This article for the first time examines Leo Tolstoy’s interpretation of two «Don Quixotes»: the greatest creation of M. de Cervantes Saavedra and the famous article by Ivan Turgenev «Hamlet and Don Quixote». On the basis of L. Tolstoy’s diaries and letters, the memoirs of his contemporaries, the article analizes the motives of Tolstoy’s contradictory assessments of Cervantes’ work and his immortal creation. These assessments offer a deeper understanding of both the character of L. Tolstoy and his aesthetic, ideological and moral priorities in different periods of his life. A detailed analysis of the writer’s dialogue-polemic with these two authors and with the texts themselves fits into the broad context of Russia’s spiritual life in the second half of the 19th century. L. Tolstoy had an important episode in his youth that became crucial for his work: the spiritual mentoring of another genius of Russian literature, Ivan Turgenev, during the meeting of two writers in 1857, the so-called «Dijon solitude», when Turgenev, proving the high social significance of the ideals of quixotism for the new era, attempted to turn a young Hamlet-type writer (L. Tolstoy) into a selfless Don Quixote type. The title of the novel «Don Quixote», as well the names of Cervantes and his characters are mentioned in Tolstoy’s diaries, articles and letters about 20 times. The novel seems to «test» him until the end of his life: the high assessments of his contemporaries, their perception of Don Quixote as a new Messiah capable of saving humanity, contradict Tolstoy’s understanding of serving good, therefore working on the most important treatise for him, which is the manifesto «What is art?», Tolstoy changes the estimates of «Don Quixote» several times. Firstly, he mentions among his favorite poets, composers and painters the only novel — «Don Quixote», then he indicates its «poor contents». In 1905, Tolstoy finally became convinced of the importance of the idea of self-sacrifice for the sake of high ideals and of the educational significance of the novel, and besides, he admitted that all his sons were «Don Quixotes». More than half a century of Tolstoy’s dialogue with Cervantes and his heroes invariably continued in his mind, and the knight errant will be most vividly reflected in one of the most autobiographical and close to Tolstoy characters — Levin from «Anna Karenina». The circumstances of Leo Tolstoy’s farewell to the Yasnaya Polyana estate and the last journey of the knight of the sad image, as well as the circumstances of their demise, tragically echo.

This paper analyses the poetic discourse in the work of J.R. Jiménez. Certain extracts from the poem «Espacio» and several verses from the «Eternidades» collection are concerned. Despite the differences in form and style, both prove the Time-concept to be relevant in the author’s work and show affinity in key points. All of them pass over the every-day life concepts. Thus, the author remains Poet every second. The poetry is a sort of a shield for Jiménez in his fight against death and oblivion. His capacity to perceive the nameless things makes his poetic discourse true. In the «Eternidades» one can find rhythm, but no rhyme. In the «Espacio» which is blank verse, Jiménez feels free from formal rules and restrictions. It helps him to translate his pure stream of consciousness into text. Thus, his poetic discourse becomes entirely introspective, and the concept of Consciousness appears to be its key point. Both groups of verses and fragments use common «tricks» that influence reader’s mind in a particular way as they break the linear flow of time. These «tricks» include peculiar use of deictic elements as well as figures of style such as anaphora, paronomasia, polyptoton, etc. The metaphor of dream is of particular importance as it reflects the poetic reality. The trembling drop metaphor is no less significant as is symbolizes the elusive Inspiration. A natural combination of Neoplatonism and Pantheism, of carnivalesque and mystic elements — all that through Time and Consciousness — marks Jiménez as one of the most outstanding writers in human history.

