Abstract: The article examines in detail the significance of the astonishment in the work of G. K. Chesterton. In literary studies, this aspect of his work has never been considered in detail. The research material was essays, short stories, literary biographies, novels and treatises of the English writer. The interrelation of astonishment with the motives of miracle, joy, love, paradise is shown. In connection with the motive of astonishment, the author touches on the paradox technique, which is significant for the author. The polemic of Chesterton with modern literature, in particular, with the literature of realism, is investigated. The motive of astonishment is revealed in detail in the article on the example of the novels "The Return of Don Quixote" and "The Man is Alive". In the work of G. K. Chesterton, the motif of astonishment is one of the central ones. It is inextricably linked with the motive of the miracle. The world for the writer is a miracle, acutely experienced in comparison with non-existence. Surprise at the world is an integral part of Chesterton's worldview, which he himself called "the fairy godmother's philosophy." For Chesterton, not only extraordinary things are amazing, but also ordinary things. His characters, discovering the familiar world anew, share their perception with others. The newly found world is often revealed through love, which is inextricably linked in Chesterton's work with the motive of astonishment.

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.

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.