Phenomenon of “Not Boring” Book: W. Scott’s Novels in Reading Circle of Russian Educated Public of the 1820s—1830s

The relevance of the analyzed problem is conditioned by the phenomenon of subcultures formed around one or another successful publishing project. The paper considers the functioning of W. Scott’s popular novels in the socio-cultural space, the role of literary novelty in the formation of certain cognitive “meanings”, the axiological aspect of intercultural relations. The novelty of solving the research problem lies in the interdisciplinary approach, shifting the emphasis from the traditional literary studies to bibliology, which allows us to evaluate the empirical material from different perspectives. The “non-boring” reading characteristic of the final Romantic era, which brought the author and the reader closer together, is the result of the writer’s skill and the improvement of the publishing industry, as well as related processes (translation activities, book trade, the formation of public libraries and private collections). The influence of rapidly changing historical circumstances on the tastes of the reading audience is shown.