The present article is dedicated to the etymology of the Hungarian noun kullancs ”клещ (lat. Ixodes ricinus)”. The Slavic origin of the word was assumed in the 19th century, however this idea was rejected in the 20th century owing to phonetic reseasons. After a short overview of the history of the research of this word, arguments are lined up in favour of the fact that the phonetic difficulties can be ignored or at least taken as irrelevant when comparing the Hungarian word  kullancs with its Slavic equivalents. Therefore, it is inevitable to raise the question of its Slavic origin again.

The author aims to reconstruct the phonetic, morphological, semantic and chronological
peculiarities of three pairs of Mari words (wočko and pečke ‘barrel’, kaďilä and ká·δәn ‘censer’,
moľo and mŭľo ‘young fish’) borrowed from Russian dialects. She comes to the conclusion
that they can compose pairs as direct and indirect borrowings, different derivational
varieties of the same verbal stem or the phonetically resembling Mari representations of two
etymologically different Russian dialectal words.

According to traditional grammars, Russian does not contain expletive subjects. However,
investigations in the generative framework suggest, that the pronoun это with certain
predicates can be perceived as an expletive subject. The present article gives a short overview
of previous investigations and aims at providing a unified analysis of constructions with -o
final adverbial predicates or with the verbs бывать and нравиться.

The article deals with the question of how Turgenev’s work is perceived by the modern
reader. There are identified aspects related to the complexity of understanding the writer’s
texts, which are largely due to stereotypes that have developed in the culture of perception,
and are also features of his poetics. There are different ways of new interpretations of Turgenev’s
famous texts – those of the novels “Fathers and Sons” and “The Noble Nest”. In “Fathers
and Sons” the idea of reconciliation with contradictions is emphasized, and ‘The Noble’s
Nest” is considered a successful social project in literature. The article briefly highlights
the main stages of Turgenev’s popularizing Russian culture in the West.

Recently, the political climate in Russia has caused the question of censorship to become
an increasingly relevant issue, the history of which is necessary to explore and understand.
The prevailing view regarding censorship is that it is a tool used to suppress the freedom of
speech by stifling the writer’s thoughts. However, there were some eminent censors such as
the poet Fyodor Tyutchev and the writer Ivan Goncharov. In this regard, it has become commont
to consider censorship isolated from any moral categories and interpret g it only as a
professional activity. In this context, the work of the censor Nikolai Ratynsky is of particular
interest to us. Until now, little has been published on his influence as a censor on the writers
of his time on the high professional level of his work in this capacity. Most of the corrections
Ratynsky made were valid and justified by the political situation in the Russian Empire. He
himself is further proof that, along with Tyutchev and Goncharov, there were honorable and
qualified men among the censors of the time. All this allows us to claim that it is necessary
to objectively consider and study the work of censors and ignor preconceptions and stereotypes
that are usually associated with the word censor.

In terms of historical poetics and intertextuality, parallels are drawn between "Old Woman"
by D. Harms, "Vij" by N. Gogol and "Crime and Punishment" by F. Dostoevsky. As far as the
three authors are concerned, their common features are revealed, together with the transformation
of the motives of the ugly infernal old woman, which are depicted in the context of
mythopoetics, historiosophy and social history by the three authors. Concerning the texts produced
by their followers the term “post-text” is introduced, which is meant to include the dialogical
connotations of literary evolution. The role of “vertex composition” (a term coined by
V.M. Zhirmunsky) in works of Modernism/ Avant-garde is also touched upon.

In the paper a difference is made between the mysterious and the enigmatic as fundamentally
different narrative and genre strategies. The first is typical of the so-called novelmystery
or the novel-myth, charcterized by the concept of impossible rational comprehension
of the mystery explained by the plot. The second represents a vast field of criminal literature,
where the plot is dependent on a riddle that has a pre-given answer. The differences between
these two types of novels are manifested at all the main levels of poetics, especially in the
specific traits of the subject-oriented organization. However, the paper shows that the general
strategy of the mysterious is also implemented through different moods in different criminal
genres such as classic detective stories, the police novel, the “adventurous investigation”, and
the “victim-centered investigation”. Thus, we can conclude that the mystery and the riddle
can reassemble genre constructive strategies not minus then narrative.

