Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Loveless as the remediation of Mikhail Bulgakov’s The heart of a dog. Towards the question of cultural memory

The article aims to examine the relationship between two texts: Loveless (Нелюбовь, 2017), the latest of Andrey Zvyagintsev’s feature films, and The Heart of a Dog (Собачье сердце, 1925), one of Mikhail Bulgakov’s most popular short stories. The studies are focused on finding the parallels showing the work of cultural memory, which is understood – following Aleida Assmann’s and Astrid Erll’s findings – as the process of continuous remediation, retranscription and negotiation of essential ideas in the space of culture. Consequently, the author is not interested in treating Zvyagintsev’s text as the illustration of Bulgakov’s plot, but rather in discussing certain topics which are deposited in Russian literature and constantly reused and reinterpreted, creating the framework for communication across ‘the abyss of time’. The analogies between the selected texts are sought in the area of their structure, some thematic overlapping, the authors’ approach to the issue of the authoritarian ideology and the role of technology as well as in exploring the function of space as one of the narrative mechanisms, in particular in the context of the category of home and anti-home.The article aims to examine the relationship between two texts: Loveless (Нелюбовь, 2017), the latest of Andrey Zvyagintsev’s feature films, and The Heart of a Dog (Собачье сердце, 1925), one of Mikhail Bulgakov’s most popular short stories. The studies are focused on finding the parallels showing the work of cultural memory, which is understood – following Aleida Assmann’s and Astrid Erll’s findings – as the process of continuous remediation, retranscription and negotiation of essential ideas in the space of culture. Consequently, the author is not interested in treating Zvyagintsev’s text as the illustration of Bulgakov’s plot, but rather in discussing certain topics which are deposited in Russian literature and constantly reused and reinterpreted, creating the framework for communication across ‘the abyss of time’. The analogies between the selected texts are sought in the area of their structure, some thematic overlapping, the authors’ approach to the issue of the authoritarian ideology and the role of technology as well as in exploring the function of space as one of the narrative mechanisms, in particular in the context of the category of home and anti-home

Following Brodsky. Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Apocrypha

The article presents the study of the short film Apocrypha by Andrei Zvyagintsev. The text is aimed at the interpretation of the movie in the context of the problem of memory, which is emphasised in the selected work in the explicit and implicit visual associations with the figure and poetry of Iosif Brodsky. The recognition of these characteristic elements in the structure of Zvyagintsev’s film has the influence on the perception of its meaning, leading the culturally aware recipient towards discovering its broad interpretative potential in view of the Russian literary tradition. The study is conducted using the comparative method of analysis. The core theory which constitutes the methodological foundation of the study is Astrid Erll’s concept of cultural memory expounded as intertextuality, i.e. the continuous building up of layers of texts, which are mediated, as well as her idea of transcultural memory, defined in the first instance as a process of fluctuation between the individual and collective level of remembering. Attention is turned to the motifs, which are characteristic both for Brodsky’s and Zvyagintsev’s poetics, such as the aquatic symbolism, temporal and topographical relationships, chromatography of cold colours etc. The application of the selected methodology in the presented discussion allows for exposing the dynamics of the changing nature of culture, which becomes the container of the social and territorial fluctuations of memory.The article presents the study of the short film Apocrypha by Andrei Zvyagintsev. The text is aimed at the interpretation of the movie in the context of the problem of memory, which is emphasised in the selected work in the explicit and implicit visual associations with the figure and poetry of Iosif Brodsky. The recognition of these characteristic elements in the structure of Zvyagintsev’s film has the influence on the perception of its meaning, leading the culturally aware recipient towards discovering its broad interpretative potential in view of the Russian literary tradition. The study is conducted using the comparative method of analysis. The core theory which constitutes the methodological foundation of the study is Astrid Erll’s concept of cultural memory expounded as intertextuality, i.e. the continuous building up of layers of texts, which are mediated, as well as her idea of transcultural memory, defined in the first instance as a process of fluctuation between the individual and collective level of remembering. Attention is turned to the motifs, which are characteristic both for Brodsky’s and Zvyagintsev’s poetics, such as the aquatic symbolism, temporal and topographical relationships, chromatography of cold colours etc. The application of the selected methodology in the presented discussion allows for exposing the dynamics of the changing nature of culture, which becomes the container of the social and territorial fluctuations of memory

Nostalgiczne kino Wiery Storożewej i Pawła Łungina (na podstawie filmów Podróż ze zwierzętami domowymi i Taxi Blues)

The article presents the interpretation of two Russian films, Travelling with Pets by Vera Storozheva and Taxi Blues by Pavel Lungin, from the point of view of the category of nostalgia. The article shows that the heroes of both artistic texts function in the hybrid reality, the collapse of the old world accompanies their search for the wholeness and new identity. Travelling with Pets emphasizes the spatial dimension of the experience, whereas Taxi Blues transforms it into the vision of the relationship with time, the continuum of past, present and future, which corresponds with the triad: history-memory-nostalgia

I. Turgenev as a protomodernist. Drama “A month in the country” in the context of C. Greenberg's collected essays “Modernism defense”. The announcement of a new artistic style

