Aesopian Language Research Articles

ЗАКАТ ЭСТЕТИКИ БУДУАРА. СОВЕТСКИЙ СУБЪЕКТ В ЛАБИРИНТЕ ДЕКОРАТИВНОЙ ИСТОРИИ И КУЛЬТУРНАЯ РЕВОЛЮЦИЯ 1990-Х ГОДОВ В РОССИИ

Thearticle examines the Russian television series “Queen Margot” and “Comtesse De Montsoreau” in the context of socio-cultural changes that took place in Russia in the 1980s –1990s. The artistic style of these TV projects is studied in comparison with the French and Soviet traditions of film adaptations of works by A. Dumas. French cinema and television in the second half of the twentieth century was characterized by a movement from light semi-comedy productions to deep reconstruction, immersing the viewer in the historical context of the era. In the Soviet Union, there was a special artistic style of film adaptations, to the detriment of historicity, emphasizing the elements of theatrical decorativeness inherent in the writer’s work. These techniques, like the “Aesopian language” of Soviet literature, successfully helped film and television figures to circumvent the taboos and prohibitions that existed in Soviet culture. In the 1990s, there was a revolution-like change in the functional tasks of domestic television. Despite the preservation of inertial motion in the same stylistic direction for some time, as evidenced by the above-mentioned television series, there is a gradual disintegration of the foundations of the Soviet visualization model. Russian television has increasingly become a part of the cultural industry, while losing its former distinctive features.

“I collect the rosary from words...”: Poetic features of Razil Valeev’s verses

The article describes the life and creative path of Razil Valeev, analyzes his poetic works and determines the poet’s place in Tatar poetry of the second half of the 20th–early 21st centuries. Although the writer worked fruitfully in all three forms of verbal art, it was in the poetic field that he became famous as a talented poet. This article proves that many poet’s works have become “programmatic” for Tatar poetry and identifies the main trends in his literary career. The central motifs and innovations, introduced by R. Valeev into the concept of the lyrical hero and the verse poetics, are presented in the context of the literary process of the second half of the 20th–early 21st centuries. As a result of our analysis, we trace a revival of rebellious traditions in R. Valeev’s works; against this background, we reveal the concept of his lyrical hero, as well as his system of motifs. The poet revived avant-garde traditions in the spirit of Taktash, successfully used Aesopian language through symbolic images and referred to the folk style in spiritual lyrical poetry.

Філософська спільнота і емансипація мислення: досвід Алуштинських шкіл

The article examines the methodological problems of the historical-philosophical research of the “Soviet philosophy.” The process of the emancipation of thinking is examined through the analysis of the tradition of the Alushta Schools of Young Philosophers in 1987–1993. These schools played a historically significant role in overcoming the prejudices and stereotypes of the Soviet consciousness by the Ukrainian philosophical community. The mentioned analysis led to a few conclusions regarding the methodology of historical-philosophical research of the intellectual legacy – primarily texts – of the Soviet era. (1) Soviet philosophy was certainly an anti-philosophy, a social machine of anti-thinking. (2) The basis of analyzing both texts and events of this philosophy should consider the phenomenon of doublethink – two simultaneous and parallel spaces of discourses’ (meanings’) existence. Doublethink reflects the situation when ideological officialdom, loyalty to which was necessary, and the opposing desire for true thinking coexisted. (3) This collision led to the development of and was characterized by a number of features: the “Aesopian language,” peculiar regimes of private trust, intellectual reservations, etc. The article corroborates that the change in the dynamics of the intellectual situation (language of philosophy, mode of communication, communities of intellectuals, ethos and ideals of scientific research, etc.) is the main subject of historical-philosophical research.

Changes in the Repertoire of Lithuanian Theatre from a Postcolonial Perspective


 
 
 The article reviews various theories of postcolonial studies and looks at the theatre productions of the early years of independence through their prism. It examines the repertoire chosen by the theatres as a reaction to the changes in society and analyses constantly changing methods used to represent the transformations.
 From this perspective, metaphorical language that brought fame to Lithuanian theatre is linked not only to the talent of the creators, but also to censorship and Aesopian language as a way of circumventing the regime. Paradoxically, this method is still used by young directors.When Lithuania regained its independence in 1990, theatre took up themes that had been forbidden until then. Memory was one of the main themes for the society to (re)create a fragmented and shattered identity, whether it was national, collective, or personal. Some theatres have attempted to bring back ‘prosthetic memory’ (Alison Landsberg) through experiential performances. Along with postcolonialism comes the time of postmodernism. Both the old Soviet narrative and the new pan-patriotic narrative are deconstructed. Irony, sarcasm, fragmentation, and intertextuality flourish on stage.
 Language becomes very important in the new plays, when ‘a choice of language is a choice of identity’ (Simon During). The issue of identity takes centre stage because, according to David Chioni Moore, ‘postcolonial lands are characterised by tensions between the desire for autonomy and a history of dependence [...], between resistance and complicity, and between imitation (or mimicry) and originality’.
 
