Abstract: The predicting power of philosophy is well known. Everyone also knows how immense artistic intuition can be. Rereading such science fiction authors as Ivan Efremov, Stanislav Lem, Arthur Clarke, the Strugatsky brothers, Ray Bradbury, Alfred Harrison, Kurt Vonnegut and others, we can be surprised at how much they predicted. American writer Robert Sheckley has a lot of philosophical plots in his works, too. His imagination has no limits. However, these are not just fruits of imagination as it seems. The writer tried to understand what consequences social transformations and scientific discoveries could have for the human future. In this research Gurevich uses the method of hermeneutical analysis that allows to understand the writer's messages. Using satire the author describes absurd situations created by the technological progress. It is for the first time in the academic literature that Robert Sheckley's stories are being analyzed as philosophical plots. The author of the present research article underlines that being familiar with psychoanalysis and gestalt psychology, Robert Sheckley tried to define the predicting power of those stories. He shows that reality is often just a fragile picture created by our senses, emotions, memory, experience and imagination. The surrounding reality is, in fact, fictitious. It is comprised of a million of details that are rooted in our subconscious and may become evident at every given opportunity.   

Keywords: philosophy, literature, fantasy, psychoanalysis, gestalt psychology, technology, murder, cruelty, hallucinations, crime

Abstract: The subject of the present article is the analysis of the composition of a literary text as a narrative method and one of the stylistic expressive means. The author of the article studies peculiarities of the fulfilment of the stylistic potential and constitutive functions of composition in R. N. Mitra's novels. The object of the research is the peculiarities of composition of literary works by an American writer of the late XXth- early XXIst centuries Raghu N. Mitra. The actual material for the research is the four novels comprising the Manhattan Murder Mystery Series. The main research methods are the descriptive and comparative analysis that imply isolation of parts, elements and units of an object under research and viewing them as particular subjects of research. The novelty of the research is caused by the fact that the author views composition as a research object of linguistic stylistics. The importance of the research is caused by the fact that results of the research contribute to the development of the theory of literary work interpretation as well as solution of stylistics issues. In the course of the research the author concludes that one fo the most typical features of R. N. Mitra's individual style was a special modelling of time and space in his novels. Along with the straight-line narrative, R. N. Mitra also uses the restrospective and special temporal and local narration. 

Keywords: modelling of time, interpretation of a literary text, linguostylistics, narrative method, R. N. Mitra, composition of a literary text, modelling of space, narration, intertextuality, epigraph

Abstract: The object of the present research is the narrative functions of the forms of Russian traditional folklore culture, most of all, oral forms and vocal art. The subject of the research is the historical content of the narrative aspect of Russian traditional folklore culture. The purpose of the article is to present the historical content of Russian folklore culture as an additional historical discipline among other supporting historical disciplines such as genealogy, toponymy, heraldry etc. Historical content, kept in traditional culture, helps to make teaching Russian history more illusrative, besides learners are proposed to choose details and facts, present in folk tales and legends, folk songs and other forms of traditional culture and build up historic texts themselves, hence it is just the beginning of research approach to historic information. Russian foklore culture is represented as a historical text. Emelian Pugachev's revolt is given as the case study. Under contemporary educational process, strongly dependent on internet resources, this approach to collect details of historic facts in forms of traditional culture is very cognitively activating, because historic knowledge itself is vertical not horizontal. The novelty of the research is caused by the fact that the author views Russian folklore as a historical text represented in the nation's collective consciousness. The new scientific approach implies a new research method. History, kept in forms of folk culture, presents mass historic conscience, polished through a lot of various opinions and confirmed in the course of history pacing. Folk culture is the treasury of historic moods that accompanied events, it follows the 'iceberg' principle: little is on the surface and much is to be discovered and guessed. 

