Slovo.ru: Baltic accent

2017 Vol. 8 №2

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The mythical-historical images of Bruno Schulz’s ‘Spring’ in the context of Kafka’s mythologism

DOI
10.5922/2225-5346-2017-2-8
Pages
86-94

Abstract

Myths and history are different but related forms of consciousness. They date back to the archaic and new periods of world history. New forms of synthesis between history and myths translated in the ‘mythical-historical imagery’ of the 20th-century art. For the first time in the history of world culture, modernism has created a synthesis between the seemingly divergent elements — history and myths. This article analyses Schulz’s short story ‘Spring’ in the context of Franz Kafka’s mythological oeuvre — ‘The Great Wall of China’ and The Trial. The presence of mythical-historical images in their works is a common impulse, which creates a space for versatile mythopoetic interpretations shared by the two authors. The article examines the autonomy and synthesis of myths and history.

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