Пролог "Перед занавесом” романа У. М. Теккерея "Ярмарка тщеславия” как предмет изучения отношений между художником, его изобретением и самим читателем

Abstract

The given article deals with the prologue “Before the Curtain” of the novel “Vanity Fair” by W.M.Thackeray in order to investigate the relations between the writer, his creation and the reader. The author of the article emphasizes that the prologue “Before the Curtain” is the embodiment of the whole novel in which the plot of the novel and its technique of presentation are reflected. This prologue presents the bright images which later appear on the pages of the novel: the Manager of the Performance – the narrator who plays the puppet comedy before his spectators, his puppet-heroes and the reader who is not a passive listener but a reasonable contemplator who needs to evaluate and judge basing on his own life experience and powers of observation.