Elena Luybeznaya

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.

Various artistic devices of argumentation are proved to be used in journalistic texts. The original way of expressing orectic argumentation by means of «transforming things» is peculiar to T. Tolstoy’s artistic journalism. The issue of historic progress is embodied in T. Tolstoy’s work with the help of the stylistic device of ironical argumentation: showing transformation of thing-symbol in time.