Abstract: The article tells us about traditions related to researching the myth and fairy tale as a part of semiotics. The author of the article underlines the role of Vladimir Propp in the analysis of oral folk arts from the point of view of semiotics. The author also provides a description of Claude Levi-Strauss’ structural anthropology, emphasizes peculiarities of semiotic interpretation of the myth and fairy tale and describes traditions in interpretation of this topic represented by Franco-Belgium school and American researches. At the same time, the author shows that the most recent researches of modern folk arts refer to returning to traditional methods in philology. It allows to record the rise in diachronic researches of folk arts. Folklore studies have always been very close to the science about language and literature. Due to the fact that folklore researchers were quite interested in methods of structural linguistics, structural-semiotic studies on the basis of the synchronous approach became the major field of research. However, very soon the researchers realized that such an approach was too one-sided and limited so they became interested in diachronic researches, i.e. evolution of folklore genres and dynamics of the structure in folk artwork. There is a growing interest towards structural-semiotic studies of forms of folklore and social environment influencing the verbal folk arts. In Russia methods of philological research are now associated with the methods of structural-semiotic folklore studies.

Keywords: philology, structural anthropology, folk art, tradition, semiotics, myth, fairy tale, creative work, folklore studies, methodology.

Abstract: The article represents philosophical and culturological views on complex issues associated with the crisis of world perception and socio-cultural failure at the turn of XX century. As it is well know, that period was called the Silver Age in Russian culture. The main features of that period defined the crisis in fine art caused by the appearance of new forms of art communication. Those new forms included Avant-Gardism and Modernism. On the other hand, at the turn of the century there was a certain inclination towards ‘mechanistic’ world perception. Berdyaev’s concept, the New World Eon, is viewed as the main ontological and gnoseological markers of the epoch. The article also draws our attention at the role of that concept in the formation of the ‘theory and practice’ of the individual. Regarding this issue, philosophers start to prefer ‘fantasy-servile’ concept of human to social determination. Herewith, socio-cultural situation is formed as a cultural and art response to human losing their traditional values and morals.

Keywords: culture, human, society, art crisis, cultural crisis, world perception, the concept of the individual, sociocultural situation, civilization, mechanism.

Abstract: The article states and proves the unbreakable bond between poetics and philosophical style of thinking and the value of poetic art in philosophical representation of reality. The author of the article underlines the mutual connection between philosophy and poetics as the two of the most ancient, initial methods of gaining insight into the essence of existence. Poetics is viewed not only and not just as a poetic measure or a rhyme word. The essence of poetics is understood as the internal beat, rhythm, pulse and harmony of any form of existence. Poetics is represented as the best method of achieving the philosophy target, i.e. gaining insight into the essence of existence and reproducing it in mental space. Philosophy is the core of any art including poetry. Poetics, in its turn, is the method of gaining insight into philosophical concepts. Poetical concept is the same as the philosophical concept except for that the best reproduced image of the poetical concept is a poetic word. Philosophy needs poetics as the art of gaining insight into harmonic beginning of the world through rhythmic and rhymed nature of the word and through the poetic image leading us to the transcendental dimensions of being. The best expression of philosophical thought has the power and harmony of poetics and bears the energy of the cosmic rhythm which is tune with the universal balance.

Keywords: poetics, philosophy, form, verbality, beauty, art, rhythm, rhyme, harmony, creative work.

Abstract: Based on the comparative analysis of creating writing by Anna Akhmatova, Marina Tsvetaeva and Bella Akhmadulina, the author of the article studies the philosophical and esthetical issue of the three ‘axes’ of art images of the world and human, nature and history, individual destiny and the destiny of the nation represented as the trinity of the Truth, Kindness and Beauty in Russian ‘female’ poetry. In particular, the author of the article analyzes fates of these three mistresses of the poetic word, their differences and similarities. Peculiarities of their literary legacy is analyzed in comparison with the general philosophical question about the balance of ethical, esthetical and rational aspects, on one hand, and as a part of a particular period in history of Russia and Russian culture, on the other hand. The article is based on the analysis of creative writing by Akhmatova, Tsvetaeva and Akhmadulina. Their memories as well as writings of other authors and biographical facts from different sources are used, too.

Keywords: Russian poetry, Silver Age, Soviet culture, creative writing, ‘female poetry’, gender approach, esthetic criteria, philosophical lyrics, harmony, disharmony, truth, kindness, beauty.

Abstract: The article casts light on Alexander Dovzhenko’s philosophical and ontological ideas. Taking into account the features of the first half of XX century, the author of the article focuses on a unique nature of the philosopher’s views on philosophy and culture. It allows to prove that Alexander Dovzhenko’s philosophy was unique as well as to compare his creative work with writings of famous world existentialists.

Keywords: philosophy, ontology, existentialism, culture, cinema, symbols, human, anthropology, cinema art, producer.

