Genre-based tradition of happy ending in Ye. Zamyatin’s Tales

Abstract

The article deals with Ye.I. Zamyatin tales from the perspective of their compliance with the genre canons of a fairytale. The authors explore the Tales of Fita cycle as well as the tales “The Devourer” and “The Church of God” included in the collection “Big Kids’ Fairytales”. Special attention is paid to the endings of tales; the authors analyze their correspondence to the canons of folklore and literary fairytales formulated by the researchers of this genre: V.Ya. Propp, V.P. Anikin, and I.P. Lupanova. There is a mixture of the fairytale genre with the genre of socio-political satire in Ye.I. Zamyatin’s analyzed works. The authors analyze the plot and stylistic means used by the writer, their compliance with the standard canon. Within the study, the authors rely on the results of existing research in this area and attempt to explore the writer’s work in a new context. Traditionally works in the field of literary research into Ye.I. Zamyatin’s work focus on the dystopian motives and the analysis of political overtones in the writer’s satirical works. At the same time, the genre-related features of Ye.I. Zamyatin’s early works remain poorly understood and require particular academic attention. The novelty of this study consists in the fact that the study is focused on the analysis of the genre structure of Zamyatin’s “tales”. The authors use the method of comparative analysis, problem-logical, functional and systemic methods. The study allows one to determine the degree to which Ye.I. Zamyatin’s tales correspond to traditional plot-related and “formulaic” devices used in the endings of folk and literary fairy tales as well as study the specific features of mixing the genres of fairytale and satire in the famous Russian writer’s works.

Keywords

• fairytale
• literary tale
• satire
• zamyatin