 

Mythological heroes on Czech stages and politics: the case of Phaethon and Antigone

Abstract Czech culture and society have abundant experience of repressive regimes and political oppression, as well as censorship and bans on speaking publicly and critically about the political situation. This article focuses on two dramatizations of ancient Greek myth and demonstrates their connection with politics: Phaethon by Otakar Theer (1917) is an expression of rebellion against the bondage of the Czech nation in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, while The Whore from the City of Thebes by Milan Uhde (1967), a paraphrase of Sophocles’ Antigone, is a cynical analysis of the state of civil society in totalitarian communist Czechoslovakia. These plays tried to appeal to the audiences of the time allegorically, using ‘Aesopian language’ and parables. Both reinterpretations of Greek myth are analysed in their historical and cultural context and compared with contemporary adaptations of classical Greek tragedies.

The philosophical aspect of the book of literary and critical articles as a structural and semantic unity

The focus of this research is the book of literary-critical articles as a "big form", a phenomenon of such a special and developing branch of modern science of literature as cyclology. The main objects are authorized collections of articles written in the period from 1986 to 1989, when literary criticism of the philosophical direction was revived. Publications were selected as the research material: "On a live trail. Spiritual Searches of Russian Classics" by I.I. Vinogradov, "The Artist in Search of Truth" by I.B. Rodnyanskaya and "Paradoxes of Novelty: On the Literary Development of the XIX–XX centuries" by M.N. Epstein. The purpose of this work is to identify and analyze the principles that make it possible to talk about the philosophical nature of books that have become the object of comparative analysis for the first time. The distinctive feature of the books of the period 1986-1989 considered in this article in semantic terms were the "Aesopian language" conditioned by the era, indirect and direct references to the texts of Holy Scripture, concentration on issues related to the problems of Russian classical literature to solve problems of a spiritual and moral order. In general, we can talk about each of the books considered as a conscious attempt by the author to offer his own view both on problems relevant to the current state of literature and on issues of universal importance based on philosophical concepts and special ideological attitudes.

Multimodal Media Tools of Popular Geopolitics: Russian Politics in Foreign Media Cartoons

The article focuses on the political cartoons about Russia and analyzes the potential of multimodal media texts as the tools of popular geopolitics. The author also employs S. Hall’s concept of propaganda, considering the text of a caricature from semiotic perspective. The integration of the theoretical fields of popular geopolitics and propaganda is substantiated, since political cartoons not only form stereotypes about politics and international relations among media readers, but also perform propaganda functions, broadcasting the point of view of the information platform on Russian politics and Russia. The empirical base of the study embraces 242 political cartoons from Russian-language and English-language foreign media, posted in the public domain on the Internet in 2020-2021, the period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Political cartoons are analyzed with the method of expert evaluation and interdisciplinary classifier for the analysis of political cartoons. The obtained empirical results were subjected to statistical processing, including the identification of correlations. The results demonstrate that in foreign media political cartoons about Russia and Russian politics create two different images of Russia. The first description is typical for English cartoons where Russia appears in the context of international relations, mostly its ties with the United States; and the target character in English cartoon is the Russian president. Englishlanguage cartoons are more often focused on harsh criticism and the use of schematized images. Moderate criticism dominates in Russian-language cartoons of foreign media; the target characters are not only the president, but also other representatives of Russian society. Thematically, Russian-language cartoons are constructed in the context of Russia's internal political problems; the field of education is usually the most intentionally “negative”. According to the study, it is the Russian-language cartoons of foreign media that have the most complex and rich visual code and use Aesopian language. In conclusion, the author highlights the importance of further studies of the tools of popular geopolitics, as well as the need to improve the practice of creating multimodal media texts in the logic of the Russian understanding of geopolitics.

