ONOMASTIC GAME IN E.P. ROSTOPCHINA’s PLAY “THE RETURN OF CHATSKY TO MOSCOW”

The article is devoted to the issues of onomastics. The author, using the example of a little-studied play by E.P. Rostopchina “The return of Chatsky to Moscow or the Meeting of Familiar Faces after a Twenty-Five Years' Separation” (1856) considers the examples of an onomastic game that reveals the idea of the work more fully, emphasizes the author's position, and testifies to the originality of the writer's artistic world. The studies of linguists and literary critics have repeatedly confirmed the importance of onomastics in the interpretation of a literary text, complementing the ideological, thematic and artistic aspects of the work. In the article, thanks to a comparative analysis of the anthroponyms of the famous comedy by A.S. Griboyedov and plays by E.P. Rostopchina the significance of the work “The Woes of Wit” in Russian literature and the literary life of Russia in the middle of the 19th century is emphasized. The material for analysis involves not only anthroponyms, but also phaleronyms, which rarely become the subject for study in the context of a literary work. It is worth mentioning, that E.P. Rostopchina, having written a kind of continuation of the comedy “The Woes of Wit” organically included the most vivid anthroponyms created by A.S. Griboyedov within the framework of the classic tradition in the plot of her work, and created new bright and ambiguous names of heroes, counting on a thoughtful and erudite reader.