The specifics of dialogue with the natural school in the story “Artemy Semenovich Bervenkovsky” by A.K. Tolstoy

INTRODUCTION . The relevance of the research is due to the lack of works analyzing the specifics of A.K. Tolstoy’s reception of the natural school traditions. The purpose of the research is to discover physiological techniques in the writer’s early prose, analyze its intertextual connections and identify its ideological and artistic originality. MATERIALS AND METHODS . The research material is the story by A.K. Tolstoy “Artemy Semenovich Bervenkovsky” (1845). The historicalliterary method, contextual, comparative and ideological-thematic analysis, and descriptive method are used. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION . In the work, the life of a provincial landowner is satirically depicted by means of the detailing the narrative technique and developing the dialogic conflict between the “dreamer” and the “practitioner”. Connections have been found with “The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich” and the poem “Dead Souls” by N.V. Gogol, the anthem “Let the Thunder of Victory Resound!..” with lyrics by G.R. Derzhavin and music by O.A. Kozlovsky. In A.K. Tolstoy’s story, as in “The Tale...”, the comic-travesty atmosphere of the narrative is recreated, and techniques of the absurd, grotesque and wordplay are used; a connection can be traced with the semantics that comes from the genre designations of “Dead Souls” as a road novel and a poem, which respectively suggest an examination of typical phenomena of Russian life and a philosophical reflection on the fate of Russia and the meaning of the existence of a Russian landowner. The ideological and artistic originality of the story lies in the criticism of the system of views and life aspirations of the main character. CONCLUSION . The obtained results can be applied in the course of Russian literature of the 19th century (second third), in special courses devoted to the study of the A.K. Tolstoy’s works. The prospects of the research are seen in the further study of the writer’s dialogue with the natural school.