Abstract <p>This article explores the methodological functionality and scope of the world-systems approach in the analysis of documentary historical and literary texts and defines the role of images of power in actualizing the chronotope of literary works about Others within the framework of imagology as a discipline that studies not simply images of Others from a comparative perspective but in their manipulative, socio-ideological function as a means of shaping and transforming national and cultural identity. The image of the leader, the so-called “ruler of the era” (the subject of structuring space and time) as an interpretive reference point enlivens political time and reflects geopolitical realities.</p>