Abstract: The article is devoted to the study of key images of Irish mythology, widely used in fantasy literature, in particular, in American novels written in the second half of XX-th century. The paper considers the images of ship, tree and raven. Special attention is paid to their artistic interpretation in the novels of a famous American science fiction writer, the representative of New Wave - Roger Zelazny. The paper examines the etymology of these images, their origins in Sumero-Akkadian, Jewish and Greek mythologies, their main symbolic meanings and further interpretation in Zelazny's key novel - "The Chronicles of Amber". As a result, the complex characteristics of the three images both in the ancient mythologies and in the context of first five parts of the novel by the American science fiction writer, namely in the Corwin Cycle, have been provided. The findings achieved show that ship turns out to be connected with the key image of the novel - the Pattern, among other things symbolizing the process of initiation of the main characters. The tree, in its turn, acts as the primary basis of the Amber universe, its multilevel structure. Finally, the raven, the alter ego of the main character - Prince Corwin - stands for his destiny, filled with contradictions and relentless battles.

Abstract: The subject of this research is the unique literary technique of the prominent American fantasy and science fiction writer Roger Zelazny, the author of the world-renowned novels, such as “The Chronicles of Amber”, “This Immortal”, "The Lord of Light”, etc. The article is dedicated namely to determination of the key peculiarities of the poetics of his works. Special attention is given to characterization of his literary path, its periodization, the impact of Zelazny's predecessors – the authors of science fiction and classical world literature – upon his prose. It is noted that R. Zelazny was fascinated with various mythological systems, such as Egyptian, Greek, Norse, Celtic, and Christian. The scientific novelty of this article lies in the attempt to reveal and systematize the most remarkable features of the works of the American fantasy and science fiction writer, whose impact upon the modern fantasy literature can hardly be overestimated; however it has been poorly studied within the Russian literary studies. The conducted analysis of the poetics Roger Zelazny’s iconic novels, created within the framework of the four main stages, indicates the use such postmodernist literary technique as intertextuality. The matter of R. Zelazny is also characterized by psychologism, interpreted as the author's attention to the meticulous reconstruction of the inner cosmos of the hero, which resembles the result of the writer's passion for the ideas of psychoanalysis. Along with the other representatives of the New Wave, Zelazny was prone to the experiment with forms, as well as to the synthesis of the various fantasy genres. Therefore, many of his novels demonstrate the fusion of science fiction, fantasy, space opera, mystery, and detective fiction.

Abstract: The matter under research is the image field 'ship' viewed in terms of world science fiction based on the analysis of novels written by such authors as Lukian Samosatsky, Jonathan Swift, Jules Verne and Author Clarke. The researchers focus on the analysis of symbolic meaning of the image field 'ship' in literature in general and science fiction in particular. In their article they attempt to analyze peculiarities of literary interpretation of core elements of the image field 'ship' offered by different authors. Their aim to develop a full picture about the matter of study. The methodology of the research is based on complex analysis of the matter under research including such kinds of analysis as culturological, literary, intertextual, historico-literary and literary-biographical. The scientific novelty of the research is caused by the fact that the authors analyze the symbolic content of a mythopoetical image of ship viewed as the image field in terms of world science fiction. Conclusions made by the author as a result of the research are the following: 1) mythopoetical image of ship is widely presented in science fiction novels and is still important today; 2) science fiction writers represent all three components of the core of the ship image field in their novels. 

Abstract: The object of the study is the intertextuality of Corwin cycle. The subject of the research is made up by allusions of first five parts of the Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny. In particular, the article touches upon numerous allusions to different fiction texts and myths, among which are the works by English classics as well as Celtic and Bible legends. The study material is constituted by such parts of the cycle as Nine Princes in Amber, The Guns of Avalon, Sign of the Unicorn, The Hand of Oberon, and The Courts of Chaos. The methods used in the study are: the method of intertextual analysis, textual method, and the method of comparative analysis. Scientific novelty of the given research is in the first ever attepmt to track the regularities of Zelazny's use of allusions and reminiscences in his works, and in his most famous novel the Chronicles of Amber in particular; to understand the way the intertext functions in the text corpus by the American fantasy writer. The main findings of the research undertaken are as follows: each part of Corwin cycle can be referred to a particular piece of world literature, or regarded in the context of this or that mythology system; allusions to mythology used by Zelazny play the plotforming function thus helping the writer to create the fantasy basis of the cycle's secondary world; distinctive literature allusions aim at revealing the main character's inner world, showing his psychological evolution, and also at making fictional characters comprehensible to modern readers; allusions to the Book of Revelation, in their turn, are used by the writer to create the key image of the whole cycle - the image of Apocalypse.