DOI: 10.7256/2454-0749.2022.8.38665

Abstract: The author analyzes literary allusions in detective novels by Agatha Christie. For the first time, allusions to the works of W. Shakespeare, C. Dickens, P. G. Wodehouse, G. K. Chesterton are considered in detail. Many allusions are established for the first time. As a material for writing this article, a large number of novels were used, among which there are also rarely considered texts of the English writer. The meaning of allusions to "Twelfth Night" in the novel "The Sad Cypress" is revealed in detail, to the works of Wodehouse – in the novel "Why not Evans?" In the article, in the context of the studied problem, the features of escapism of the detective genre are considered. Based on the consideration of examples from a number of novels by Agatha Christie, conclusions are drawn about the significance of literary allusions in her novels in general and in specific works in particular. Allusions expand the semantic field of novels, allow Agatha Christie to go beyond the detective story, limited by the principles of formulaic literature, to consider psychological problems, to portray ambiguous characters in the spirit of classical English literature. At the same time, with the help of a significant number of allusions emphasized by the author, the literary nature of what is happening in detective novels is brought to the fore, which largely corresponds to the escapist nature of this genre.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0749.2022.8.38666

Abstract: The author examines the motive of innocence in the detective novels of Agatha Christie. This motive is being analyzed in detail for the first time. The conceptual basis of the research was the works of W. H. Auden, G. K. Chesterton, D. Cavelty, D. Sayers devoted to the genre of detective literature. Using the example of many novels, the article traces the relationship between the motives of guilt, innocence, paradise lost and others. The motive of love is considered as a motive, in many ways the opposite of the motive of guilt. Special attention is paid in the article to the novel "The Trial of Innocence", on the example of which the motive of innocence and its significance in the motivic structure are revealed. Based on numerous examples, the article shows that the search for truth in Agatha Christie's detectives is essentially equivalent to the defense of innocence. The motive of innocence in Agatha Christie's novels is of great importance and is closely related to the motives of guilt, retribution, justice, good and evil, paradise, trust, and personality formation. The article shows that it is the protection of innocent characters (both victims of crime and those unjustly accused) that is the primary task for those who conduct the investigation. This is due to the idea inherent in the detective genre of restoring the original harmony destroyed as a result of the crime.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0749.2019.5.30920

Abstract: The article is devoted to the image of common people (ordinary men, vulgar men) in the creative writing of Gilbert Keith Chesterton based on the analysis of his novels. Opposing to the romantic and realistic literary traditions, Gilbert Keith Chesterton described ordinary people in a positive light. By doing so, he continued the English literary line of Charles Dickens. Gilbert Keith Chesterton opposed ordinary people who kept to traditional values and sophisticate people who lost their belief in life and human. He sees common people as those who can save the world from the catastrophe. Gilbert Keith Chesterton idealizes the moral sense of ordinary people but do not ignore their drawbacks at the same time. This is one of the paradoxes that constitutes the main principle of his creative writing. In this article Porinets carries out a comparative analysis of the imagem of ordinary people in Chesterton's novels and novels written by other writers following romanticism, realism and modernism. The researcher describes significant differences in interpretation of the image of orinary people by different literary movements. The novelty of the research is caused by the fact that the author gives a detailed analysis of the image of common people in Gilbert Keith Chesterton's novels taking into account his creativity in general and showing his peculiarities and role for the European literature of the XIXth - XXth centuries. The author of the article gives full analysis of the image of common people taking into account all contradictions and duality.