From Theorist to Thinker: Encounter with Yuri Lotman under the Mentorship of Boris Egorov
Abstract
In this paper, which is largely personal and retrospective, the author shares his memories of his encounters with the works of Yuri Lotman and takes the opportunity for a reconsideration of his semiotics as a specific reflection on the history of Russia. Beginning with memories of the first encounter with Lotman's work more than thirty years ago in Korea, the author describes his experiences studying Lotman in Russia under the supervision of Professor Boris Fedorovich Egorov and, after returning to his native country, intensively exploring Lotman's last years (the so-called ‘Lotmanian explosion’). In particular, the author attempts to reconceptualize the intriguing concept of the ‘mechanism of Smuta’ that Lotman developed in his later years in terms of the "unpredictability of the past" and to highlight its profound implications for Lotman, who, the author argues, should be seen not only as a theorist but also as a (Russian) thinker.
POETICS AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF POLITICS
“The Voice of Hotness from the Margins”. On the interaction of poetry and politics
Abstract
In contemporary critical literature, there are various perspectives on the relationship between the political and the poetic. Some view poetry as a form of politics, encapsulated in the aphorism ‘the word is a weapon’, while others argue that politics itself should embody the qualities of poetry, as suggested by Andy Merrifield's assertion that "politics should be like poetry." This article seeks to explore the poetic dimensions that underpin the political necessity for poetry, namely, the attributes of poetry that establish a connection with the political sphere. The focus of this exploration is the concept of poetic defamiliarization and its interaction with the political within Jacques Rancière's theoretical framework. Rancière posits that the political function of poetry, and art more broadly, lies in its ability to disrupt the established order of sensory perception, challenging the prevailing system of unquestioned perceptual facts. This disruptive quality of poetry contrasts with what has been termed "police aesthetics" by Vatulescu, which reflects the conformity and uniformity inherent in consumer society. The article contends that, within the contemporary cultural landscape, the transformative potential of poetic expression risks being co-opted by aestheticizing practices prevalent in consumer culture. As a result, the subversive nature of poetic utterance is somewhat diluted, as it becomes assimilated into commodifying forces. However, the article also suggests that poetry retains the capacity to resist such commodification by transcending the limitations imposed by conventional boundaries, thereby offering a means of resisting capture by commercial interests
Fyodor Dostoevsky vs Karl Marx: Personal Freedom in Existential and Social Dimensions
Abstract
The paper explores the perspectives of Fyodor Dostoevsky and Karl Marx regarding human freedom, highlighting their relevance amidst the contradictory landscape of social development in late capitalism. It is well-established that Dostoevsky's ‘orthodox’ socialist stance resonated with Marx's critique of bourgeois society, focusing on themes of materialism, the dominance of wealth, and alienation. Both thinkers grappled with the concept of human freedom, recognizing it as an intrinsic characteristic and essential aspect of humanity. While they shared similar views on existential and social dimensions of freedom, they diverged in their conceptual approaches to achieving it. The study aims to demonstrate, through a comparative analysis of Dostoevsky's and Marx's perspectives, that despite differences in their understanding of freedom and its attainment, their positions can be seen as complementary. Dostoevsky advocated for inner spiritual improvement, while Marx prioritized external structural change. Research indicates that these perspectives can mutually reinforce each other. The authors assert and support the thesis that according to Dostoevsky, achieving spiritual freedom is feasible through labour activity, a concept akin to Marx's notion of praxis.
