“The Glass Bead Game” with Igor Volgin: A TV Show about Literature in Modern Culture

The urgency of the study is determined by the interpretation of TV shows about literature as hybrid forms that appeared during the transition from literature-centrism to media-centrism, solving literature-centric problems via media-centric means. The aim of the work is to carry out a comprehensive analysis of the TV pro- gram about literature “The Glass Bead Game” with Igor Volgin. The work of Pierre Bourdieu “On Television”, and specifically its part devoted to television debates, became the theoretical and methodological basis for the study. Following the algorithm suggested by the sociologist, the author pays attention not only to the content of the TV show, but also to its structural and formal features, including the figure of the presenter, the set of the invited experts, the peculiarities of the script and editing, and the importance of timing on television. The structural, semiotic, discursive and typological approaches are also used to analyze the show. The following conclusions were obtained as a result of the study. “The Glass Bead Game” is a transmedia (multi-platform) project located on four media platforms and reflecting their communicative advantages and disadvantages. From the genre point of view, the program is defined as a TV talk show, which includes conversations about classic literature works and combines the principles of mass production with a high intellectual level of presentation. The participants of the program (Igor Volgin and the experts invited by him) personify a certain audiovisual section of the Russian humanitarian intelligentsia of the last decade. From the content point of view, the talk show is viewed upon as a collection of interpretations of various classic works within the frame of the “traditional” (hermeneutical) research paradigm. From the formal point of view, “The Glass Bead Game” has not only an established structure, but also factors of variability, providing a diversity of issues. The show uses various television means to make it more spectacular and dynamic. The reception of “The Glass Bead Game” is also analyzed on the professional level and in terms of its popularity with a wide audience. The results of the study can be used in courses on contempo- rary literature and media practices