The problems of theoretical and historical poetics in Ivan Esaulov's works: methodology, concept and new categories of Russian philology

The article analyzes the contribution of Russian literary critic, doctor of Philology, Professor Ivan Andreevich Esaulov to the study of theoretical and historical poetics revealing his central scientific ideas and principles of building a new concept of the history of Russian literature. The researcher introduced several concepts as philological categories that had never been used in Philology before. These are sobornost (conciliarism), paskhalnost (Easter character), Zakon i Blagodat (Law and Grace), Christocentrism. Esaulov proposed a new definition of the content of Russian literature thanks to these categories. The researcher proved the fruitfulness of his approach for understanding Russian literature. The material for analysis is rather extensive: from Metropolitan Hilarion's Word about Law and Grace to the works of writers of the late 20th century. Esaulov's most important methodological position is the need to distinguish between analysis, understanding and interpretation. These are different approaches to studying a work of art. The scholar also introduces and justifies the concept of “spectrum of adequacy”, which implies a plurality of interpretations of a literary work.