Political Euphemisation: a View From Social Philosophy

Introduction. In conditions of a dosed democracy, the radically thinking scientific intelligentsia uses a special way of presenting material – political science euphemization and Aesopian language to express sufficiently sharp criticism of the existing system of authority. In politics, euphemisms are used to hide the true content of an article or book in order to mislead the reader. Research Methods. In the process of research the dialectical materialistic and synergistic methods were used, which made it possible to draw objective, scientifically grounded conclusions about the possibility and need to overcome the shortcomings in the ineffective applications of scientific achievements, about the need to stimulate the activity of young scientists, and take a set of measures to overcome the poverty of a part of the population. Of particular concern is the process of the formation of a modern system of education for a whole generation of people, whom academician V. B. Betelin called simulacra. Discussion and Conclusion. The expected effect of a critical analysis of the phenomena of euphemism and the use of the Aesopian language in scientific research and scientific communities, overcoming the non-interference of scientists in politics is the desire of state structures, branches of government to activate the policy of improving the educational system, strengthening the fundamental function of the state – to teach, heal and protect their citizens. Simulacrum is a term that is rarely used by our domestic philosophy, since this particular emerging generation of people is a matter of a possible future. Nevertheless, it requires close attention.

Сrypotopetics and Forms of Its Manifestation

The article establishes the boundaries of this relatively new area of poetics: the proximity and at the same time the discrepancy of this concept with such as “autobiographical subtext”, “Aesopian language”. Various types of suggestive targeting inherent in cryptographic works are shown: a contemporary who closely knows the details of the author's personal life or a future “providential” reader. Many variants of the “key&8j1; / cipher to the cryptographic text are also analyzed. The specificity of cryptographic texts is considered, as it manifests itself, on the one hand, in epic, and on the other hand, in lyrical works. It is highlighted what cryptographic means the lyrical gender has (meter, rhyme, stanza; acrotext, acrostic, etc.). Particular attention is paid to symbolist poetry, which, like cryptography, has magical, cult roots. The specific material for the analysis was the digital symbolism in one of the early poems by A.A. Blok and his introduction to the collection of poems “The Earth in the Snow”. The relationship of the meanings of the symbol “comet” is shown, which are constituted in the dialogue of two epigraphs of the preface and in the lyrical plot of the cycle “Snow Mask”.

Kontrast i analogia w reportażu parabolicznym

The paper focuses on various examples of Polish literary reportage which draw upon parable, that is, a didactic story aimed at conveying moral, religious, philosophical, or existential principles by means of allegory, symbolism, and metaphor. The main purpose of the research is to examine the way in which contemporary reporters make use of contrast and analogy as tools for transferring documented facts to a universal level. In the article, the mechanism of parabolization shaped by both these devices is considered first in terms of content of reportage publication, and then with reference to the structure of journalistic narrative. The initial study includes parabolic parallels and antithesis in non-fiction books by Wojciech Jagielski and Katarzyna Surmiak-Domańska. The latter part discusses selected works by Mariusz Szczygieł and Witold Szabłowski regarding transcending literal meanings through the specific segmentation of body text. This dual analysis conducted in the paper is preceded by an introduction, in which the authoress argues the symbiotic relation between the notion of parable, the poetics of contrast, and the principle of analogy. She also presents the origins and development of parabolic reportage in twentieth-century Poland. A special emphasis is placed here on the so-called Aesopian language, which enabled reporters to pass the Communist censorship thanks to hidden political allusions and other features typical of parable. In the conclusion, the parabolic tendency is recognized as still valid in today’s Polish reportage, though different in significance and strictly associated with literary techniques of contrast and analogy.

Transgresija kao komunikacijsko sredstvo utjecaja u američkome sudskom diskursu

The article aims to identify the types of transgression in courtroom discourse. The study was carried out using discourse analysis as the main method. According to the mode of expression, the explicit type of transgression and the implicit type were determined. Forms of verbal expression of transgression are words and phrases with negative emotional coloring, and the use of contextual and conceptual antonyms. In cases of implicitly represented transgression, the true interpretations of the speakers are expressed by means of Aesopian language allegories. It is proven that the use of transgression ensures the success of the speech’s impact. The influence effect of transgression in courtroom discourse increases under the following conditions: frequent use; use of accusation and refutation strategies; emotionally charged vocabulary; piling up in narrative details, even inventing; and the construction of speeches on the principle of increasing transgression.