Keywords: history, folklore, oral forms, traditional culture, mass (collective) consciousness, documentation, mythologization, interpretation, additional discipline, research

Abstract: The subject of the research is the analysis of the main features of show business discourse as a specific sphere of the English-language discursive space. The object of the research is the discursive elements of contemporary English used in the sphere of show business. The author examines this sphere as having a special type of discourse with particular characteristics. Special attention is paid to the analysis of the definition of 'discourse' and its characteristics, i.e. systemically important features, in the sphere of show business. Show business discourse is viewed both as a cognitive communication process that directly relates to the creation of numerous verbal pieces in the sphere of show business and a certain combination of texts, both oral and written, created as a result of the aforesaid process and devoted to the events ongoing in the sphere of show business combined with intra-linguistic and extra-linguistic factors. Within the framework of the present research, the author has applied the integrated research method that combined discursive and contextual analysis methods as well as the method of continuous sampling of discursive elements. The author concludes that it is appropriate to talk about show business discourse as a specific sphere of the English-language discursive space. The discourse of this kind has all th systemically important elements, in particular, it implies participants, goals, strategies and communication techniques, chronotope, communication topics, basic values, kinds and genres of discourse, precedent texts, discursive formulas and finally functions to be fulfilled as part of the discursive process.

Keywords: chronotope, discourse, discourse analysis, institutional discourse, show, celebrity, communication, discursive space, audience, show business

Abstract: The subject of the present research is the linguistic analysis and interpretation of the metamessage 'Francis as an ideal poor man' referring to the concept of poverty in 'Das Sunden-Buch' ('The Book of Hours') written by an Austrian poet of the XXth century Rainer Maria Rilke. Poetic messages form a different message of the concept based on the generally accepted meaning of the message. The author of the present article pays special attention to the conceptual level of the concept. The article is mostly devoted to the interpretation of the last poem 'O wo ist der, der aus Besitz und Zeit' ('Where it is, the creator of the great poverty') in the third part of the cycle 'Das Buch von der Armut und vom Tode' ('The Book of Poverty and Death'). The author analyzes the lexical and conceptual structures of the concept's metamessage and discoveries their relations to the other concepts of The Book of Hours. In order to study the poetical concept, the author has used the hermeneutic-linguistic method involving the following three steps: 1) Roland Barthes' method of textual analysis; 2) the method of predicate nests; and 3) the method of hermeneutic circle. The novelty of the research is caused by the fact that the author provides a comprehensive linguistic analysis and interpretation of the final poem from Rainer Maria Rilke's 'The Book of Hours'. The realy period of the poet's creative writing is isually left out. The main conclusion of the research is that in The Book of Hours the phenomenon of poverty renders the message which differs from the generally accepted meaning. According to the researcher, the image of Francis is the prototype of Orpheus who appears in the late period of Rilke's creative writing. 

Keywords: Rilke, The Book of Hours, Francis of Assisi, poverty, poor people, concept, message/sense, interpretation, crystallization of the message/sense, dissipation of the message/sense

Abstract: This article is a short review of Sergey Sharapov’s literary work. Sergey Sharapov is a writer, publicist, economist and public figure. Only few people know him as a writer; his literary work is mentioned casually in numerous articles that have been published over the last decades. Meanwhile, Sharapov’s works are of an indisputable interest in the context of the literary process at the turn of the XIXth -XXtj centuries. Special attention is paid to the first stage of Sharapov’s literary work that culminated in publication of the novel “By Circular Way” – the central work of the writer and the peak of his creative work. This stage is interesting in terms of the creative evolution of Sharapov as a writer and thinker. The author of the article uses the comparative and historical research method to analyse Sharapov’s literary works against the background of that cultural period. In particular, the article describes the polemics of Sharpov with Lev Tolstoy that evoked great public resonance in that time. The material giving in the article makes it possible to enlarge the idea about the literature process of the late XIXth – early XXth centuries. The author shows originality of Sergey Sharapov’s creative work, emphasizes topicality of the writer's world views and approaches that are based on traditional social values of the Russian people.