On the Poetic Dispute between Paul Celan and Johannes Bobrowski
Abstract
The main purpose of this work is to explore the experience of confronting guilt ‘after Auschwitz’ in the creative dialogue between two significant poets of the twentieth century — Paul Celan and Johannes Bobrowski. Despite their importance, their works remain inadequately studied, particularly in the context of the interaction between language and existence, or more precisely, poetic semiotics and the ontological foundation of existence. Sander Gilman, an American Germanist, in his work “Why and How I Study German” aimed at students of the German language in the United States, notes: “Learning German means understanding the path that leads from the text to the crematory”. Celan shared a similar sentiment. Bobrowski, while agreeing with Celan's belief that Auschwitz revealed the infernal nature of the German language, attempted to counter him by suggesting that even within the language of the underworld, a poet could serve as a synergistic participant in the manifestation of Truth from the Light of Truth in the performative "production of the presence" of God. One of those who supported him in this argument was perhaps the most complex author in German history, Hamann, whom Goethe considered to be “the brightest mind of his time” and the future “forefather and teacher” of all Germans. In this context, the poetic dialogue between Celan and Bobrowski concerning the German ‘language after Auschwitz’ could be seen as an effort to prevent its complete deontologization, due to what the philosopher Heidegger referred to as “the lack of holy names," stemming from “the defining characteristic of the present era of the world being the closed dimension of the Sacred”.
CONTEMPORARY POETRY IN THE ERA OF NEW MEDIA
New Technologies and Pragmatic Techniques in Contemporary Poetry
Abstract
The paper examines the linguistic and communication changes taking place in poetic discourse under the influence of new media. The digital interface (blogs, social networks, applications) affects the transformation of all the parameters of communication, due to the dominance of information channels and codes. The interaction of poetic language with colloquial speech and the influence of digital technologies lead to the creation of new strategies of subjectivation and addressing in contemporary poetry, as well as to an increase in the role of poetic pragmatics. In addition, the process of meaning formation in contemporary poetry involves the mechanism of transcoding, i. e. the transfer of a message from one format to another, which can take place during the conversion from a paper (or analogue) format to a digital one. Transcoding involves a change in the form and content of the message, as well as other communication parameters. The paper classifies and explores in detail the pragmatic parameters that undergo transcoding under the influence of digital technologies, acting as new pragmatic techniques of poetic utterance.
Interfaces of Contemporary Poetry: Turn-taking and Multiple Addressing
Abstract
The characteristic feature of contemporary poetry is an increased attention to the pragmatics of the message. The Internet influences the activation of the communication function, and metalinguistic reflection in poetry manifests itself through the violation of grammatical norms, the graphic highlighting of pragmatic markers, and the representation of computer interface elements such as messengers, social networks, etc. At the same time, the media interface creates a multiplicity of addressing and influences the strategies of indirect subjectivation that manifest themselves as a result of several shifts (deictic, functional, etc.), allowing us to deal with the updating of the communication parameters of a poetic utterance. This modification involves bringing the communication channel to the fore, as well as explicating the turn-taking indices in its non-conventional function. Thus, at the present stage, the poetic message is supplemented by new (linguistic and media) means, including interfaces, pseudo-dialogue models characteristic of online correspondence, conversational patterns, and discourse markers used in online communication. The article analyzes the peculiarities of the functioning of pragmatic markers as indicators of subjectivity and addressing on the Internet.
Neural Poetry as a Battle of Poetic Languages
Abstract
The article develops a view of neural networks as a tool for formulating and verifying philological hypotheses related to various aspects of the generation and reception of a literary text. The principles of aesthetic communication are analyzed, in which, thanks to the development of the modern technological environment, an anthropic author, a neural network and a recipient can participate equally. Neuropoetry is interpreted through the metaphor of a “battle of poetic languages” (in accordance with the conventions of the rap battle genre) — as a communicative field in which anthropic and digital authors interact as equal participants in the creative act, jointly forming new prerequisites for the reader’s perception of a literary text. The ‘co-creation’ of anthropic and digital authors is considered in terms of the actor-network theory of Latour. In interactions between a person and a neural network, the latter transcends its purely instrumental function and assumes features of subjectivity. It becomes an equal agent in generating a collective aesthetic statement. Neuropoetry, as a result of co-creation of this kind, is characterized by a double semiotic nature: one part of it is the result of the creation of an anthropic author, while the second demonstrates ‘secondary poetry’, in which the digital author imitates the procedures of natural speech generation. As a result, a new, complicated model of aesthetic communication is formed, complementing the standard positions of the communicative act (author — text — reader) with the level of communicative interaction of anthropic and digital co-authors. The recipient, in the situation of perceiving a text co-written by a person and a neural network, is involved in a complex interpretative game that activates the mechanisms of aesthetic reception, and the act of ‘neuro-creativity’ itself creates new forms of mimesis, which ceases to be ‘imitation of the world’ and becomes ‘imitation of imitation’.
