RUSSIAN LEGENDS IN THE HISTORICAL TALES BY M. MAKAROV

The article analyses the?works by?M. Makarov, one?of?the littleknown Russian authors of?the first third of?the?19th century. There is?an?interest to?the author’s works due to?the controversy of?the?genre specificity of?Russian prose of the 1830-s and the?topicality of?the?Orthodox-oriented governmental way of?thinking, which is?expressed in?works. The collection “Stories from the?Russian folk tales” targets folklore as?the form of?expression of?the?national spirit and ethics. The?historical, toponymical and ethnogenetic legends of?Vladimir, Novgorod, Ryazan and Moscow lands form the?plot of?the stories of?the?collection. At?the poetic and stylistic levels the?article reveals the correspondence of?the?analyzed stories to?Karamzin’s model of?a?sentimental pre-Romantic tale of?the?1800-s. Its typological specificity consists in?a?broken plot line; in special attention to?a?person’s destiny; in?the?“Gothic anthropologism”, which asserts the?unity of?human morals of the past and of?the?present. The fictionalized plots of?the?legends in?Makarov’s tales serve to?accentuate the Orthodox-based spiritual guidelines and moral values of?the?nation. As?a result, the undertaken study substantiates the special type of?folklorism of?Russian historical prose in the first third of the 19th century. The combination of?the features of?oral poetical and literary genres comprises its?peculiarity.