Poetry and Prose in B. Okudzhava\'s \"Good-bye, Schoolboy!\"

The research is dedicated to the novel "Good-bye, Schoolboy!" (1961) which was the first prosaic work by Bulat Okudžava. The reaction to the text varied: the authors of the anthology "Tarusskije Stranicy" where it was published were impressed; at the same time the press heavily criticized the novel. This reaction was caused by the unusual view on the World War II (or to be precise, on the Great Patriotic War) presented in "Good-bye, Schoolboy!". The novel portrayed a naïve schoolboy who voluntarily went to the battle-front where he faced the reality of the war and became disillusioned with it. The first part of the research contains the analysis of the main character and the image of the war in Okudžava’s novel. The second part aims to establish the connections between his military poetry and prose because the same themes, motives and images appear both in the novel and in the poems. Finally, in the third part "Good-bye, Schoolboy!" is placed among other military texts in prose. Okudžava was mainly guided by the works of Leo Tolstoy and wrote the novel in the dialogue with the "Sebastopol Sketches" and "War and Peace". At the same time, "Good-bye, Schoolboy!" was opposed to the works of Okudžava's contemporaries, the authors of the so-called lieutenant prose, who built the heroic image of war. Okudžava based his work on his own experience and created a unique novel about the Great Patriotic War which differed from the texts published at that period.