Ideas and Ideals

The article reveals the creative activity of the only state Jewish theater group that existed in the 1980s in the RSFSR, the Chamber Jewish Musical Theater (CJMT) in Birobidzhan. The author briefl y dwells on the peculiarities of the appearance and creativity of this troupe, which has its own unique style, which allowed it to earn success not only in the USSR, but also abroad. The object of the research was the performances of the Chamber Jewish Musical Theater dedicated to the tragic events of the Great Patriotic War, the genocide of the Jewish people carried out by the fascist invaders. The author emphasizes that attempts to address this topic were made by the fi rst Jewish collective of the Jewish Autonomous Region (JAR), the Birobidzhan State Jewish Theater named after L. Kaganovich during the Great Patriotic War, for propaganda purposes, as for the performances of the new Jewish theater, which appeared in the RSFSR in 1976, they were noticeably different from the productions undertaken by the fi rst Jewish collective of the JAR.

It should be noted that the article for the fi rst time reveals the content of individual plays based on performances – “Tango of Life”, “Higher than Life, Higher than Death”, staged on the stage of the Jewish theater in Birobidzhan during the jubilee years of Victory Day celebrations. At the same time, the theme of the performances analyzed by the author of the article was not devoted to the heroic struggle, not to the exploits of people committed on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, but to the tragic fate of the Jewish people who were subjected to total genocide, ordinary people who found themselves in the territories occupied by the Nazis. As the author notes, this topic was raised for the fi rst time and with good reason. The scientifi c novelty of the research lies in the fact that the article for the fi rst time indicates the names and surnames of actors who played on the stage of the Jewish theater. Using a comprehensive method that combined a source-based analysis of articles from periodicals, archival documents and memoirs, it was possible to state that the performances discussed in the article played an important role in the creative activity of the young cast, revealed its capabilities as a drama troupe. In conclusion, the author states the relevance of this topic in modern conditions, due to the observed growth of nationalism in some countries of the world.

The paper brings the analysis of the emergence and development of the utopian genre from classical antiquity to the Roman times. A modern pattern of utopianism that culminated in the literature of XVI-XVII cc. had emerged as early as the fi rst attempts of political philosophizing were made, i.e. in IV c. BC. In fact, utopian discourse had framed early experience of writing dialogues, treatises in the fi eld of political philosophy. Yet the problem of genesis of the utopian thought remains an underestimated issue. The aim of my research is to make sense of the mutual linkages between utopia and fi ction (e.g. drama), utopia and political planning, utopia and political science & philosophy in ancient Greece and Rome. During this period – from the age of Pericles and Plato to the times of Iambulus and Lucian – utopian literature had passed through the stages of growth and decline. These upheavals had been caused by inner dynamics of the history of ideas as well as by political circumstances. The rise of utopianism had been connected to the attempts of non-mythological, rational understanding of societal ideal and to reformation experiences in citystates. An emerging utopia had been a politically realistic theory, a critical judgment about the present state of affairs rather than a dream about the world of plenty and justice. This realistic and at the same time critical bias made a signifi cant impact upon Aristotelian political science. Greek traditions of utopian writing survived in fi ction, not in scientifi c thought. Still utopian discourse merged with scientifi c one and became an important part of the Roman theory of mixed government.

The article attempts to clarify the trends in the development of the Faustian myth in European culture in the XVII–XVIII centuries in the context of the ideologies of Enlightenment and Counter-Enlightenment. The origins and further development of the myth are highlighted. Several stages in the history of the Faustian myth are analyzed, each of which was infl uenced by certain cultural presumptions, ideals and attitudes, which led to its reinterpretation and evolution. It is shown how the image of Faust which arose in the German Protestant environment of the XVI century went from a powerful magician to a hedonist in the XVII–XVIII centuries. During this period, Faust usually serves as a popular hero of puppet theaters and entertainment literature, devoid of any titanic features. Then, under the infl uence of the Enlightenment ideas and the rise of interest in the national past, the myth of Faust is again actively included in the scholarly culture of Germany in the second half of the XVIII century. It is proved that by the end of the century it is undergoing a new transformation. The image of Faust the scientist begins to gradually replace the images of Faust the magician and Faust the hedonist. The most signifi cant works of the era in which the Faustian myth has found its consistent embodiment are analyzed: the novel by Johann Pfi tzer, the unfi nished play by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, as well as the novel “Faust, His Life, Deeds and Descent into Hell” by Friedrich Maximilian Klinger. It is clarifi ed that Lessing emphasizes the importance of striving for knowledge in full accordance with the pathos of Enlightenment. But later authors raise moral questions about the intrinsic value of this knowledge and talk about the danger of its emancipation from ethical constraints. The works of the Sturm und Drang writers, such as Klinger’s novel, reveal the complex interaction between scientifi c progress and existential issues. The author argues the infl uence of Counter-Enlightenment on the evolution of the myth of Faust in line with the Sturm und Drang movement and the ambivalence of the development of this myth in the XVIII century, refl ecting the contradictory nature of the spiritual situation of that time.

