Literary Works of Jury Koval and Folk's Laughter Tradition

摘要

The theme of the paper is the investigation of the specificity of humour in the works of Russian children's book writer of the 20th century Jury Koval in the light of popular-humour tradition. The interest in this theme is determined by the fact that modern children's literature, while developing, uses folk literature forms. The result of the research we have come to is that the writer actively uses compositional elements of fables and folktales in his writing. The characters in his books travel the way which is characteristic of the folktale hero, which factors into the exposure of hidden non-realised potential in them, the same as it happens to folk characters. Jury Koval also uses the devices of the folk theater. Many scenes in his works are rolled out into "wordy-and-spectacular performances" which combine pathetics and buffoonery. One more feature of interaction with the popular-humour tradition is the parody which is also a characteristic feature of Jury Koval's works. On the one hand, folk-fabled nature of his characters contradicts the conceptualized genre forms in the Soviet children's literature, and on the other hand, the folk nature of the hero is also parodied acquiring an imaginary character.