Russian Readers Research Articles

On the Textual Structure of F. M. Dostoevsky’s Works, Intonation Punctuation of the 19th Century and the Grammatical Norm of the Modern Russian Language (Based on the Material of the 9th Volume of the Complete Works of F. M. Dostoevsky in 35 Volumes. St. Petersburg, Nauka Publ., 2020. 1029 p.)

The article contains an analysis of a number of textual and historical-literary issues related to the academic publication of the works of F.M. Dostoevsky, the problem of preserving the author’s style of the writer when bringing the text to the norms of modern spelling and punctuation is considered. The importance of the question of the inconsistency of the “intonation&8j1; punctuation of the 19th with the modern grammatical norm, assuming the semantic principle of punctuation marks, is pointed out. The preservation of individual elements of archaic punctuation when reading in modern Russian has a destructive effect on the meaning of the phrase. The article contains a number of examples showing the inapplicability within the modern grammatical norm of elements of the old spelling and punctuation.

Т. SHEVCHENKO’S LIFETIME PUBLICATIONS

Lifetime publications of T. Shevchenko's are priceless relics of Ukrainian literature and culture, which are authentic lists of his works, with handwritten corrections. There are many studies and comments on his work, but only a small number of specialists know the history of the composition of "Kobzar" in 1840, "Kobzar" in 1860. The interesting story of the publication of "Chihyrynskyi Kobzar" and the poem "Haydamaka" in 1847. "Bukvar yuzhnorusskyi" stands out among the contemporary editions, because it is a study guide for both adults and children to study the Ukrainian language. This book was compiled by Shevchenko for Sunday schools and published at his expense in 1861, with a very large circulation of 10,000 copies. An interesting lifetime publication of "Kobzar" from 1860, edited by M. Gerbel, translated by Russian poets: Mai, Mikhailov, Pleshcheev, Gerbel, Kurochkin. It was one of the main sources of acquaintance of the Russian reader with the poetry of T. Shevchenko during the 19th and 20th centuries. The history of the pocket book "Kobzaryk", which was transported to Ukraine illegally after the Emsk Decree of 1876, reveals the true position of the Ukrainian word in the Russian Empire. This little book was shipped hidden in Awadi cigarette paper measuring 85x55 ml from Geneva. Although this is not a lifetime publicaion, it was released without Russian censorship. To date, "Kobzar" has been reprinted more than 8 million times and has been translated into 100 languages. T. Shevchenko became a symbol of Ukrainian identity and originality.

FOREIGN STUDIES OF INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION: METHODOLOGICAL PROBLEMS, THEMATIC TRENDS

International migration is a large-scale social problem, its complexity and relevance has been increasing in recent years, which necessitates research on the main trends and social processes related to migration flows. The purpose of this article is an analytical review of modern foreign studies on international migration, which are mostly unknown to the Russian reader. The authors consider the methodological problems of in-ternational migration studies and the main directions ofmigration research by foreign specialists. The results of the analysis demonstrate that migration processes are being significantly transformed under the influence of global and regional challenges. In terms of methodology of migration studies, the neo-institutional ap-proach is gaining more and more influence as one of the most promising theoretical and methodological ap-proaches that can influence the construction of a holistic concept of international migration. Such categories as «institutions», «practices», and «structures»make it possible to cover a wide range of variables that are significant for external migration. Among the key areas of migration research, one should note changes in the scale and structure of migration, including gender aspects; theemergence of new barriers in the field of migration, including in connection with the global COVID-19 pandemic; institutional changes in the migra-tion management system. In addition, foreign studies focus on issues such as the problem of security and democracy in the context of international migration, regulation of migration processes, modern migration policy and regimes. In conclusion, it is noted that the issue of migration processes is in constant dynamics, which determines and permanently updates the agenda for research in the field of international migration.