Recently, the attention of scientists has been focused on culture as a factor in the social development and economic success of a nation. Very often they talk about a cultural code and the construction of a mobilization culture with the aim of consolidating society in the face of the challenges of a civilizational confl ict. At the same time, the culture itself is changing dynamically under the infl uence of generational changes, the emergence of new standards and institutions, etc. In general, in science the topic remains open for discussion in which direction the culture of the population is changing and whether it creates an ideological basis for the integration of society.

Within the framework of the article, we raise the question of the current state of the population’s culture and its distinctive features. The purpose of the study is to identify indicators that refl ect the cultural characteristics of the Russian population. We put forward a working hypothesis about the heterogeneity of the culture of the Russian population, which is determined by the aspirations for a high power distance, feminine mentality, avoidance of uncertainty, maximum use of life resources to work in extreme situations, on the one hand, and low power distance, masculine mentality, desire for change, minimal use of life resources in extreme situations, on the other. As part of the study, we defi ned an approach to culture as a set of values and behavioral attitudes that determine the thoughts, feelings and standards of thinking. Based on the theory of cultural code A. A. Auzan developed a theoretical model for studying the object of study, considering the features of two polar types of culture. The author presents the results of testing the theoretical model on data from representative sociological studies conducted by the Vologda Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences among the population of the Vologda region in 2000–2022. The results of the study confi rmed the fact of the coexistence of two polar cultures in Russian society and their gradual rapprochement in the process of civilizational development. In conclusion, the authors’ refl ections on the features of development and prospects for the existence of culture in the future of the country are presented.

The article examines the evolution of a single fabula, differently embodied in the scripts of three iconic fi lms of European arthouse – A. Hitchcock’s “Rear Window”, M. Antonioni’s “Blow-up” and P. Greenaway’s “The Draughtsman’s Contract”. The fi rst two scripts are directly related to the story by J. Cortázar “Las babas del diablo”, but the concept of the fabula refl ected in all the above-mentioned works, undoubtedly, has a very ancient origin and goes back to both ancient myth (Oedipus) and real historical events (J. Caesar). Based on the scientifi c interpretation of fabula and plot by V. Shklovsky and B. Tomashevsky, the article explores the process of transformation of the logical structure and cause-and-effect relations of the fabula provided by reality by means of plot and event unfolding. It is the specifi city of the plot organization of the scripts that “triggers” the process of deconstructing the plot, but still retains its most important logical foundations, ensuring its recognizability. The process of fabula transformation is inevitable in the work of artists of any direction. However, supporters of the bricolage technique most often perceive the fabula as an impersonal object for further processing. Consistently examining the positions of many researchers and critics regarding the evolution of the original fabula in the three mentioned scenarios - from the ideas of G. Polti to modern postmodern interpretations - the author demonstrates the growth of the semantic diversity of the plot organization of the scenarios that grew out of a single constructive message.

