Pages of heroic history in the Mari drama

Introduction. The article studies the specifc features of the Mari drama about the historical past of the Mari people and the region. In the introductory part it emphasizes the reason for the writer’s interest to the history: a person in diffcult life circumstances as a center of artistic research. Hence the main goal of the article is to show milestones that have left a sig-nifcant mark on the fate of the nation, and confict situations revealing heroic characters. The author of the article attempts to group texts according to the chronological principle, topicality of the historical event; to give a brief description of the epoch; to analyze specifc works, basing on the confict of a drama and the characters of the main characters. The object of the study is the creative legacy of the Mari historical playwrights; the subject of the study is exact dramatic works refecting one or another stage from the history of the people. Materials and Methods. The analytic methodology is rooted in systematic comprehension of the topic. The research methodology is based on an integrated approach that includes descriptive, contextual, and cultural approaches. Results and Discussion. The practical signifcance of the work lies in the fact that its results, a specifc analysis of the literary material can be used in studying the history of the Mari drama, will be of interest to the researchers of Finno-Ugric literature. A specifc analysis of the works presented in the article in different aspects has already been covered by the author in other research works both in Mari and in Russian. With the results of the study, the literary critic spoke at conferences of various levels. Conclusion. During the analysis on the subject of the research, the author comes to the conclusion that the Mari drama on a historical theme affects a large amount of vital material. The history was in the focus of both the classics of Mari literature and of modern playwrights. Heroic dramas are characterized by acute confict tension. The dramatic nature of such works is determined not only by the social activity of the characters, but also by the nature of situations, the reality of their human features.