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THE CONCEPT OF SUICIDE IN THE RUSSIAN DRAMA (“THE SUICIDE” BY N. ERDMAN) // Tomsk State Pedagogical University Bulletin. 2011. Issue 7 (109). P. 12-18

Complex structure of the genre of Erdman’s play “Suicide” is analyzed in the context of the classical examples of the tragedy with suicide. Traditional motives of suicide in Western drama are fault redemption, a desperate situation, honor, love, search for death as a form of “hidden suicides”. Russian Drama of the 19th century transfers motive of suicide from tragedy to a tragic farce or to “a comedy with suicide” by entering the motives “shammer of dead” and “unmotivated” suicide, which complicates the genre and distorts the mechanism of genre expectations. Reduction of the classical models and their rethinking take place in “Suicide” by Erdman, who created a rare genre – parody to tragedy.

Keywords: tragedy, concept, atonement, duty, honor, tragic farce, parody, genre transformation.