A monument is one of the most stable cultural forms, it shows resistance to historical changes and preserves a unique complex of cultural and anthropological functions throughout its long existence. However, today the position of a monument and memorial zones is becoming a subject of discussions about the future of these objects in the urban environment. These discussions arise on the wave of modernization, which characterizes modern urbanism. In the article, the author examines a number of arguments that are used in the critical assessment of traditional forms of memorial culture. Some of these arguments are aimed, among other things, at justifying the reasons for the oblivion of memorial sites. These are such arguments as the “outdated aesthetics” of monumental works, the ordinariness of their perception, the remoteness of memorials from people’s daily routes, etc. The author also provides counterarguments that confi rm that the problem of the unpopularity of monuments among the general public has a deeper level. The author puts forward and substantiates the hypothesis that the loss of the skill of narrative perception (contemplation) by the modern viewer is the reason for the indifferent attitude towards the monument. A monument is always a symbol that points to a meaning that has supreme value for the cultural community. Contemplation of a monument is a condition for experiencing aesthetic experience as a transcendental experience, because contemplation is an extrasensory, intuitive perception. Such perception involves peering, listening, immersion in the narrative. Without contemplation, the monument-symbol is “closed” to a person, consciousness simply does not grasp its highest meaning and value. German philosopher Byung-Chul Han writes about the “narrative crisis” in an essay of the same name. Han found a successful metaphor that characterizes the state of a signifi cant part of today’s society. Today, information replaces narration, the absence of distance replaces remoteness, and quick switching of attention becomes more important than concentration. All this leaves no opportunity for a person to develop the skill of contemplation. In the article, the author places the monument in the context of a narrative crisis in order to consider the problem of the lack of demand for monumental symbols from an anthropological perspective. From an anthropological perspective, the interaction of a person with a monument acquires the meaning of a transcendental and sacred experience.

“Lifestyle” is a concept that intuitively means everything and nothing at the same time. For philosophical work, this becomes a big problem when the concept used by various social sciences and humanities does not have a clear defi nition. Therefore, this article is aimed at exploring the problem of the concept of “lifestyle”. For a deeper understanding of the concept, in the fi rst part of the article, “lifestyle” is examined through the prism of various social sciences and humanities. This helps us isolate the possible elements that a concept may include. The second and third parts of the article are aimed not only at analyzing research on the concept of “lifestyle”, but also at identifying different approaches to working with it, which correspond to two traditions: analytic and continental. Thus, the second part of the article analyzes the works of two researchers (M. Sobel, A. Veal) of “lifestyle”, in which the authors work with the concept in the analytic tradition. Both researchers come to the conclusion that the concept of “lifestyle” inevitably raises questions related to choice, integrity, value, the problem of human identity, etc., but they fail to fully close these issues. The third part of the article analyzes the work of P. Bourdieu, which differs markedly from the works of the previous two researchers. Bourdieu works with the concept of “lifestyle” in the tradition of continental philosophy. He embeds the “lifestyle” into his concept of habitus, which not only gives us an understanding of what a “lifestyle” is, but also gives the concept a logical and complete form. Bourdieu also focuses on problematic issues related to “lifestyle”, but he manages to provide answers to them. Bourdieu sees the emerging issue of choice, and in some cases its absence, not as a problem and an obstacle to the existence of a person’s lifestyle, but as an opportunity to understand the lifestyle as such.

The article examines the origins of the philosophical foundations of music in the artistic worldview systems of J. Xenakis and J. Cage, outstanding representatives of the Western musical avant-garde of the second half of the 20th century. Both authors started from a personal interpretation of the categories “nothing” and “non-existence”, leaving to being only the ontological status of “a specific something - a piece of music”. The unique interpretations of the substantial status of “nothing” and the process of “nothing” transitioning into something, as well as individual versions of the semantic system “nothing - creative personality - musical composition” are of interest for understanding the ways of forming creative initiative by each of the composers. Trying to synthesize their own artistic worldview on the basis of various philosophical teachings about nothingness, non-existence and existence, both composers proposed a radical rethinking of the creative process and new ways of justifying the existential status of a musical work, putting forward and defending new aesthetic ideals of musical art.

The article examines N. Leskov’s novel “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” and the setting based on it, performed by Peter Shereshevsky at the Novosibirsk State Academic Drama Theater “Red Torch”. The research methodology is based on a hermeneutical approach, as well as on comparative analysis techniques. As a result of the analysis, the naturalistic intention of the production was established, which required the genre form of the essay which the writer initially chose for his text. The resulting realistic nature of the work is also shown, correlating an impartial depiction of life with the obligatory horizon of the ideal. The psychology of the main Leskov’s character is interpreted as one of the manifestations of the Russian national character, when the human soul is engulfed by an all-consuming passion.

