“Lives of Others”: Phenomenon of Simulated Reality in Contemporary Popular Literature

Abstract

The corpus of modern Russian and foreign popular texts is analyzed, in which the simulative space is considered and the question of simulative reality as a manifestation of escapism is raised. The theoretical basis of the work was the works of M. A. Chernyak, M. A. Litovskaya, N. A. Kupina, V. I. Mildon and other researchers devoted to popular literature in the broadest aspect. The relevance of the study is due to the fact that today the corpus of such texts is a promising social project that claims to be one of the dominant positions in the modern cultural context. The experience of many years of work of the authors in the field of modern mass culture is reflected in the article. The novelty of the study lies in the fact that for the first time the nature of such a phenomenon as the phenomenon of simulated emigration in modern popular literature is considered. It is shown that works about travels recreate the national picture of the world, broadcast national specifics and acquaint the reader with the peculiarities of human life in a different geographical space. It is noted that the mass text is designed to immerse the recipient in a state of escapism, forcing them to master, among other things, a mentally alien reality. It is argued that popular travel texts tend to create a more eventful reality