История рецепции Терри Пратчетта в России

The article aims to trace the history of the entry of Terry Pratchett, a famous British writer in the genre of comic fantasy, into Russian culture. Although Russian scholars have turned to the work of this writer before, studies of his reception in the Russian-language cultural field have not been conducted. The article considers the issue of reception in different aspects: (1) the publication of novels in Russian, (2) reviews of literary critics, (3) the reader’s reaction to Pratchett’s novels, (4) the interest of the academic community in the work of the writer. Despite the wide success in his homeland at the end of the 1980s due to the Discworld comic book series, the name of the writer remained virtually unknown to the mass reader until the end of the 1990s in Russia, which was due to the lack of Russian reader’s preparation to perceive the works created to parody the fantasy genre. This study allows us to say with confidence that Pratchett’s popularity in Russia continues to grow and has not reached its peak yet. Starting later, in comparison with other authors of fantasy, the reception of Pratchett developed at a rapid pace and went through three main stages in its development. At the stage of acquaintance with the author’s books, already well-known to the English-speaking world (which began in the mid-1990s), the reception consisted almost solely in the translation of Pratchett’s novels into Russian by professional translators and amateur enthusiasts who posted their translations on the Internet. At the next stage (which started in 2004), the translations were supplemented with critical responses and reviews by the columnists of the magazine The World of Fiction, which performed both an introductory function and the function of forming the reader’s opinion. Along with professional critics, the opinion of the mass reader was spontaneously formed on the Internet. During this period, Pratchett gradually became a cult figure, as evidenced by the reader’s excitement associated with his arrival in Russia, the emergence of fan communities and fanfiction. At the same time, a research field associated with the name of Pratchett began to form in academic circles, which indicates that the author was gradually turning into a classic. The third stage (which began in 2018) was marked by the completion of the publication in Russian of the main Pratchett’s books, but the publication of his biographies, previously unpublished short stories, as well as reprints and editions of new translated versions aimed at satisfying the current reader’s “communication hunger” with the works of their favourite writer emerged

«Особый путь» литературы Сибири? (Опыт реконструкции историософских и литературно-критических источников сибирского областничества)

An attempt is presented to reconstruct the historiosophical and literary-critical sources of Grigory Potanin’s article “A novel and a story in Siberia.” This article is key to the literary criticism of the “senior” regionalists. Consideration is given to two phenomena: 1) the Russian literature of the 19th century, regarded as “incorrect” as it was forced to evolve rapidly due to the lagging in its development (the consequence of the forced modernization of Russia), and 2) Western European literature, regarded “normal” and supplying the Russian literature with forms seen as models. These two phenomena were reproduced several decades later on a more local scale though less consistently: 1) Russian literature, having become “normative” for the Russian reader by the 1870s, and 2) the literature of Siberia lagging in its development compared to Russian literature. The leaders of Siberian regionalism would speak about the “specialness” of Siberia when comparing it both with Russia and Europe, with this “specialness” requiring a special representation. Considering criticism as an institution that “supervises” literature, Potanin, as his associate and friend Yadrintsev, suggested a radical thesis about the absence of literature in Siberia in his article. At the same time, relying on Karamzin’s article “Why are there few author talents in Russia?” and the first “Philosophical Letter” by Chaadaev, Potanin joins the discourse of the “shortage” of literature generated by several Russian critics of the first third of the 19th century. Potanin’s thought follows the paradigm formed in literary criticism and historiosophical discourse of this period.

Поэтика ранней малой прозы В. В. Набокова: из рассказов, не опубликованных при жизни писателя

The article deals with the early works of V. Nabokov – short prose that was not published during the life of the writer. «They speak Russian», «Sounds» and «Gods», written in the 1920s, only became available to Russian readers in the 21st century. The publication of The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov not only demonstrated public interest in the author’s works, but also raised an urgent question for literary critics studying Nabokov’s legacy: what is the role and place of these unknown stories in the general context of the writer’s and scientific discourse. The purpose of this work is to analyze the poetics of Vladimir Nabokov’s «They speak Russian», «Sounds», «Gods» and compare them with his other texts. Comparing these stories allowed us to consider the them in their relationship to one another and with such iconic works as «Other Shores», «Mashenka», «The Gift», «Assistant Director», «Christmas», and his plays. As a result, the tendencies common across Nabokov’s works were identified, which were already outlined in the era of the first serious appeals to prose and developed and conceptualized in the mature period: the motif of nostalgia, the image of Russia as a lost paradise, the split of the world into emigrant and Soviet, and the lyricism and impressionism of prose.

