Peculiarities of Responses to Pushkin in Works by the Satyriconists

The aim of the study is describing the character of responses to A. S. Pushkin’s personality and works by Satyrikon writers (A. Averchenko, Sasha Cherny, N. Teffi, DonAminado, A. Bukhov, V. Knyazev, O. Dymov) - participants of the famous journals Satyrikon (1908-1914) and Noviy Satyrikon (1913-1918). It is argued that the character of allusions to Pushkin by Satyriconists is primarily comic, due to the demands of humorous discourse. Mentioning the name of the Russian classic, the authors use the techniques of farcical comedy and “nonsense comedy”, escalating numerous absurdities; sometimes they use the means of black humor. At the same time, the personality of the creator of Eugene Onegin and The Captain’s Daughter turns out to be a secondary fact for these authors. Pushkin for them is rather a symbol manifesting high achievements of Russian culture and literature. In this regard, an appeal to Pushkin can introduce serious meanings into the text, and their major function is to highlight the vulgarity of everyday routine, the stupidity and mediocrity of the modern “every” man. The following conclusions were made as a result of the study: the reception of the figure of Pushkin and Pushkin’s literary legacy by satirical writers was multifaceted; pursuing humorous goals, representatives of the famous journal include Pushkin’s name in the circle of “the comic nonsense”; at the same time, references to Pushkin help them to highlight the mediocrity and wretchedness of modern life and man; a special function of allusions to Pushkin’s work is revealed in these writers’ political satire.