V monografii issleduyutsya autentichnaya i knizhnaya formy erzyanskogo geroicheskogo eposa. Istoriko-literaturnyy opyt KhKh-KhKhI vekov pokazyvaet: drevnie epicheskie formy ostayutsya vostrebovannymi sovremennym literaturnym soznaniem, prodolzhaetsya sozdanie knizhnykh versiy geroicheskogo eposa, slozhnost" analiza kotorykh otchasti obuslovlena neodnoznachnym tolkovaniem ponyatiya "knizhnaya forma geroicheskogo eposa" fol"kloristami i literaturovedami. V rabote proslezhivaetsya razvitie knizhnoy formy erzyanskogo geroicheskogo eposa ot "Mordovskoy istorii" T.E.Zavrazhnova i S.A.Larionova do "Mastoravy" A.M.Sharonova; daetsya analiz ideyno-khudozhestvennykh osobennostey poem Ya.Ya.Kuldurkaeva "Er"mez", V.K.Radaeva "Siyazhar", "Tyushtya", epopei A.M.Sharonova "Mastorava", issleduetsya ikh fol"klornaya osnova; pokazyvaetsya, chto knizhnaya forma eposa est" literaturnaya versiya autentichnogo teksta, sozdannaya s uchetom zakonomernostey vozniknoveniya i razvitiya geroicheskoy poezii, osobennostey ee soderzhaniya, poetiki i estetiki. Erzya - narod finno-ugorskoy yazykovoy sem"i, prozhivayushchiy v tsentral"noy chasti Rossii v basseynakh rek Volga, Oka, Moskva, Sura, Moksha.