Memory of love and death in N.V. Bolkunov’s novel “The road home”

The purpose of the article is to draw attention to the poetics of the artistic time andspace in the story of the Great Patriotic War, written in the XXIst century. The author of “The Road Home” Nikolaj Bolkunov (1948–2010) did not see the war himself, but deeply understood its essence, emphasized the moral confrontation of the defenders of the Russian land and Nazi-fascist invaders destroying it, confident that they will succeed to break the ties between generations, to turn the subdued population into consumers of material goods, into those who are oblivious to their kin. Hermeneutical approach to the text (identification of the spiritual component) leads to identifying an issue, particularly significant for the author, the issue of succession, relationships between generations and mentalities, analysis of characters, adventurous and entertaining elements, love plotline, touching and tragic situations, landscape sketches, everyday and naturalistic details. Consistently revealed the roll call of military and post-war circumstances, determining the creation of a broad historical picture, the integrity of which is obtained due to the author’s closest proximity to lieutenant Minaev’s psychology, who became a few decades later an old man, Mikhalych. The piercingly tragic plot of chaste love illuminates the memory, the whole life of the main character, determines his inner setting to strengthen good, resilience in the protection of human dignity. Many episodes of the work paint the image of the enemy-destroyer, who deprived many people of our fatherland of shelter, bright youth, love, health, the very opportunity to live. The analysis of the text is combined with the involvement of biographical, literary materials. It is concluded that the story has an undoubted pedagogical potential and can be recommended for reading and studying by high school students, students of higher and further education institutions.