CREATING A HUMOROUS EFFECT IN THE WORKS OF ENGLISH AND RUSSIAN AUTHORS (BASED ON THE WORKS OF P.G. WODEHOUSE, M.M. ZOSHCHENKO, F.G. RANEVSKAYA)

Golikova Tatyana Olegovna

The research is relevant and topical because the approach to the material is interdisciplinary. The research is done at the intersection of linguistics and literary criticism. The analysis of the humour of English and Russian authors is conducted with the help of lexicological, stylistic, and literary methods. The article deals with means of creating a humorous effect in works of P.G. Wodehouse, M.M. Zoshenko and F.G. Ranevskaya. Firstly, the author studies and compares the language of Wodehouse’s characters: Wooster and Jeeves. She shows how the contrast of the characters’ vocabulary, grammar and style creates a humorous effect. Secondly, the author studies means of creating a humorous effect in stories by M.M. Zoshenko and by F.G. Ranevskaya. She comes to the conclusion that Russian and English humour has similar and different features. The article answers the question: why it is so? The reasons are connected with historical events in Russia and in Great Britain.

Keywords:humorous effect, high-flown vocabulary, vulgarisms, simile, hyperbola, irony.