The article shows the author’s change in the staging by Semyon Sakseev of the original concept of the story, carried out by substituting the motivations of the main character. In Leskov’s novel, Katerina Izmailova succumbs to passion, pushing her to commit crimes, against the background of childlessness and the routine of a provincial existence. In Sakseev’s version, the heroine is presented as a limited modern limiter, whose main motive is the fear of returning to her hometown of Prokopyevsk. Russian realism is born out of love for the Russian province and the Russian character, which the writer has studied with conscientious attention. For Sakseev, provincial life causes a deliberate rejection, generating an ironic distance.

Such a change in motives affects the perception of the confl ict and creates the direction of staging. Since the psychology of Katerina Izmailova in Semyon Sakseev’s version is not so much investigated as constructed on the basis of the motive attributed to the heroine, the action of the production is transferred to the conditional modernity of the sleeping area. Peter Shereshevsky used a number of techniques inherent in his style of production which were borrowed from cinema, so that the stage action began to approach the nature of a reality show. The lack of full-fl edged psychologism provoked a weakness in the plot development of the staging, and the director replaced the denouement with a moralistic epilogue.

The advantage of staging is the desire to reproduce the language of the original source, which is an important element of Leskov’s poetics. But Leskov’s tale arose on the basis of careful observation of folk speech, which conveys the outlook and psychology of ordinary storytellers. For Sakseev, the elements of the tale perform only the role of stylization.

As a conclusion, the ineffectiveness of the postmodern approach to the stage interpretation of Russian classics is mentioned. In principle, this approach seems outdated, and in dealing with texts that create the basis of national identity, it leads to a displacement of important dominants of the viewer’s cultural outlook.

The article deals with the images of children in the Dutch family portrait of the XVII century. The infl uence of Protestantism was refl ected in the fact that in the Netherlands the family was considered to be the most important social institution, the basis of the state and the Church. Relationships within the family were to set an example of love, trust and mutual support. The task of the parents was to raise responsible citizens of the Republic and faithful Christians. The upbringing of the children was the responsibility of both parents: young children up to the age of seven were mostly with their mother; older children, especially boys, were under the greater educational supervision of their father. In family portraits, artists emphasized the hierarchical structure of the family, the distribution of duties between husband and wife, and also paid much attention to children, whose images were supposed to testify to their good upbringing. With the help of individual motifs with symbolic meaning, Dutch artists revealed the peculiarities of family relationships and pedagogical ideas underlying the system of child education based on Christian and humanistic texts. Child mortality was high in the seventeenth-century Netherlands: only half of all children born lived to the age of twenty-fi ve. The large number of family portraits, especially of young children, shows that parents rejoiced at the addition to the family, loved their children, and tried to keep their memory alive if the children passed away early. This is evidenced both by the large number of portraits of children under one year of age and the emergence of the genre of family portraits depicting deceased children. The article deals with the images of children in the Dutch family portrait of the XVII century. The infl uence of Protestantism was refl ected in the fact that in the Netherlands the family was considered to be the most important social institution, the basis of the state and the Church. Relationships within the family were to set an example of love, trust and mutual support. The task of the parents was to raise responsible citizens of the Republic and faithful Christians. The upbringing of the children was the responsibility of both parents: young children up to the age of seven were mostly with their mother; older children, especially boys, were under the greater educational supervision of their father. In family portraits, artists emphasized the hierarchical structure of the family, the distribution of duties between husband and wife, and also paid much attention to children, whose images were supposed to testify to their good upbringing. With the help of individual motifs with symbolic meaning, Dutch artists revealed the peculiarities of family relationships and pedagogical ideas underlying the system of child education based on Christian and humanistic texts. Child mortality was high in the seventeenth-century Netherlands: only half of all children born lived to the age of twenty-fi ve. The large number of family portraits, especially of young children, shows that parents rejoiced at the addition to the family, loved their children, and tried to keep their memory alive if the children passed away early. This is evidenced both by the large number of portraits of children under one year of age and the emergence of the genre of family portraits depicting deceased children.