On polarization

The ideological incommensurability of the worldviews or master narratives represented by the two opposing superpowers during the Cold War and embodied in the image of an impenetrable iron curtain gave particular salience to translation theory while also questioning the very possibility of translation. At the same time, the neoimperialist projects of the two superpowers produced startlingly similar approaches to the instrumentalization of translation as a vehicle for propaganda and diplomacy. Presenting polarization as a distinct state of semiosis, the effects of which are highly unpredictable, this article explores the various ways in which the radical polarization of the Cold War shaped the theory and practice of translation both within and across the ideological divide. Plotting the entanglements of the light and dark sides of translation during this time challenges traditional histories of the field that construe the period as one of progress and liberation.

The Three-Decade Cycle of Lithuanian Prose

In the period of 1989-2020 Lithuanian literature experienced a very dynamic literary development. The aim of the article is to highlight specifics of the new cycle and to analyze the prose trends of each decade of regained independence. The author discusses the literary process more synchronically than diachronically. The first period, i.e. the transition from the Soviet regime to the new system, was especially outstanding as the censorship was eliminated, the previously banned works of deportees and resisters were legalized, the postwar émigré writers returned back to culture and opportunities for innovation opened up.The role of writer as a cultural hero diminished. Former writers loyal to the Soviet regime described this situation as crisis, while the younger generation developed postmodernist way of writing. Many works were based on the cultural and historical memory reckoning with the Soviet era. All genres underwent certain transformations, such as emergence of peculiar essay genre, spread of ego-documentaries, revival of short stories, and flourishing popular literature.Serious changes took place after 2004 when Lithuania joined the European Union, which led to economic emigration and encouraged changes in mentality and expanse of local contexts. Mobile, “transit” type of Lithuanian character emerged who changed his place of residence but felt lonely in the global world. This is a huge innovation, bearing in mind the sedentary agrarian Lithuanian culture and the confines of the iron curtain during the Soviet era. Increased quantity of published books decreased their quality.

Experimental Cinemas in State Socialist Eastern Europe

Was there experimental cinema behind the Iron Curtain? What forms did experiments with film take in state socialist Eastern Europe? Who conducted them, where, how, and why? These are the questions answered in this volume, the first of its kind in any language. Bringing together scholars from different disciplines, the book offers case studies from Bulgaria, Czech Republic, former East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and former Yugoslavia. Together, these contributions demonstrate the variety of makers, production contexts, and aesthetic approaches that shaped a surprisingly robust and diverse experimental film output in the region. The book maps out the terrain of our present-day knowledge of cinematic experimentalism in Eastern Europe, suggests directions for further research, and will be of interest to scholars of film and media, art historians, cultural historians of Eastern Europe, and anyone concerned with questions of how alternative cultures emerge and function under repressive political conditions.

The Influence of Western Pop Culture on the Creation of the Image of the Performer Through the Design of Advertising Posters and Plates in the Period of Late Socialism

The aim of the research is to analyze the formation of the artist’s image through the design of musical posters and records in the period of late socialism by borrowing the semantic component and formal techniques in foreign pop culture, including graphic design, which served as an important component. The research methodology is based on a logical-analytical tool of scientific knowledge. Scientific novelty. Previous research has been supplemented by the analysis of new empirical data, including the design of record covers, visual coincidences of primary sources and borrowings. The revealed facts will be useful for the further development of both modern Ukrainian design and the formation of the artist’s image in show business. Conclusions. As a result of the study we conclude that in the period 1970-1990 in the process of formation of pop culture in the USSR the problem of its visual representation was formed, as evidenced by numerous pieces borrowed from foreign pop design solutions for advertising products: posters, placards, album covers, accompanying products. At an early stage, this trend was manifested despite the existence of the “Iron Curtain”, ideological isolation and was episodic. In the period chronologically close to the collapse of the USSR, such processes of stylistic citation in design became more frequent in line with the growth of information coming from the developed West. Copying Western techniques and visual language can be seen as a desire to break away from the dogmatic patterns of culture instilled by socialist realism, regardless of the conscious or unconscious nature of imitation. Blind imitation was later replaced by a reasonable rethinking, so in the best examples of domestic design of the period under study there were attempts to give formal Western methods the character of the local national color, which requires further exploration.

Religion and Europe after the Fall of the Iron Curtain

This chapter presents the situation regarding religion in the former communist countries of Eastern Europe and Russia after 1989. In much of the region, religious groups refused to sit back and watch passively as the politicians shaped their countries into Western-style liberal democracies, preferring instead to be actively involved in the process. Thus, religion has become an important actor in societies which otherwise could have secularized relatively fast, following the example of the Western democracies that the former communist countries were trying to emulate. Several issues are examined in order to illustrate how religion evolved after the fall of the Iron Curtain: these include dealing with the past, living with newly acquired religious freedom, nationalism and religion, religion and refugees, religious education in state schools, and sexuality and religion.