ALLUSIONS IN THE MERLIN CYCLE OF “THE CHRONICLES OF AMBER” BY R. ZELAZNY
The article studies allusions in the last five books of “The Chronicles of Amber” by R. Zelazny. It comments on the functions of dominant allusions in revealing the main idea of the literary works. The article also deals with the problem of cognitive failure in identifying and deciphering an allusion due to its agnonymy. It also outlines sources and functions of local allusions in the tissue of the receiving novels. The play on words and meanings created by transformations of dominant and local allusions is viewed as manifestation of destructive tendency peculiar to postmodern novels. Special attention is paid to the analysis of stylistic devices based on transformations of allusions.