In this article the author analyses Tsvetaeva’s poetic and prose works connected with the most important Tsvetaeva’s theme – «Poet’s death». This theme has autobiographical meaning and from other hand draws attention to many poets’ lots in the past and present, to different historical periods. Tsvetaeva’s poems, poetic patterns and articles, dedicated to Mayakovskiy, Beliy, Voloshin are reviewed.

The article comprises the main trends of Modern English-American studies of Russian literature (2004–2011), that is a tend to an objective approach, bringing to light new names and new problems, taking into consideration various points of view of Russian scholars. As in former times (1975–2004) the field of their activity lies in the works by L. Tolstoy, F. Dostoevsky, A. Chekhov, but during these last three decades they broke through the work of A. Pushkin, as well as M. Lermontov and N. Gogol – «the enigma» of Russian literature. Also there are the works by I. Turgenev and N. Leskov, the first monographs on whom by N. McLean and K.A. Lantz were published in the USA only in the late 1970-ies in the scope of their interest. Also a sort of manuals on the history of Russian literature are being published, as well as on the genre problems in the Russian historical novel of XIX–XX centuries; on womenʼs writing, including a broad range of topics: proze and poetry, «damskaja proza» or without direct references to feminism; on the religious culture in the Imperial Russia and its influence on social consciousness; on comparative studies. English and American scholars, experts in modern Russian literature, continue studying literature of Silver Age, the formation of early Soviet literature and art, documentalist aesthetics and the role of documental genres in the proze on Leningradeʼs siege and Stalinʼs GULAG, «Thaw» generation of writers and new approaches of study the post-Soviet literature.

In the article on the material of K. Vorobievʼs short stories of the end of 1940–1950-ies and war stories are reconstructed ethical and aesthetic model of his perception of world. Analysis of his prose, his notes allow to make a conclusions about the originality of Vorobievʼs creative concept, the main tone of his rural, urban, military texts. Uniting in prose typical method of social realism and historical and social realities, uncovering psychological motives of the characters the author expressed its vision human, created a kind of «ethical nature reserves», psychological document of the time. Having compared Vorobievʼs texts with the «The Tales of Belkin» (Pushkin) and modern novel – «The Librarian» ( M. Elizarov) was revealed the connection of classical tradition (having in view the prose of mature Pushkin), and the process of including the new mythology of the Soviet past in modern Russian literature.

The phenomenon of Nicholas I attracted attention of D. Merezhkovsky who portrayed him in the novel «Chetyrnadtsatoye Dekabrya» («December, 14») – a part of the trilogy «Tsarstvo Zverya» («The Kingdom of the Beast»). In the opinion of Merezhkovsky Antichrist appeared in Russia during the reign of Peter the Great, and in the XIXth century Christ in Russia was defeated by forces of evil, and Russian Empire turned into the kingdom of the beast. The accession to the throne of Nicholas I symbolised this win of evil. In the novel Nicholas I is placed in the center of the system of literary characters. But the task of the author was not only to create the literary image of Russian Emperor but to show his philosophic conception, views on nature of goodness and evil, his thoughts about moral duty of Russian Emperor and Empire. Describing the power during the crisis and the Secret Northern Society of the Decabrists, Merezhkovsky points out not only the political distinctions but especially the moral principles of the opponents. The skillful changing of masks that was usual for Nicolas I (warm-hearted, sufferring tsar; noble Don Quichotte) shown its duplicity which was reflected in its politics. But for Merezhkovsky was unacceptable the cynical treatment of the Lord that had usual practice for some Decabrists (Pestel, Ryleyev). In Merezhkovskyʼs opinion this is the main cause of the intensifying the dramatic struggle between the forces of goodness and forces of evil. The Revolt of the Decabrists Merezhkovsky had named mutiny, the disorders – not revolt as it was named by its participants. The author expressed his atitude to this event straightly: this is a doomsday. And not Nicolas I, but Christ is the winner and saver, He will save Russia, and the Mother will. The second part of the life of Nicolas I is described in R. Gulʼs novel. There was reproduced the period of 1830–1850th there which was personified in the two historic characters – Nicolas I and the revolutioner Mikhail Bakunin. The material was organised so to compare them to discover the evident and the secret features of these personalities, their conflicts, thoughts. Analysing the Power and the mutineers Gulʼ noted not only difference between them but similarity. Merezhkovsky shows that Nicolas I is in crisis, Gulʼ describes the person who took place. The scope of his ambitions was widened considerably: he is sure that he can rule not only in Russia, but in many other states. Merezhkovsky showd the moment of Nicolasʼ I coming to the throne, Gulʼ – the second part of the emperorʼs life, down to his death. Literary character of Nicolas I is going out the bounds of the history, it is subjected to artistic treatment. There is some dynamics in the character of Nicolas I: Gulʼ does not keep to the chronology of the Emperorʼs life – but shows own, very distinguished from Merezhkovskyʼs view, perception of Nicolasʼ I personality.

In the article the novel «Life and Death of Mikhail Lermontov» by G.D. Gulia in the context of fictionalized biographies is analyzed. The main subject of the book is art of poetry. Gulia recreates an outline of life of M.Yu. Lermontov, but also offers the unique vision of the subject «poet and poetry» in which are combined both sendings to Bible and Christian tradition, and philosophical reasonings on nature of creativity and destiny of the creator, and description of personal spiritual experience.

