Abstract: The author considers history of distribution of surrealistic views in art, literature and the humanities at first in Europe, and then in America where there were the special conditions complicating assimilation of the European theories. The surrealism, though was the cleaning movement opposing the European intellectual tradition, actually from it was inseparable. Exposing Cartesian cliches and isolation of the French culture, poets from André Breton's environment as a matter of fact built a pantheon to intellectuals of all nations.In America the situation was another. Till thirtieth years there was no alloy of art and social theories. Special questions of art and policy which solution surrealists have bravely addressed couldn't be put successfully in America till an era of the Great depression. When in the mid-thirties surrealists have faced prompt decline of Europe and distribution of fascism, they, a handful of excentric individuals, still battled against society. Americans, on the contrary, just assimilated with society and tried to change it from within. Persistent search of viable tradition was the main constant subject of publications of that time. Though surrealists in words rejected the past, they constantly looked for in it rudiments of new ideas, the basis necessary for any theory.

Abstract: Salman Akhtar is the American psychoanalyst, the winner of numerous scientific awards and the author of more than three hundred scientific publications. In his book "Matters of Life and Death", he, relaying on the teaching of Sigmund Freud about the two "basic instincts" and complementing later studies of other well-known psychoanalysts, considers human life as consisting of the two main components, life and death, from the point of view of their opposition and continuity. Viewing happiness as one of the basic life-related concepts, the author clarifies its meaning in the works of different authors. Combining the different scientific views on happiness, the author divides the latter into four categories: pleasure, joy, ecstasy and satisfaction by tracing their ontological roots, metapsychological correlates, as well as components associated with personal experience. In the present book the author offers a brief review of psychoanalytical researches on the problem of happiness. Starting from Freud's views, he proceeds to analyzing different psychoanalytical concepts of happiness and then offers his own view on the phenomena that relate to happiness. Based on the results of various researches and his own observations, the author defines the four types of happiness (pleasure, joy, ecstasy and satisfaction), describes their nature, specific features and in conclusion points out the spheres calling for further investigations. 

Abstract: Venice is one of the most mysterious cities in Italy. People living in Venice do not only have a different dialect but even think differently than other Italians. Perhaps the roots of this phenomenon are in the incredibly complicated and rich history of their homeland. Peter Ackroyd describes different aspects of the city life not only as a incurable romantic but also as a documentalist who wants to put the historical record straight. 

Abstract: The article is based on the lecture course called 'Masters of European Prose' that was prepared for students of Cornell University. These lectures describe Vladimir Nabokov as a thoughtful, penetrating and, at the same time, biased researcher who taught his audience a wonderful lesson of 'thorough reading' when a reader pays special attention at details and style of writing of the great authors. Based on the example of a well-known novel 'Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde', Vladimir Nabokov analyzes a wonderful style and writing methods used by Stevenson to make his fantastic story sound rather true and real. Special attention is paid at the problem of difficult relations between the Good and the Evil, their struggle and interaction.

Abstract: In his lectures before the Harvard audience in 1951-1952, Vladimir Nabokov attempts to unveil the true work of Servantes, stripping it of sanctimonious nonsense that turned a harsh narrative into an easygoing tale about appearance versus reality, which layered on the novel due to centuries of misinterpretation. In truth, Don Quixote remains a traditional piece of old Spanish literature, depicting cruelty towards an old man that acts like a child in his senile dementia. This book was written in an age when the sick and the crippled  were laughed at, when heretics were burned alive in public, when mercy and kindness were seemingly extinguished forever. In time, however, the world saw the novel in another light. The character that started off as a target for ridicule, became a saint over the centuries.

Abstract: The true meaning of psychotherapy becomes evident only at the end of the psychotherapeutical process when a psychoanalyst turns from a helping Ego into a helping reality. Reality is not only the enemy to an individual, as it may seem to a neurotic personality at first. It is also a big help to Ego. When a usual person learns how to use the reality in the course of the therapy, a neurotic personality can learn how to use the reality only in the course of psychotherapeutical relations. Typical features of neurosisi include not only the feeling of unsatisfaction with the reaity but also a deliberate escape from natural cure. In modern psychoanalysis psychotherapy can only struggle for a new attitude towards it so that we can review our past and reach a new balance begween us and the reality. 

Abstract: Lacan had a quite unusual style of work for a psychiatrist. From the very beginning he intended to play the role of the unconscious in conversation. He did not bother a patient by his questions. But if Lacan did ask questions, he did not try to make a diagnosis by his questions. His questions were mostly related to the process of psychotherapy. Those questions were an attempt to recode a patient's speech but did not discover the code itself. Even if Lacan accidentally discovered the code, it still remained a mysterious code. Lacan's style cut across with the hospital traditions but Lacan still treated the classical style of psychotherapy with much respect.