Folklore devices of absurdity in Tatiana Tolstaya’s work

Abstract. The article proves that Tatiana Tolstaya’s prose contains through-the text artistic device of reality absurdism, based on a complex of folklore poetic comical means: word play, impersonation, interpretation, oxymoron shift. It is concluded that plot-oriented intertext folklore references to conventional satirical humour, absurdity of archaic-mythological aspects allow observing not only similarity of popular humour with Tatiana Tolstaya’s poetics but being aware of the writer’s success in defining national fundamentals of life.