Vol 25, No 4 (2020)

The article puts forward a hypothesis about the existence of the goddess of the ancient Slavs Slava in the “Lay of Igor’s Host”. Some “dark places” have been translated. When analyzing the work, a search for text parallels was used. Revealed and substantiated the relationship between separate Old Russian and Church Slavonic vocabulary. The semantic shades of the words “mind”, “heart”, “time”, “path”, contained in “dark places” are considered. An attempt was made to understand the peculiarities of the manifestation of space-time forms in the “Lay of Igor’s Host”. The coexistence of the present and the past tense in “The Lay of Igor’s Campaign” is explained by the timeless forms of being, the recognition by the ancient Russian scribe of two spaces. The “duality” in “The Lay of Igor’s Host” is manifested in the use of ancient pagan images, “old words” and “epics of this time”. The Church Slavonic word, dating back to the text of the Bible, contains many semantic shades, the explanation of which can reveal the depth and richness of the Old Russian text. The expressions that go back to the theme of Christianity are analyzed. At the end of the work, the emerging joyful attitude of the author of “The Lay of Igor’s Host” to the hero who destroyed his army and escaped from captivity is regarded as Christian. Willfulness and the fulfillment of God’s will are present in the character of Prince Igor, in his actions. Christian images in “The Lay of Igor’s Host” and the author’s kind attitude to the defeated prince tell the reader about the new established Christian world, which, however, is in a difficult relationship with the world of former words, ancient pagan Slavic images.

The specificity of the heading-final complex of Anna Akhmatova’s “Poem without a Hero” (“Poema bez geroya”) is based on the fact that the semantics of the components included in it refers to several sources at once, and allusions to the works of English romantics, authors of poems, play the most important role among the components included in the poem's frame, and above all to J.G. Byron. The relevance of the undertaken research is due to the application of an integrated approach to the analysis of the elements of the frame text “Poem without a Hero”: not only primary, but also secondary and tertiary allusions, playing with the reader’s perception and his knowledge of predecessor texts are considered. The purpose of the study is to identify the “English trace” in “Poem without a Hero” and the ways of its manifestation through the heading-final complex. The authors trace the genealogy of “Poem without a Hero” from Byron to Pushkin and to the nominally absent, but implicitly animated, hero of Akhmatova’s poem. Research objectives are defined as the study of the framework text as an essential element of the poem, identification of the features of the frame text and its intertextual links, comparison of epigraphs in the poem with notes, comments and critical articles of the author. The authors show that the poet often “hides” Byronic allusions in the reception from Pushkin’s poems (mainly “Eugene Onegin”), placing them in the heading-final complex. The article proves that this technique is used by Akhmatova to build the genre genealogy of her own poem, which goes back to the tradition of English romantic poems, mediated by the tradition of A. Pushkin. The reason for turning to this tradition, according to the authors, lies in the tragic personal and epoch-making collisions, the genre interpretation of which could become the transformed Akhmatova canon of the romantic poem, the founder of which was Lord Byron.

In this article, the translingual text in the aspect of its interconnection with the meaning-generating context of classical Russian literature is analyzed. The literary translingualism is defined as the phenomenon of writers who create texts in more than one language or in a language other than their primary one. This is an urgent problem for modern literary criticism, requiring an interdisciplinary approach to its study. Within the framework of translingualism theory, as the text is comprehended not only as a product of speech activity subjected to structural preparation. It turns into a zone of “cross-pollination” with multiple meanings, becomes a representative of cultures in their contamination, mutual repulsion, symbiosis, submission, adaptation. Intercultural communication within the literary text also affects the level of the intertext: the intertextual paradigm elements of various complexity (from selected intexts, unmodified reminiscences to expanded propositions) in a translingual text are often subject to the process of so-called intertextual acculturation, in which the intext is filled with ethnospecific linguistic and literary content. The material for the study is the literary cycle “Dreams of the Damned” (“Sny okayannykh”) by the modern Kazakhstan writer A. Zhaksylykov. Some of the intertextual echoes of the cycle with canonical texts of classical Russian literature (works by Pushkin, Yesenin, Dostoevsky, etc.) are analyzed in order to trace the adaptation process of its key motives (the motive of “flight from people”, the motive of wandering, the motive of the desert, the motive of the black man, etc.) to the Kazakh linguocultural and aesthetic reality. Using methods such as comparative analysis, linguopoetic commenting, intertextual analysis, the conclusion is made that an appeal to the literary works of the acquired language for a translingual author is necessary: they constitute his cognitive base, but at the same time undergo certain linguo-specific transformations, the result of which is generation of new images of the world.

