THE SPECIFICITY OF THE ADVANCED ARTICLE IN THE SATHYRIC MAGAZINE «SILHOUETTES OF LIFE OF THE NATIVE CITY» (1909, TOMSK)

Abstract

The article analyzes the advanced articles of the satirical magazine «Silhouettes of life of the native city», founded in 1909 in the city of Tomsk. It differed from other Tomsk satirical journals with a clear focus on the all-Russian magazine Satirikon, the work of illustrators, the wealth of satirical genres presented on its pages, and, in addition, the change of typological status, since in 1910 the magazine «Silhouettes of life of the native city» was not only renamed the «Silhouettes of Siberia», but also evolved from the satirical into the literary and artistic illustrated. The editorial was not provided for in the publication program: for the Siberian satirical periodical of the reaction period, this was an extremely complex genre, since both the social situation and censorship conditions did not allow openly discussing topical problems of our time on the pages of the press. Therefore, an interesting innovation was also the introduction of the editorial structure of the editorial articles, «disguised» for parodic reports on the work of the editorial board. The study analyzes the specifics of these «reports», reveals the methods and techniques of «disguising» the serious issues raised under humorous descriptions of the editorial life. Already the first parodic «report» on the editorial life, published in the first issue of the Silhouettes... was a full-fledged editorial, as it concerned the main principles formulated by the journal with regard to its direction. The chosen form of parody allowed, on the one hand, to soften the severity of statements, on the other - made the text more «easy» for perception by the mass audience on which the journal was oriented. The remaining editorial «reports» described the meetings of the editorial committee on various occasions of the journal's life. This is the editor's refusal from his post and his «escape» from the editorial office; discussion of the tightening of editorial policy in relation to scammers; analysis of the results of elections to the city duma, etc. All of them followed the same principle: a humorous description of the actions of employees (always denoted only by pseudonyms), humorous replicas of the author of the «reports» that «masked» the posing of important public issues: the impossibility of «independent journalism» under conditions of reaction, the work of the Tomsk Duma, about the problems of city life, etc. It is concluded that, using parodic «reports» instead of traditional editorials, the magazine's editorial team solved a number of problems: raising important public problems, attracting the attention of its potential audience, revealing the «inner kitchen» of the editorial life, the interest in which grew at the beginning XX century in connection with the formation of journalism as a mass profession. The study allows us to talk about the magazine following the traditions of advanced satirical journalism, laid down by N. I. Novikov, N. V. Gogol, «Iskra-ists» and developed in the early XX century in the journal «Satyricon», reveals the relationship of «great» Russian and regional satire.