Vol 25, No 1 (2020)

The article is devoted to the analysis of the problem of identification of semiotic components of the author's neo-myth about the “humanized Satan” in L. Andreev's novel “The Diary of Satan” in the system of analysis of interdisciplinary metamorphic model by the tools of existential method. The novelty of this research is determined by the analysis of the semiotic component of the concepts of “Man - Satan” in the context of the concept of “living ontolo- gical corporeality” in the system of interdisciplinary metamorphic model of Zaltman. The object of the research was the linguistic and cultural concepts of “Man - Satan” as the key symbols of the metamorphic model of “humanized Satan”, reflecting the most important categories and settings of the anthropological and religious-philosophical concept of the writer.

The article deals with modern Russian ironic poetic miniatures; they are complex formations containing several levels of subject self-representation. Two types of such texts have been analyzed - aphoristic poetry and ironic internet miniatures. They are very popular and make a new genre of net discourse in the Russian sector of the Internet (creatives). The main technical device of such texts creation is paradoxical contamination of contradictions. Such poems are saturated with allusions and parodies. Self-identification in such texts is inseparably connected with critical evaluation of human opportunities limitation, absurdity of existence and imperfection of the world.

The article is devoted to the problem of historicism in the texts of the Leningrad unofficial poet and critic Viktor Krivulin. The novelty of the study is an attempt to consider the poetic historiosophy of Krivulin in the context of the “religious revival” of the 1970s in the USSR. This approach allows us not only to determine the specifics of the images of time in the works of Krivulin, but also to outline the contours of the intellectual history of Soviet unofficial culture. Special attention is paid to eschatological motives in Krivulin's works, as well as to the opposition of the “horizontal” and “vertical” types of time. Everyday reality, with its measured course of events subordinated to the chronological order, is overcome in Krivulin's texts by entering the sacred sphere of culture, where creative dialogue with literary predecessors is endowed with a special value status. It was cultural co-creation that allowed the unofficial poet to go beyond the static late Soviet experience and rediscover his identity. The images of time in Krivulin's texts are associated with Christian eschatology, which assumes the finality of historical existence. This was most clearly manifested in the transformation of the image of Leningrad, which appeared in the works of Krivulin as a “ghost town”, in which history stopped.

Outlaw is one of the archetypes in world literature. Honghuzi is the eastern version of the image of the outlaw. As his counterpart in European literature, he expressed the ambiguity, the ambivalence of human nature. Unlike the characters of F. Schiller, A.S. Pushkin and others, the image of Honghuzi is the least marked by romantic features. In the prose of the Russian emigrant writers of the Harbin diaspora, Honghuzi expresses the Chinese mentality; the specifics of orientalism are projected onto him, and at the same time its image is extremely objective, which primarily characterizes the prose of P.V. Shkurkin - the author of the ethnographic prose about the outlaws of the border zone of the Russian Far East, Manchuria, Korea and Mongolia. The context consists of the works by Shi Naian, Pushkin, Schiller, English folklore, etc. Comparative analysis allows us to identify the individual features of the artistic perception of the Honghuzi's activities by Shkurkin. It is proved that the interpretation of Honghuzi by Shkurkin is close to the image of the robber in Chinese, English, German literature, along with Russian literature of the XIX-XX centuries.

The motive and image o “silence” in M.S. Petrovykh’s lyrics is connected with her poetic worldview, understanding of the creative nature and social reality. Image “silence” defines the lyrical plot of the conceptual poem “One thing I want to say to poets...”. The poem reveals the type of creative and life behavior that the author professes. One the basis of some biographical facts of M. Petrovykh, which are confirmed in verse, the lexical and semantic level of poems in which the image and motive “silence” are presented is analyzed in this paper. “Silence” was the theme not only of M. Petrovykh, A. Akhmatova, but also of other writers of the era of the 1930s and 1950s, which is due to the atmosphere of the time. External and internal censorship dictated the style of behavior. But the poet must get to the hard core of what is happening and recreate the true reality, write the truth. The meaning of “keep silence to poetry” is precisely this. This is not just an aphorism, but the meaning of genuine creativity.

The article is devoted to the so-called “Smirdin period” in the development of the journal “Biblioteka dlya Chteniya” (“Library for reading”) (XIX century). This is a unique periodical that attracted the attention of many readers: in the first year of the existence of the “Library for Reading,” its circulation reached a colossal figure for that time of five thousand copies, then it reached seven thousand. At the same time, there were many reproaches that the magazine had chosen a commercial direction, preferring to print superficial, mediocre literary works in the interests of generating income. Publishers of the “Library for Reading” were the first among their colleagues to understand that journalism cannot remain aloof from the formation of capitalist relations, and the work of a journalist, as well as a writer, must be well paid. They paid tribute to the role of material incentive in the creative process, which in many respects predetermined the success of the magazine, its longevity.

This article looks at the issue of constructing the image of Russia in the French quality press (the newspapers Le Figaro, Le Monde, Le Parisien and the magazines Le Point, Le Nouvel Observateur, Paris Match). The content and discourse analysis of their publications has revealed the positive dynamics of the image associated with the level of organisation of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, the hospitality of Russians, the improved infrastructure and the festive atmosphere in Moscow. French journalists are abandoning the tactics of one-side reporting offering the reader a multifaceted view of what is happening in Russia. Their publications are less tendentious and subjective. Nevertheless, it is difficult to imagine that “one month of football” can radically change the negative image that had been formed over the years. That image is rather connected with more complex issues, such as politics, democratic values and the mindset.

This article is devoted to the study of the functional features of the media space in Kazakhstan under the rapidly changing globalization trends and information confrontation of world powers. Since gaining independence, Kazakhstan is striving to create its own independent information space. The process of information space formation in the country has several traits, such as low competitiveness of national news agencies, slow development of the regulatory and legal framework in the field of information security, high politicization, including the language issue. These features occurred due to the heterogeneous language environment, the problems of the formation of national independent news agencies, the challenges of globalization, the most pressing of which is the growing influence of global media. In this article, authors touch upon the transition of Kazakhstan to the Latin alphabet, as well as the views of Western, Russian and Kazakhstan researchers on the current state of the media landscape of Kazakhstan. Authors justify the need to work out ways to minimize external information impact on the media landscape of Kazakhstan that is still undergoing media transformation processes.

The review analyzes a new monograph about the work of Boris Pilnyak, in which the prose of the famous Russian writer is considered from the standpoint of the aesthetics of expressionism. The authors of the review evaluates the scientific methodology of the monograph, focuses on the issues of author's strategy, genre modifications, specifics and forms of expression of the author's consciousness. Considering the structure of the book, the reviewer notes the harmony and strict reasonableness of the author's concept, justifies the theoretical significance of the monograph for the consideration of the aesthetics of expressionism in the prose of B. Pilnyak.