Reshayutsya voprosy, svyazannye s preemstvennost'yu traditsiy goticheskoy literatury russkim romantizmom nachala XIX veka; so stanovleniem kategorii fantasticheskogo v kontekste russkoy misticheskoy povesti 30-kh gg. XIX veka. S literaturnym napravleniem romantizma chashche vsego svyazyvaetsya obretenie fantastikoy statusa esteticheskogo yavleniya, sootvetstvuyushchego romanticheskomu mirooshchushcheniyu; v epokhu romantizma fantasticheskoe naibolee raznoobrazno v svoikh proyavleniyakh. Rassmatrivaetsya khudozhestvennyy sintez fol'klornykh slavyanskikh traditsiy strashnogo rasskaza i evropeyskogo goticheskogo romana v povestyakh M. N. Zagoskina. Povesti M. N. Zagoskina, ob"edinennye v tsikl Vecher na Khopre, nel'zya rassmatrivat' kak chistoe voploshchenie kakogo-libo zhanra. Oni kontaminiruyut neskol'ko traditsiy (literatura Prosveshcheniya, goticheskiy roman, russkaya romanticheskaya literatura, fol'klornaya fantastika). Kniga adresovana studentam, izuchayushchim istoriyu russkoy literatury.