Abstract: This article presents an analysis of the novel «Fate» by one of the talented prose writers of Mari literature of the beginning of the 21st century Mikhail Prokopyevich Pavlov. In 1999, for his publication, he became the laureate of the republican periodical magazine «Onchyko» prize. And in 2011, the Council of the Program of Related Peoples of Estonia, together with the Association of Finno-Ugric Literatures, awarded Mikhail Prokopyevich Pavlov the Literary Prize in the category of prose fiction for the collection «The silhouette of the lattice», which included this novel. Despite the high estimation, the work of the national prose writer remains poorly studied. The writer reveals the dramatic events of this period: the repressions of the 1937 and the plight of family members of the repressed, life “behind bars”, the tragic events of the Great Patriotic War, the difficult post-war years and the time of socio-economic restructuring period (1970-1990s).
The use of the cultural-historical research method made it possible to analyze the history of the Mari people of the 20th century through the prism of the fates of its heroes. The external and internal struggle of the characters for a free and happy life is convincingly shown, the characters and circumstances born and conditioned by a certain socio-historical situation are well revealed, and the mentality of the people is shown. The writer’s focus is on the hero’s ideological and moral search for truth, goodness, justice, personal happiness and well-being. Therefore, the narrative is very psychological. The writer leads to the idea that such qualities as a sense of justice, kindness, hard work, mutual assistance and mutual understanding, the ability to love and sacrifice themselves in the name of this feeling remain the main measures of human life and the foundations of society.

Abstract: This article is devoted to the analysis of the correlation of characters with each other, their individual characteristics in the novel by Yakov Pavlovich Mayorov (pen name is Shketan) «Erener». The artistic significance of literary characters in revealing the ideological and thematic content of the work, its problems, ways of expressing their character are revealed. Such heroes as Evai Petr, Vanka Savelyev, Verush, Orina, Shamrai Shumat, Klavdia Algaeva, being in the center of the prose writer’s attention and having a firm character and strong will, are actively transform the artistic reality. Through actions, deeds performed, external and internal manifestations of the personality of the main character Evai Petyr, the author’s basic concept of peace and man in it is expressed. This large art canvas reflects the history, life, culture of the Mari people of the early 20th century; the spiritual appearance and character of the Soviet people.
The writer managed to reveal the individual originality of the character traits of each hero of the work, psychologically subtly outline his inner world, thoughts and experiences. Revealing the fate of typical heroes of different social strata: the social formation of communists, rural intelligentsia, wealthier peasants and merchants, poor peasants who were the first to support Soviet regime, M. Shketan tells about the life of the Mari people in the period before the October Revolution of 1917, in the first decade of Soviet regime. The wide coverage of political, social problems and deep coverage of life processes in all their complexity and versatility, a vivid character system determined the artistic significance of the work.
The main feature in the depiction of the novel’s characters is that their life is shown in a creative relationship: influencing each other, changing the social system, the way of life, they change the heroes themselves.

Abstract: An analysis of the themes, issues, ideas and pathos of the trilogy of the Mari writer Nikandr Lekain is the basis of this article. The novels «Iron Will» and «Land of Ancestors» depict the process of social and national revival of the previously oppressed Mari people. The depiction of the events of the beginning of the 20th century (Stolypin’s agrarian reform, the Great October Socialist Revolution, the Civil War, the NEP) takes place through the prism of the author’s worldview. The writer shows the conditions under which the process of formation of Soviet regime, the implementation of a new economic policy, the growth and formation of a new progressive Man, and the overcoming of the vestiges of the past in the minds of the Mari people took place. The novel «In the Fire of the Great War» by the former front-line soldier reveals the patriotism and heroism of the multinational Soviet people, manifested in the fight against the fascist invaders during the Great Patriotic War. This aspect is considered for the first time in Mari literary studies.
The structural-semantic research method makes it possible to evaluate both the ideological world, the author’s worldview, and its individual poetic elements.
Through the prism of the writer’s attention, the image of a resisting and fighting Soviet soldier is comprehensively depicted; as well as the heroic actions of the Yevsey’s, Ivan Zuev’s guerrilla warrior detachments in the enemy’s rear; the awful life under occupation of the Sosnovka’s village inhabitants; the cruelty of the German invaders; the spiritual squalor of the traitors. N. Lekain’s trilogy epically reveals the historical events of the late 19th – mid-20th centuries.