The article is devoted to the analysis of the image of death in the poem «Mysteries of the Grave» (Misterios de la tumba) by Carlos Augusto Salaverry, one of the most famous representatives of Peruvian Romanticism. The relevance of the topic is determined by the insufficient study of Peruvian literature of the XIX century and the fundamental importance of the mortal problem for the culture and mentality of this country. To achieve the goal, the author solves the following tasks: analyzes the main plot elements of the poem, determines the main features of the image of death, as well as the positioning of this image in the general system of Peruvian Romanticism. The plot of the poem is built around the premature death of a young girl Rose, the suffering of her father and an unexpected awakening from a lethargic sleep. At the same time, the author’s philosophical arguments on the topic of death, immortality and social inequality are no less important than the plot itself so as to better understand the poem. Structurally, the poem is divided into three parts: «In the temple» (En el templo), «In the cemetery» (En el panteón), «In the coffin» (En el féretro). The poem allows the author to distinguish the following components of the image of death. Firstly, its duality (physical death and mental death in the form of oblivion). Secondly, the atheistic vision of death (lack of faith in posthumous existence). Thirdly, the importance of the social aspect of death (cemetery as a city of the dead that reflects social inequality). Fourthly, the absence of apparent national elements, i.e., the universality of the image of death. Thus, the text of the poem allows us to come to a conclusion about the complexity of the image of death in Salaverry´s work.

The article analyzes the poetics of dialogue in the so-called «first-style» novels of M. Vargas Llosa: «The Time of the Hero» (1963), «The Green House» (1966) and «Conversation in The Cathedral» (1969). The study of the linguo-stylistic specifics of dialogues in Latin American texts is especially relevant, because it is in the poetics of the total novel during the Latin American boom that dialogue is the key technique. The methodology of the study is based on the works of B.C. Prado, A.N. Veselovsky and V.V. Vinogradov, in particular, the method of classifying dialogues in fiction of the 20th century. There are three types of dialogues that can be distinguished in the early novels of M. Vargas Llosa: traditional dialogue, monologized dialogue and dialogized monologue. It turns out that the traditional dialogue is characterized by the division of replicas into lines and the sequence of the dialogue without nonchronological fragments and introspection. The monologized dialogue is written in a line: it is based on the principle of repetition / parallelism and is characterized by rhythmicity. The dialogized monologue is a combined type of two dialogues, which are external (extradiegetic) and internal (intradiegetic). At the external level, two actants report information about an event, whereas at the internal level, the event itself is updated. As a result, we conclude that in the novel «The Time of the Hero» the three types of dialogues are at an early stage of their development, «The Green House» turns out to be a novel in which all three types of dialogue are smoothly and harmoniously combined, and in «Conversation in The Cathedral» the dialogized monologue becomes structure-forming and dominant technique.

The article explores the role of folklore tradition in the short prose of modern Mozambique. The symbiosis of the European cultural matrix, inseparable from the language in which the work is written, and the oral heritage of the Mozambican people is analyzed on the material of one of Aldino Muianga’s short stories. The story «Rosa Maria» is included in the author’s debut collection «Xitala Mati», the main material for which became the folklore «scary stories» about witchcraft and the living dead. And while in his later works Muianga focuses on acute social plots of the colonial past and post-colonial present, in the world of «Xitala Mati» there is practically no place for white people: it is not colonizers and the colonized that interact there, but it is people and spirits. The text of «Rosa Maria» is filled with numerous «conventional signs» by means of which, in the paradigm of the traditional culture of the peoples of Mozambique, the world of the dead communicates with the world of the living. These signs are intuitive to the African reader, while the European must identify and decipher them. At the same time, «Rosa Maria» shows motifs and imagery characteristic of the Gothic novel, albeit reinterpreted and modified to suit African realities. Such components of the poetics as the encounter with the infernal in the image of a beautiful woman, the gloomy colouring supported by the landscape and ominous animals, and the interest in the emotional reactions of the characters, typical of Gothic literature, allow us to see in «Rosa Maria» a hybrid genre, the roots of which should be sought both in the European literary tradition and in the folk tales of Mozambique.

