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The article deals with various types of dialogue of cultures in the songs by Veronika Dolina. The genre of “author song” (Russian and Soviet singer-songwriters’ works) is analysed as a special kind of dialogue with listeners as well as with history and culture. In particular, the author interprets and places in intertextual context three songs by Dolina: ‘The Aunt Told Me’, ‘On the Death of A. D. S.’ and ,The Cardinal Is Still Young’.
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In the first part of the article the author presents phenomena characteristic of current Russian social fiction, focusing on genres such as alternative history, futuro-historical fiction and alternative futurology. In the Russian literature of the last two decades, futurological forecasts draw attention. As part of social-political projects, they offer an alternative to the real history of Russia in the 20th century. The second part of the paper discusses the novel 2017 by Olga Slavnikova, considered one of the most interesting examples of alternative futurology.
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Structural and semantic study of contemporary oral tradition reveals in the individual studies about the personal experience of pregnancy and childbirth the phenomena of schematization and repetition. This can be seen as a key element in the analysis of modern natal narratives. Certain motives accumulate traditional folkloric and mythological semantics.
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The paper, drawing on the fundamental research by Barbara Olaszek, for the first time examines the problem of the place and importance of positivism in the life and works of the Pskov poet of the second half of the 19th century, Aleksandr Yakhontov. It is argued that social behaviour and literary activities of Yakhontov give a reason to recognize in him the type of the ‘average man’ in its most perfect manifestation; this is also evidenced by obituaries for Yakhontov, where he was unanimously presented as a continuator of ‘the best traditions of the generation of the forties.’ Moreover, Yakhontov’s stance is largely congruent with such concept of the type which positions him as ‘not ideological and cultural, but cultural and pragmatic’ (L. N. Sinyakova, “Art anthropology of Russian literature of 1840–1870-ies: the image of man in Russian literature in 1840–1870-ies,” Saarbruken 2011, pp. 269–270). This brings him close to positivism, basic principles of which Yakhontov incorporated both into his literary actions and into his life. Yakhontov’s varied activities – as a liberal landlord, an official, defender of the cause of public education, local activist seeking to defend the idea of ‘social consensus in conjunction with the principles of liberal economy’ (B. Olaszek, “Russian positivism: Ideas in the mirror of literature,” Łódź 2005, p. 288), an innovator in various forms of manor economy management – were all centred on categories crucial for positivism: the devotion to science and progress, belief in the ‘useful work,’ conviction about the legitimacy of ‘career’ and ‘success,’ along with high ‘ideal’ values. At the same time it is asserted that positivism was one of the many trends that Yakhontov followed by synthesizing them into a dynamic unity of his philosophy of life and literary creativity. He remained consistent in his search of the ‘golden mean,’ bringing together ‘tradition’ and ‘progress,’ ‘inherited ease’ and innovative ideas and transformations leading to social prosperity.
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The subject of the present analysis is the conceptualisation of the figure of the teacher in Ivan Vazov’s works. Evoking the epoch of Bulgarian National Revival and the 19th-century struggle against the Ottoman yoke, his books convey the idea of the teacher’s high mission as people’s enlightener, show the transformation of the teacher into a revolutionary, but also give examples of injustice suffered by the teacher from public authorities. In the paper, particular attention is paid to the image of the teacher in Vazov’s novel “Kazalarskaya tsaritsa” (“The Empress of Kazalar”), where the utilitarian idea of modest, persistent teaching work for the cultural development of the people blends with elements of utopian discourse. On the basis of these observations a conclusion is formulated about Vazov’s role in constructing the concept of the teacher in Bulgarian culture.
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The paper concerns Ivan Panayev’s 1847 novella “Rodstvenniki” (“Relatives”). Scholars agree that this text in many respects foreshadows what was to become constitutive for 19th-century Russian realist prose, as embodied by the writings of Ivan Turgenev. What appears to be Panayev’s distinguishing feature is his hypothesis of meaning – however reserved the writer remains – in the fact of embedding the fate of his heroine in the prose of life.
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The paper examines the interpretation of the gospel plot about Christ’s birth and the adoration of the Magi in the poems of Boris Pasternak and Iosif Brodsky. The poets emphasize the philosophical potential of the plot and reveal various personal meanings in it, which is conditioned by the passage of time and the changing historical contexts. While Pasternak focuses on the embedding of the Christmas plot in the national and the world culture, Brodsky problematizes the theme.
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The topic of this paper is discussed on the basis of two stories, ‘The Bog’ (‘Boloto,’ 1903) and ‘The Black Lightning’ (‘Chernaya molnia,’ 1913), and the short story cycle ‘The Laestrygonians’ (‘Listrigony’, 1911) by an eminent Russian writer of the turn of the 20th century, Aleksandr Kuprin. The stories bring images of the four basic natural elements – earth, fire, water and air. In particular, in ‘The Laestrygonians’ Kuprin shows the power of the sea, combined with the unimaginable force of the wind. The author presents man fighting a one-sided battle with the forces of nature. There are, as well, obvious analogies between the four elements and the elemental aspect of human nature. The stories under analysis not only depict the most important elements of the natural world, but also have particular social overtones.
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The subject of the present investigation is the novel by a contemporary author Vasily Dvortsov, enigmatically titled ‘Kainovo koleno’ (‘Cain’s Kin’). In the article it is shown how the writer projects the biblical story of Cain’s descendants onto the contemporary life in the Soviet Union and the new Russia, thereby depicting the spiritual and moral crisis of the Russian intelligentsia, first of all in the theatre milieu. The writer sees the causes of the spiritual and professional degradation of his protagonist, Sergei Rozanov, in the latter’s pursuit of worldly fame and in his non-observance of God’s commandments.
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