Abstract: This article analyses the formation and development of the historical novel genre in the national literature in the first post-war period. The object of the study are the works of the Mari writers Nikandr Lekain «On Fire of the Great War» and Veniamin Ivanov «The Windstorm». National patriotic spirit, heroism, the determination of people to fight to the end come to the fore in N. Lekain’s work. The work does not have the main character who unites all the storylines; it presents the multinational face of the Soviet people through the individual actions of people of different generations. In V. Ivanov’s novel, the fate of the individualized personality, his inner experiences, comes to the forefront. The historical and typological method of research made it possible to identify general and specific features in the depiction of dramatic events of the Great Patriotic War in the Mari and Russian literatures. The problem of the formation of this genre in regional literary criticism is being considered for the first time. A comparative study of the literary prose of writers revealed that the expansion and deepening of the problematic and thematic range (the theme of rear everyday life in the countryside, the problem of desertion and betrayal, etc.) of the Mari literature of this period outlined certain shifts in the image of the inner world of the characters. There was a tendency of multifaceted disclosure of socio-historical and ideological factors of the personality formation, psychologically deep explanation of the motives of the heroes’ actions. N. Lekain and V. Ivanov managed to find those life conflicts that made it possible to psychologically accurate portray the dialectics of the human soul in the war, to comprehend the origins of the national-patriotic upsurge, to show the deep processes of their contemporary reality.

Abstract: This article examines the problem of folklore and literature based on the material of the Mari national literature of the first third of the twentieth century. The subject of the study is the role of folklore traditions in the formation of the genre of the satirical novel. The influence of folklore images-characters, genres of oral folk art (fairy tale, proverb, saying, etc.), their poetics and stylistics on the process of formation of Mari national literature, on the birth of the first Mari satirical novel – N. V. Ignatiev's novel "Savik" is shown. In such a scientific and theoretical aspect, this work of Mari literature is being studied in regional and domestic literary studies for the first time. The research method is structural and semantic, which allows to see the comic component of a satirical novel at the level of both its genre content and its poetics. The article proves that it is the folklore genre and figurative intertext that contributes to the disclosure of the satirical problems of the novel "Savik"; the main satirical techniques and means in it are sarcasm, specific nomination of characters ("talking names"), "sounding" toponymy, parody, comic situation, exaggeration, specific speech techniques, etc., many of which they have a folklore basis. They play an essential role in the creation of a literary and artistic text, are integral components of its poetics and stylistics, are closely related to the author's ideas, the time and space depicted, the essence of the images created.

Abstract: Within the framework of studying axiological paradigm of the Mari national literature, this article examines historical time in this context with regards to Mari dramaturgy of the XX – XXI centuries. The object of this research is the key plays, which analysis allows tracing the dynamics of axiological interpretation of historical time as a whole, and historical theme in Mari dramaturgy of the XX – XXI centuries in particular: S. Chavain “Akpatyr” (1935); A. Volkov “Aldiar” (1981); K. Korshunov “Aksar and Yulavyi” (1979), dramaturgical trilogy of G. Gordeev (1995) “Örtӧmӧ on”, “Boltush”,“Myi om suko sadak”; L. Yandak “Silver People” (2010). Research methodology leans on the historical-typological and structural-semantic analysis of the works that helps to identify the axiological aspects in problematic of Mari dramaturgy of the XX – XXI centuries along with the means of their expression in the indicated historical timeframe. The article proves that since the very first Mari play until the plays of the XXI century, the dramaturgists focus attention on the protection of social and national freedom of the people, heroic self-sacrifice for the sake of this freedom, regarding them as values of historical time. A significant role in the plays of modern authors holds the problem of the unity of nation (G. Gordeev, L. Yandak); the dramaturgists emphasize the idea of faithfulness to the national traditions, including religious, which is common to all difficult historical periods for Mari people.