The article analyzes the small genres of Spanish folklore. Genre is the main form of study in folklore; it translates a certain life experience of the people. The formation of the Spanish genre system was influenced both by Western and Eastern folklore traditions, and Spain itself has repeatedly served as a cultural intermediary. Spanish and Russian folklorists do not share the same take on terminology: Spanish researchers do not typically classify groups of genres according to their volume, therefore proverbs and sayings are studied as part of phraseology, whereas riddles, rhymes, tongue twisters and other texts are perceived as an example of children’s folklore creativity. However, variability of form and versatility of such texts allow us to study them within the framework of a single approach. Since the 15^th century small genres have attracted special attention of Spanish scientists; authoritative collections of popular expressions and aphorisms have been published. Proverbs and sayings are also used by linguists as an example of the correct language usage. Thematically, proverbios and refranes touch on topics significant for the spiritual and economic life of a person, reflecting historical periods and social institutions of the past; at the same time, in modern usage, the meaning of paroemias can be reinterpreted. Spanish children’s folklore is represented by such genres as oraciones, inicios de juego, formulillas variadas, trabalenguas, adivinanzas, acertijos, and riddles are the most multifunctional type of them. The genres of children’s folklore are characterized by a particularly strong geographical reference that vividly illustrates the processes of intergenerational continuity, as well as preservation and transmission of national traditions.

The Monroe Doctrine, proclaimed in 1823, was successfully used by the United States throughout the 19th century to protect US territorial and political interests in the Western Hemisphere. One of the most obvious examples of its application in international relations was the Spanish-American War of 1898. The Russian ambassador in Madrid, Dmitry Shevich, was an unbiased witness of the application of the Monroe Doctrine by the Americans to Spain and Cuba in the 1890s. Based on his reports, we analyze the stages of the escalation of the conflict, examine the evolution of the aggressive US policy towards Madrid under the pretext of protecting the interests of Spain from Cuban «insurgents», we address the role and participation of Russia in the conflict. The Monroe Doctrine was applied where and when the position of the US government was absolutely strong. Whereas in the 1870s the situation in Cuba, and even in the United States itself, was not very appropriate, it is in the 1890 that the position of the United States in the international arena, the stabilization of the situation in the country as a result of the Reconstruction era and the chaos in the domestic political situation in Spain served as key factors for Washington’s confidence in the success of its enterprise. The United States used various methods of pressure on Spain in order to squeeze it out of Cuba and get the island into its undivided possession. At the same time, whereas in 1896–1897 the relations were dominated by diplomatic rhetoric about the need to «pacify» the situation in Cuba and the willingness to act as an intermediary between the metropole and the insurgents, the relations with Spain turned into threats and ultimatums after the explosion of the battleship Maine. Washington openly voiced its right to decide the fate of the states and nations of the Western Hemisphere.

The name of Fernando Pessoa (1888–1935), who is a great Portuguese poet and political journalist, unfortunately is not well known to the common Russian reader. In Portugal he became famous only after his premature death. Besides his unquestionable talent, the poet was well known because of his «heteronyms», i.e. imaginary authors (he had more than 42 of them). Along with that, every one of his «heteronyms» had his own biography and literary style. The majority of those who study the creative work of Fernando Pessoa (one of the most prominent of them is the British literary critic R. Zenith), believe, dealing with his «phenomenon», that the peculiarities of this man in many aspects were caused by the specific features of his character, love for his home country and its language, and by his faith in the «Sebastianist» idea (16th century). Deeply submerged in his inner world, the poet frequently did not separate his fantasies from the reality, showing along with that his surprising proper feeling of that reality and the unique capacity to foresee it. As a political journalist, Pessoa is interesting to study due to his views on the history of Portugal and the future of Europe. His views have drifted from the early republicanism to the «scientific monarchism» in the adult times, and testified that the poet never stopped in his studies of the outer world, suggesting his own, sometimes rather original ways of its understanding. At the same time, Pessoa’s views resonate to a certain degree with those of Russian philosophers A. Losev and M. Bakhtin. The «Sebastianist» myth and the project of the «Fifth Empire» were interlaced in the Pessoa’s philosophic heritage with the concept of Portuguese national identity. Without them he didn’t see any perspectives for the future development of his country. Utopia in his works never denied the reality, rather it creatively developed and complemented the latter. Partly, utopia might reflect his response to the reactionary trends within Portugal as well as in Europe as a whole in the 1930s. The transfer of his ashes to the famous Jerónimos Monastery in 1985, where the remains of Vasco da Gama, Camões and the King Sebastian also lay, symbolized the recognition of Pessoa as a Great Portuguese poet.