Badges in English Heraldic Practice

On the one hand, badges are a well-known phenomenon, however on the other its nature is still poorly understood. It is a unique medieval sign which is extremely difficult to study due to its flexibility. There have never been any rules that would somehow regulate the application of badges: their visual form, adoption, inheritance. And consequently there have never been any lawsuits, that would leave us documents and letters that would help us understand its place in medieval society the way it is with the coats of arms. The following article is an attempt to gather what little we know about badges as specific English signs and present it to a Russian reader.

Своеобразие перевода стихотворения Сильвии Плат «Tulips» на русский язык

Sylvia Plath’s oeuvre, with the exception of the novel The Bell Jar, is not so well known to the Russian reader, and in this regard, the republication of the collection of her poems in Russian translations is an extremely important event. The article compares the original text of the poem "Tulips" and its translation by Vasily Betaki, published in the Russian edition of Plath’s Collected Poems. This translation is an example of fruitful "cooperation" between the poet and the translator, which has both its own merits and inevitable losses. Losing the precision and conciseness of the original, the translation partly brings the poem closer to the Russian poetic tradition, making it clearer to the Russian-speaking reader.

О первом в России переводе романа М. Пруста «В сторону Свана» (по материалам издательства «Всемирная литература»)

It follows from the materials of the publishing house “World Literature” that it was this publishing house that for the first time in Russia paid attention to the work of Proust and carried out the first translation of several passages from his novel Du côté de chez Swann, thereby laying the tradition of Proust’s translation, which found its continuation in subsequent translations, first of all, in the translations of A.A. Frankovsky. Thus, the first translators of Proust in Russia were not B.A. Griftsov and Frankovsky, as is commonly believed, but an employee of the publishing house “World Literature” Maria N. Ryzhkina, the student of the Literary Studio under the guidance of the founder of the Russian translation school M.L. Lozinsky, who developed the theoretical and practical principles of translation in post-revolutionary Petrograd. What is curious, the publishing house “World Literature” was not mentioned in the well-regarded book “Marcel Proust in Russian Literature” (2000), although A.D. Mikhailov quoted there an article by V.V. Veidle in “The Modern West” magazine which had accompanied the first publication of Proust in Russian, translated by M.N. Ryzhkina. The materials of “The Modern West” magazine and the minutes of the meetings of the Editorial Board of the publishing house “World Literature” make it possible to trace how the collective opinion of the publishing house employees developed about the need to present Proust’s work to the Russian reader, what requirements were put forward for the work of a translator. The introduction of editorial protocols including the discussion of the work of M. Proust and the prospects for its publication in Russia by the “World Literature” publishing house into academic circulation significantly complements the picture of perception of the work of the great French innovative writer in Russia.

Современные тенденции картирования головного мозга

Brain atlases are widely used to determine relative location, form, and a number of other parameters of certain brain structures. Such data are required in medical practice, fundamental neuroscience research, and educating graduate and postgraduate medical students. Many papers observed the development of human brain atlases. However, recently numerous new atlases have been published, both digital and online ones. This tendency was triggered by intensive development and growing accessibility of modern visualization tools and digitizing novel data and existing archives. This study aimed to overview the historical background of and modern tendencies in the brain atlas development for Russian readers. Furthermore, foreign literature does not focus on Russian neurological tradition, so we attempted to cover this issue as well. Particular attention is paid to the atlases of human brain development. Keywords: human brain atlas, human prenatal development

