Article

Name: Genre traits of feuilleton and character sketch in Nina Berberova’s «The Billancourt Tales» short stories

Authors: D. V. Shepetovsky, M. A. Khatyamova

Tomsk Polytechnic University, Tomsk, Russian Federation; Tomsk State Pedagogical University, Tomsk, Russian Federation

In the section Study of literature

Abstract: The paper analyzes short stories from Nina Berberova’s first collection «The Billancourt Tales » for their genre diversity. It demonstrates her search for authorial narration which combines literary and journalistic discourses as an alternative to a confessional style which was a mainstream among younger émigré writers. The use of journalistic genres of feuilleton and character sketch is traced. The anecdotic storyline, the masked narrator, a collision of different speech styles in narrator’s and characters’ speech facilitate the ironic and externalized depiction of émigré masses. A departure from feuilleton devices and movement towards a sketchy narration is explained by incompatibility between satire and author’s compassion for her characters. The latter stories of the collection are studied for the genre traits of a sketch – a descriptive nature and detailed elaboration of narration.

Keywords: russian émigré literature, works of nina berberova, feuilleton, character sketch, human document, short prose

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