Abstract: The object of the study is “silent books” – books without text; the plot and author’s position are revealed exclusively through a sequential series of illustrations. The subject of the study is the graphic novels of young but already internationally recognized authors – Sean Tan and Guojin. "Silent books" are a relatively new direction in children's book illustration. The prototype of “silent books” – comics – was distinguished by rather primitive graphics, so although they were popular, but they were considered a “low genre” in the professional community. Then the comic went beyond kitsch culture and became an element of middle-class culture, and at the end of the century the comic was reinterpreted in pop art and included in the formation of neo-elite culture. The individuality of the authors is manifested in the choice of a plot related to personal and family history, as well as in the choice of a character of a certain psychological make-up – “silent heroes”, endowed with a rich imagination, the ability to empathize and equal friendly relationships. The technique in the “silent books” of Sean Tan and Guojin has the syncretism and dualism of Western and Chinese traditions. It can be interpreted both in terms of Chinese writing with “dry” ink, and in the European style of “chiaroscuro”; in all cases we had clearly defined contour and a sharp contrast of light and shadow. The author's self-expression in a graphic novel is very specific to book illustration. “The Quiet Book” can be considered as a special type of author’s utterance, similar to improperly direct speech in literature. All this distinguishes the graphic novels under consideration from other forms of children's book illustration, as an example of new paths in art, as well as an original and modern interpretation of social problems of society.

Keywords: visual images, artist, author's books, children's book illustration, Guojin, Sean Tan, quiet books, Chinese artists, illustrations, The main characters

Abstract: The subject of the study is the fundamental philosophical and aesthetic problems in the romantic aesthetics of one of its leaders in France - Victor Hugo. The evolution of his aesthetic views is traced - from adherence to the aesthetics of classicism and royalist views to the established theory and artistic practice of romanticism, colored with democratic pathos. The core of Hugo's aesthetics is revealed - the original concept of the grotesque, which has found a convincing embodiment in his poetry, drama, historical novels. Such main themes as the correlation of the tragic and the comic, the beautiful and the ugly, the sublime and the base, content and form, freedom and order, historical truth and fiction in art, romantic symbolization in the context of the formation of the concept of the artistic essence of romanticism by Hugo are considered. The features of his artistic and aesthetic concept related to the national specifics of art, local color, the problems of artistic taste, inspiration, imagination, aesthetic pleasure, artistic style, genius, talent are analyzed. The main conclusion of the study is the conclusion that all these topics form the basis of Hugo's judgments about the nature of romantic drama as the pinnacle of 19th century poetry and its differences from classic tragedy. The multidimensional nature of this study predetermined the use of a number of methodological approaches: philosophical and aesthetic approach, art history analysis, comparative, interdisciplinary methods. The author's special contribution lies in the fact that the study of Hugo's aesthetic theory and artistic practice is based on original material. The article provides a comparative analysis of the embodiment of Hugo's aesthetic views in various types and genres of art. Such a study was undertaken for the first time in domestic science.

Keywords: sublime, comic, tragic, grotesque, dramaturgy, romanticism, art, aesthetics, Hugo, base

Abstract: The subject of the study is the analysis of illustrations created by the Palekh artist Ivan Ivanovich Golikov for the "Words about Igor's Regiment" – the largest monument of book graphics of Palekh art. The background, the reasons for giving I. I. Golikov an order to illustrate the book by the publishing house "Academia", the progress of I. I. Golikov's work on its implementation, as well as the impression that this publication made on customers and Soviet society are revealed in detail. The purpose of the article is, in addition to showing the possibility of fruitful work of a miniature artist in the field of art that is not related to the traditional lacquer miniature for Palekh, to analyze the creative method of I. I. Golikov when working on the illustration of this publication. Using the method of comparative analysis, as well as historical-systemic and iconographic research methods, the author at the same time focuses on the qualities of I. I. Golikov as an innovator and experimenter in art, which predetermined both the order for the illustration of the "Word" to this particular Palekh master, and the grandiose success that fell to the share of this book edition. It is in the study of these innovative qualities of I. I. Golikov, who is trying to "get away" from the stylistics of the lacquer miniature in his work on the publication "Words", that the scientific novelty of the study consists. The main conclusion of the article is the statement about the universality of I. I. Golikov as an artist, which allowed him to illustrate the publication "Words about Igor's Regiment", which immediately after its release became a universally recognized masterpiece of the art of Soviet book graphics.

