AUTHOR-GENIUS" IN AUTHOR'S CONSCIOUSNESS OF ENGLISH ENLIGHTENERS
The concept of "genius" appears as an authentic category of author's self-awareness of the creative personality of the Enlightenment. It is proved that the XVIII century is an important stage in the transformation of this concept on the way of its transformation from the religious concept of ancient thought into the main modern concept (genius as a creative person). The outstanding role of the English enlighteners in the formation of new meanings of the concept of "genius" is substantiated. Based on the material of critical and theoretical works by J. Addison, A. Pope, E.E. Shaftesbury, Ed. Jung, W. Hogarth shows the ambiguity and dynamism of the connotation of "genius". In the author's self-consciousness of English artists and poets, the concepts “natural genius” and “great genius” play a key role in shaping the image of the author. The category “genius”, developing in the context of an enlightening worldview, is filled with its values: genius is a guarantee of freedom in creativity, a special mood of the rational nature of man, a direct connection with nature, that is, a special talent to comprehend its laws at once and realize them in own work. The concept of “genius”, borrowed from ancient culture, was filled in the culture of Enlightenment with new connotations and formed around itself a space for new ideas that had already been developed in the minds of romantics.