The gift of the essential

Abstract

The paper examines comparatist ideas in the works by scholar of English literature N. Mikhalskaya. She was blessed with “the gift of the essential” — the talent to express the core idea in a manner that is both laconic and devoid of simplification. The intersemiotic comparatistics of the 20th and 21st centuries can be considered comparative studies of contexts. In her work, Mikhalskaya does not limit the ideas of comparative studies to comparison of literatures. Broadening her interests beyond literature, Mikhalskaya embarked on interdisciplinary imagological studies. The resulting research can be traced back to A. Veselovsky’s famous ‘counter-current’ theory. For instance, Mikhalskaya reconstructed intercrossing national myths: the English myth of Russia and the Russian myth of England. With reliance on Milkhalskaya’s hypotheses about the trends in English culture in the early 20th century, the author suggests a connection between the new configuration of elements in the English national character and reception of Russian classical literature.