The goal of the paper is to analyze and depict the essays written by Polish contemporary
author Andrzej Stasiuk in the wider context of writing strategies. The essays were collected
in Beskidy and World Chronicles (2018). The paper also deals with Stasiuk's "workshop
comments" about the art of writing and is concerned with author's attitude to changes in social,
cultural and political life. Stasiuk searches for harmony and calmness. What he writes
about is not topicalities but universal themes: nature, philosophy of living, everyday life.
All that he can see in mass media is very strange and outlandish for him, while he looks for
eternal values, describing chaos in modern world.

The article provides a short summary of the philosophical and theological views of Damaskin Semenov-Rudnev, an 18th century Russian clerical leader, on the basis of his philosophical theses and sermons. The article also shows that his theology served as a means for consolidating the imperial power of Catherine II.

The present paper deals with the problem of how cultural meanings are perceived in S. L.
Frank’s social theory. His conception lies between two main paths of sociological thought:
Durkheim’s cognition of social facts as objective phenomena on the one hand, and Weber’s
cognition of subjective meanings of personal actions, on the other. In his theory Frank concentrates
on the concept of objective forming idea-force, which resembles the concept of
social fact in its quality of exerting pressure on individual consciousness and volition, but it
should be brought into harmony with interpretive methodology. In Frank’s view social ideas
are regarded as a force forming social relations and therefore lie in the foundation of social
institutions. These are, for example, ideas of state, of family, of friendship and so on. Social
ideas are connected with the consciousness of the individual by their moral force. That is
why such ideas are accepted by the individual at the emotional level of his spiritual life,
because they believe that these ideas are true and organize their meanings and activities according
to them. Thus social meanings of moral good or evil in human relations and in the
social structure arise. At the same time they signify the emergence of sacred phenomena in
society. Human beings, according the Frank’s theory, have an internal need to be possessed
by the sacred senses that give them the feeling of the participation in the implementation of
the transcendent goals. Society is an objective living idea which provides sacred meanings
for the individual. On the whole, a society’s life is formed by the historically specific complex
of ideas that are freely accepted or rejected by individuals and determine their feelings and
behavior. There is no contradiction between personal freedom, creativity and social structure
in S. Frank’s theory. The author of the present paperfinds similarities between S.Frank’s ideas
and the fundamentals of cultural sociology.

The authors of the article argue that contemporary cultural policy discourse is in the focus
of attention of scientific communities, social and political organizations and government institutions.
It represents a sort of symbolic struggle and nominations and has necessitated a
new approach to cultural policy structuring. The article shows that this necessity is demonstrated
by the development of cooperation between Russia and Hungary in terms of cultural
sectors and cultural heritage. Expert communities and non-governmental organizations are
becoming significant elements in the structure of cultural policy subjects. The association
“For Hungarian-Russian cooperation named after Leo Tolstoy” has become such a key issue.
The authors of this article attempt to highlight the most essential contemporary issues in
the sphere of cultural policy in general and in relation of two separate countries – Russia and
Hungary – through the scientific project “Hygiene of culture”.

The present study is concerned with the Hungarian theatre system. In the first part general
questions connected with the existing model of theatrical activity are treated. This is
followed by an analytical review of modern Hungarian cultural legislation, in which special
attention is paid to the structure and content of Law XCIX / 2008 “On the support and rules
of employment in organizations of performing arts”. Then all the existing present-day models
of direct and indirect financial support of theatrical organizations are considered. Since the
Hungarian and Russian theatre systems have some similar characteristics, the final part is
devoted to possible partial adoption of Hungarian experience with a view to developing the
institutions for the additional funding of Russian theatres.

The article reveals the reasons for and specific features of the transition to the posthumanist
era. The author of the study reviews the criticism of classical humanism and analyzes
the relationship between the concepts of "trans-humanism" and "post-humanism." In a
situation in which a permanent identity is impossible and people move to a “current” “unstable”
identity, the Imaginary becomes the main guideline for the self-identification process.
Human beings are unable to cope with the challenges of our time and are aware of their own
inferiority. That is why they are trying to improve themselves through the available body
modifications. However, this process gives them a new panic attack over the potential loss
of control over the body. Analyzing these processes, the author turns to the most controversial
and specific phenomenon of popular culture – "body horror". This genre reveals the deep
layers of consciousness, fears and insecurity of human beings in the post-humanist era.