Semantic range of the concept “reader” in contemporary Russian culture

Negative transformations associated with the culture of reading in the 21st century are generally recognized. First of all, and not without reason, the reader of fiction comes into the field of vision of philologists and teachers. The goal of the article is to analyze the modern range of meanings of the concept “reader” against the backdrop of the established reader’s image in the collective (proverbial) folk memory. The author is interested in the problem of institutionalization of the Russian reader. The question to what extent the dynamic typology of the Russian reader of the first third of the 19th century, proposed by V. G. Belinsky in his series of articles “The Works of Alexander Pushkin”, reveals the universality of its foundations and can help in understanding the processes occurring with the reader and the reading of fiction at present, deserves close attention. In the history of the reader’s perception of the art of the word, there is a moving balance and conflict of stubbornly inertial and assertively proactive principles. Respected followers of established, habitual aesthetic values and supporters of new forms and new content in verbal art have become unfailing participants of social and artistic life. They are most often obediently heeded by the overwhelming majority of traditionalists and fashion followers. Nowadays, readers of different ages and different aesthetic backgrounds are actively exploring the network space with its huge hypertext and interactive capabilities. The semantic range of the concept “reader” is enriched with new meanings: a reader of fiction – a regular user of the Internet; an active reader longing for critical and analytical self-realization; a reader trying to entrust his or her immediate impressions of what he or she has read to the public space; a reader who has taken up writing his or her own poetic and prose texts and is patiently awaiting responses to them. Runet, in its own way, brings back to life the collective notions of the “reading public” and “mass reader”, familiar for the past epochs.