Keywords: slavophiles, Russian literature, novel, literature process, history of literature, creative evolution of a writer, polemics, realism, traditional values, community work

Abstract: The present article is devoted to the historical and contemporary aspects of the interaction between the two bases of European and Russian culture, philosophy and philology, word and concept. Noteworthy that the author analyzes her own experience as a philologist, philosopher and interpreter and draws parallels between her own intellectual 'journeys' into philology and philosophy and researches of the philosophers whose works she translated into Russian and thus introduced into the Russian culture. The research is focused on such issues as understanding, interpretation, translation and untranslatability. These are important issues both for philology and philosophy at the 'linguistic turn'. The author proves the status of philology as the sphere of research that preserves its integrity despite appearance of new special disciplines that deal with the text analysis as well as a classical university discipline that provides broad-based knowledge about cultures unlike modern narrow and pragmatically oriented teaching of languages. In her research the author has used methods of historical philosophical and historical cultural analysis as well as intellectual biography. All these methods are focused on analyzing the epistemological aspect. The results of the research include expansion of philosophy's framework of categories and concepts as a result of a new concept of translation that involves not only linguistic and cultural, but also philosophical aspects. The author outlines some new prospects for the relationship between philosophy and philology in contemporary culture as a result of a wider interpration of cognitive and communication practices including interpretation of translation as knowledge and interpretation of knowledge as 'translation', i.e. the transfer of meaning.

Keywords: philosophy, philology, understanding, translation, interpretation, deconstruction, phenomenology, epistemology

Abstract: Based on the analysis of the lingvogeneological materials, the author of the article demonstrates how the antilanguage methodology can be applied. The object of the research is the ontological status of word/antiword. The subject of the research is particular classes of words/antiwords such as genetisms and genealogisms which allow to solve many historiographical issues both in classical documentary genealogy and modern genetic genealogy. The point at issue is the problem of authentic determination of personal names of those ancestors of ours whose names could be hardly read or even missed in primary sources. In his research Nilogov uses the methods of genealogical, hermeneutical, historical, historiographical, chronological and etymological analysis as well as the method of antilanguage reconstruction. The results of the research are illustrated by linguistic data (anthroponyms) from the author's geneaological tree which contains over thousand names based on primary sources such as the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts, State Archive of the Perm Region, State Archive of the Kirov Region and Civil Status Registration Offices. For the first time in the academic literature the author introduces such classes of words/antiwords as genetisms and genealogisms and provides a description of their types (subclasses of words/antiwords). 

Keywords: census record, church metric book, philosophy of antilanguage, genealogisms, antilanguage genealogy, genetisms, ontological status of word, lingvogenealogy, cadastre, anthroponyms

Abstract: The subject of the research is the personal names inscribed on everyday items discovered in the Ryazan land. A number of everyday items with inscriptions containing forenames on them have been excavated in the territory of the ancient Duchy of Ryazan. The names, such as Erem[a], Molodilo, Dobrilo and Bogunka, are inscribed on a fishing plummet, a spindle whorl and a large earthenware wine pot; all of the above are dating back to the 9th-10th, 12th-13th century. The antique signs help us discover composition of the names of those who are of humble origin as well as usage peculiarities of those names serving as a signature on everyday items. Despite obvious scientific value, inscriptions containing forenames found on excavated household items, toys and other everyday objects are still left out-of-sight of linguists and the aforesaid archeological discoveries have not been duly studied by onomatologists as sources of anthroponyms. In her research Gordova has used the structural and typological analysis methods. Anthroponyms are analyzed from the point of view of their regional (i.e. belonging to one region) and onomastic attribution (i.e. belonging to one onomastic class and field of anthroponyms, in particular, Old Russian names of people living in the ancient Duchy of Ryazan). The epigraphical findings confirm the fact that a forename played a defining role during the Old Russian period. Even before the Mongol conquest both native Russian and Christian names existed among the non-princely estates. The use of folk forms of forenames as inscriptions bears witness of the lack of such an anthroponymical quality as formulaicity. The presented items prove the fact that everyday objects, alongside with birchbark manuscripts and chronicles, can serve as an important source of the Old Russian anthroponyms.  

