Abstract: The subject of the research is the historical 'turn' in the culture of our days. The beginning of a new understanding of history can be found in the researches of post-modernism theorists who wrote about the loss of the sense of history in fragmentary (post) cultural space. Shapinskaya raises a question about what causes the interest of modern human in the past and historical events in the form of myths or transformed in fantasies and narratives. One of the causes of this phenomenon is escapism that allows human to avoid the burden of everyday life by dwelling in fairy tales and fantasy worlds. The other important cause is expansion of digital technologies allowing to integrate historical-mythological images of virtual space. Shapinskaya describes several strategies of representation of the past, extreme examples are educational forms of representation of past events based on modern achievements and historical games that perform purely entertainment functions. Shapinskaya gives representational examples of such forms of presenting past events used in popular culture and concludes that there is a connection between the 'historical turn' and general characteristics of (post)Soviet culture such as fragmentation, changes in temporality, digitalization and gamification. At the same time, interest in the past is typical for the humankind in general and modern people are much concerned about preservation of cultural memory. From the point of view, searches for the grounds of human existence in the past are important for the development of identity of a modern human. 

Abstract: The subject of the research is the love narration line what is being viewed by the author of the article from the point of view of its escapistic features. The researcher focuses on kinds of romance fiction (narrative) as a harlequin novel and best-selling novel that created the grounds for the generation of other popular cultural genres such as cinema or TV series. As a result, today's pop culture creates space for the reification of the love narrative in different kinds. The author pays special attention to the peculiarities of the love narrative when it is taken to cyber space which creates new opportunities for escapism. The methodological basis of the research includes modern researches of escapism (by Anthony Giddens, E. Orlova, John Fiske, J. Storey, etc.) and analysis of literary forms from the point of view of their escapistic attribution (Georges Bataille, Ayn Rand) as well as researches of virtual reality (M. Poster and J. Murrey). The novelty of the research is caused by the fact that the love narrative is viewed from the point of view of its development from the harlequin novel of the XIXth century till modern 'cyber-drama'. This creates an opportunity for understanding new forms of culture, in particular, romantic narrative which acquires new forms while retaining its escapistic orientation. The love narrative represents a love concept and a dream about true love in all artistic and cultural environments. The love narrative remains powerful even during the period of drastic transformations of cultural forms in the virtual space which allows to talk about escapism of the love narrative as an essential feature of human life. 

Abstract: The aim of this research is to find out universal foundations of the archetypal plot interpreted in different cultural contexts and in different cultural forms. Having appealed to the medieval plot, the author of the article views modifications of the plot at different epochs, how it was conditioned by the environment and how the semantic core of the texs stayed unchanged. Based on the legend about Tristan and Isolde the author has traced changes in semantics of different cultural contexts. The author also analyzes interpretation strategies typical for different artistic presentations of the legend (opera, drama and artwork). In her research Shapinskaya uses the method of textual analysis, descriptive and comparative methods as well as elements of the semantic analysis. As a result of the research, Shapinaskaya demonstrates that the semantic core of the legend contains universal human values relevant for each historic cultural formation. The essence of this meaning has been shown in symbolism, with its negation of attachment to a time or a place. Comparing the Tristan and Isolde legend to the symbolist drama “Pelleas and Melisande” by Meterlinck and opera by Debussy allows to better understand human values contained in the legend which explains why interpretations of the legend have been so frequent in art.

Abstract: The subject of the present reserach is the problem of love and marriage as interrelated phenomena as well as their interpretation in Russian artistic texts and philosophical discourses. The rationale for choosing this topic is the deconstruction of traditional famly values in today's sociocutural situation when new forms of legitimized family relations which used to be rejected by society appear and the value of love as the basis of family is in question taking into account the processes of culture commercialization and individual atomization. The researchers have used the method of textual analysis and discourse-analysis to analyze representative texts from Russian fiction and philosophy. The authors have also used the diachronic method to research cultural phenomena. The scientific novelty of the research is caused by the fact that the authors study modern contradictions in interpersonal relations that possess the features of post-modernist culture and society from the point of view of similar crises in the Russian culture of the 19th century that were reflected in literary and philosophical discourses. The conclusion is made that inspite of cultural changes many of the aspects of love-family relations have universal meaning and are a part of human being's existence. Thus, the authors outline universal anthropological phenomena, love and family, that remain stable despite changes in cultural paradigms. 

Abstract: The subject of the present research article is the analysis of the books devoted to Russian mass culture and published by scientists and educators from Yaroslavl. These books complete each other as a monograph and a text book, which is very important considering today's approximation of academic and university sciences. In her research Shapinskaya examines various aspects of mass culture represented both in theories and cultural practices and analyzes the authors' contribution to the shere of concepts of Russian mass culture. The results of the research have been regarded to be a valuable contribution to the development of cultural research. To analyze the aforesaid books, the author has used the method of discourse analysis as well as the descriptive method when describing different aspects of the monograph and text book. Despite the fact that there is quite a number of academic works on mass culture, partiuclar aspects of mass culture have not been thoroughly studied. By analyzing these books written by Yaroslavl scientists, the author includes them in the cultural discourse. Special attention is paid to the importance of the authors' cultural experience reflected in these books. The authors give examples not only from the cultural life in general but also from the life of the Russian province where the distribution processes and the nature of mass culture have their peculiarities. 

