Anniversary article in the literary critical practice of A. A. Izmailov

The article deals with the nature of an anniversary article, a special genre of mass periodicals and journalese literary criticism of the late 19th – early 20th centuries/ The research is based on ample source material in a literary-critical and historical-literary vein. The introduction examines theoretical works devoted to various aspects of this genre, and formulates the research task – to identify additional characteristics and features of publications of this type. The subject of the study is the creative heritage of the critic-feuilletonist, employee of the leading metropolitan publications “Birzhevye Vedomosti”, “Slovo”, “Russian Word” A. A. Izmailov (1873−1921), in particular, works dedicated to the 10th anniversary of L. N. Andreev’s writing career, the 30th anniversary of V. V. Rozanov’s writing career, and the 80th anniversary of L. N. Tolstoy. The materials of Izmailov’s official correspondence with the editor of “Russian Word” F. I. Blagov were first introduced into scientific discourse. The analysis of source materials made it possible to reveal the synthetic nature of the genre under study: at its core, the anniversary article is close to the genre of literary portrait, but in newspaper practice it takes on a more complex form, incorporating elements of other genres: memoirs, interviews, conversations, questionnaires, surveys, etc.