Keywords: anthroponymy, personal names/forenames, onomastics, archeological discoveries, Ryazan land, sources of anthroponyms, regional onomastics, old Russian onomastics, linguistics

Abstract: The subject of the present research is the writing systems which hypothetically speaking can be used in multidimensional spaces described in non-Euclidean geometries, in particular, geometries with more than three dimensions of space. The author of the present research article analyzes the concept of the multidimensional alphabet and multidimensional systems of information encoding. The importance of this topic is proved by the fact that there is a number of physical theories about the Universe being part of the multidimensional space where other civilizations with essentially different communication systems including writing may exist. In his research Sobolev analyzes the main peculiarities of human writing systems from the point of view of their geometrical and physical representation. He also conducts a comparative analysis of human writing systems and multidimensional writing. At the end of his research the author concludes that being reduced to 2D information encoding, human writing systems can be very difficult or even confusing for civilizations unfamiliar with the non-Euclidean geometry.  

Keywords: information encoding, unary alphabet, writing systems, multidimensional writing, multidimensional alphabet, multidimensional letters, alien writing systems, Arecibo message, color alphabet, cryptanalysis

Abstract: The author of the present article studies the sources of the origina historiosophical and historico-literary concept offered by Nikolay Karamzin (1766–1826) and described by Russian researchers (from Prince Pyotr Vyazemsky to Pyotr Struve) as 'liberal conservatism'. The author of the present article assumes that the prehistory of the 'Creation of Karamzin' (Yu. Lotman's expression) can be found during the period when Karamzin studied in Professor Iogann Shaden's private board school in Moscow (1778–1782). The school was located in the very center of the the Foreign Quarter of Moscow. In fact, it was Karamzin's first 'journey to Europe' 10 years before his well-known traveling through Europe in 1789–1790. Paradoxically, young Karamzin found his 'first Europe' not in the West but in Moscow as an integral part of Russian life. The author of the present article analyzes new materials about the life and studies of Karamzin in the Foreign Quarter of Moscow as well as images of European literature Karamzin was raised upon. Special attention is paid to a German philosopher, moralist, poet and fable writer Christian Gellert. Later in 1789 Karamzin visited places in Leipzig where Christian Gellert had been. For the first time in the history of Russian philosophy and cultural studies the author of the present article proposes a hypothesis about Nikolay Karamzin standing at the origins of Russian 'Christian liberalism' (culture-centered but not political teaching). According to the author of the present article, Karamzin's 'spiritual will' of 1826 is another proof of this hypothesis.   

Keywords: freedom, liberalism, conservatism, politics, literature, history, Russia, Karamzin, personality, discourse

Abstract: The article is devoted to the creative work of a famous Russian philosopher Natalia Avtonomova. To celebrate her jubilee, the book 'Toposes of Natalia Avtonomova's Philosophy. To the Jubilee' was published (Moscow, 2015). Besides her own articles, the book also contains researches of other authors who discuss similar issues and share the same approach to philosophy. This makes the importance and substantiality of Natalia Avtonomova's research even more obvious. First of all, she has made a tangible contribution to the theory of knowledge and concepts of rationality and subject. Moreover, Natalia Avtonomova has acted as an intermediary between Russian and French philosophy. She is the absolute authority in studying French structuralism and post-structuralism. Her research is based on the methods of historical philosophical analysis, comparative studies, psychoanalysis and structuralism. In some cases Natalia Avtonomova bases her research on the hermeneutic approach. The novelty of the topic and solutions is caused by the fact that the research covers a wide range of issues. Natalia Avtonomova has demonstrated a tremendous importance of M. Bakhtin's, M. Gasparov's, Yu. Lotman's and R. Yakobson's works. Her translations of Jacques Derrida's and Michel Foucault's works are a great research and contribution to the world philosophy. She has also made a great contribution to the translation theory. In Russian philosophy Natalia Avtonomova is known as a philosopher and philologist, publicist and translator. 

Keywords: humanitarian knowledge, philology, translation, structuralism, philosophy of language, rationality, topos, unconscious, deconstruction, hospitality