Осмысляя «красный смех»: англоязычные исследования о советской кинокомедии

In this article, I address foreign English-language works on Soviet film comedy, tracing the waves of researchers’ interest to it, and identifying the time periods as well as film directors attracting scholars most often. The first surge of interest in Soviet film comedy came in the first half of the 1990s and was largely associated with the fall of the Iron Curtain. The major subject of research during those years were Soviet avant-garde cinema of the 1920s, musical comedies of the 1930s, and films of the Perestroika period. The second wave came in the 2010s with the emigration of a large number of Russian scholars who had personally witnessed the Soviet Union. Thanks to them, the range of the studied material has significantly expanded through the analysis of film comedies of the 1960s and 1970s. The main thematic directions and topics in the study of the comedy genre are structured in accordance with the history of film timeline. Soviet comedies of the 1920s–1930s are of specific interest to foreign researchers in terms of the ideological regulation of art, as well as in terms of how the mythology of the new socialist society was formed, and how Soviet filmmakers adapted or rejected Western standards. In the comedies of the 1960s and 1970s, scholars analyze the discordance between declared and unspoken humor and study the Aesopian language of famous comedy film directors (Ryazanov and Gaidai above all). Finally, in late-Soviet films, researchers note the growth of absurdist motifs as a sign of a complete and no longer hidden disillusionment with communist ideals.

Verbalization of opposition to Soviet ideology in the discourses of I. O. Svitlychnyi and N. O. Svitlychnа

An article is dedicated to subject of anti-totalitarian expressions in the language, which we define as an alternative communicative discourse in conditions of the rule of soviet totalitarian ideology. On Ukrainian territory an alternative discourse was forming in the medium of creative intelligentsia — the members of the national support movement in the second half of the XX century. The specifics of language forms in resistance to totalitarian system, especially in the idiostyle of particular linguistic identity, has not become the subject of research in Ukrainian linguistics yet. Such review is important for understanding the universal system of similar language forms with a description of their mechanisms, means and techniques. The purpose of article is to detection of linguistics forms and means an anti-totalitarian communication in Ukrainian dissident environment, based on Ivan and Nadiia Svitlychni’ epistolary, journalistic, artistic and memoir texts, and making its linguistic description. For this work were used an empirical observation, descriptive and analytical, contextual analysis methods with some elements of biographical analyzing. Factual material analyze gives reason to believe that the communist totalitarian system and the newspeak, as an outfitting of ideological dogmas have triggered the appearance of a language resistance in the environment of Ukrainian dissidents-sixties. Study of the contents of the letters, articles, artistic works and memoirs of Ivan and Nadiia Svitlychni shows the presence of idiostyle features, which we consider as language forms of resistance to the Soviet ideology. There are the parody of the official discourse, introduction of units of the soviet newspeak in the ironic, comic and critical context, deformation of precedent texts of the newspeak — slogans, stable expressions, stamps, cliche, etc., the combination of contrast components for its functional purposes of presentation, application of the Aesopian language and elements of the language game. Lexical units of newspeak were implemented into text for its stylization under totalitarian discourse. This allowed to go around censorship, and at the same time, due to by getting into an unusual context, these units lost a positive connotative color, acquiring the opposite. Deformation of precedent texts caused the destruction of official ideological standards, totalitarian myths, propaganda narratives and exposing true essence of the Soviet system. Further studies perspective lies in the study of language practices other representatives of the Ukrainian resistance movement from the point of view of their opposition to the Soviet ideological discourse. Keywords: Anti-totalitarian language, the Resistance Movement, linguistic forms of resistance, alternative discourse, ironic context, critical context, reception of contrast

«Страница из истории марксизма»: о чтении Гефтером Маркса

The purpose of this paper is to show how the thought and speech of people holding and defending directly opposite positions affect the change in the thought and speech of people of their own and subsequent generations, with different life orientations, and to find ways of this influence. The author describes the situation that arose at the end of the sixties of the twentieth century, known as the ideological dispersal of philosophical, historical and sociological trends that ran counter to the policy of the CPSU, which became especially fierce in the fight against opponents after the USSR’s invasion of Czechoslovakia in August, 1968. One of the results of such an ideological battle was the defeat of the sector of the methodology of history of the Institute of General History of the USSR Academy of Sciences, headed by M. Ya. Gefter, who published a series of books in which the so-called laws of historical development (formational approach) were questioned and the fundamental provisions of the classics of Marxism-Leninism were criticized. The subject of analysis is Gefter’s article “A Page from the History of Marxism in the Early 20th Century”, published in the book “Historical Science and Some Problems of the Modernity”, dedicated to the analysis of Lenin’s tactics and strategy development which changed the views of many, especially young, historians on the historical process, and most importantly - on the methods of seeking and expressing the truth. The differences were expressed primarily in the fact that the proponents and defenders of the Soviet regime, which was based on their own established norms of Marxism-Leninism, fearlessly used all means of pressure on unwanted opponents. Professionals, however, who tried to understand the true sense of the historical process, the sense of judgments about it, especially the sense of the revolutionary struggle against the autocracy, unfolding at the beginning of the twentieth century, were forced to use the Aesopian language, which also provoked a distortion of this sense in many ways: due to the nebulous and veiled expressions, which give the impression of theoretical blackmail, causing such consequences as speech irresponsibility.

