The article deals with the problem of conventional models in the culture sources, discusses what the nature of this phenomenon is and how to detect it in the text. The author relies on the work of historians, specialists in semiotics and linguistics. As examples, reference is made to the medieval written records.

The article is devoted to the legendary biography of False Dimitrij I, created by his opponents who supported the tsars Boris Godunov and Vasilij Shujskij. According to the legend, the pretender was a cunning sorcerer, a secret heretic and a Devil’s servant. The author seeks to trace the ways this official legend was adopted and transformed in the oral narratives.

The article is devoted to the protracted divorce proceedings of the provincial secretary Maxim Parkhomov and his exile to a monastery in 1723-1743. on the basis of the published and archival documents the author examines the history of the ordinary family conflict with the Church authorities that allow to identify some trends in the development of the daily life of the people of post-Petrovskij Russia and the mechanism of their interaction with the government.

The article analyzes the previously unpublished diary and letters from the Smolyak’s family archive, which is stored in the State Historical museum, Moscow. on the basis of these documents, the author attempts the historical reconstruction of the identity of a participant of WW1: his moral and ethical appearance, his behavior in extreme situations, and his attitude to life and death. The article also considers the peculiarities of the intra-family relations in the period of WW1.

The article is devoted to the crisis of the lifeworld of reserve battalions of the guards on the eve of the February revolution from the point of view of Petrograd’s daily life as a front-line city. Based on the primary archival materials introduced into scientific circulation, the daily life of reserve battalions, their internal conflicts and conflicts with city authorities and citizens are analyzed. It is concluded that the reserve battalions are ready for an anti-war riot, which was presented as a form of defense of the basic principles of their life world.

The scientific views and methodology of Julian Oksman (1895-1970), prominent Russian philologist, were shaped in the pre- and revolutionary periods. This part of his biography remains substantially unknown. Using Oksman’s personal records and early literary works, this paper aims to explore his interpretation of the 1917 Revolution as well as its impact on his scientific research. The paper gives a double explanation of the problem: the retrospective one based on Oksman’s latest evidences on the revolution and the synchronistic one based on the letters to his wife in the 1910s. The paper also reveals the philosophical roots of Oksman’s methodology, raises the issue ‘Oksman and the formalists,’ and studies his ideas in the context of ideological and methodological explorations of the revolutionary period.

The article is devoted to the history of the Soviet culture in the 1920swhen there was a fight between various literary groups. Imaginizm was a continuation of the classical Russian modernism of the First Russian Revolution, LEF was a continuation of the Russian positivism under the new circumstances of the victory of the Bolsheviks. The conflict between the two forces shows that Soviet culture was still experiencing previous unresolved disputes within itself.

The article deals with the function of the artistic detail in the satirical duology by Il’f and Petrov. This artistic device helps the writers to describe the surroundings vibrantly and precisely. They also use this detail to convey important information which was easily decoded by their contemporaries but now can be reconstruсted only with the help of commentaries.