Umbrella Blow to the Head instead of a Kiss: Transformation of Sleeping Beauty Image in B. Shaw’s Plays

The article considers the question of the relevance of fairy-tale poetics in the works of the Irish playwright Bernard Shaw. The subject of the analysis is the transformation of the image of Sleeping beauty in the dramas “Heartbreak House”, 1913-1917 and “Too True to Be Good”, 1931. Attention is drawn to a wide historical and literary context, which determined the relevance of folklore and fairy tales for the era of the turn of the XIXth-XXth centuries. The author provides a brief history of the dramatic transformation of the plot in musical theatre. The question is raised about other sources of influence on the interpretation of the motif of the dream and the image of the sleeping princess by Shaw; the article considers the Scandinavian mythological tradition represented in R. Wagner’s operas and the material of Russian epic stories. Particular attention is paid to the comparison of the drama “Too True to Be Good” with the early fairy-tale play by M. Maeterlinck “Seven Princesses” (Les sept princesses, 1891). The novelty of the study is seen in the fact that the question of the presence of fairy-tale poetics in the work of the playwright has so far been little studied by Western researchers and is not at all covered in Russian literary studies. The article establishes previously undetected links between the works of Shaw and Maeterlinck. It proves the possibility of the existence of continuity between Shaw’s characters and the heroes of the Russian epics. The relevance of the study is determined by the fact that the problem of the presence and modification of folklore and mythological imagery is important for literature not only at the turn of the XIXth-XXth centuries, but also in the XXIst century

A Comparison of Levels of Select Minerals in Scalp Hair Samples with Estimated Dietary Intakes of These Minerals in Women of Reproductive Age

The objective of this study was to evaluate daily intake of minerals and concentrations of minerals in hair in women of reproductive age. The study included 77 menstruating women, aged 35.9 ± 9.7 years. Subjects were divided into three groups according to age. All women were healthy. Hair samples were taken from several points of the occipital scalp. The content of minerals in hair samples was determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometry. Dietary intake of the analysed minerals was assayed on the basis of dietary intake interviews from three preceding days and evaluated using the dietetic computer programme. It was shown that calcium and iron daily intake by the women was below the recommended value. Only few women had low concentrations (below reference values) of magnesium, copper and zinc in hair. Statistically significant differences were shown between age groups. Generally, the concentrations of minerals in hair in the younger (19–30 years) and the older women (41–50 years) were higher than in hair of middle-aged women (31–40 years). The content of calcium, magnesium, iron and zinc in daily diets of women correlated inversely with copper level in their hair. Food products with good bioavailability of iron and calcium should be recommended for women of childbearing age in all age groups