Keywords: Mikhail Porfirievich Sokolnikov, book graphics, Academia Publishing House, exhibition, Ivan Ivanovich Golikov, russian lacquer miniature, Palekh, Yefim Fedorovich Vikhrev, Alexey Maximovich Gorky, paleshane

Abstract: This article reviews the transformation of book culture in the context of activity of modern libraries, as well as the impact of government cultural policy upon this phenomenon. Special attention is given to the changes in the activity of libraries within the framework of national project “Culture” and model standard of the activity of public libraries. In The author underlines the transformation of the phenomenon of library, and the result of these processes reflected in blurring the distinctions between the upmarket and mass, and turning the audience into mass “consumer”. In the course of this research, the author applies functional analysis, dialectical method, and comparative analysis for consideration of the functions of modern library in relation to the historically first forms of their activity. The novelty consists in systemic and nonlinear analysis of the process of transformation of libraries, taking into account incoherence of this process. Emphasis is placed on the transformation of library as a cultural phenomenon, its essence, which leads to the vague understanding of the concept of library, and thus, result, loss of its uniqueness and dysfunction as a sociocultural institution.

Keywords: transformation, modernization, reading, art, massization, culture, book, library, model standard, project

Abstract: This article analyzes notebooks of the artist, architect and designer Roman Feierstein. They reflect certain aspect of over twenty yearlong artworks of the master, who immigrated to Germany with his family. The research presents separate sketches and fragments of the diary thoughts. The author analyzes the personality of Roman Feierstein, and advances a hypothesis that he lived in between two cultures (German and Russian), having created his own world. Being an artist, designer and immigrant, the endowed this world with aesthetics, constructive and reflective features, which is evident in his notebooks. As a result of this study, the author came to better understanding of the transformation of Roman Feierstein’s personality; was able to explain certain peculiarities of his works in immigration, advance a hypothesis on the character of drawings and texts from the notebooks; as well as use some results of reconstruction of personality of Pavel Florensky for the analysis of evolution of personality of the master.

Keywords: realization, works, world, reality, culture, observer, designer, artist, drawings, texts

Abstract: This article is dedicated to the use of photo collage and photomontage as the methods for illustrating the national printed matter of 1918-1936. The goal of this research is the determination of similarities and crucial differences between these two methods. Based on the key events in history of photo collage and photo montage, the author traces the transition from using picture in its traditional form towards active implementation of photo collage and photomontage techniques into illustrating the periodicals. Research methodology is presented by the analysis and synthesis of information from various sources, functional method, and comparison of the content of photo collage and photomontage methods. The main conclusions lies in identification of advantages and disadvantages of photo illustration overall, as well as analysis of its expressive means. The article determines the similarities and differences of photo collage and photomontage, revealing their essence. The author highlight the impact produced by these methods upon current media.

Keywords: facsimile, registration, documentation, printed edition, photographic illustration methods, photo illustration, photo collage, photomontage, chronic function, artistic and figurative function

Keywords: Passazhi, literaturnyi montazh, kollazh, dialekticheskii obraz, gipertekst, shok, kich, vchuvstvyvanie, bezdeistvuyushchaya dialektike

