The rhetorical strategy of the immanent analysis of precedent texts in practical literary studies

The article presents the results of studying the rhetorical strategies of scientific texts as part of theoretical and applied literary studies. Its relevance is determined by the need to integrate methodological tools of rhetoric and poetics in the study of literary discourse texts containing not only an intellectual and logical, but also an aesthetic side, which, despite its secondary nature, plays a fairly significant role in the process of perception and assimilation of ideas and concepts. The aim of the research is to develop a methodology for the immanent analysis of precedent texts for the literary studies, taking into account their diffuse nature and the achievements of related disciplines: epistemology, argumentation theory, stylistics, ethics. The material of the article is representative of the Russian literary criticism of the 20th century works specially selected for the course. The general rhetorical strategy of scientific discourse and its criteria are described: evidence-based, logical, objective, visual, etc. The deviation from these attitudes in literary texts is reflected in their structure and the quality of evidence. It speaks about the synthetic nature of rhetorical strategies of humanitarian discourse, operating in various ways of influencing the addressee and implemented at different levels of the text (thematic, stylistic, compositional, etc.). The specific principles of the immanent analysis of literary texts are formulated and illustrated. It is established that the standardization of the proposed algorithm retains the potential for expressing reader’s subjectivity, and specific literary works may not be equally representative for different levels of their analytical consideration. Finally, the focus on the intra-textual parameters of the work under study does not ignore its external connections, but rather builds on them, confirming the justification for the mutual coordination of two reading strategies: immanent and contextual.