Vol 83, No 4 (2024)

The article treats the mobility of Proto-Indo-European accent, its function and role in nominal derivation. Some researchers argue the existence of noun with several types of accent movement (accent-ablaut paradigms) and formulate the concept of internal derivation – i. e. the change of accent type of noun, transition in other class. Author means that there was one type of mobile accent in declension (unitary ablaut-accent-paradigm), and proposes a basic rule of derivation – the law of accent movement onto right: the position of accent is more right, the meaning of noun is more concrete.

The topic raised in this article reflects the specificity of Chekhovʼs artistic and aesthetic system. The research literature on this topic is extensive; however, its scholarly significance is not fully appreciated due to the insufficient attention of scholars to the methodology of literary studies, which puts stock into addressing a writerʼs work as an artistic and aesthetic system considered in the context of the historical and literary process. For this reason, taking a Chekhov’s character as a single person all by himself (A.P. Chudakov, V.B. Kataev, V.Y. Linkov) has not brought clarity to the problem of the specificity of the Chekhov’s personage, its ontological and aesthetic status. We proceed from the specificity of Chekhovʼs postclassical realism, in which the artistic world is referential to the real world, and the character is a real ‘single person’, which allows us to illuminate, the above mentioned and related problems of Chekhovʼs aesthetic conception of man. In our conclusion, we summarize our observations in the form of a methodological algorithm, which would facilitate approaching and scholarly interpreting of Chekhovʼs literary texts.

The texts of the lifetime quartos of Shakespeareʼs Hamlet and the first posthumous folio of 1623 differ significantly. Their analysis and comparisons underlies the researchers’ assumptions and hypotheses about the “authorʼs” manuscripts, “foul papers”, prompt-books, “pirated” editions, the specifics of authorʼs vocabulary, spelling and punctuation, different kinds of emendations: typists’ errors and negligence, “authorʼs” edits, justified and unjustified interventions of editors, etc. But above all they determine our idea of Shakespeareʼs worldview, the laws of life and culture of his time, often relevant today. In modern editions two discrepancies we examined are usually reproduced not from the good quarto of 1604 (Q2, left), but according to the First folio version (F1, right): sanctity – sanitie (II, 2, 207); gamgiuing – gain-giuing (V, 2, 194). Russian translations are also made from it.

A comparative study of the text and the context of these passages led us to the following conclusions. In both cases preference should be given to the “true and perfect” text of the Second quarto (Q2) and proceed from it in reprints and new translations of Hamlet. In scholarly editions of the play both places need detailed commentary, which is important for Shakespearean studies. Gamgiuing requires a correction to gaming with justification of the probable cause of the typo. Both words explain the development of the complex motive of game and gaming in the play, and specifically Hamlet’s attitude towards the game: his penchant for wise play with words and meanings, considered as “madness” by “carnal” men (1Cor 2: 12–15), and his rejection of gambling in the logic of Roger Ascham’s treatise Toxophilus (1545).

The article analyzes archival materials on the history of the Russian Association of Proletarian Writers (RAPP), representing it from its origins in the form of the Section of Proletarian Writers at the LITO of the NCP of the RSFSR and the All-Russian Union of Proletarian Writers to the All-Russian / The All-Union Association of Proletarian Writers (VAPP) and the final organizational design as a RAPP at the First All-Union Congress of Proletarian Writers (1928). The internal processes of the formation of the APP are presented: organizational dissociation from the MAPP, the struggle against the Napost minority, the “Literary Front”. Archival data on the liquidation of the RAPP allow us to conclude that the Organizing Committee of the USSR Writersʼ Union could not do without the experience and accumulated literary practices of the RAPP in its further activities. The history of the Proletarian Writersʼ Association studied in the article is based on the statutory documents, transcripts of meetings, resolutions, memos of this institution, which are an important source for a general understanding of the domestic post-revolutionary literary process. They also serve as a source of data on the creative biographies of writers of the 1920s and 1930s.

The article traces the history of foreign literature publishing in the first post-revolutionary five-year period (1917–1922) – from Lenin’s Decree on the Press, which initiated Soviet book publishing, to the book exhibition in Florence, which summarised the interim results of the early Soviet book publishing policy. The institutionalisation of the publishing industry in those years went hand in hand with the process of overcoming the reputational crisis resulting from the revolutionary events. One of the main tasks in the conditions of redefining the political orientations of Soviet Russia was the search for international “allies”. Therefore, the publication of foreign literature was included not only in the cultural context, but also in the diplomatic context. The young regime could not control the production of foreign literature, unlike the production of Soviet literature, although it tried tirelessly (sometimes not unsuccessfully) to influence creative practice beyond its control. This inability to restructure literary life beyond the borders of the USSR became an important reason to change the strategy of interaction with it. The aesthetic policy used all available means to form in the “mass” reader an alternative, detached from reality idea of the structure of the “global” literary process and the balance of power on the world cultural map of the first half of the twentieth century. The result of the authorities’ work in this direction was a fairly rapid penetration of Soviet books into the pan-European cultural environment. The article is based on numerous materials on the history of early Soviet book publishing and book statistics, and is accompanied by an appendix containing a bibliographic list of all foreign literature books (published in Gosizdat and World Literature) presented at the Florence Book Fair of 1922.

The article devoted to the folklore and mythological motifs and images in the poetry by Viktor Rydberg (1828–1895). The influence of the Romantic tradition traces in his literary style.The Romantic authors of the early 19th century specifically turned to the national folklore and scandinavian mythology, and Rydberg comes after them. But Romanticists tend to stilization of folksongs, and folklore and mythologicalmaterial is inherently valued for them. This feature is not inherent to the post-Romantic poetry. The analysis of poems by Rydberg revealed that using folklore and mythological images and motifs as metapohors and allegories is a specifics of the style of his poetry. The author expresses his feelings about social and phylosophical promlems of the century through them.

The article is devoted to the last period of activity of the Moscow Linguistic Circle (1922–1923). Issues related to the termination of the work of the Circle are being considered. The article is based on archival materials stored at the Russian Language Institute. V.V. Vinogradov of the RAS. Among the reasons that contributed to the liquidation of the Circle were scientific, methodological, organizational and financial problems. Two opposing groups of members of the Circle were identified, the differences between which characterized different theoretical approaches to linguistic research. The first group consisted of supporters of G. Shpetʼs philosophy of language. They attached great importance to the study of semantics and the internal form of the word. The second group defended a formalistic approach to language, showed interest in phonetics, experimental studies of language, and began the development of phonology. There was no agreement on the issues of publishing the works of members of the Moscow Linguistic Circle in series. As a result of these contradictions, by 1924 the Circle ended its existence.

The article highlights the main results of the international discussion “The Work of Michel Tournier: Semiotics and Mythology”, which took place as part of the annual Festival “Days of Francophonie” at the Russian State Library for Foreign Literature named after M.I. Rudomino on March 18, 2024 and was dedicated to the centenary of the writer’s birth.

The event, which was organized as part of the cooperation of the Cultural Center “Frankoteka” of the Russian State Library for Foreign Literature and the International Center for Semiotics and Intercultural Dialogue of the State Academic University for the Humanities, was attended by Nedret Öztokat Kiliceri, Professor of Istanbul University, Deputy Secretary General of the Roman Federation of Semiotics, and Inna Gennadievna Merkoulova, Associate Professor, founder and director of the GAUGN International Center for Semiotics and Intercultural Dialogue, Vice President of the Asian Semiotic Association.

The speakers presented a semiotic interpretation of Tournierʼs novels and philosophical tales, and also discussed his interest in myth-making.