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The study aims to explore the specific features of the modern reception of J.-J. Rousseau’s “Confessions”. The theoretical framework of the research is grounded on the ideas advanced by T. Avtuxovych, M.Czermińska, M.Głowiński, W.Iser, R. Jakobson, H.R.Jauss, P.Lejeune, Yu. Lotman, V.Tjupa, Zh. Starobinskiy and other scholars. The researchers describe the semiotic model of literary communication and the theory of the text by Yuri Lotman. The research was conducted using historic-functional, hermeneutic, receptive, and theoretical analysis methods. An attempt is made in this paper to show how the process of “decoding” the meanings intended by the author in the text takes place. In particular, the authors study how Rousseau’s “Confessions” functions in the structure of modern literary communication. The specific objectives of the present study are the meanings of “Confessions” are read by the contemporary recipient and which ones are relegated to the background compared to the literary communication of the eighteenth century. The common discourse code of the author and the reader is the key to successful communication and understanding of the specifics of the project of Rousseau’s life writing. At the same time, the success and specificity of artistic communication are influenced by the difference in discourse code meanings related to the time distance between the author and the recipient and the layering of new historical and cultural patterns in the reader’s consciousness. At the thematic level, three main themes are considered, including: a) the social origin of the autobiographical subject, b) his conflict with society, and c) the protagonist’s intimate self-disclosure. Thus, the article provides a detailed examination of the motif of the social origin of the autobiographical character. On the topic of the social origin of the character, instead of the plebeian’s right to public attention for the contemporary reader, the value of education and knowledge, freedom of speech and individual liberty are being actualised. Of particular note is the theme of the conflict between a character and society, the idea of the human right to otherness, the right to personal liberty and the right to choose the concept of one’s own life comes to the forefront. Thus, a literary text realises the social function of literature. The reading of the character’s self-disclosure by an attentive reader (from Rousseau’s contemporary to modern readers) has a twofold purpose: first, to encourage everyone to live the experience of the character and thus to think about themselves, and second, to reflect on society as a whole. It testifies to the fact that in the aspect of self-disclosure of the meaning of “Confessions”, the transformation of confession as an external form of a religious rite of repentance addressed to God into the narrative genre of confessional autobiography addressed to a human reader of the story is actualized. The study demonstrated a need for continuation of the study in the aspect of reader reception to contribute to the perception of its place in the contemporary literary and cultural space.

The article is devoted to the work of the Russian revolutionary, writer and Marxist theorist V. I. Zasulich. The subject of consideration is the historical and philosophical views of the thinker, which are analyzed on the basis of her study devoted to the work of J.-J. Rousseau – “Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The experience of characteristics of his social ideas”, which previously remained almost without the attention of researchers. The purpose of the work is to analyze the basic principles of the approach of V. I. Zasulich to the study of philosophical thought: the desire to recreate the historical situation and the mental situation, the focus on the selection of socio-political and ideological determinants of the views of a particular thinker, the selection of unique and innovative thoughts compared to contemporaries and predecessors, the influence of the thinker on contemporaries and descendants. The research methodology is the system analysis, and reconstruction of the works by V. I. Zasulich on the problems of research. The work of V. I. Zasulich is a full-fledged scientific research: it analyzes the works of the thinker, refers to other researchers of his work. It identifies the determinants of the direction of his works, the thinker’s innovation and contribution to philosophy, as well as his influence on the further development of spiritual life, that is, adheres to the Marxist methodology of historical and philosophical research (and largely forms this methodology for Russian scientists).

В статье представлена интерпрета- ция повести Карамзина как текста, полемизирующего с антропологией Руссо. Интеллектуальный диалог с идеями Руссо был представлен и в других русских литературных текстах времени, представляющих общую тенденцию русской мысли к формированию собственного пред- ставления о человеке. В этом контек- сте повесть «Моя исповедь» может быть понята как текст, связанный с развитием русской мысли эпохи, с созданием философских параме- тров дискурса идентичности.

Il saggio prende spunto da un ricordo d’infanzia annotato nello Zibaldoneil 26 marzo 1820, che Leopardi rubrica sotto la voce “Servitori”. A partire da questo appunto, il contributo indaga la presenza del motivo della servitù, e del rapporto servo-padrone, nel diario leopardiano e nei ricordi autobiografici raccolti nella Vita abbozzata di Silvio Sarno, intrecciandolo dapprima con le considerazioni rousseauiane sul tema (Émile e Confessions) e poi con il concetto arendtiano di ‘vita activa’. Attraverso l’analisi di temi (la schiavitù, il pubblico e il privato, il consumo alimentare, l’egoismo) e di figure emblematiche (il domestico, il tiranno, il monofago, il viaggiatore solitario), il saggio mostra le implicazioni autobiografiche, storiche (l’«umanità degli antichi») e filosofiche dell’interesse leopardiano per il motivo della servitù: la desolata presa d’atto che la società moderna condivide con la natura un inevitabile egoismo, nella misura in cui il bisogno del singolo prevale su valori durevoli e pubblici come la gloria e l’onore. The essay starts from a childhood memory recorded in Zibaldone the 26th of May 1820, indexed under the heading “Servants.” It explores the theme of “servitude” (servitù, or schiavitù, “slavery”), and the relationship master/slave in the Zibaldone and in the autobiographical memories known as Vita abbozzata di Silvio Sarno, relating them with Rousseau’s Émile and Confessions, and with Arendt’s concept of “vita activa.” Through the analysis of themes such as slavery, egoism, consumption, public/private, and of paradigmatic figures such as the servant, the tyrant, the solitary traveller and especially the “monophagous”, by which term Leopardi understands somebody who doesn’t like to eat in company, the essay shows the autobiographical, historical and philosophical implications of Leopardi’s interest in the issue of servitude, and in particular his disillusioned acknowledgement that modern society shares with nature egoism and selfishness, since individual commodities tend to prevail over values such as glory and honour.

The ideological romanticism of freedom and equality, having its origins in the political philosophy of Zh. J. Russo, does not lose its relevance today. The revolutionary ideas of J.J.Russault, which laid the foundations for a radical democratic paradigm, inspire new reformist and revolutionary movements around the world. The practical implementation of these ideas often leads to a radicalization of the order of political transformation, substantially reducing the line between democracy and dictatorship. This has been repeatedly observed in political history, beginning with the French Revolution and ending with a modern wave of revolutions in different countries, where radical democrats, destroying and capturing power, proclaim freedom in the name of new equality. By neglecting the real limits of historical action, redefining the role and significance of revolutionary violence, the radicals launch a process that can lead to serious danger for society and the state. Indeed, in reality, equality means only a break with the former public asymmetry, which is replaced by new values – privileged access to a new system of hierarchies. In this case, the national fabric is torn apart, all the public cells collapse, the will to establish freedom, leads to terror, destroying this same freedom, and the revolution turns into a counter to what served as its beginning. As soon as it seems to the people that he (the one who «made» this revolution) receives all the full power, this power, well-founded in numerous theories and concepts, in reality slips out of his hands and becomes elusive. The ideas that prevailed in the pre-revolutionary period and played a positive role in the process of preparing revolutionary events are highlighted as completely incapacitated.