Continuing the study of Philip Dick’s alternate historical novel «The Man in the High Castle» (1962) and Frank Spotnitz’s eponymous television series (2015–2019), the author focuses on the domestication of Nazi ideology, on «the banality of evil» in the series. The authors of the show strive for such an effect for the sake of immersing the viewer in complex historical processes, to demonstrate that following a dangerous ideology can happen to almost anyone. The series features, in particular, the East Coast of the United States, primarily New York in the 1960s, under the rule of the Nazis. The article compares the models of the world in the novel and the series and emphasizes that certain features of ambivalent American society provide its immunity against Nazi ideology, while others, under certain conditions, enable compromise with Nazism.In the TV series, among the main characters are the Smith family: John Smith, Reichsmarschall and later Reichsführer of North America, his wife Helen, and their children (son Thomas, daughters Amy, and Jennifer). All of them are absent in Dick’s novel, but the introduction of these characters is the success of the series and helps its authors raise the painful topic of collaboration with the Nazis and even the full acceptance of their inhumane ideas by ordinary Americans (moreover, by any people). A former Captain of the US Army, Smith makes a difficult choice after the surrender of his country to save himself and his family from starvation and repression. John agrees to work for the Nazis, then he betrays his best friend, a Jew, later Smith brutally investigates the Resistance, learns to survive under the Nazis, and participates in their power intrigues. Like a true predator, Smith becomes part of the inhumane System, but throughout the series, the audience feels that John’s soul does not yet fully belong to this regime.In our reality, John Smith also exists: he is also a former US military man, but later John becomes a successful sales clerk, a decent citizen, a true gentleman, and an ideal family man. Traveling to our world, Smith sees what he could be like in a country without the Nazis. At the end of the series, before committing suicide, Reichsführer Smith says that he has become the worst copy of himself of all possible, but his last actions show that he can only get out of the game, but not stop the System, which he has been building for many years.The author concludes that John’s life reveals the initial contradiction and splitting of the components of the American Dream: materialism and idealism, individualism and national interests, success and ways to achieve it. On the one hand, Smith as a Nazi is a successful person, a great family man, and almost a superman. On the other hand, John Smith betrays the American Dream in terms of the ideals of democracy and freedom. The end of his life coincides with the beginning of the end of Nazi America.

Метою статті є дослідження образу лісу як елементу міфології фронтиру в американській науковій фантастиці другої половини ХХ-початку ХХІ ст. на прикладі літератури та кіномистецтва. Об"єктом вивчення виступають твори А. Ван Вогта, Р. Бредбері, Г. Гаррісона, К. Невілла, У. Ле Гуїн, Дж. Вандермеєра та фільми «Аватар» й «Анігіляція». Розглянуті в роботі ліси сягають корінням фольклору та міфології й певною мірою пов"язані з випробуванням, навчанням, трансформацією, пошуком контакту чи засобів виживання. Фантасти часто звертаються до реалізації метафори «природа як людина» та інверсії (ліс виступає не жертвою, а месником). Відбувається переосмислення міфології фронтиру, який стає все більш екзистенційним.

Анотація. Стаття має на меті простежити зміни погляду на андроїда (тобто на копію, симулякр людини, метафору Іншого, яка дозволяє краще усвідомити основи нашої людяності) протягом півсторіччя на прикладі роману американського фантаста Філіпа Кіндреда Діка "Чи мріють андроїди про електричних овець?" (1968 р.) та кінострічок за мотивами цього твору: фільму Рідлі Скотта "Той, хто біжить по лезу" (1982 р.) та його сиквела "Той, хто біжить по лезу 2049" (2017 р.), знятого Дені Вільневом. Основні методи-порівняльний аналіз указаних творів у контексті проблем гуманізму й постгуманізму та міфопоетичний підхід у вивченні християнської символіки роману та його кіноадаптацій. Робиться висновок, що всі ці автори усвідомлюють відповідальність людства за спробу грати роль Бога та віддають перевагу гуманізму, тобто спираються на ідеали антропоцентризму, а не прагнуть до докорінної трансформації людської природи та культури, яка пов'язана з постгуманізмом і трансгуманізмом. Дослідження перспективне для вивчення естетики "нової тілесності", проблеми гіперреальності та її відображення в науково-фантастичній літературі тощо. ______________________________________

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The aim of the paper is to study the role of the mundane in contemporary culture based on the mundane science fiction (MSF). The term originated in 2004 thanks to «The Mundane Manifesto» by Geoff Ryman and his anonymous co-authors who argued for a focus on the modern science paradigm instead of dreams of outer space. The Manifesto outlines SF subgenre, where the setting is in the near future on the Earth or within the Solar System, excluding interstellar travel or contact with aliens. MSF suggests the believable use of technology and science, as it exists at the current time or a plausible extension of existing technology. There is a debate about the genre limits and its canonical works since it also covers cyberpunk, dystopia, etc. Remarkably, in the Soviet literature, such a genre called «near-future science fiction» existed in the 1940s and 1950s. It is a subgenre of «hard» SF focusing on the inventions useful for the national economy and lacking psychological depth of characters. This literature mostly had low artistic quality because of the Soviet ideological pressure and many limitations.The benefits of the paper are the following. First, the author distinguishes between two ma in approaches to SF, namely a more practical and literal reception and a more metaphorical reception. The former is characteristic of readers of realistic literature who try to find the true-to-life elements in SF blamed as escapism. The latter is close to the SF fans. However, blaming SF for escapism seems an excessive sociologizing of literature and ignoring the great role of metaphor in cultural development. Consequently, MSF is an effort to bridge a gap between SF and realistic literature. Second, the paper presents the first attempt to compare MSF to the Soviet «near-future SF». The author argues that since such a «near-future SF» occupies a niche in Western literature, it is a sign of the global changesthat are taking place during the lifetime of the current generation, bringing, in addition to progress, the acute threat of environmental catastrophe. Moreover, the role of neo Marxism, on the one hand, and technophobia, on the other hand, are emphasized. Third, for the first time the possible connections between MSF and the frontier myth important for the American national cultural mythology are studied. At the core of Kim Stanley Robinson’s novel «Aurora» (2015) and James Gray’s movie «Ad Astra» (2019), MSF is regarded as a rejection of the ideology «space: the final frontier». Both works shift the focus from the global to the personal, from the unusual to the mundane, from expansion and colonization to the internal problems. The author concludes that the anthropological turn occurs in SF as well: there is a loss of metaphor, allegory, and archetypal basis, an abandonment of escapism, Enlightenment utopianism, belief in progress, romanticism, and industrialism in favor of more realistic view on the future of humankind. Unfortunately, in many cases, «mundane» means not only «mature» but «boring» here, making SF more science than fiction.