Abstract: The subject of this research is the youth subcultures based on the commonality of tastes in music and the existing various forms of music activity. This problem is relevant to the modern world with neighboring globalization strategies and the effort of cultures to preserve identity. These processes in many cases are outspoken in creative practices, including subcultural. Namely through subcultural practices the youth finds the application to the strive for self-expression, which often cause rejection by the dominant culture. The main conclusion consists in the acknowledgment of the necessity of careful attention to the youth subcultural practices as an expression of aesthetic values and identification strategies of the modern youth. The authors note the importance of comparison of the subcultural practices with the basic aesthetic values, as well as of inclusion of the forms of subcultural activity into the more extensive sociocultural context for the purpose of encouragement of the creative skills and self-expression among the youth.

Abstract: The subject of this research is the artistic interpretation of the archetypal plot in various historical-cultural contexts. Based on the work of the medieval painter Bernt Notke “Danse Macabre” (Dance of Death) and oeuvre of the contemporary composer Thomas Adès, the author demonstrates the despite the restrictions imposed by the cultural codes of a specific era, a creative personality finds opportunities for self-expression, as well as revelation of the new essences of the archetypal plot. The author examines the peculiarities of artistic work in various historical-cultural contexts and forms of artistic expressivity. The material of this article is introduced into the academic discourse for the first time. Special attention is given to the problem of creative work during the “post-cultural” era, which is known for depletion of the creative impulse and exhaustion of culture. It is demonstrated that the creative beginning is an anthropologically universal category, which finds opportunities to express the eternal existential problems of a man, particularly perception of death, by means of artistic language. The conclusion is made that various types of interpretation of the archetypal plot contain the creative beginning, which in turn, represents the underlying human need.  

Abstract: The paper examines the problem of creative interpretation of an archetypal plot in different historical and cultural contexts. Basing on the work by a Mideaval painter Bernt Notke “Danse macabre” and on the work “Totentaz” by a modern composer Thomas Ades the author shows that, despite the limitations imposed by cultural codes of a period, creative personality finds possibilities both for self-expression and for disclosing new meanings of an archetypal plot. Special attention is paid to the problem of creativity in “post-cultural” epoch, which is characterized by diminishing of creative impulse and insistence of exhaustion of culture. It is shown in the paper that creativity is a universal anthropological category which finds possibilities to express by a new artistic language existential problems of mankind, including the attitude to death.With the help of textual analysis, descriptive and comparative methods the author conducts research of the subject on the basis of the material of different cultural forms. The material of the article is new to Russian academic discourse. Special attention is given to the problem of creativity in “post-cultural” epoch which is characterized by diminishing of creative impulse and declaration of exhaustion of culture. It has been shown that creativity is a universal anthropological category which finds possibilities to express eternal existential problems of people, in particular the attitude to death, in a new artistic language. The conclusion is made that different interpretations of an archetypal plot contain creative impulse expressing the deepest necessities of human beings.

Abstract: The paper examines the problem of creative interpretation of an archetypal plot in different historical and cultural contexts. Basing on the work by a Mideaval painter Bernt Notke “Danse macabre” and on the work “Totentaz” by a modern composer Thomas Ades the author shows that, despite the limitations imposed by cultural codes of a period, creative personality finds possibilities both for self-expression and for disclosing new meanings of an archetypal plot. Special attention is paid to the problem of creativity in “post-cultural” epoch, which is characterized by diminishing of creative impulse and insistence of exhaustion of culture. It is shown in the paper that creativity is a universal anthropological category which finds possibilities to express by a new artistic language existential problems of mankind, including the attitude to death.With the help of textual analysis, descriptive and comparative methods the author conducts research of the subject on the basis of the material of different cultural forms. The material of the article is new to Russian academic discourse. Special attention is given to the problem of creativity in “post-cultural” epoch which is characterized by diminishing of creative impulse and declaration of exhaustion of culture. It has been shown that creativity is a universal anthropological category which finds possibilities to express eternal existential problems of people, in particular the attitude to death, in a new artistic language. The conclusion is made that different interpretations of an archetypal plot contain creative impulse expressing the deepest necessities of human beings.

Abstract: The subject of the present research is the perception of the musical-poetic discourse of Romanticism by the representatives of contemporary culture. The dominating theme in works created by romantic poets and composers is Love/Suffering aestheticized in the process of art representation. Another theme associated with Love/Suffering is Nature that was subjectively described by romantics depending on emotions felt by an author or a main character. Special attention is paid to peculiarities of the musical-poetic discourse as part of the social discourse of that age in general. In her research the author of the article has used the discursive analysis of lyrics of Schubert's romances (Lieder) which, on the one hand, are being viewed as part of the socio-cultural environment of those times and, on the other hand, analyzed from the point of view of universal values and concepts that make them relevant for a modern man. The emphasis is also made on peculiarities of this genre because it combines both music and poetry, moreover, their combination allows to achieve the integrity both poetry and music strive for. The scientific novelty of the research is caused by the fact that the musical-poetic works of romantics are being discussed as part of the discursive practices of those times and, at the same time, as having particular semantic dominants that have a universal meaning. The theme of Love/Suffering is such a dominant typical for the most popular artworks of that genre.  In her article Shapinskaya also provides a number of examples of interpretations of musical-poetic forms by famous performers as well as their opinions and thoughts on the matter. The author also analyzes the reaction of the modern audience, both prepared ones and beginners, regarding the musical-poetic discursive practices of romantics. It is concluded that musical-poetic works of those times are very important for our contemporaries who long for aesthetic values and emotions of Romanticism in the age of the cult of consumption and domination of popular culture.