Clement Greenberg is considered as one of the greatest and most influential American critics of the late 20th century. Understanding modern and postmodern discussions in the world of literature and fine arts seems to be impossible without the profound knowledge of Greenberg's opinions. The aim of the studies in this article is the comparative analysis of I. Turgenev's drama A Month in the Country and fundamental principles of Greenberg's theory of modernism, the attempt to generate the inner relationships between those two works of art. Treating the aforementioned drama as the model piece of Turgenev's dramaturgy we focus on the parametres which build up the openness of the play, emphasise the innovative character of the text in the context of the changes of the Great Theatre Reform. The interpretation of Turgenev's play in the view of global artistic tendencies shows the uniqueness of his work of art. The comparative method of the analysis helps to discover the encoded features which will influence modernist way of thinking, eliminating the differences between the word and other ways of artistic expression.Clement Greenberg is considered as one of the greatest and most influential American critics of the late 20th century. Understanding modern and postmodern discussions in the world of literature and fine arts seems to be impossible without the profound knowledge of Greenberg's opinions. The aim of the studies in this article is the comparative analysis of I. Turgenev's drama A Month in the Country and fundamental principles of Greenberg's theory of modernism, the attempt to generate the inner relationships between those two works of art. Treating the aforementioned drama as the model piece of Turgenev's dramaturgy we focus on the parametres which build up the openness of the play, emphasise the innovative character of the text in the context of the changes of the Great Theatre Reform. The interpretation of Turgenev's play in the view of global artistic tendencies shows the uniqueness of his work of art. The comparative method of the analysis helps to discover the encoded features which will influence modernist way of thinking, eliminating the differences between the word and other ways of artistic expression.Clement Greenberg is considered as one of the greatest and most influential American critics of the late 20th century. Understanding modern and postmodern discussions in the world of literature and fine arts seems to be impossible without the profound knowledge of Greenberg's opinions. The aim of the studies in this article is the comparative analysis of I. Turgenev's drama A Month in the Country and fundamental principles of Greenberg's theory of modernism, the attempt to generate the inner relationships between those two works of art. Treating the aforementioned drama as the model piece of Turgenev's dramaturgy we focus on the parametres which build up the openness of the play, emphasise the innovative character of the text in the context of the changes of the Great Theatre Reform. The interpretation of Turgenev's play in the view of global artistic tendencies shows the uniqueness of his work of art. The comparative method of the analysis helps to discover the encoded features which will influence modernist way of thinking, eliminating the differences between the word and other ways of artistic expression

Миф Левиафанa в творчестве Андрея Звягинцева (на материале фильмa „Левиафан”)

The article focuses on an interpretation of Andrei Zvyagintsev’s film Leviathan in the context of the Leviathan myth. The film was inspired by the Book of Job and the philosophical treatise called Leviathan or The Matter, Form and Power of a Common Wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil written by Thomas Hobbes in 17th century. The article starts with an explanation of the possible meanings of the symbol of Leviathan in various cultural and historical traditions, including the Bible and Hobbes’s book. The background is then expanded further in the interpretation of selected shots from the film, which show that the artistic text of the Russian director can be perceived as a universal parable of human life.The article focuses on an interpretation of Andrei Zvyagintsev’s film Leviathan in the context of the Leviathan myth. The film was inspired by the Book of Job and the philosophical treatise called Leviathan or The Matter, Form and Power of a Common Wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil written by Thomas Hobbes in 17th century. The article starts with an explanation of the possible meanings of the symbol of Leviathan in various cultural and historical traditions, including the Bible and Hobbes’s book. The background is then expanded further in the interpretation of selected shots from the film, which show that the artistic text of the Russian director can be perceived as a universal parable of human life

Introduction

Introduction to the special issue: “From Perestroika to Putin and the Pandemic: Russian humour since the mid-1980s to the present

Rosja oczami ekscentryka, czyli Moskwa–Pietuszki Wieniedikta Jerofiejewa w kontekście mechanizmów reifikacji

РОССИЯ ГЛАЗАМИ ЭКСЦЕНТРИКА ИЛИ МОСКВАПЕТУШКИ ВЕНЕДИКТА ЕРОФЕЕВА В КОНТЕКСТЕ МЕхАНИЗМОВ РЕИФИКАЦИИ Резюме Автор статьи концентрируется на анализе образа советской действительности в поэме Москва–Петушки с точки зрения отношений человек–вещь. Текст обращает внима-ние на примеры механизмов овеществления, функционирующих в художественном мире Ерофеева, которые можно связать с категориями реификации: тотализирующей, манипулятивной, эксплуатационной и неантизирующей. Особое место в дискуссии занимает исследование бинарных опозиций типа: духовое–телесное, открытое–за-крытое, определяющих как логику тоталитарного режима, так и трагизм человеческой экзистенции эпохи постмодернизма. RUSSIA THROUGH THE EYES OF AN ECCENTRIC, OR MOSCOW–PETuSHKI BY VENEDICT EROFEEV IN THE CONTEXT OF MECHANISMS OF REIFICATION Summary The article concentrates on the analysis of pathological Soviet reality represented in the lyrical poem Moscow–Petushki from the point of view of the relationship between a human being and an object. The author focuses on the mechanisms of reification utilised in the artistic world of V. Erofeev categorising them as the examples of totalizing, manipulative, practical and neantising types of the above mentioned phenomenon. The author pays particular attention to the studies of binary oppositions such as spiritual-corporeal or exposed-hidden, which define logic of the totalitarian system as well as tragism of the human existence in the era of post-modernit

Słowo wstępne; Etos piękna w nauce, sztuce i kulturze

Artykuł stanowi przedmowę do tomu w całości poświęconemu problemowi piękna w ujęciu interdyscyplinarny