Today communication between representatives of different nations is becoming closer due to the development of political, economic and cultural relations between countries. But perfect knowledge of a foreign language does not guarantee successful intercultural communication, one should understand culture and mentality of another nation. Literature is an indispensable part of any country’s culture. History, national character, customs and traditions are reflected in literary works of various genres. Reading and studying literature helps to form intercultural competence, to develop successful intercultural dialogue, to overcome stereotypes. The English literary animalistic fairy-tale and beliefs and ideas of the Englishmen reflected in it are analyzed. Peculiarities of this literary genre, its role in the children’s literature are described, its educational and pedagogical potential is disclosed. One of the most popular works of the XX century is taken as an example. The thorough text analysis enables to single out the characteristic features of the successful intercultural communicator and to create his verbal portrait. The results of theoretical research work and concrete examples prove the idea about the expediency of using this material in the teaching process.
N.A. Sushkova (Fri,) studied this question.