Various forms of transition in literature and art of the turn of 19th and 20th centuries haven’t been explored enough. The use of the concept of “neo” allows to clarify the ideas of neo-romanticism that have developed in modern science. The article analyzes the novel heritage of the Belgian writer Rodenbach as a transitional phenomenon that brings together the writer's tetralogy with romanticism, Parnassus and symbolist French poetry; as well as phenomenon that organically includes Belgian literature in the European space of intertextuality. It is proved that addressing the problems of art, the artist-creator, the “beautiful soul”, connects Rodenbach with the traditions of Yen’s romanticism, at a new stage of development of literature generates a transformation of the myth of romanticism. The ideal of art is not subject to devaluation, but the artist, who lives in society, always fails. Indulging in earthly passion, coming into conflict with society and himself, he doesn’t keep faith in his beliefs. Real life creates illusions and self-deception, leading the character to disaster. Rodenbach uses a romantic model of mythologization, saturating it with symbolic allusions and signs, on the eve of modernism creates a neo-romantic novel synthesis.

Since the 19th century European literary tradition indisputably influenced the development of Indian literature. Indian intellectuals, familiarizing particularly with the inheritance of European modernism, follow works of modernist writers, accept their key themes and motifs, thereby bring new literary devices and images into Indian literature. One of the main authors, whose novels have made a deep impact on the development of Hindi literature, is Franz Kafka. The influence of his works is extremely visible across India. Indian writers create Kafkaesque worlds and protagonists in their own novels and stories. One of Hindi novelists, who refers to Franz Kafka’s motifs, is Kunwar Narain. In Indological studies his name is associated with poetry. However, he is not only a representative of New Hindi poetry (Naī Kavitā), but a novelist also. The article is focused on Franz Kafka’s influence on Indian writer’s fiction. It is determined in what period and in which novels Kunwar Narain uses kafkaesque motifs. The perception of Kafka’s worldview concept in Kunwar Narain’s novels is studied. It is an attempt to find out what new Indian prose-writer brings to a kafkaesque picture of world. It is also analyzed, in what Indian literary material and in what Indian literary tradition imagery he applies the images of Kafka’s stories.

The article explores one of the central problems of Ferdowsi “Shahnāma” (10th century) studies, e.g. its’ sources. In modern Iranian studies coexist different points of view and continues a discussion between the disciples of the theory of Ferdowsi’s use of prose sources and those who consider the poet rather a brilliant compiler and innovator, who transformed epic tales about kings and heroes (folklore oral poetry in the middle Persian language) into the new Persian language (dari). The discovery and accumulation of philological arguments indicating that the middle Persian epic poetry is “hidden” in the poem under the cover of the new Persian verse belongs to the current problems of “Shahnāma studies”, since this poetry was not recorded and original texts have not survived till nowadays. The arguments of supporters of both points of are briefly presented. To test the theory about the possible reliance of the Ferdowsi epic on the oral poetic tradition, a certain number of lines of the poem containing the name “Ahriman” were selected and analyzed using the Parry - Lord oral theory, and as a result the formulaic rhyme was discovered. The stability of rhymes and formulaic expressions in which the word “Ahriman” occurs in the poem allows to conclude that, apparently, there was an oral tradition of describing the Evil Spirit, dating back to the times of Ancient Iran and the creation of the Avesta, which survived until the time of Ferdowsi. This analysis supports the idea that Ferdowsi’s epic is based on the oral poetic tradition.

This article deals with features of Soviet propaganda activities in the Cold War period in Thailand. After abrupt changes of the former allies’ foreign policy, the Soviet Union after the Great Patriotic War dramatically reviewed and corrected its international propaganda work concept. The main role of this new confrontation between ideological camps belonged to the media, which were aimed at international audience, and systematically implemented their state policy on the informational and psychological front. From the USSR side, this role was fulfilled by the Soviet Information Bureau (Sovinformburo, later - Novosty Press Agensy, APN). After the Second World War the USSR began influencing the foreign policy of Thailand. This kind of work was organized in the condition of Thai anticommunist propaganda. In the article the implementation process of Soviet propaganda activities and features of the Soviet propaganda in complicated circumstances in Thailand and its neighbors, based on archive materials, is considered. During this research also analyzed the reports of local office of Sovinformburo (APN) in Thailand; activities of the Soviet media, featured in the local Soviet media publications in Thailand such as the local version of the “Soviet Union” magazine, pamphlets of Sovinformburo (APN); legal documents from the Soviet side (resolutions of the USSR’s People’s Commissars related to the foreign propaganda activities), and from Thailand side (acts, resolutions and transcripts of the Royal Thai Government’s meetings). The academic works related to Soviet propaganda activities in Russian, Thai and English languages are studied. It is found out that innovations and strategies of the Soviet propaganda and counterpropaganda changed along with the development of diplomatic relations with Thailand. Regime changes and domestic policy development significantly affected the work of Sovinformburo (APN.) In the conclusion, the implementation of Soviet propaganda in Thailand depended on both domestic and international factors, impacting the position of Thailand on the international arena and the stability of the authority. Implementation of Soviet propaganda in various periods took place along the complicated condition of political life in Thailand and ideological confrontation of these political systems.