The term tire (dash) in historical-linguistic and lexicographic retrospective

The article is devoted to the study of the Russian term tire (‘dash’) and its parallel names in historiographical, etymological, semantic, functional and lexicographic aspects. The research is based on textual and lexicographic sources dating from the 18th to the 20th century, that allow us to establish the chronology of the term semantics and appearance of its parallel names. The purpose of the article is to clarify and systematize historiographical and etymological information about the term tire, to perform the historical-linguistic analysis of its semantics and functions, starting with the appearance of the first Russian grammars containing elements of a scientific approach to the coverage of linguistic facts. The article uses methods of historical-linguistic, definitional, etymological, semantic and lexicographic analysis. The dash in the function of the sign replacing the omitted parts of the utterance is found in Russian grammatical sources as early as the mid-1840s, but this sign itself does not yet have a name in this period. The terminological nomination tire, which is understood as a punctuation mark, presumably appears for the first time in 1802 in A German Grammar of I. Geym. The first lexicographic recording of the term is fixed in A Pocket book for lovers of reading Russian books… by I. Renovans and is dated 1837, however, in this case it is only about fixing the plan of term expression, but not the plan of its content, since Renovans understands the hyphen as a dash. The plan of term expression and the plan of its content begin to be unambiguously correlated in lexicographic sources, apparently, only in 1863, when in the dictionaries of K. Reif and V. Dahl, the dash in the functional-semantic aspect ceases to be associated with the outwardly similar hyphen. In scientific and theoretical sources, however, confusion continues to take place. The synonymous series including various names of the dash (molchanka as a silence sign, small line, stop sign, line, thought-separating sign) is formed in the period from 1786 to 1831. The term dvoynoye tire (‘double dash’), judging by the results of the study, first occurs in 1902 in the work by A. Pridik, and not in 1955, as previously thought.

Reconstruction of Metaphorical Mapping as an Instrument of the Pre-translation Analysis of Poetry

Although it can help avoid far too literal translations of metaphorical expressions, the reconstruction of metaphorical mapping is still an unclaimed instrument of pre-translation analysis. This research aims at a pre-translation analysis of a book of poems, Babylon in a Jar (1998) by Andrew Hudgins, which has not been previously translated into Russian. The method for linguistic metaphor identification created by G. Steen is applied for the first time in this study as an instrument of pre-translation analysis. Firstly, key conceptual metaphors of the book are identified: death is departure, life is a journey, plants are people, and emotional intimacy is physical closeness. Secondly, the relationship between source and target domains is analysed. For example, the source domain for the metaphor people are plants is a daffodil, a tree, or a chinaberry. In Western cultures, a chinaberry symbolizes the tree of knowledge and in A. Hudgins’ poem, this idea is mapped onto knowledge about sinful human nature. Thirdly, translation strategies are outlined. In the translated version, another plant is introduced to preserve the original cross-domain mapping because the chinaberry tree is not familiar to Russian readers. Based on conceptual metaphor theory, this research seeks to integrate the reconstruction of metaphorical mapping into a pre-translation analysis, which allows for the preservation of the spirit of the original version. These insights advance interdisciplinary research on poetry interpretation and the practice of translation.

SLAVIC SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY IN INTERFACULTY COURSES AT LOMONOSOV MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY (2013-2020)

The article shares the author’s experience of teaching interfaculty science fiction (sci-fi) and fantasy lecture courses at Lomono-sov Moscow State University, attended by students of all departments. In the period between 2013 and 2020 six such courses were taught, the number of students varying from 250 to 450 each. The courses comprised sci-fi and fantasy theory, sci-fi and fantasy status among other types of fiction narratives, the main stages of Russian and foreign sci-fi and fantasy history, the creative activity of outstanding sci-fi and fantasy writers of the 20th and 21st centuries. Apart from the Russian, West European and North American writers, works by East European (Slavic) authors were thoroughly examined. The article contains neat observations on the degree of Slavic sci-fi and fantasy writers’ popularity among young Russian readers and on the most inter-esting fiction texts for students. The data obtained through the analysis of the students’ assignments comprise their answers to the questions about their favorite sci-fi writers and books lists, on the reasons of certain fantastic worlds’ attractiveness, on their preferences in sci-fi or fantasy. The article also clarifies the principles of writers and their works selection for the lecture cours-es, it characterizes the creative activity of Slavic writers and reveals the interrelation between Slavic writers’ fiction works and the general scope of problems discussed at interfaculty sci-fi lecture courses. Taking into account the students’ interest in works by Karel Čapek, Stanislaw Lem, Andrzej Sapkowski and other Slavic authors, we suggest some ideas about the potential structure of a specialized lecture course focusing on science fiction and fantasy in Slavic countries.