Abstract: The article is devoted to the evolution of book from the moment when it was first created in the culture of the Ancient World and up to the present. One of the prerequisites for creating a book was the invention and development of the written language and the other prerequisite was the development of personality and society. At the first stages of the development the book ensured the consolidation of society. Later the book gained other functions such as virtual traveling, entertainment, knowledge and education. The appearance of book had a considerable influence on the humanity and formed different realities of his consciousness as well as new abilities. At the beginning of the Modern Period new readers and new requirements for a book appeared which resulted in creating a printing machine and a new type of book (technology development played an important role in that process). The last part of the article is devoted to the second technical revolution which, in its turn, resulted in the creation of a eBook and Internet. The author discusses the reasons why eBook is now superseding a paper book. The research provided in the article involved problematisation and situational analysis and was entirely based on the method of pseudo-getic analysis allowing to perform the cultural and historical reconstruction of a book. As a result of the research, the author shows that a great evolution the book has had. The main drivers of the development have been the cultural shift, technological inventions, problems and requirements of the society and personality. The ebook has led not only to the consolidation of the society and realization of personality but also constituted some sides of human consciousness and abilities.

Keywords: Book, Internet, papyrus, parchment, paper, society, personality, consolidation, thinking, technology.

Abstract: One of the most important signs indicating that a society is ready for a new war is the appearance of war scenarios in literature. Indeed, so called ‘utopian war novels’ often preceded actual military actions and even predicted the nature and outlines of future battles for these novels reflected the epoch and the public opinion of the epoch. Russian science fiction writers wrote about the coming war, too. In Russia the genre of the utopian war novel has become the mean of expression for former and acting military officers, the mean of building a desired future and propaganda for revolutionary-minded intelligentsia as well as the mean of mobilization of the public spirit for the communist government of the country in the pre-war period. Literary plots of those times also demonstrate that Stalin and his government were still getting ready for the revolutionary war between social classes. The ‘coming war’ literary genre had the two socially important functions, to warn about the coming war and to mobilize the public spirit in the pre-war period.

Keywords: coming war, utopian war novel, predictive capabilities, mobilization of the public spirit, literature, science fiction, writers, scenario, novel, plot devices.

Abstract: The purpose o the present article is to study special features of the chronotope of artistic heritage of Hemann Hesse who used the system of spatial and time references in the anthropological and ontological decision making process. Hesse expressed spatial relations in different forms of movement and his researches of space allowed him to solve anthropological issues while his researches of time allowed the German master of the pen to solve ontological problems. In particular, he attempted at studying the relation between the spiritual, the temporal and the cultural by literary expressive means. The writer touches upon the subject, features and images of space when describing axiosphere of personality or psychological states or processes or studying the vector of development of development of the human inner world. As for the time, the German writer brought forth and solved that problem in terms of ontology. Opposing time to timelessness, the German writer proved the existence of the eternal, pure, creative and divine spirituality and compared it to the existence of culture and personality.

Keywords: cultural research, philosophy of culture, anthropology, chronotope, space, time, movement, personality, existence of culture, prose.

Abstract: The article describes the methods aimed at formation of natural tolerance and mechanisms of cross-cultural adaptation through communication creativity of preschool and junior school children. These are innovative methods because they use cultural and art literature directly in working with children. The author shares her practical experience and theoretical researches in this sphere.

Keywords: cultural research, modernization, cross-cultural adaptation, tolerance, communication, self-identification, anthropology of childhood, direct communication, book, book culture.

Abstract: The article contains the author’s thoughts about A. P. Lyusiy’s work ‘Poetics of Anticipation: Russian in the Light of Cultural Studies: Theoretical Comedy’ (published in Moscow in 2011). The author of the article thinks highly of Lyusiy’s work and tries to understand its role for modern culture and for actualization of the book as the source of images but not only knowledge. Lyusiy’s study is viewed from the point of view of electronic editions, installation and designer’s books which have started to appear lately.

Keywords: cultural studies, culture, literature, medialogy, book publishing, poetics, critics, cultural nests, theoretical comedy, post-modern carnival.

Abstract: The article contains the author’s analysis of a newly published book K. E. Razlogov about the world motionpicture process. The image of the ‘history of movie’ created by the author is compared to a living organism which is developed during his new births but keep the core and foundation of his life unchanged. The author talks about the narrative structure which combines the concept of collage and the ‘iron scenery’ and gives a necessary order to the text body and information array.

Keywords: cultural studies, movie, motion-picture process, film studies, film semiotics, history, social studies, philosophy, image, narrative.