At the present stage of literary development the epic genre canon has largely suffered from plot deficiency due to author’s view priority. In this work the main attention is paid to some hybrid narrative forms, the modification of which became most remarkable in Russian literature by the beginning of the 21st century, that is – “poem in prose” and “novel-fairy tale”. Compared to the classical examples, N. Aleksandrova’s book “At the Break of Being” tends to the enlargement of the objective details, expanding the circle of persons. At the same time the whole text is bound with emphasized stylistic devices and possesses philosophical and metaphorical orientation. The interaction of “novel” (plot) and “fabulous” (cyclical) beginnings in the “novel-fairy tale” “Kykhma” by M. Rusanov creates the effect of ambivalence and acquires intermediality and parody, which become meaningful artistic devices.

The paper presents the results of the research in semantics and pragmatics of Russian indefinite-personal sentences as cases of interpretative actantial derivation: the omitted protagonist in these sentences acquires specific referential features. The study is focused on deixis, evidentiality and evaluation expressed in Russian indefinite-personal sentences. These meanings create special pragmatic effects, such as estrangement, suspense and defocusing.

This article is devoted to the conceptual metaphors of time in the novel “Reaper Man” by Terry Pratchett. The authors explore how metaphors of time are used as a means of characterization, as well as how they are related to the main themes and philosophical layers of meaning in the novel. The article offers an in-depth analysis of both conventional and original conceptual metaphors of time presented in the novel, such as TIME IS MONEY, TIME IS A PRECIOUS COMMODITY, TIME IS SAND, TIME IS A SPEEDY RUNNER, TIME IS A THIEF, TIME IS AN ENEMY, THE WORLD IS A CLOCK, A CLOCK IS A KNIFE etc. The authors conclude by highlighting the role that conceptual metaphors play in conveying the author’s paradoxical attitude to time.

The article under consideration dwells on the issue beset with research and translation of ghazals by one of the greatest mystic poets of the 14th century – Kamol Khujandi. It is noted there that for the first time Kamol Khujandi’s name appeared in the middle of the 19th century in scientific literature. From Russian men-of-letters – E.E. Bertels and I.S. Braginsky’s leading orientalists appealed to the poet’s creation. Due to A. Adalis’s, V. Zvyagintseva’s, V. Potapova’s, Y. Kozlovsky’s, M. Sinelnikov’s and I. Selvinsky’s translations Russian readers got acquainted with the poet’s literary production. The poet’s divan includes more than one thousand ghazals, but only a little more than one hundred ones have been translated up to date, and all these translations are made from interlinear translations, since none of the translators fully knew the origi­nal language. Designing on the premise of the comparison of the original text and its translation, the author of the article determines the quality of Russian translations, while paying attention to the content of the author’s poems and style; artistic means of depiction and metrics of ghazals being taken into account as well. In a nutshell, the conclusion is made on the need for new, more advanced translations made directly from the original language. The author of the article considers that the presence of several translations of one ghazal would make it possible to choose the most successful version.

The article dwells on the issue concerned with the usage of the comparative method under explaining lexical item form in the dictionary entitled as “Burhoni Qote’ ” by Muhammadhusayan Burhon. The author of the article lays an emphasis upon the idea that the usage of the relevant method in the explanation of lexical item form in “Burhoni Qote’ ” is subdivided into two groups. It is worth mentioning that the comparative method is considered to be as the one, in which the weight of the explained word is expressed by a common one to render help for readers in comprehension of a lexical item correctly. It is concluded that the importance of the level of usage, structural and grammatical peculiarities the comparative method lie in the fact that the words are preserved in the corrected form in MTLL because the language is always adapted to changes and gradual evolution.

The article presents an analysis of the prefaces of seven interpretation dictionaries of the Tajik language appertaining to 11th–15th centuries in relation to the criticism of proceeding dictionaries and explication of linguistic ideas contained in the formers. It is marked that the inceptions of the criticism referring to the proceeding dictionaries can be found already in the first interpretation dictionary of the Tajik language “Lughati Furs”. In the introductions to the interpretation dictionaries of the 13th century “Madj­muat al-Furs” and especially to “Sihoh al-Furs” there are presented well-grounded and substantially argued considerations concerned with a necessity of adducing illustrative poetical material for a right reading of an interpreted word. Very interesting judgments in regard to the nature of Arabic and Tajik languages are adduced in the introduction to the dictionary “Meyori Djamali”. There is underscored a similarity of critical remarks between the authors of the dictionaries “Madjmuat al-Furs” and “Sihoh al-Furs” though you can affirm with an adequate share of assuredness that Hindushokh Nakhchuvani, the author of the dictionary “Sihoh al-Furs” was not acquainted with the lexicographical work “ Madjmuat al-Furs” by Khadjib Hayrot, just as the latter had no idea about the dictionary created by Nakhchuvani. It is marked especially that the authors of “Farhangi Kavvos”, “Dastur al-afozil” and “Donishnomai Kadarkhon” don’t mention the predecessors and, respectively, any criticism of the lexicographical productions created beforehand is absent in their works.

The given article dwells on the issues beset with comparative analysis of morphological peculiarities and level of usage of superlative degree of adjective in the Tajik literary language referring to 18th and 20th centuries on the example of the historical productions [1; 2; 10]. It is noted that in the Tajik literary language comparative and superlative degrees are expressed in two ways: synthetic and analytical ones and the theme explored is of a long history and passed various periods and evolution throughout its historical development. Adducing the results of the analysis concerned with the theme explored one can come to the conclusion that in the literary language of 18th and 20th centuries, the superlative degree of adjective is evinced analytically. The superlative degree of adjective is formed by dint of the suffix –tarin in the language of the compared historical productions, it possesses certain common and distinctive peculiarities, on the whole. Thus, in the language of the compared historical productions belonging to the relevant periods, the suffix -tarin is used to express the superlative degree in [10] twice (4 %), in [1] 35 instances (69 %) and in [2] 14 instances (23 %).

The article examines O. Mirtov’s novel “Dead Swell” in the light of the problems that the Russian intelligentsia faced in the years immediately preceding the First Revolution and in the era of reaction (1907–1909). The traditionally drawn parallel between this novel and the collection “Vekhi” is analyzed. Both in the first and in the second case, the possibility of revising old beliefs and ideas were discussed – the feature of a new period of the revolutionary liberation movement in Russia.

The article explores the use of the definition “matte” by Chekhov and his contemporaries and clarifies it’s meaning. The article states that the definition was used for naming not only rough and rugged surface, but also for describing the muted, earth colour. The research was conducted using The Russian National Corpus. The materials provided in the article can be used in notes to Chekhov’s works.

The article deals with the presentation of the 1st volume of selected works by Alexander (E.) Makhov, which includes researches on Russian literature. This is the least known aspect of the scientist’s activity. The meeting took place in the Pushkin Drawing Room of the Philological Faculty on May 13, 2023. Well-known Moscow philologists took part in the event.