Andorra is the only country in the world where Catalan is the official language. Part of the population speaks Spanish and French. To analyze the contemporary sociolinguistic situation in this country you need to refer to its historical circumstances. From a linguistic point of view the Catalan language of Andorra is usually attributed to the group of North-Western subdialects. Distinctive features of Catalan dialects were formed over the centuries under the influence of different factors, both linguistic and extra-linguistic nature. The main differences of the Catalan language in Andorra we can notice in the system of unstressed vocalism, consonantism, in the use of forms of the definite article, unstressed pronouns, verb forms in the subjunctive.

This article analyses the problem of reflection of the lexis of Spanish language on the example of the latest contemporary edition of the most authoritative dictionary of Spanish language, the Dictionary of the Spanish Royal Academy (DRAE). Methods of the dictionary are considered in the context of other academic works, published during three centuries since the year 1714, when the Academy was established. The analysis held allows to prove the hypothesis concerning the tendencies of the development of the academic tradition in the sphere of lexicography.

Traditional legends are an inexhaustible source of knowledge about the customs, mentality and the character of each nation. Each nation’s singularity shows itself in the specific traits that it develops but also in the way it adopts the elements of other cultures. The purpose of this article is to characterize the traditional culture of Galicia (Spain) according to this principle. The stories based on historical events and Old French and British epics, which preach Christian morality and keep alive ancient superstitions, are an attempt of the traditional society of Galicia to explain the human nature and the world around it.

The article looks at the German term Fernsehen in the context of its origin and semantic development shaped by the national language experience. The author arrives at the conclusion that it is not a calque of the international term television, as it has been considered, for that term had been coined in Germany a whole decade prior to the international one.

The article looks at works by K.T. Körner, a German poet and drama writer of the early XIXth century, in the context of the anti-Napoleonic Wars of Liberation in Germany. The author outlines poetic themes and images that inspired K.T. Körner to his poetry and drama writing, and then goes on to analyse some of his poetic works.

The article gives an overview on available textbooks aimed to help advanced university students of German to increase their knowledge of German culture and history. The author gives a careful analysis of the aims the textbooks under discussionhelp to achieve,the way they are organized, types of exercises they contain, as well as the range of topics they cover.

The article focuses on functional and stylistic differences between native German words and borrowed ones with a synonymous meaning, as well as the use of loan words in literature as a stylistic device to reproduce national colour and historical details, to substitute blunt precision or disagreeable use, to give a text some humorous or even satirical touch.

The article deals with German idioms in terms of corpus linguistics. The author gives a definition of suspended assertion, as well as an overview of factors triggering contexts with suspended assertion , and then goes on to apply the notion of suspended assertion to the analysis of some German idioms.

The article deals with German religious poetry in terms of its genre and linguistic features. The author gives a definition of religious poetry and its classification, and then goes on to discuss its style and stylistic effects syntactic structures bring about.

The article looks at the category of reliability in context of its role in persuasive communicationsuch as marketing or advertising. The author gives a careful consideration to communicative facts that determinethe correct understanding of reliability phenomenon in advertising, and then outlines a range of means to render the information reliable.

The article deals with works by Th. Däubler, a poet of Austrian Expressionism. The author discusses stylistic features of his poetry and outlines poetic techniques the poet employed to depict nature in his works.

The article focuses on the way adjectives function in modern German. Semantic classes, morphological and lexical features of adjectives express a gradable degree in terms of scale, as well as their syntactical positions in a sentence serve as a starting point of the analysis. The author then goes on to consider the role of adjectives in conveying epistemic meaning in texts.

The article touches upon national varieties of German in the light of teaching German to advanced university students. The author gives an overview on linguistic and sociocultural features of German national varietiesin Germany and Austria,and then goes on to present some educational material to illustrate his theses.

The foreign Slavic literatures of the last decade attach importance to documentary genres. Serbian documentary prose gives the description of the crucial events of the XXth century, tries to explain their causes, meaning and to predict consequences. There personal and national destinies are presented not only as reflection in the one soul, but as common for all. True story of concrete person acquires the features of a bright story about the dramatic events that time. Memories of M. Babovic (1921–1997) – «Time and Destiny» (2004) – is a striking example of the documentary genre. Posthumously published book reveals the outstanding literary talent of well-known researcher and translator of Russian classics XIX–XX centuries (Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov, Sholokhov, Leonov, Boris Pasternak and others).
The old diaries are the basis of memories which the author was writing during the last seven years of his life. The memories relate to 1943, when M. Babovic fought in the ranks of the guerrilla army of Yugoslavia. The most interesting events and meetings he continued to record a lifetime. We have the story of human life, whose fate was part of the destiny of the country which made a choice in 1945–1991 in favour of socialist path of development.
M. Babovic lived a long and interesting life. He was born and raised in Montenegro, became interested in the ideas of social justice, participated in the struggle against fascism, he was a prisoner of the camp, after the war received a university education and entered the circle of the intellectual elite of the country. His studies on Dostoevsky brought him authority and recognition abroad. The power of the individuality of Babovic, his sincere interest to Russian national literature and an intimate knowledge of the literary process add the particular value of the published memoirs. In addition to the article there is the translation of a few passages in which the author told about his first meeting with the soldiers of the Russian army that liberated Yugoslavia in the autumn of 1944.

The author tells about the celebrations in the honor of the First Teachers Cyril and Methodius in Russia in the past and nowadays. The material is provided with illustrations. The article Includes the poems and notes of music written in honor of the anniversaries.