The roots of Brazilian folk culture have different forms, structure and history. These roots have been formed over a long period, they have intertwined and influenced one another. Authentic cultures (Indian tribes) and «newcomers» (African and European culture) have been interacting with one another in complex socio-political realities. Together these cultures have created a vivid aesthetic image of the country. The aesthetic principle is most clearly expressed in folklore, the forms of which are diverse and multifaceted. The culture of the people is dynamic; it speaks through folklore in a variety of verbal and non-verbal languages: plastic art, music, dance, folk crafts, national costumes, works of the verbal genre (fairy tales, epics, legends, myths, etc.). Folk culture defines the identity of society, it is reflected in the high aesthetics of professional visual art, music, literature and gradually enters into mass culture and show business. Modernism, the art trend of the early 20th century, became a vivid reflection of the folk features of Brazilian culture. Over time, the tendency to rely on folk national culture has intensified, affecting all aspects of society — from mass culture to social policy. The cultural construction of society in close interaction and cooperation with the folk tradition, the consolidation and renewal of tradition ultimately determine the mentality of the nation, the stability of its existence and self-preservation. The study of Brazilian folk culture opens up new horizons for those who yearn to understand the world of diversity and the world of beauty. The coexistence in a single space of the people of many traditions and aesthetic images that do not oppose, but complement each other, inspires historical optimism which is «colored» by our experience of interpreting the culture of Brazil.

Latin American folklore is a heterogeneous phenomenon, encompassing different levels, which has been determined by the historical conditions of its formation, existence and evolution. The so-called folklore criollo, which dates back to the Spanish folk poetry brought by the Spaniards to America during the colonial period, is an important part of the Latin American folklore. The specific character of historical and socio-economic circumstances that influenced the formation of the folklore criollo, explain its relatively late formation, as well as the transformation and reinterpretation of the original Spanish popular poetic tradition. As a result of syncretisation, Creole folklore has incorporated various elements of the folk art of the indigenous peoples, including those of African origin. The main genres of Creole folklore are romance, décima (glossa) and copla, which have evolved since their birth in Spain and later in the New World, where they came with waves of Spanish immigrants. The specific conditions of life in the American colonies, in which such psychological qualities as courage, bravery, aggressive ness and violence became the norm of existence, determined the content, motifs and plot of folklore. At the same time, romantic poetry was «folklorised», it was adapted to the collective environment, its themes were simplified. Folk songs and romances were given a sentimental, artificially dramatic character of exaggerated suffering. Romantic songs have achieved great popularity, as they exist today in different Latin American countries in different forms or genres, namely the corrido, the song ranchera, the yaraví, the mulisa, among others. The example of the folklorisation of the romantic style was the tango song that was formed in Argentina and Uruguay as a massive amateur composition in the 1920s. Different genres of Creole folklore are present with their own specificity in all Latin American and Caribbean countries and deserve new studies taking into account new conditions of social and human development.

For the last four years I have been conducting a survey of Russians who do not speak Spanish. 155 people were interviewed. The main question was: «What Spanish writers do you know?» The answers confirmed my initial hypothesis: the readers confuse Spanish literature with the literature written in Spanish. Along with the answer «no one» (54 respondents), people named Cervantes (65), García Lorca (33), Lope de Vega (25), Pérez Reverte (11) and other Spanish authors, as well as García Márquez (47), Borges (13), Cortázar (9), Coelho (6) and other foreigners. That is the specificity of the perception of Spanish literature in Russia, its difference from the image of other literatures. In the case of Russia and Spain, the border of cultural communication almost exactly coincides with the language border.

Book Review: Martynov B.F. Getulio: a novel-biography. – Moscow: MGIMO University, 2022 (in Russian). – 458 p.

Book review: History of Spain / Translation from Spanish: V.A. Vedyushkin, G.A. Popova, E.E. Yurchik. — Moscow: Ves’ mir, 2023. — 544