Addresses literature and philosophy as language practices, which are close but not identical as concerns their structural organisation and essentially differ from other types of discourse. They are compared by the analogy to distinction drawn, according Ludwig Wittgenstein, between saying and showing, the two functions of language statement.

Considers prevailing interpretations of time, which apparently represent the impact of intellectualism in spite of being quite diverse. It is under its influence that time is replaced by an intellectual function. The universals of time forms are defined by the lubrication dogma (the past, the present, the future), which specify the nature of knowledge in the technology format. The mechanical universality deprives time of its emotional and aesthetic dimensions.

Considers the philosophical and cultural context of the concept of psychological resources. Within this context, various modes of understanding the attitudes towards a human being as the embodied being with own physical and mental peculiarities are analysed. The approaches to embodiment understanding are considered from the anthropological perspective; the latter both structuralises social attitude towards people with physical and mental peculiarities including the process of caregiving and provides for normative anthropology of this attitude. The author compares various concepts of person embodiment (realistic, phenomenological, psychoanalytical, postconventional) existing in foreign literature that follows the social model of disability. In conclusion, the prospects and limitations of the inclusive anthropology (Herman P. Meininger) in their relation to philosophical and methodological reflections on the notion of psychological resources are discussed and the necessity of creating the non­spiritualistic personology of the embodiment (John F. Crosby) is addressed.

Presents a manifold analysis of the notion of creativity. Particular emphasis is placed on examination of the interrelated social processes that contribute to development of understanding creativity and emerge from the growth of personal creative potential. Both positive and negative prospects in development of mass creativity are revealed together with the specific social, cultural, and economic phenomena that underpin this progress.

Presents a manifold analysis of the notion of creativity. Particular emphasis is placed on examination of the interrelated social processes that contribute to development of understanding creativity and emerge from the growth of personal creative potential. Both positive and negative prospects in development of mass creativity are revealed together with the specific social, cultural, and economic phenomena that underpin this progress.

Discusses the phenomenon of “postapocalypse” or a modern form of the eschatological myth representation in mass culture. The author analyses the structure of the myth implemented in the computer game and argues that contemporary culture endlessly reproducing different scenarios of the last day of the Universe is not able to answer what a changed world is to become after passing through a series of apocalyptic catastrophes.

Examines the ontological interpretation of artwork as the chronotope (of semantic world). The address to the work of art as the chronotope helps to reveal its historicity (as its proper history and belonging to a particular cultural­historical epoch), meanings and values, the integral image, its links to other artworks and the cultural space on the whole.

Deals with choir compositions by Rodion Shchedrin. Starting from the mid 1980s, the sacred music gradually revived in Russia and it is within this context that the author considers Shchedrin’s works. The three most significant scores are chosen, in which the sacral theme is put in the forefront: “The Sealed Angel” Russian liturgy, “The Enchanted Wanderer” and “Boyarina Morozova” operas. The above­mentioned scores were written during the different periods of time but each contains the spiritual meaning; each of them represents composer’s thoughts on the eternal questions of belief, life and death, sin and atonement. Shchedrin developed semantics of his choral instruments throughout life, the evolution of which the author reveals by drawing semantic, musical and artistic parallels between his three significant compositions with chorus participation.

Considers the scenic oratorium “A King, Riding” by contemporary Dutch composer Klaas de Vries. It was composed after his own libretto based on the “Waves” novel by Virginia Woolf, which is a classic example of the stream of consciousness literature. The libretto and the opera work are studied as a part of rich and powerful mixture of different contemporary styles, manners, techniques and retrospections, such as impressionism, expressionism, neoclassicism. Its performance of 1996 in Brussels directed by Christoph Marthaler is also analysed.

Considers the impact of Muslim­Arab culture (via Andalusia) on the one hand and of the Church poetry and music on the other on the troubadours’ art. The author argues that though troubadours’ love poetry was quite alike Arabic lyrics, the formal structure of the songs created in the South of France was directly related to the Church Latin poetry and music of the second half of the 11th century. However, the ambiguity about the issue is rooted in the poetic Arab influence on these Church “songs” that spread during the 9th and the 10th centuries.

Traces the emergence of Alexandre Benois as a theorist of Saint Petersburg Baroque and Classicism architecture. The author analyses the role of the artist’s family and the impact of theatre and music on elaboration of Benois’s approaches to architecture.

Deals with the relations to Russia of the Finnish artist Albert Edelfelt (1854-1905). He was one of the most prominent artists of Finland whose talent was well known also abroad. He became popular among the high society of Europe as a portraitist and made a remarkable career in the house of the Russian Tsars. This article is also devoted to his connections with Russia and especially to his portraits of Nikolas II. The fragments of letters written by the artist and translated by the author into Russian are cited in the article.

