Poetics and Axiology of S. D. Dovlatov as a Publicist (Based on the Material of Portrait Essays of the Tallinn Period of Creativity)

Abstract

The popularity of Sergey Dovlatov's fiction is unconditional, but his journalistic legacy is a little–studied area. During the study of Sergey Dovlatov's publications published in 1972-1975 in "Soviet Estonia", we came to the conclusion that these texts should be considered not only from the point of view of their thematic and stylistic originality, but also from the perspective of the author's axiology. The article examines an important aspect of Sergey Dovlatov's work – the author's focus is not so much on the formation of new value categories, as on the actualization of existing ones, which presuppose the reader's return to the established generally accepted "norm". The object of the study is the portrait essays of the writer Sergei Dovlatov, published in the newspaper "Soviet Estonia" in the period from 1972 to 1975. The subject of the study is the poetic and axiological features of portrait essays of the Tallinn period. The article pays special attention to the headings "Man and profession" and "Your profession", within which Dovlatov's essays are often published. The content of these essays does not go beyond the ordinary materials of the party periodicals, but a detailed study of the texts allows us to identify some features inherent in all portrait essays of the author. The main conclusions of the article are to define a set of axiological dominants that can be traced in the texts of Sergey Dovlatov, a publicist. In his publications, the writer defines a number of universal values, which include the significance of human life, the possibility of presenting different points of view, empathy and complicity, as well as the harmonious existence of the ordinary and sublime.