Bagno, V. (2020). Spaniards of the three worlds. In dedication to Juan Ramón Jiménez. Moscow: Institut perevoda: Tsentr knigi Rudomino. (In Russ.)

The reader is offered an extensive overview of the 10th- to 20th-c. Spanish and Latin American literature. The book considers not only preeminent authors like Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Márquez, and Cortázar, but also those known only to scholars — like R. Llull, J. de Espronceda, and J. Valera. Thanks to the author’s impressive cultural erudition, the book demonstrates the numerous comparative connections of Spanish-speaking writers with world literature. Thus, without Cervantes’ Don Quixote, neither Dostoevsky, nor Cortázar, nor Márquez would have written their novels. A Russian reader will be especially interested in Russo-Spanish connections, as their study is also included in the scope of Bagno’s research. In this regard, particularly interesting is the analysis of Lope de Vega’s play about False Dmitry I El Gran Duque de Moscovia. Another exciting topic discussed in the book is the story of Spaniards who developed strong ties to Russia, like Odessa’s founder J. de Ribas and the Spanish ambassador in the 19th-c. Petersburg J. Valera.

Fairy Tales of Angel Karaliychev in Russian Translations

The article is devoted to the work of the Bulgarian writer of the XXth century, Angel Karaliychev. In the second half of the XXth century, his most famous fairy tales and stories for children were translated into Russian, including the collection “Bulgarian Folk Talesˮ in two volumes. In the Soviet Union, Karaliychev’s fairy tales were included in collections of fairy tales of Slavic peoples and represented Bulgarian folklore in collections of fairy tales of the peoples of the world published in Russian. Despite the fact that the last book edition of Karaliychev’s fairy tales in Russian appeared in the 1980s, his works continue their life in the new century in electronic format, on the Internet. Karaliychev’s fairy tales, addressed to children 4 – 10 years old, tell about eternal values in a language understandable for children, they also introduce to children and adults the realities of Bulgarian life, the heroes of Bulgarian folk tales, expanding the horizons of the Russian reader.

The puzzle of Valerii Briusov’s Aeneid

Abstract The translation of the Aeneid by a leading Symbolist poet Valerii Briusov, on which he worked most of his life, failed to gain favor with Russian readers because of its literalism. Combining various theoretical approaches with a close analysis of the text this essay explores why Briusov’s translation failed in the context of the cultural and aesthetic demands of the era in which it was composed.

Калькирование китайской идиоматики как художественный прием в рассказах Бориса Юльского

The article analyzes the loan-translation of Chinese idiomatics in the stories by the Russian writer of the Far Eastern emigration Boris Yulsky. The paper describes 9 expressions, which are characterized by two features: these expressions have a formal and semantic structure that is non-standard for the Russian language; these expressions denote phenomena of Chinese culture. The analysis of the material includes the identification of Chinese sources of calques, comparison of the source and result of calquing, determination of the functions of calques in the stories by the Russian writer. The study showed that calquing is a productive language facility of representing Chinese consciousness and Chinese culture in a Russian literary text. Calques allow in an accessible and at the same time quite authentic form to present to the Russian-speaking reader the realities of Chinese everyday culture and elements of ethno-cultural consciousness. As a result, the Russian reader gets the opportunity to immerse himself in the special reality of a different culture – not just to see it from the outside, like an exotic picture, but to feel it from the inside, through the prism of Chinese linguistic consciousness.

Unfair justice, or how social activism destroys the ideas of equality and ‘good society’

The article is a review of the book by Douglas Murray The Madness of Crowds (translated from English by N.A. Lomteva; Moscow: RIPOL classic, 2021. 480 p.). Although this does not follow from the title (as in the book by H. Pluckrose and J. Lindsay on the same topic and with the same estimates Cynical Theories. How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Genders, and Identity - and Why This Harms Everybody ), the book focuses on the idea of social justice or rather its transformations due to the blurring boundaries between academic research and social activism, private and public life, past and present (in their media representations). On the example of several macro-cases, typical and obvious for the Western society, but well known to the Russian reader through the media-discourse rhetoric, the author identifies the consequences for the ‘objective’ state of social justice of such radical changes in its interpretations as the transition from idealistic-philosophical (social level) to punitive-politicized (the level of groups and communities, including personal responsibility) definitions.

