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This article analyzes the features of portraits in V. Ya. Bryusov’s short prose and A. Bely’s autobiographical short novel “Kotik Letaev”, which have never been studied in regards to the symbolists’myth-making. The writers of the second half of the 19th century assess the psychological states of a character and the metamorphoses they went through, which are usually reflected in character portraits, but the symbolists operate a different, synthetic form of psychologism. The first part of the article analyzes the peculiarities of visual characterizations in V. Ya. Bryusov’s short prose, which allows to draw the following conclusion: the portrait details that he introduces into the text serve to strengthen the multi-layered imagery of his works, and in “The Earth’s Axis” collection they assist in creating the tone of the narrative. The second part focuses on the portraits in A. Bely’s short novel “Kotik Letaev”, in which his descriptions of characters’appearance was influenced by his interest in anthroposophy and its concept of various bodies that a person consists of (the astral body, the ethereal body and the physical body). Bely was not interested in the “biological” aspect of a person. He depicts mental state of his characters and their fictional metamorphoses, which in turn motivate the inclusion of portrait characteristics in the text. Thus, the Russian literature of the 20th century saw the rise of a new approach to depicting a character’s psychological state, which in turn led to changes in the traditional methods of visualization of character appearance in the artistic texts.

В статье рассматриваются особенности портретных характеристик персонажей на материале малой прозы В. Я. Брюсова и автобиографической повести А. Белого "Котик Летаев"., This article analyzes the features of portraits in V. Ya. Bryusov's short prose and A. Bely's autobiographical short novel “Kotik Letaev”, which have never been studied in regards to the symbolists'myth-making., Филологический класс, Issue Т. 25, № 2, Pages 159-168

This article analyzes the features of portraits in V. Ya. Bryusov's short prose and A. Bely's autobiographical short novel “Kotik Letaev”, which have never been studied in regards to the symbolists'myth-making. В статье рассматриваются особенности портретных характеристик персонажей на материале малой прозы В. Я. Брюсова и автобиографической повести А. Белого "Котик Летаев".

The author gives detailed answers to the comments made by all eighteen round table participants in the course of the discussions that unfolded around his book “The Russian Empire: From Tradition to Modernity”. A fundamental debate on many of the issues raised in the book is conducted in the article. Among them: methodology and technique, in particular, the use of a variety of research strategies, the application of comparative historical approach, interdisciplinarity, macro- and micro-analysis, the search for patterns, the role of concepts, and the relationship between empirical and analytical aspects in the study. Much attention is paid to the controversial aspects of ethnoconfessional policies, mentalité and historical psychology, the unresolved issues of serfdom and colonization, cultural capital and educational policies, as well as self-government and civil society. The discussion concerning the specifics of Russian modernization and the issue of myth making occupies an important place in the article, as does historical optimism and cliotherapy.

International audience; What makes a simple wine, grown in a rather mediocre wine-growing region, one of the most famous and magical marketplace icons of today? How did champagne establish such a unique position, against all the odds, and become the global symbol of celebration? In seeking answers to these questions, this marketplace icon contribution elaborates on what 250 years of avant-garde champagne marketing can tell us about champagne’s ever-shifting image and role in consumer culture. I argue that the “imperishable fame” of champagne stems primarily from four epic myth-making moments that not only came to shape a national identity but also modern consumption ideologies in important ways.

This paper explores the way location myths conveyed through Hollywood movies influence consumer expectations, by looking at how the city of Paris is represented inmotion pictures. We develop measures of the location image of Paris in a sample of Hollywood movies released between 1985 and 2011. These are used to examine theimages of Paris held by American consumerswho have never directly experienced the location. Our results show that Hollywood movies project specific location images and myths of Paris.More specifically,we showthat these images fall into two distinct stereotypic patterns and are widely shared by consumers. Individuals who seekinformation on location from popular culture are shown to embrace and reproduce Paris myths. The study concludes that the cultural industries influence the cognitive consumption of location through the production and dissemination of meaning, via stories and fueled by perpetual myth making.

