2013 Vol. 4 №1

This article analyses L. Leonov’s novel «The Pyramid» from the perspective of hermeneutical and intertextual methodologies and identifies the coordinates of the text’s literary dialogue with the reader’s perception. The author shows that the hermeneutical and intertextual research methodologies make it possible to identify the multitude of intersections of literary layers, evaluations, and positions and describe the dynamic process of modelling a literary meaning, which employs intertextual connections and associations both in the text and in the recipient’s perception, as well as to reveal the interconnection between the intertextual layer and the role of reader-co-creator within the genre of philosophical novel.

This article examines the work of V.Ye. Cheshikhin as a translator, populariser, and interpreter of the legend of Tristan and Iseult — the basis of libretto to R. Wagner’s opera. The author identifies the basic assumptions of V.Ye. Cheshikhin’s critical concept: Wagner as an “interpreter of the old legend”, the connection between the Tristan and Iseult legend with the texts of Hellenic and Celtic cultures, the emphasis on the language component of the legend and opera, and the role of literary influences exerted on Wagner. The article analyses the use of the Tristan and Iseulte motif in the poetic works of Cheskhkhin.

The transaltions of D. Merezhkovsky’s works into the Latvian langauge by A. Austriņš help analyse the receptions of Russian symbolism in the Latvian culture of the 19th-20th centuries. The author suggests that A. Austriņš’s decision to translate D. Merezhkovsky texts was affected by the historical background of the 1910s – the formation of national ideas in the regions of the Russian empire, the search for peoples’ self-identity, and the 1905 revolution as a major historical event. Austriņš’s translations are comparable to the reception of Merezhkovsky in the national cultural environment and demonstrate the reflection on the works of the Russian author.

This article offers a comparative analysis of the image of a doll in the Russian and Latvian folklore traditions and examines the dialogue between the national cultures. The author emphasise the presence of the image in Russian and Latvian folklore texts and compares its functional features. The major difference in representing the image of a doll in the aspect of Russian-Latvian connections is that, in Russian texts, a doll is traditionally presented as a living object, whereas, in Latvian ones, it belongs to the area of imitative magic.