Word frequency and text complexity: an eye-tracking study of young Russian readers

Although word frequency is often associated with the cognitive load on the reader and is widely used for automated text complexity assessment, to date, no eye-tracking data have been obtained on the effectiveness of this parameter for text complexity prediction for the Russian primary school readers. Besides, the optimal ways for taking into account the frequency of individual words to assess an entire text complexity have not yet been precisely determined. This article aims to fill these gaps. The study was conducted on a sample of 53 children of primary school age. As a stimulus material, we used 6 texts that differ in the classical Flesch readability formula and data on the frequency of words in texts. As sources of the frequency data, we used the common frequency dictionary based on the material of the Russian National Corpus and DetCorpus - the corpus of literature addressed to children. The speed of reading the text aloud in words per minute averaged over the grades was employed as a measure of the text complexity. The best predictive results of the relative reading time were obtained using the lemma frequency data from the DetCorpus. At the text level, the highest correlation with the reading speed was shown by the text coverage with a list of 5,000 most frequent words, while both sources of the lists - Russian National Corpus and DetCorpus - showed almost the same correlation values. For a more detailed analysis, we also calculated the correlation of the frequency parameters of specific word forms and lemmas with three parameters of oculomotor activity: the dwell time, fixations count, and the average duration of fixations. At the word-by-word level, the lemma frequency by DetCorpus demonstrated the highest correlation with the relative reading time. The results we obtained confirm the feasibility of using frequency data in the text complexity assessment task for primary school children and demonstrate the optimal ways to calculate frequency data.

Signature-based block diagram analysis. Calculating complex-structure signatures

Aim. The signature theory allows comparing the structural dependability of complex systems consisting of identical components using a numeric vector referred to as signature that is determined using a certain algorithm. The signature describes a system’s structure and is associated with the order statistics of the components’ times to failure. The paper aims to familiarize the Russian readers with the theory, as well as to build simple algorithms that would allow finding the signature of an arbitrary VooL system, including a series parallel system using the known signatures of its subsystems.Methods. Calculations and theorem proving primarily involve the use of combinatorics with various element selection patterns. Additionally, classical methods of the probability theory and mathematical theory of dependability are used.Conclusions. The paper introduces such concept of the mathematical dependability theory as technical system signature. The primary purpose of this characteristic consists in comparing the structural dependability of several, in particular, two systems. The algorithm is sufficiently simple and involves comparing two finite numeric arrays according to a certain rule. Structural dependability is understood as the dependability of connection circuits of components that are identical in terms of dependability. That significantly reduces the capabilities of the signature theory, as practically all technical systems consist of components with various dependability. However, with a certain conservatism, it can be considered that all of a system’s components have a dependability identical to that of the least dependable one. The degree of conservatism will be determined by the difference in the component dependability that will be a sufficiently low value for highly dependable components. Additionally, we should note the purely mathematical beauty of the signature theory that has recently been gaining significant momentum in foreign scientific publications. It must be noted that according to the classical laws of combinatorics, as the number n of system component elements grows, the construction of a technical system signature speeds up significantly. Therefore, it becomes necessary to develop sufficiently simple algorithms for calculating the signature of a random system. As part of the presented work, analytical approaches to signature acquisition were developed for both simple cases when a single component is, in series or parallely, added to a subsystem, and more complex situations when one or more subsystems are added to another subsystem. A number of cases of signature construction were considered using both the classical method, and the one suggested in this paper. An example was analysed of system dependability comparison using their respective signatures. The structural dependability of systems with various numbers of components was compared. The paper proves a number of theorems that allow calculating the signature of a random structure diagram consisting of components that are identical in terms of dependability.