Les calembours de Boris Pasternak dans le recueil Seconde naissance

The article focuses on puns in Boris Pasternak’s collection The Second Birth (1932). Since the analysis of the language game was almost entirely replaced with the analysis of polysemy, puns have not become the subject of a special study. Within the framework of this approach, the ambiguities in the poems were interpreted as “Aesopian language” or the “author’s deafness”. According to the article, the cases of linguistic ambiguity in The Second Birth are the phenomena of poetical irony. Basing the analysis on phraseology as a fixed linguistic material, we show how the transformation of idioms creates puns. The article examines examples in which Pasternak playfully transforms fixed expressions or constructions taken from the Soviet discourse (the second section), as well as the language game that is not related to ideology (the third section). In the latter case, we are interested by the linguistic mechanisms of pun creation – from explicit interpretation of idioms to subtle ambiguity arising from language associations. The puns throughout the collection reduce the degree of seriousness and form the ironic modality of the poems. The Second Birth thus balances not only between the simplicity and complexity of language, but also between the pathetic and ironic modalities.

Cinematic Aesopian Language Surmounting the Panoptical Gaze: From A Billion Years Before the End of the World (1976) to Days of Eclipse (1988)

Alexander Sokurov’s film Days of Eclipse which is based on the novel A Billion Years Before the End of the World by the brothers Arkady and Boris Strugatsky synthesizes an essence of incisive criticisms of the totalitarian control and surveillance of the Soviet system and the ‘abnormal’ boundaries that were created by them. The visual language, allegory, and symbolism which specialized in the Aesopian language of the Strugatsky brothers developed the specific ability for the readers to understand the hidden meaning of their works, so-called literacy to the readers. In Days of Eclipse Sokurov uses various aesthetics and cinematic techniques to denote the ontological-philosophical consciousness of the limitations and crises of the Strugatskys, as a result, expands the literacy in the Strugatskys’ work. This article proposes to investigate how Sokurov’s adaptation of the novel cinematically embodies the theme of the Strugatsky brothers and how Sokurov’s own literacy on the novel A Billion Years Before the End of the World is realized through cinematic aesthetics. To analyze Sokurov’s interpretation, this article attempts to examine the various ways in which the meanings and forms of the gaze of surveillance are realized in the film, the sociopolitical context of the film’s revision of the limited spatiality originally presented in the novel, how the perplexity and terror that the novel’s characters experience are related to the film’s chaotic form, and finally discover the messages that the Strugatskys and Sokurov have tried to convey from the novel and the film.

КОНТЕКСТНЕ ВИВЧЕННЯ ОПОВІДАННЯ І. ГАСПРИНСЬКОГО «АРСЛАН-КИЗ» У ШКІЛЬНОМУ КУРСІ УКРАЇНСЬКОЇ ЛІТЕРАТУРИ

The article substantiates the expediency of studying the biography and work of I. Hasprynskyi in the lessons of Ukrainian literature in the classes of philological profile inconnection with literary and non-artistic facts; the peculiarities of biographical, historical, literary, culturological, social context as a method of analysis and interpretation of the program text «Arslan-kyz» are determined. The literary context is outlined in terms of clarifying the semantic and formal features of «Divchyna-Levytsia» as a work of debatable genre nature (historical narrative, story, legend, utopia), «subtextual context» (actualization of Aesopian language, hidden expression in the works of the artist ), «Metatextual context» (comparative analysis of Guljemal and Jeanne d’Arc as characters formed against the background of historical circumstances, in particular according to the literary biography of I. Koshelivets «Jeanne d’Arc»), contexts of literary concretization of «Divchyna-Levytsia», reception works of I. Hasprynskyi in different epochs (A. Krymsky, Y. Kandym, M. Dzhemilev, O. Slonovskaya, etc.). It has been observed that the codes that reveal the context of the historical story «Divchyna-Levytsia» have intensified in modern historical conditions (news of Chinese secret camps for Uighur Muslims has gained wide public resonance; in annexed Crimea, Russia again pursues discriminatory policies against indigenous peoples; deportation of Crimean Tatars by the Soviet regime from Crimea Ukraine, the world remembers the victims of genocide, condemns the actions of the current occupiers, which encourages teachers and students not only to discover additional meanings and meanings of the historical story «Arslan-kyz» infinite. Perspectives of the method of research of the system of contexts – in-depth study of Ukrainian literature (students search for additional information, need for explanations, comments), updating the meaning of what is read through inclusion in new contexts of the humanities; mastering the competencies of understanding one’s own national identity, open attitude to the diversity of cultural expression of others, etc. (personally significant context).

