Plot clic s of novels about “new people” in the context of the magazine polemic of the 1860s and 1870s

The article considers papers and reviews by Saltykov-Shchedrin, criticizing novels about “new people”. The main focus is on the period 1868-1871 when Saltykov-Shchedrin was the main critic of the magazine “Notes of The Fatherland” (“Otechestvennye Zapiski”). The polemic between magazines “Notes of The Fatherland” and “Delo” continued the debate started by the predecessor magazines - Nekrasov’s “Sovremennik” and Blagvetlov’s “Russian word”.The purpose of the article is to identify the main plot clichés in novels about “new people” presented in reviews.Results. The main criticism expressed through the parody indicates the position of the critic towards the author. Parody is a crucial part of most reviews. The article describes the main techniques of parody: selection of plot elements that are repeated in novels about “new people”, schematization of their combinations. All this brings the plot to a common denominator with many similar plots. It also demonstrates an important point of the critic: the lack of artistry cannot be compensated for by any actual social ideas.Conclusions. By the end of the 1860s, the repetition of plot patterns and hero types in novels about “new people” was a basic feature of any plot. In the reviews, Saltykov-Shchedrin drew a fairly complete picture of the plot clichés used both in democratic literature and in the anti-nihilist novel. Parody as a reflexive response to the processes taking place in literature can be considered as a symptom of a completed phenomenon. In this case, the parody marks the end of the intense but short life of the “new people” of the 1860s.