Genre modification strategy (based on the example of Andrey Nemzer’s public speeches and reviews)

Abstract

The article presents the analysis of popular science lectures by literary critic Andrey Nemzer. The research is based on the radio series “Russian Prose of the Third Millennium”, in which Nemzer gave lectures on remarkable prose writers of the 1990s: N. Gorlanova, M. Vishnevetskaya, A. Slapovsky and A. Dmitriev. The author of the article compares Andrey Nemzer’s public speeches with thematically similar reviews published in “Nezavisimaya Gazeta”, “Segodnya” and “Vremya MN”. Similarities and differences are demonstrated by analyzing the content, structure and style of the selected materials. Thus, the research revealed that the genre of the lecture allows A. Nemzer to outline the writer’s career path, to conduct a reflection on previously read  works at a different genre level and to extract one ideological line from them. By using many quotations, the lecturer gives literary texts another chance to be heard, but by a different audience and in another, new millennium. The article shows that by switching to a new format, Nemzer changes the presentation of the material. Thus, the critical space of the reviews, equipped with expression, questions and value judgments, is of an advisory nature, whereas the lecture cycle contains educational pathos. The public speeches tend to be more specific and explanatory. It is important that despite the differences, Nemzer remains true to the conclusions that he came to when he first read these works. He complies with the new genre, simplifying and clarifying the statements made by him years earlier. 

Keywords

• nemzer
• lecture
• review
• newspaper criticism
• modern prose
• literature
• reflection
• interpretation