Is devoted to the eminent Soviet educator. At present, his pedagogical works are known to a narrow circle of specialists only while in the second half of the 20th century, they have been republished in millions of copies and could be found almost in every home. The article aims to bring interest to Sukhomlynsky’s pedagogical heritage and to prove the validity of his ideas and principles as the definite value of his books lays in his focus on careful and tactful attitude toward a child and declared love for a person, a woman and a mother in particular. The author shows how Sukhomlynsky’s books emotionally promote the role of reading, interest in science, living in harmony with Nature and most importantly, the aptitude to love people.

Examines the criticism of civilisation by M.K. Gandhi, reveals the main ideas of this philosopher and their links to the ideas of Henry David Thoreau and Leo Tolstoy. The author argues that there is a sort of structural similarity in Gandhi’s ideas of civilisation and representations of Cynics and Taoists, as well as in the radical civilisation criticism of the second half of the 20th century. Putting Gandhi’s criticism study within the cross­cultural context the author shows that this is not about succession, but only about the universality of basic features that are reproduced in different cultural contexts.

Considers non­traditional decoration of chant manuscripts of the 15th and the 16th centuries. Basing on the comparison of miniatures and content analysis, the author argues the monastic provenance of the 16th century manuscript and explores the unique miniature of the 15th century Oktoih from the Russian State Library manuscript collection.

Is devoted to understanding of the new media. Within the context of contemporary digital culture analyses, the author criticises the virtual reality interpretation as a parallel reality. He supposes that offline paradigm loses its legitimacy as the widespread penetration of the Internet technologies results in synchronisation of a person with his/her digital profile.

Examines the way the verbal image represents itself graphically in the shape of pattern poems and traces the forming of visual rhetorics back to the early medieval poetry. Pattern poems ( carmina figurata ) are considered to be the earliest genre of the visual poetry, where from new synthetic form springs. Visual images of pattern poems by Simmias of Rhode, Dosiades of Crete, Theocritus reveal the obvious interconnection between poetry and painting. The description visualises common or mythological object, while its reception is based on the reflection of the sign­symbolic level of the poetic structure in figurative iconicity. In addition, Latin poets contributed greatly to shaping verbal text as a new visual language. Particularly well­known is the visual experiment by Publilius Optatianus Porphyrius, namely The Panegyric to the Emperor Constantine the Great (326), in which the universality of verbal and visual levels represents the semantic whole and the way the rhetoric message is structured. A new approach to visual signification gave a new expressive form not just with the means of language as such but as a specific mode of musical expression of a poetic text. One may recall exceptional drawings based on the depiction of musical signs by the poet and musician Baude Cordier (c. 1380 - c. 1440), namely Belle, Bonne, Sage rondo for three voices presented in a heart­shaped score. The semantics of the Latin cross was reconsidered by the Latin poet Rabanus Maurus Magnentius (c. 780-856) in his treatise De laudibus sanctae crucis , where the semantic structure of the text distinctly reveals its visual potentials and the lexical level correlates with the sign system, so that verbal and visual elements constitute each other.

Is devoted to Gaidar’s influence on stylistic formation of the prose for teenagers including the use of romantic and heroic symbolism, recognisable balladic melodism, the intra literary synthesis, and figurativeness that go back to Gaidar’s works. All that contributed to the deepening of meanings and enrichment of the internal form of literary works for children beginning from the 1950th especially apparent in the writings of those who followed Gaidar’s tradition.

Addresses the history of the journal establishment and its goals. The authors propose approaches to tackling the problems of contemporary academic publishing including the observance of standard requirements for academic publications, organisation of communication around a scholarly journal, expansion of its influence, and financial provisions.

States that the future territory of Ancient Egypt took the flows of migrants from the neighbouring regions from the 8th to the 6th millennium BC. The author argues that at that time, the scarcity of resources problem could only be solved by creating a planned economy and the values of mobilisation in the economic culture. During the Neolithic Revolution, the Proto­Egyptians established a new type of social solidarity based on the imperative discharge of duty, which presupposed passing responsibility for making economic decisions from households to managerial aristocracy and widespread demand for compulsory participation in public works for all the population layers. This social innovation has ensured the creation of structural, cultural, and institutional preconditions for the efficient growth of the Proto­Egyptian economy, rapid division of labour, significant increase in its intensity and productivity.

States that for centuries cultures of Russia and Iran have been developing on the basis of close contacts. Nowadays cultural interaction between Russia and Iran is an important component of their partnerships; however it develops at a much slower rate, especially if compared to political contacts. The inadequate images of Russia in Iran and of Iran in Russian society together with some others factors make the partnership of both countries rather limited. The active cultural dialogue is to contribute to improving this situation, finding areas of joint interest and restoring mutual confidence.