main character finds a solution to all the mysteries and riddles. The relevance of the work is due to the lack of full–fledged Russian-language research on the designated topic - dissertations, collections of articles, monographs. In the novel moralita, the identity of the murderer is not important, the victims are not important. The author is interested in the effect produced by the "performance" played out on the stage. Barry Unsworth demonstrates his vision of creating a new Medieval genre, he shows how this transition to everyday themes took place. One person can change the usual way of life by taking a risk and leading. Wandering comedians, who are the main characters, appear to readers as naive amateur detectives. They are passionate about the process and improve their "Thomas Wells Game", but not for the sake of punishing and exposing the killer. In the process of research, it can be concluded that two main genre layers can be distinguished in the novel – detective and historical. In addition to these genres of features, it can be argued that this is a novel about the genre.