In modern Russia, the electoral PR practices make up a significant share in the national public relations structure but have not been systematically studied until now. The directions of communication activities, the object-subject area, as well as the problems of genesis, which is the basis of research in each subject area, have not been systematically studied yet. The research problem is determined by the lack of sufficient novelty and specificity of empirical material, the lack of significant theoretical and methodological foundations and concepts. For the first time in the Russian scientific discourse, the paper presents the definition of electoral PR as a communication process and determines the features of its genesis from the late 1980s to 2014 in the Russian public relations formation context. On the basis of the structural-functional and model approaches, the characteristics, structure, models, messages, functions, and parameters of electoral PR institutionalization are fixed. For the first time, the paper presents the elements, the new subjects of the electoral PR communication models in the Russian Federation. The proposed author's PR periodization methodology is relevant for the electoral public relations periodization as well. The legal regulation of the electoral process as one of the basic conditions for the transformation and periodization of electoral PR is mentioned. The revealed characteristics of the genesis of Russian electoral PR make it possible to record the incompleteness of the process of its institutionalization by the mid-2010s. The presented methodological grounds for studying elective public relations seem to be basic for further research in this area.

The analysis of the draft law “On Media” No. 2693, submitted for consideration by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in December 2019. The official reason for its development was the lack of working mechanisms to ensure information security and protection of the national media space of Ukraine in a hybrid war. The main task of our study is an attempt to determine the place of the bill in the reformed system of legal regulation of the media in Ukraine, from a position neutral to the process of the scientific community. (The following draft law “On Misinformation”, which is also under consideration by the Verkhovna Rada, speaks in favor of a systematic policy of reforms in the media sector of Ukraine). To this end, a detailed content analysis was conducted, which showed that the potentially ambiguous wording of the adopted document at the stage of its enforcement leaves the regulatory authorities free to interpret them depending on the interests of the parties, rather than on the letter of the law. The key to understanding the risks associated with its entry into force is the section on the National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council of Ukraine, which will have jurisdiction over all aspects of the country's media structures, including economic ones. Thus, the proposed material may be of interest and be considered as a contribution to the development of criteria for a comprehensive scientific analysis of the legislation governing media structures, while the need for the participation of the scientific community in the development of such documents and public discussion at the stage of their preparation is obvious.

Article analyzes the media market of Georgia, particularly, the main preferences of the audience in the field of traditional and new media. The review is relevant, since the National Statistics Agency of Georgia has not yet conducted extensive research in the field of media. There are some separated reports and ratings, however, they are conducted by international funds. Thus, they do not study the media market in Georgia systematically, so these reports are partial and inferior. Purpose of the study was to identify the main changes in the field of media consumption in Georgia in the following categories: print, television, radio and new media. The transformation of the media environment served as the main hypothesis of the study. The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the digitalization of Georgian media, exacerbating the crisis in the print sector and making Internet sites more attractive for large holdings and independent authors in the face of an economic downturn in the media market and optimization. To identify the data, the methods of content analysis, observation and sociological survey were used. Particular attention is paid to the trends that have emerged in the media market in Georgia since the beginning of the pandemic - the main dynamic changes in the Georgian segment of Facebook, the development of the cartoon genre and the preferences of users of social networks. The study covered a number of factors affecting media consumption in Georgia: the age of information consumers, their geographic and social position, national mentality, and the level of religiosity. The results of the study demonstrate a high degree of mediatization of religion in Georgia, manifested in the fact that the church has become an opinion leader, determining the point of view of the majority regarding the topic of the coronavirus pandemic. According to the results of the conducted survey, the population of Georgia began to watch TV and radio more often. The level of interest in social networks has also increased - in particular, in blogs, both in Georgian and in Russian.