scholarly journals Postmodernist Features in W. Gerhardie’s Novel “The Polyglots”

2021 ◽  
pp. 116-125
Author(s):  
А.Э. Воротникова
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Writing Process ◽  
20Th Century Literature ◽  
Russian Civil War ◽  
Russian Culture ◽  
The World ◽  
Binary Oppositions ◽  
Century Literature ◽  
Literary Legacy

В статье изучается творчество русско-английского писателя Уильяма Герхарди, которое оценивается в литературоведении диаметрально противоположно — от восторженного признания его культового характера до полного отказа в художественности и идейной глубине. Цель данной статьи — исследовать черты постмодернистской эстетики и мировоззрения в наиболее известном романе Герхарди на тему Гражданской войны в России — «Полиглоты», вбирающем в себя тенденции литературного развития ХХ века и служащем примечательным образцом концептуально-художественного синтеза. В статье анализируются такие проявления постмодернизма в «Полиглотах», как эпистемологическое сомнение, критика метанарративов, восприятие действительности как неуправляемого хаоса, принцип нон-иерархии, разрушение бинарных оппозиций, игровое начало, деконструкция, необарочное мироощущение, интертекстуальность, полижанровость. Отдельное внимание уделяется образу протагониста-рассказчика, сознание которого, с одной стороны, скрепляет повествование, придает картине распадающейся действительности целостность, с другой, в силу своей подвижности и текучести, лишает образ бытия смысловой однозначности, что также является постмодернистской особенностью. Еще одна примечательная постмодернистская черта произведения английского автора — его метаповествовательная природа: «Полиглоты» — это роман о романе, о процессе его создания. Через все исследование проведена мысль о влиянии русской культуры на художественную картину мира Герхарди, о рецепции, в том числе в характерной для постмодернизма пародийно-игровой, иронической форме, произведений русских писателей. The article investigates the literary legacy of William Gerhardie, an Anglo-Russian novelist, whose works receive diametrically opposite reviews. Some give him ample praise, while others criticize his books for having neither artistic nor ideological merit. The aim of the article is to explore “The Polyglots”, W. Gerhardie’s famous novel about Russian civil war through the lens of postmodernist aesthetics and postmodernist worldview. W. Gerhardie’s novel is a prime example of 20th century literature with its conceptual unity and artistic synthesis. The article analyzes such postmodernist features of “The Polyglots” as epistemological doubt, metanarrative critique, perception of the world as something uncontrollably chaotic, non-hierarchical principle, destruction of binary oppositions, gaming essence, deconstruction, neobaroque worldview, intertextulaity, multigenre characteristics. Special attention is given to the analysis of the protagonist, the narrator of the story, whose consciousness glues together the random pieces of the mosaic of life and, being flexible and unstable, adds ambiguity, which is another postmodernist characteristic. One more postmodernist feature of the work is its metanarrative character. “The Polyglots” is a novel about a novel, a novel about the writing process. The article focuses on the influence of the Russian culture on Gerhardie’s artistic worldview, his ironic postmodernist interpretation of Russian writers’ literary legacy.

THE ARTISTIC IMAGES OF POST-DEATH IN THE POETRY BY JOSEPH BRODSKY AND OLGA SEDAKOVA

2021 ◽  
pp. 141-165
Author(s):  
Pavel E. Spivakovskii ◽  
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
20Th Century Literature ◽  
Joseph Brodsky ◽  
Christian View ◽  
The World ◽  
Artistic Images ◽  
Century Literature

The article analyzes how Joseph Brodsky and Olga Sedakova depict the posthumous existence of a human. Brodsky holds an agnostic view on the world, tending to a positivism. The poet concentrates on depicting the Homeric horror of the very fact of death and its inevitability. Olga Sedakova tends to the Christian view of the world, taking into account the experience of the catastrophes of the 20th century, literature after Auschwitz. Unlike the traditionalist image of Paradise, Sedakova sees in it not only ‘incredible happiness’, but also an experience of tragedy and compassion, which leads her to a very unconventional form of idyll.

The poetics of reconciliation in French literary work of the 20th century. From Marie Noël to Sylvie Germain

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Václava Bakešová
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
Literary Work ◽  
20Th Century Literature ◽  
World War ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
The World ◽  
Sylvie Germain ◽  
Century Literature

Because of the Holocaust, World War II is the focal point for capturing spiritual experience in the 20th-century literature. How did the transformation of French spiritual literature from the poet Marie Noël in the 1st half of the century to the novelist Sylvie Germain at its end come about? Using examples from their work, this paper shows both authors’ sources of inspiration and highlights the means of expressing spirituality of a person going through an inner struggle. Although the authors describe a dark night, both of them they have a desire to overcome it, to reconcile with God, with the world and with themselves.

Historiosophy of N.Ya. Danilevsky

2020 ◽  
Vol 58 ◽  
pp. 13-17
Author(s):  
Victor V. Aksyuchits
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
World History ◽  
Russian Culture ◽  
Russian People ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Time

According to the author of the article, N.Ya. Danilevsky anticipated a lot of ideas of the 20th century, in particular those of O. Spengler and A. Toynbee, by offering his concept of cultural and historical types in the book “Russia and Europe”. At the same time N.Ya. Danilevsky was in many aspects the follower of Slavophils while interpreting the originality of Russian people and Russian culture. After the turn of the educated society circles to Russian national self-comprehension initiated by Slavophils, N.Ya. Danilevsky not only scientifically formulated the problems brought forth by the Slavophils, but also offered for the first time the resolution of new important questions by analyzing the world history and the history of Slavic peoples. The author especially stresses the role of N.Ya. Danilevsky in creating the historiosophic concept that forestalled the epoch for many decades.

Letters from Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg to Pavel Malinovsky as a Historical Source

Inner Asia ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 309-326
Author(s):  
Sergius L. Kuzmin ◽  
Jürgen von Ungern-Sternberg
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
National Liberation ◽  
Russian Civil War ◽  
Historical Source ◽  
Liberation Movement ◽  
National Liberation Movement ◽  
In The Beginning

Letters from Baron R.F. von Ungern-Sternberg, well-known general of the White forces in Russian Civil war and national liberation movement of Mongols in the beginning of the 20th Century, to Officer P.P. Malinovsky are published, translated and discussed. They contain interesting data on Pan-Mongolian plans in 1918, information on the plans of unification of Mongolian people in the Inner and Outer Mongolia, their integration with the Buryat-Mongols, as well as with the Kyrgyz (=Kazakh), Manchus and Tibetans, as well as on the plans of consolidation of the control of the Ataman G.M. Semenov’s forces in Transbaikalia.

scholarly journals The Non-Humanist Vector in 20th-Century Russian Literature

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 183-200
Author(s):  
Maria Rubins ◽  
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Russian Literature ◽  
Russian Culture ◽  
The World

The article focuses on a corpus of narratives written in various cultural and historical contexts both within metropolitan Russia and in diaspora, which engaged with the process of dehumanization of the world and mankind and the inadequacy of Russian literature’s traditional arsenal to represent the anthropological experience of the 20th century. These texts revised the humanist pathos of Russian culture, the European legacy and Eurocentric discourse, and created an alternative conceptual and aesthetic language that became particularly relevant for contemporary Russian literature.

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