Daar word in hierdie artikel van die standpunt uitgegaan dat, gegewe die verwarring in definisies van die term "mite", dit nodig is om die term presieser te definieer en ook te verduidelik alvorens dit in akademiese diskoers gebesig word. Dit is ook onbevredigend en soms selfs verwarrend dat die woordeboekdefinisies en wydverspreide gebruik van die term beperk word tot óf die heroïese dade uit die antieke wêreld en die kaperjolle van hulle gode en godinne, óf andersins uitgebrei word om na hedendaagse wanopvattings of selfs valshede te verwys. Jospeh Campbell, een van die prominentste "mitoloë" van die twintigste eeu, verduidelik die sogenaamde mag van mites as "stories of our search through the ages for truth, for meaning, for significance" (in Flowers 1988:5). In 'n onlangse publikasie oor die geskiedenis van die mite verbind Karen Armstrong die maak van mites aan "a quest for the soul" (Armstrong 2005:11). As sodanig het die mite 'n houvas op mense deurdat dit hulle versterk en hulle lewe die moeite werd maak. Baie skrywers en navorsers in die menswetenskappe, soos byvoorbeeld Carl Guystav Jung, Thomas Bulfinch, G.M. Kirkwood, D. de Rougemont, die historici Samuel en Thompson, N. Frye, M Scarborough, P.J. Conradie, Etienne Leroux en Charles Malan gaan akkoord met hierdie opvatting oor die essensiële funksie van die mite in die menslike bestaan. Die belangrike vraag skyn te wees: Is dit moontlik dat die mens se soeke na "truth, meaning and significance", sy of haar "quest for the soul", kan uitloop op niks anders as die skep van valshede nie? Judging from various definitions by human scientists (among them Joseph Campbell, the historians Samuel and Thompson, Karen Armstrong and others) of the term "myth", it would appear that it is a complex concept, defying a single definition. Steenberg (in Cloete 1999:312) notes that the term is mostly defined in accordance with the researcher's focus, for instance historical, philosophical, theological, aesthetic, or sociological orientations. In 2004 two theses were completed at South African universities with "myth" featuring in the title of the studies: one from a literary perspective and one from the perspective of language sociology, or language politics. Although the focus differed and the bibliographies (despite significant resemblances) indicate different fields of study, the interesting fact is that at the end both researchers came to more or less the same conclusion regarding the nature and function of myths. The first of these two researchers (Van Schalkwyk 2004) uses the concept "coherence system" as more or less synonymous to the term "myth" and quotes Linde in this regard: "A coherence system is a discursive practice that represents a system of beliefs and relations between beliefs" (Linde 1993:164). Other important sources for Van Schalkwyk's study include Northrop Frye (1982), Scarborough (1994) and Roland Barthes (195 7/1975). The second researcher (Jordaan 2004), and author of the present article, studies the role of "myth making" in the "story of Afrikaans" from the perspective of language politics. Given this context, myths are primarily seen as "stories of our search through the ages for truth, for meaning, for significance" (Campbell in Flowers 1988:5). "Myth", in this instance, being defined as a narrative reconstruction of the fundamental truths that give meaning to human existence. As such myths are furthermore seen as instrumental in establishing systems of belief as well as value systems and codes of conduct within specific cultural groups (also defined as "imagined communities", cf. Anderson 1991). Jordaan's main sources are Joseph Campbell (1949 & 1988), Samuel and Thompson (1990), Thomas Bulfinch (sine anno), Carl Gustav Jung (1964), P.J. Conradie (1964), Etienne Leroux (1960) and Charles Malan (1978). I argue in this article that the lexicon definitions and widespread use of the term "myth", to refer exclusively either to the heroic deeds of antique heroes and the antics of their gods and goddesses, or to modern day misconceptions and even falsehoods, may be unsatisfactory and even confusing. Definitions by prominent human scientists in the course of more or less forty years defy this superficial view of myths as "falsehoods". The following are a few examples of the view taken on the pertinent role of myths and myth making: [...] a myth expresses rules of conduct of a given social or religious group. It issues accordingly from whatever sacred principle has presided over the formation of this group (De Rougemont 1956:18). The distinctive quality of myth, the aspect