ON GENRE ORIGINALITY AND IMAGE SYSTEM IN ALEXANDER M. VOLKOV’S FAIRYTALE “URFIN JUS AND HIS WOODEN SOLDIERS”

Within the framework of the present article, the author refers to the study of the well-known work, written by the classic of the Soviet children's literature A.M. Volkov, “Urfin Jus and his wooden soldiers”. Investigating genre peculiarities of the book and the specifics of its image system, the author manages to find out such innovative methods of A. Volkov, as the substitution of Protagonist by Antihero, collateral nature of the positive characters’ roles and dynamics of the negative heroes’ images, which is not inherent to a fairy text. Apart from that, it is being highlighted in the paper that, being masterfully integrated into the cycle of books about the Emerald city ( Izumrudniy gorod ) in terms of plot, “Urfin Jus and his wooden soldiers” is, on the one hand, the element of sequel, and, on the other - practically an autonomous work, a spin-off with familiar actors. Having carried out a literary, philosophical, onomastic analysis of this text, the author arrives to the conclusion that the original concept of A.M. Volkov is much broader than it is commonly believed; that besides the self-evident fairy-tale storyline, it contains both social and philosophical reflections, submitted implicitly, in a symbolic way, and the presumed recipients of the fairy tale are not only children, but adults as well.