Abstract: The subject of the research is the composition and narrative structure of Vladimir Nabokov's novel The Gift. Based on the analysis of the novel's structure and texts incorporated there, the author of the article suggests that we should view the novel not as a circle or analogous structures (Mobius band or spirals) but as a palimpsest, i.e. many times overwritten text. The author proves her idea by analyzing peculiarities of the artistic method used by Nabokov in his novel The Gift and declared by Fedor when the main idea of the future novel is developed, as well as particular judgements expressed by Nabokov through the mouths of his heroes. In the process of her research Kletskaya has used the hermeneutical method and biographical method as well as elements of the cultural-historical and comparative methods. The scientific novelty of the research is caused by the fact that for the first time in the academic literature Kletskaya develops a new way of interpretation of The Gift taking into account important statements about narrative peculiarities of The Gift, Nabokov's texts and novels incorporated in The Gift and created during the same period of time as well as direct philosophical and aesthetical statements that can be found in The Gift.

Abstract: The subject of the research is the plot and event parallels that can be found in Nabokov's two novels, Lolita and Gift. According to the author of the article, the intertextual reference of Gift and Lolita is not limited to the episode where a simple variant of Lolita's plot is mentioned in Gift, the last novel Nabokov wrote in Russian. Plot parallels can be also found in details and circumstances of Fedor Godunov'Cherdyntsev becoming close to Zina Mertz in Gift (the episode when Fedor inspected the apartment where Zina lived with her mother and step-father) and the first meeting of Gumbert Gumbert with Lolita when inspecting Charlotte Geiz' house. In her research Kletskaya has used the comparative method as well as elements of the formal and structured analysis methods. Based on the important role of the tragic love story in the creativity of Nabokov as it is traditionally viewed by Russian science, the author of the article carries out a comparative analysis of the aforesaid plots and makes conclusions that cast light on the long history of Nabokov's working on that plot. The researcher also makes a hypothesis about self-quoting of Gift in Lolita. 

Abstract: Based on the analysis of L. Petrushevskaya's creative writing, Kletskaya examines the grammar status of incorporated direct speech, a special kind of presentation of someone else's speech when a hero's remark is transmitted through the author's speech using an asyndeton. Quite often incorporated direct speech is not marked with punctuation marks and is never accompanied with an introduction remark of an author. This makes a hero's remark to look as an element of an object-and-event narration. Incorporated speech is one of the most interesting speech techniques used by L. Petrushevskaya in her prose. In the process of her research Kletskaya applies such methods as observation, induction and deduction, description, taxonomic description and opposition analysis. Incorporated direct speech is close to direct speech and opposes to indirect and improperly direct speech, first of all, because it does not look as a special syntax construction, and, secondly, because of its expressivity. All these facts altogether allow to make a statement that incorporated direct speech is a special syntactic phenomenon which cannot be identified with any form of someone else's speech communication described by modern linguistic studies. 

Abstract: The article is devoted to individual features of the novelistic narration in L. Petrushevskaya's prose. The research material is her novelets about death from the series 'In the Gardens of Other Opportunities' and 'Songs of East Slavs'. The subject of the research is the variants of realisation of the 'turning point'  (pointe) in Petrushevskaya's novelets as well as the man groups of means used by the author. Special attention is paid to the analysis of Petrushevskaya's works against the genre of novelet that has a rich historical tradition. In the course of her research the author has also used such research methods as analysis, synthesis, structure analysis method, compositional analysis, linguo-poetic analysis. As a result of the research, the author describes two types of preparation for the 'turning point': clues that prepare the reader for an alternative (fantastic, non everyday) turn of events but do not fully tell about it, and double-meaning expressions that may mean both fantastic and everyday interpretation of events. The research allows to conclude that Petrushevskaya's writings follow the tradition of late European novelet writing that focused on the psychological but not external side of the story. However, Petrushevskaya's creative writings have its own specific features, for example, the focus on the internal is expressed as a sudden re-thinking of novelet events that touch the hero, story teller, narrator and/or reader. 
 

Abstract: The subject of the research is the system of characters in L. Petrushevskaya's series 'Wild Animal Tales' analyzed from the point of view of their names (nomiations). The aim of the research is to define systemic organisation of character names in 'Wild Animal Tales'. The author of the article focuses on the main principle of the writer's structuring these names although there are a lot deviations from this principle in Tales when names have both animal-like and human-like parts. In the course of her research Kletskaya has used such methods as observation and description, inductive method, opposition method (differential analysis), and style analysis method. As a result, the author defines the main principle of structuring character nomations, the structural scheme 'animal feature + human feature'. The character nomation does not only differentiate a character from other heroes but also performs a descriptive and connecting functions. The scentific novelty of the research is caused by the fact that the principle of how character names are structured in 'Wild Animal Tales' is closely connected with specific images of the novel that is based on the dual nature of animal-human characters with the overall insignificance of the world described there. Deviations from this principle are singled out and thus only draw our attention to the dominating principle of names structuring.