of it that gives its peculiar value for literature, is its capacity to express in story form the primary emotional and imaginative workings of the human mind (Kirkwood 1958:22). Throughout the inhabited world, in all times and under every circumstance, the myths of man have flourished... It would not be too much to say that myth is the secret opening through which the inexhaustible energies of the cosmos pour into human cultural manifestation (Campbell 1972:3). [. ] myth is a fundamental component of human thought [and] has lost neither its imaginative purchase nor its living power as a historical force today (Samuel & Thompson (eds.)1990:4). As an example of the role of myths in establishing value systems and codes of conduct, I refer in this article to the Afrikaans author and social worker of the twentieth century, Maria Elizabeth Rothmann (M.E.R.), whose writing and life work give ample proof of the central role of myth. The "power of myth" as discussed by Joseph Campbell in televised interviews with Bill Moyers on CBS News is further explicated as additional proof of the fact that a myth may be seen as a fundamental "truth" for which the believer is prepared to die rather than to live without. It is probably with this in mind that the prominent Afrikaans writer, Etienne Leroux, unequivocally stated that a human being would rather die from starvation than go without his life-sustaining myth (Leroux in Kannemeyer 1980:12).} The article furthermore points out the link between myths and literature by referring among other things to the following statement by Barbara Kingsolver in The Poisonwood Bible: "We all are, I suppose. Trying to invent our version of the story. All human odes are essentially one: 'My life: what I stole from history, and how I live with it'" (Kingsolver 1999:492). It is also argued that, in the words of Estes (1992:463), stories ("tales") are "in their oldest sense, a healing art". Stories, like myths, are therefore used to make sense of the human condition, to explain to members of a group (and especially to the young members of the group) where they come from, what sense their life has, and what values are inherent to the group. In the last section of the article examples are provided of prominent and highly respected human scientists who have made use of the term "myth" in scientific discourses in the sense of a misconception or falsehood. It is argued that, according to the lexical definition of the term "myth", the use of the term by these scientists is entirely valid. On the other hand, however, it is stated that, in the light of the preceding discussion of the term as used by prominent human scientists to refer to a narrative (re)construction of man's "search through the ages for truth, meaning and significance", the implication that a myth is a falsehood may undoubtedly create confusion. The pertinent question seems to be: can man's search for "truth, meaning and significance", his or her "quest for the soul" (Armstrong 2005:11), result in nothing more than the creation of falsehoods?

Management consulting increasingly appears as a global endeavour as reflected in the increasing dominance of a few large, global management-consulting firms. However, features of the consulting service (e.g. its immaterial and interactional character) as well as aspects of management (e.g. its cultural anchoredness) highlight the locality of management consulting. In this paper we approach this tension between the global and the local by seeing consulting as involving the creation of generalised myths. More specifically, we ask the question: How do global consulting companies construct the viability and desirability of their services? Based on a view of management consultants as mythmakers, we study the argumentation on corporate web sites of four leading global consultancies in five different countries. Applying a framework based on the sociology of translation, we analyze the translation strategies used in making the service of global consultancies both viable and indispensable. We find that the need for consultants is to a large extent constructed through defining management as an expert activity, thus creating a need for external advisors possessing globally applicable expert knowledge. In this effort, the consultants ally with three widely spread rationalized managerial myths – the rationality myth, the globalization myth and the universality myth. We conclude, that global consulting firms are actively involved in creating and reinforcing the very same institutions, which are the prerequisites for their future success.