The Hero of His Time, a Hero Out of Time or a Hero for All Times – Qui Pro Quo?

Abstract. The discussion offered in the paper develops the theme of the issue. Professional historians from Russia and the Great Britain, who have different political views and markedly different methodological approaches, offered their reflections on the hero and the heroic. Diverse typologies of heroes, examples of the hero’s ability to be an outstanding personality of his time, to become a symbol, to express the experience of a typical representative of his era, were accompanied by original comments on the material of history, classical and popular literature and culture. The participants sought to identify points of convergence between similar, but not synonymous concepts of “hero”, “leader of public opinion”, “charismatic”, “anti-hero”, to nuance the semantic demarcation between these concepts, to point to their flexibility in connection with the variability of the socio-cultural context. The talk about the hero touched upon widespread academic ideas about the heroic, especially archetypal and historical-cultural models, but was not limited to them. A special metacritical and analytical component was introduced into the conversation by the question of the temporal component in the perception and understanding of the phenomenon of heroism. The participants argued the most significant differences between modern ideas (in the broad socio-cultural sense of the word) about heroes from the “pre-modern” ones. The large-scale question about the specifics of the processes and mechanisms of formation of the domestic pantheon of heroes in comparison with the cultural traditions of other countries and peoples may introduce a new turn in the field of “heroism science”, currently actively developing humanitarian field in foreign studies. The revival of the discussion around the phenomenon of “the hero of our time” affects both academic science and the field of practical action and civic initiatives, as well as links this section of the journal with recent publication projects and conferences in Russia and abroad.

Keywords: hero of his own time, heroism, Heroism Science, great people in history, types and typologies of heroes.