POETIC FICTION IN MEMORY OF A. P. CHEKHOV: UNNOTICED CASES

Katovich Aglaya Artemovna

Our article raises the problem of studying Chekhov's literary reputation through the analysis of poetic fiction devoted to him. We point out that the genre of poetic fiction in general is currently poorly studied, and substantiate the special significance of this material for studying writer's literary reputation. The article introduces and analyzes several examples of poetic fiction in memory of A.P. Chekhov in written 1904–1914 and published in "Yuzhny Kray", "Petersburgskaya Gazeta", "Zarya" by writers who were popular among readers at that time, but are forgotten and little studied today: N.G. Shebuev, M.P. Galperin, L.N. Stolitsa, N.A. Chudov and also an anonymous illiterate admirer of Chekhov's work who sent his poem to "Yuzhny Kray". It is proposed to consider these texts as a reflection of Chekhov's image in the consciousness of mass readers of that epoch. Preliminary selection and analysis of "commonplaces" appearing in our samples of poetic fiction is made. We propose a preliminary classification of the material based on the status of authors: on the one hand, a group of texts created by professional and semi-professional writers is distinguished; on the other hand, there are texts created by non-professional authors, ordinary readers. The latter fact may in the future allow to characterize Chekhov's literary reputation in a much deeper way and to pay more attention to subjective reader's assessments.

Keywords:A.P. Chekhov, poetic fiction, literary reputation, pre-revolutionary Russian periodicals.