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• Ivan Goncharov’s Novel “A Common Story” and the Problem of “Petersburg Text”

  Irina Belyaeva

  Alexandra Senilova

  Views:

  321

  The article raises the question about the nature of the “Petersburg text” in the novel “A Common Story”, about its correlation with the general body of the “Petersburg text” of Russian literature and about its individual meanings in Goncharov’s prose. Various levels of the “Petersburg text” are considered: the expression of the category of the “inner state” of the hero, as well as culture and nature. It is concluded that Goncharov’s novel does not fully fit into the mainstream of the “Petersburg text” of Russian literature, but adopts the basic principles of its construction, and also has great potential for the semantic increments of the individual local Petersburg dictionary, which is determined by Goncharov’s irony and symbolization.

• One can only Understand a Journey by Embarking on it

  Antonina Nikonova

  Views:

  128

  The present article is devoted to a new field of research in humanities–the „hygiene of culture” and its leader – Olga Szűcs. The formation of an international researh community is a long and difficult procedure. In the course of the development of the theoretical and the empirical basis of the „hygiene of culture” owing to Olga Szűcs’s personal qualities,the scientific and ethnic norms of a collective of researchers working in different fields of humanities have been set. The results of the research have been published in collective monographs. The paper considers Olga Szűcs’s main scientific contributions to this field and the role she played in this scientific project.

• The Transformation of Spiritual Culture in the Context of the Formation of the "New Ethics" (Problem Statement)

  Andrey Chukurov

  Views:

  187

  The article is devoted to the analysis of the spiritual values that are being formed today and the reasons for the actualization of the New Ethics. Catastrophic dynamism leads to the elimination of the stable social groups as well as to the maximum diffuseness of personal boundaries. At the same time, the transformation of the communication system brings an extremely vulnerable virtual body to the forefront of cultural life. The new communication system, social atomization, the lack of understandable guidelines in the process of socialization and self-identification - all this turns the concept of “border” into a basic one for the New Ethics. However, the design of boundaries and self-defense mechanisms does not always lead to the expected positive results. We come to the conclusion, that an initially inadequate assessment of the aggressiveness of the environment forces a person to build the most aggressive defense mechanisms: the man himself is transformed into a source of toxicity, which in turn makes the environment even more toxic than it was originally.

• Coping with Trauma: Minority Art Practices in the Context of the New Sensuality of Metamodernism

  7 p.

  Andrei Chukurov

  Views:

  286

  The information age has provided new opportunities for the institutionalization and functioning of various subcultural movements including those uniting people by offering them an alternative mental state. The proposed material is analyzed as an example of these associations. The article provides a brief analysis of the historical dynamics of the study of minority art practices and of their role and significance at present. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of Art Brut. Today minority art practices find their new meaning also in the context of the new sensuality of metamodernism, which is based on co-creation. We believe that the
  discourse of outsider art fosters a tolerant consciousness, raising issues of stigma, norm, deviation and internal liberation.

• Culture and Normative Sociable Systems in a Period of Crisis: Issues of Theory and Practice

  Evgeniya Yuzhina

  Elizaveta Zatsepa

  Views:

  126

  This article is devoted to the analysis of topical questions of the development of culture and normative sociable systems in a period of crisis. People faced new concept of reality in the third decade of 21st century. In the era of a brittle, anxious, nonlinear, incomprehensible world the question of responsibility for the state of culture and normative sociable systems is most acute. As representatives of culture, education and science, researchers can create the space of clean, healthy, favorable opportunities for  the development in the post crisis period.

• The Chaos of Fragments, the Fragments of Chaos The Last Prosaic Work of M. Yu. Lermontov: Shtoss

  Andrea Posta

  Views:

  162

  The unfinished short story, Shtoss received little attention from critics, despite of the fact that it is actually the last prosaic text written by M. Yu. Lermontov. It has become somewhat forgotten because it was interpreted as nothing more than a literary joke the young poet played on his friends in St. Petersburg a few months before his tragic death. This article is a narratological analysis of the short story Shtoss based on the terminology used by Gerard Genette and Boris Uspensky. It also aims to interpret the possible function of fragmentation, absence and uncertainty in the short story.

• Between Cyborg and Larva: A Vicious Circle That Human Beings Experience in the Post-humanist Era

  8 p.

  Andrey Chukurov

  Views:

  213

  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.

• “Hungarian Subject Matter” in Chekhov (The Short Story The Unnecessary Victory)

  Tatyana Ilyuhina

  Views:

  186

  The paper considers “The unnecessary victory” as one of the notable works of the earliest stage of Chekhov’s creativity. The Hungarian theme of the story, inspired by the novels of Mór Jókai translated into Russian, and its plot, related to the traditions of the European career novel, address a wide audience. The young writer plays along with this reader with exotic narrative elements and delineates the difference between serious and marginal literature. This hoax, together with other skits of those years, reveals the young writer’s view of literary pursuits as an exciting game in which the main expectation is to be truthful and graceful. The same goals, according to Chekhov, characterize literature in general, regardless of the field of its competence and of the readership coverage.