Abstract: The article is devoted to the problem of 0-personality (or ‘zero personality’) which is usually put in the following way: is there a narrative form which does not express any information about personal qualities of some actors (characters)? There is no such problem in real life because each person expresses a number of qualities and characterological features. But diegetic persons, both fictional and actual, are a completely different case. 0-personality is typical for all actors (characters) who are only mentioned in a plot. Robert Musil’s novel ‘The Man Without Qualities’ can be viewed as a fundamental attempt to create a character with the zero personality. If this is what Musil’s intention was, it eventually turned out to be a failure because Ulrich’s personality is quite evident. However, Musil very well showed that we tend to interpret the character’s behavior and words in a wrong way if we do not know his motives and thoughts. It means that the terms ‘personality’ and ‘type of personality’ cannot be defined behavioristically even with regard to diegetic persons.

Keywords: philology, psychological literary studies, actor, diegetic person, character, Robert Musil, structuralism, characterological feature, personality, The Man Without Qualities.

Abstract: There is practically no succession between religious poetry of the mid XIX century and modern religious poems. Over the past hundred years, many changes happened both in style and content of religious poems. Russian folk culture underwent certain transformations, too, caused by the destruction of the traditional peasant’s culture and traditional life style. Even a peasant himself lives mostly in history but not in reality, to say nothing about a townsman. In the XIX century, life was monotonous and cyclic and following agricultural rhythms for the majority of authors and audience of religious poetry. But in the XX century existential issues became especially important as well as a Christian’s will and life in the alien or even hostile environment. Authors of religious poetry addressed to Jesus’ life as an example for Christians who faced a critical situation. Selected works analyzed by G. P. Fedotov, for instance, had very few poems about the Savior’s earthly life, while modern religious poetry has many poems like that.

Keywords: Orthodoxy, veneration of the Saints, religious poetry, G. P. Fedotov, traditional culture, modern religious life, the Voronezh Region, evolution of religious consciousness, folk poetry, Art Nouveau epoch.

Abstract: The article analyzes the problem of naming big numbers that is usually solved by a new branch of philosophy, the philosophy of anti-language. The problem of naming big numbers is a challenge for both mathematics (the theory of numbers) and linguistics (derivation). Despite a certain difference between symbolic and verbal names, the problem of writing numbers in symbols is associated with the fundamental limits of both verbal and symbolic names. The problem of giving names to big numbers is usually solved in the philosophy of anti-language. The subject of this branch of philosophy is the studies of the limits of semiotic names expressed in natural human language as well as the dependency of cognitive process on anti-language. The majority of names given to big numbers are anti-words contained in the anti-language. Such anti-words represent the class of anti-words called numerologism. As numerologisms, they exist until they are expressed in the language. Here the author talks not only about giving names to numbers based on a so called ‘brief scale’ where a new name is given after three zero degrees are added (in Russian morphology, they are numeral adjectives inflected for case and number), but also about verbal naming of all numbers within the range of such degrees which are, from the point of view of the Russian morphology, are definite compose cardinal numbers inflected for case. In addition, the author of the article discusses such types of numerologisms as ‘prime-numerologisms’ and ‘transcendental numerologisms’. By solving the problem of naming big numbers in modern Russian language, we can: 1) clarify one of the rules of spelling ordinal numbers, especially those ended with the ‘llion’ suffix; 2) focus on the problem of spelling complex adjectives where, instead of the ‘years old’ suffix, suffixes denoting ‘kilogram’, ‘millimeter’, ‘millisecond; and etc. can be used; 3) solve a number of other problems related to derivation and formation of names of big numbers.

Keywords: philosophy of anti-language, anti-word, anti-language, number, numeral, transcendental number, Pi (number), numerologism, transcendental numerologism, anti-linguistic derivation.

Abstract: The article contains a review of social stereotypes related to death, reforms and their perception by different layers of the society during the Victorian epoch.

Keywords: philology, Victorian epoch, death, rituals, the poor and the rich, social organizations, public mourning, the law on burial ground disposal, private grave-yards, Duke of Wellington.

Abstract: The article contains commentary on Svetlana Levit’s selected poems. Readers of our journal know her mostly as a philosopher and a cultural researcher. For many years Svetlana Levit has been preparing and publishing philosophical classical works and the best writings of Russian philosophers. It surely required not only research skills. Svetlana Levit has to find gaps in official ideologies and she makes a great contribution to the so called Cultural Revolution. She is a true enthusiast in her major. And all of the sudden it has turned out that Sveltana Levit also writes poems. This is her first published book of poems. Truly, a gifted person has a gift for everything. The present article is devoted to the analysis of merits and drawbacks of her first book of poems and quotes some creative work by Svetlana Levit.

Keywords: philology, poetry, imagination, fantasy, landscape, philosophical essays, metaphor, style, images, intonation.

Abstract: This is the response to the poems by T. Stoyanova ‘All Night the Eyes of Insominia…’, S. Danilova ‘I receive phone calls…’, S. Zulkarnaeva ‘As if Baba Manya Lived in Old Times’ and E. Ishimtseva ‘As Plain as the Nose on Your Face, You Don’t Love Me’.

Keywords: philology, poetry, poem, parody, verses.