2020 Issue №3

This article examines the social and cultural conflict, the essence of which lies in the opposition of the intellectual and the boor in Chekhov's play “The Cherry Orchard” and in S. Mrożek play “Tango”. The comparative analysis of the works reveals the national, historical and social specificity of the conflict between the intellectual and the boor in the context of the crisis of modern Western civilization. The author concludes that the disintegration of the bourgeois ethos in Chekhov's metaphysical theatre is more than natural and the paradoxical reconciliation of the parties to the conflict in Mrożek's absur­distic play, devoid of metaphysics, is also more than anticipated.

This article clarifies the significance of the phenomenon of Old Belief in the artistic heritage of A. Kuprin. The sources of Old Believer images in the writer's work, as well as their influence on the plot of his works, are investigated. A hypothesis is put forward about the significant influence of L. Tolstoy and A. Chekhov on the formation of the author's idea of old-timers. The thesis of the crucial importance of stereotypes ingrained in the people for the perception of Russian Old Believers by Kuprin is substantiated. Particularly emphasized is the inextricability of the author’s ideas about a “split” with such significant factors in the social life of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. like entrepreneurship and revolution.