The book contains selected scientific works of the Russian philologist and literary critic Dmitry Bak, published from 1986 to the present in domestic and foreign periodicals, collective monographs and collections of scientific articles. Many works are devoted to the problems of literary theory, the work of Russian writers of the 19th century: D. V. Venevitinov, I. A. Goncharov, N. S. Leskov, N. G. Chernyshevsky, as well as N. I. Nadezhdin, P. Ya. Petrova etc. A special section contains materials on the literature of the 20th century: I. A. Bunin, O. E. Mandelstam, B. L. Pasternak, as well as L. Pirandello, M. Frisch, S. Lem. A series of works by the author on modern poetry is also included - from A. Tarkovsky and V. Stus to S. Gandlevsky, O. Nikolaeva, O. Khlebnikov, E. Bunimovich, I. Melamed and others. The final section of the book consists of translations of the author (articles by R. Jacobson, treatises by A. Murdoch, interview with M. Bakhtin). The book is addressed both to readers interested in classical and modern literature, and to specialists, in particular, teachers of philological departments of higher educational institutions.