Abstract: The subject of the study is the evolution of the "little man" as a literary phenomenon based on the novels "Overcoat" by Gogol and "Irrepressible Tambourine" by Remizov. It is noted that the content of the term under study is not limited to the semantics of the image, which contains a meaningful characteristic of a certain type of literary hero, but depends on the narrative structure of the work. This position of the "little man" in Gogol and Remizov is at the intersection of interrelated factors: details as a carrier of the grotesque in fictional reality and at the level of narrative instance, as well as modifications of a specific genre form, expressed in the original construction of the composition – Gogol overcoming the genre of physiological essay and Remizov household anecdote, respectively. The study shows that detail plays a key role in the poetics of the works of these authors and determines not only the dynamics of the image in a particular work, but also forms an appropriate aspect of influence. Remizov inherits the indirect characterization of a literary character through the details of the external world, adopted by Gogol, but in another way secures with their help the status of the main character of the "Irrepressible Tambourine" as a small person at the narrative level due to a more open organization of the horizon of readers' expectations.  The task required the synthesis of a historical and genetic approach with a genrological (genological) one, which made it possible to consider the category of "little man" as an element of poetics, reinterpreted by Remizov in "Irrepressible Tambourine" under the influence of Gogol's work, and its significance in connection with the transformation of the genre model with an individual author's approach to narration. The study showed that Remizov overcomes the epistemological uncertainty of the narrator in the "Overcoat" and, thanks to the details referring to the mythopoeic context (Ancient Russia, Eros), builds the image of a small man (Stratilatov), whose insignificance and mediocrity are less related to the plot of the "Irrepressible Tambourine" than with archetypal references that are carriers of narrative semantics stories and setting the meaningful direction of the author's thought. Thus, the unknowability of the foundations of being by the character is emphasized at the narrative level of the work, enhanced by the grotesque characterization. The corresponding conclusion, according to the author of the article, is relevant in analyzing the system of images of literary heroes in Remizov and his anticipation of the work of European expressionist prose writers with their emphasis on the existential, rather than social source of human suffering.

Abstract: The article analyzes the forms of cyclization in the story "The Sisters of the Cross" by A.M. Remizov and their role in the realization of the existential problematic of the work. The originality of Remizov's creative consciousness and artistic method, his interest in the ontological foundations of personality are emphasized by a special narrative structure, which is characterized by the strengthening of the corresponding motional structures. The religious and mythopoetic understanding of reality, inextricably linked with the artistic method, allows us to talk about the cycle as a broad category, according to the concept of I. Pospisil, which implies, along with motives, the unification of various forms of lexical and semantic repetitions in order to actualize important issues of being for the writer. The author of this article believes that the logic of the writer's strategy and its embodiment in the composition of the work are unthinkable without understanding the elements of the cycle as contextually updated units of content that need active interpretation by the reader, which is necessary for a holistic perception of the work. This understanding of the cycle is complicated by the grotesque characterization of the motifs and their correlation with both the metatext of Remizov's early work (the concept of the "artistic ensemble" by E. Tyryshkina) and the metatext of the Russian novel, the evolution of the plot structure of which is associated with the complication of the existential aspect. Based on the tasks set, the article uses structural-descriptive and descriptive-functional methods to analyze the system of cyclic forms of the writer and their functions. Taking into account the large-scale content coverage of the existential issues in A. M. Remizov's novella "The Sisters of the Cross", when considering the forms of cyclization in the work, it is necessary to take into account not only the hierarchical levels of the text (lexico-semantic repetitions and motivic structures as part of the composition of the story itself and from the point of view of the metatext of Remizov's work) and the different functions of these forms, but also common features cyclical trends in the narrative. Thus, one of the aspects of Remizov's poetics receives a proper theoretical understanding. The analysis of the story shows that a broad understanding of the cycle allows us to group the heterogeneous elements of the composition in terms of their general content orientation, which in further research may be useful in a holistic analysis of Remizov's work, his writing strategy, as well as the author's place among other masters of ornamental prose in Russian literature.