Vol 1, No 2 (2020)

The «documentosphere» is a field of documentary communication that is an auxiliary system for the design, preservation, broadcast and reproduction of cultural values and for the development of cultural life and creativity. In different sciences, the concept of a «document» is interpreted variously. The article offers a culturological definition. The article considers the relationship between the semiotic concept of communication in modern cultural studies and the theory of documentary communication. It is worthwhile to use the concept of documentosphere for further study of the sociocultural space of modern Russia.

The image of Altai in Russian literature of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is multifaceted and contradictory. The popular contemporary Russian writer and publicist M. Weller (b.1948) has contributed to the formation of Altai’s image in Russian literature. The author analyzes Weller’s stories that were written on the basis of impressions from his stay in Altai in 1976, “The Horse for One Pass” (1983) and “We Will Not Go to Lake Ishtugol” (1988). These concern the customs and everyday life of cattle rangers leading a flock of sheep from Mongolia to Biisk. Weller depicts the culminating episode of “We Will Not Go to Lake Ishtugol,” the duel between Siverin and the red-haired Mongol horse, in epic, mythological terms, as a duel between the Man and Tulpar, the mythical horse of the Turks. The dressage of a horse in the story “The Horse for One Pass” is seen as an embodiment of the ancient Turkic motif of “kut-guch,” the exchange of vitality between a person and a horse as a symbol of spiritual improvement. The article thus contributes to a better understanding of the “Altai” topos in Russian literature.

This article examines the activities of Ukrainian enterprises in 1900-1905. in the Russian Far East and in the cross-border conditions. Applying a systems approach, attention is paid to the historical, performing, aesthetic and musical aspects of their functioning. A large number of sources are involved, the leading of which are unknown materials from the Far Eastern periodicals. The repertoire of Ukrainian troupes, the artistic composition are presented, evidence of the peculiarities of stage performances on Russian territory and in Manchuria is given. It is established that the activities of Little Russian enterprises helped the Far Eastern Ukrainian diaspora to preserve their national identity through language and musical and dance folklore. Thanks to them, the geographical area of the dissemination of the art of domestic musical theater has expanded due to the functioning on the territory of a foreign state. In the cross-border conditions, the Ukrainian Music and Drama Theater fully preserved the traditions of its own national culture.

This paper analyzes the updated series «[What Is] New in Russian Vocabulary», a number of issues of which were prepared at the Institute for Linguistic Research of the RAS. It examines the lexical composition of yearbooks («Ezhegodniki») and their main categories of vocabulary reflecting the relationship «one’s own - someone else’s» in the Russian language of the latest period. Based on a quantitative analysis, conclusions are drawn about the continuing modern process of word derivation and about the growth and deepening of active lexical borrowing in various thematic areas. Analysis of statistical data reveals a striking feature of the dynamics of modern Russian vocabulary - the formation of composites. Significant changes in the socio-cultural situation has also led to the inclusion of Internet discourse (lexicalized Internet memes and hashtags) in yearbooks from the second decade of the twenty-first century. The final part of the article is devoted to the «addressee factor». In connection with the development of modern humanitarian academic knowledge, significant changes have also affected the parameters of the yearbooks’ potential addressee. The author suggests that in connection with the emergence of zones of legal risk in modern Russian public speech communication, specialists in the field of forensic linguistics have a special need for operative editions introducing lexical neoplasms. The main addressee is a linguistic reader in whose interests yearbook should reflect the current scientific state of lexicology and lexicography. Research reveals another special type of addressee of the yearbook: a culturologist, for whom the yearbook is the most important source of material for studying the modern sociolinguistic situation, as it offers a linguistic and extralinguistic picture of the world.

It is recognized that the premiere of Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony, whose preparation in 1941-1942 was extremenly difficult, represented a great personal and artistic achievement. Modern scholarly publications also add that Kuibyshev hosted perhaps its largest PR proiect of the twentieth century, which captured the attention of the entire world, including America, England, Sweden and other allied countries. Other outstanding works by Shostakovich also belong to the Kuibyshev period but they are poorly represented in Samara’s cultural memory. Their multi-dimensionality, ahead of their time, could enrich the city’s humanitarian space. The article also describes the presentation of the almanac «Samara’s Homage. Shostakovich-100 years» in Bonn, at the Russian Consulate General, on May 8, 2006. In conclusion, the authors cite the testimony of the writer Chingis Aitmatov about Shostakovich’s global thinking, addressed to the future.

This article reviews the virtual project «Voices of the greats. A collection of vinyl records from the collections of the Samara Regional Universal Scientific Library». The series is aimed at enhancing the corpus of records that preserve the voices of artists and cultural workers. It pays particular attention to the preservation and popularization of the creative heritage of the composer Dmitrii Dmitrievich Shostakovich, who has had a tremendous impact on the musical culture of Soviet and post-Soviet society. One of the most unique records in the collection is the recording «From a radio speech in Leningrad on September 16, 1941» in which the composer talks about his work on the score of the Seventh («Leningrad») Symphony.