BORIS AKUNIN’S GENRE EXPERIMENTS IN THE STORY “BOH AND SHELMA”

Abstract

Aim. The purpose of this work is to consider experiments with genres (or types of texts) of Old Russian literature in Boris Akunin’s story “Boh and Shelma”, which is part of the author’s “literary convoy” of the project “History of the Russian State”. Methodology. In the course of the research, genre definitions are presented and analyzed, which are given to individual chapters of the story by the author and which directly or indirectly correlate with the Old Russian system of genres (types of texts). Results. As a result of the study, attention is paid to the playful nature of most of the genre definitions used by Boris Akunin as headings to the sections of the story “Boh and Shelma”. The playful beginning is manifested in the form of a play of words, deception of readers' expectations, contrast at the level of form and content, etc. Research implications. The results of the research contribute to the study of the theory and practice of the modern literary process.