Abstract
The purpose of the study is to give a comprehensive description of ways for transmitting the comical and its functions in the genre structure of the modern Kazakhstani story, using material from U. Tazhikenova’s creative work. Scientific novelty of the research lies in the fact that the Russian-language Kazakhstani writer’s prose is for the first time considered through the lens of the comical as an artistic mode. As a result, it was found that, firstly, there is a great variety of types of the comical in U. Tazhikenova’s stories - irony, self-deprecating humour, absurd; secondly, a comical situation becomes a key plot development device and a means for creating laughter field of a text; thirdly, a comical detail used in depiction of modern realia or a character description performs a characterising function.