“Aesopian language” in the communist regime: a scientific article by the Bulgarian scientist Nikola Mavrodinov

The resistance in intellectual milieu of countries with totalitarian regimes had different forms. The “Aesopian language” was another resistance form. In Bulgarian archeologist, professor Nikola Mavrodinov’s article “Excavations and researches in Bulgaria in recent years”, published in the scientific journal “Soviet archeology”, in 1955, there was a noticeable contrast to that landscape of “underdeveloped archeology of bourgeois Bulgaria” depicted by him in the beginning of his article with presented facts by him. N.Mavrodinov’s article was an evident example of scientist’s “Aesopian language”, whose country was occupied and the regime established by the metropolis country demanded of the scientist to downgrade all achievements, made prior to occupation. Using, namely, this “Aesopian language”, the scientist showed that, at least, not everything was negative in the past or generally, one shouldn’t see the past in negative.

The Deportation of 1944 in the Cultural Memory of Crimean Tatar People (the Case of Literary Works of Ervin Umerov and Shamil Aladin)

The article deals with the coverage in works of literature of the forceful deportation of Crimean Tatar people in May, 1944. Here, literary works are seen as functioning elements of cultural memory of the people. The works in question are Ervin Umerov’s short stories Loneliness, The Black Trains, The Permit, and Shamil Aladin’s novels Invitation to Devil’s Banquet and I’m Your King and God, recently published in Ukrainian translations. The importance of Ukrainian publications of works of Crimean Tatar literature, telling i. a. about the deportation of 1944, is determined by the persistence of negative stereotypes and anti-Crimean Tatar bias cultivated for decades. In the XXI century, much has been accomplished by scholars and journalists in order to deconstruct historic myths, i. a. the Stalinist black legend about Crimean Tatars’ “treachery” during the 2nd World War. True facts about the deportation of 1944 were publicized as well. Back in Soviet times, when telling the truth about tragic past directly was impossible, Crimean Tatar writers saw their mission in preserving at least some of the people’s memories in their works of fiction. The emotional and aesthetic power of historic fiction is of key importance in bringing images of the past to contemporary readers. Memories of the deportation of May, 1944 were parts of their life experiences both for Umerov (1938–2007) and Aladin (1912–1996). In their works written mostly during Soviet period, they transformed into fictional accounts both their own experience and tragic memories of their compatriots, using multi-layered plots, subtext and Aesopian language so as to bypass Soviet censorship.

УСТНЫЕ РАССКАЗЫ ОБ ЭЗОПОВОМ ЯЗЫКЕ В ЛИТЕРАТУРНО-ХУДОЖЕСТВЕННОЙ СРЕДЕ: ФОЛЬКЛОРНО-АНТРОПОЛОГИЧЕСКИЙ ПОДХОД

Firs-person narratives involve constructing of self, conceptualization of reality, analysis of one’s personal experience, and moral implications. Folkloristic methods help discover all these implications by underlining textual parallels, speech genres, formulas, motifs, etc. The article explores the mechanisms that help to form the image of Aesopian language in interviews with urban dwellers of different generations. Each interview corresponds to reality in a complex and indirect way. For instance, the article gives examples of anecdotes and anecdote-like stories, comical and didactic stories about communicative gaps, and formulas, such as “Sofia Vlasievna, the name for Soviet regime”, used in interviews, but also in press and literature. Basing on the material of interviews, we can explore not so much the practices of Aesopian language in late Soviet time, but the complex of motifs that form the image of this phenomena. It is important for the worldview of both those who lived in late Soviet times and the younger generation – those who were children at that time.