Linguocognitive Bases for the Integration of the Poetic Text into Cinematic Discourse
Abstract
The article delves into the intricacies of integrating poetic texts into the discourse of authorial cinema. It begins by examining the multifaceted interaction between cinema and poetry within contemporary artistic culture, framing author cinematography through the lens of the poetic concept. Intermediality and interdiscursivity are explored as intrinsic properties of cinema, serving as tools for shaping the unique style and aesthetics of filmmakers. Two films, “Stalker” by Andrei Tarkovsky and “Ugly Swans” by Konstantin Lopushansky, are selected as primary sources for analysis due to their continuity and innovative qualities. The research employs a comprehensive methodology, including parameterization of linguistic creativity, corpus annotation, and conceptual analysis of verbal and non-verbal elements that contribute to the films’ poetics. Data processing techniques are then applied to interpret the findings. The study uncovers both similarities and differences in the approaches of the two filmmakers to incorporating poetic material into their works. It concludes that the integration of poetic texts into films serves as a mechanism for eliciting a unique psycho-emotional response from viewers, facilitating their engagement with the filmmaker’s ideological concepts.
Treatise Disguised as Poem: the Border-Line Genre and its Linguistic Features
Abstract
The hybrid genre of poetic treatise occupies a somewhat marginal position within the literary genres landscape. Nonetheless, it holds particular interest as a realm of interaction between artistic and scientific discourses, sometimes intertwining with everyday speech. In the twentieth century, the interplay between scientific and poetic texts, as well as between verse and prose, took on new experimental forms. Western literature saw the influence of Ludwig Wittgenstein and his philosophical treatise form on artistic practices, including poetry. Wittgenstein's "Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus" left a significant imprint on poets associated with the ‘language school’ in the USA. Furthermore, Wittgenstein's treatise and its interpretation by Arkadii Dragomoshchenko continue to reverberate in contemporary Russophone poetry, particularly within the objectivist line. The research material encompasses texts of poetic treatises from the Russian avant-garde (Ivan Terentyev, Daniil Kharms, and Yakov Druskin), contemporary Russophone objectivist poetry (Arkadii Dragomoshchenko, Aleksandr Skidan, and Nikita Safonov), and American ‘language writing’ (Ron Silliman, Lyn Hejinian, Charles Bernstein, and Bob Perelman). The article scrutinizes the linguistic characteristics of such discursive interaction within the experimental form of a ‘treatise disguised as a poem’. Specific linguistic traits of the treatise genre, typically found in scientific and philosophical works, are transposed onto poetic texts. These include discourse words and expressions conveying metatextual deixis and the process of argumentation, a distinct I-We subjectivity characteristic of scientific discourse, a pronounced focus on propositionality as a determinant of truth or falsity, and a clearly delineated, mathematically ordered division of statements.
Technological Metaphor and Communicative Models in Contemporary Russian Poetry
Abstract
The article investigates the functioning of technological metaphor and communication models in poetic discourse. The aim of the study is to explore contemporary Russian poetry in its relation to digital technologies, employing cognitive-discursive and media-cognitive approaches. Technological metaphor is an implicit property inherent in both technical objects and poetic texts, which manifests itself on two levels: lexical-semantic and cognitive-communicative. The article proposes an approach to the study of technological metaphor in three aspects: the examination of a technical object as containing its own metaphorical substrate, the thematization of a technical object in a poetic text and metaphorization strategies, and the implicit functioning of a technological metaphor at the level of the whole text, which affects the communication structure of poetic discourse. The key parameters of the new communication models in poetic discourse include the transformation of the prototypical space of the poetic text, changes in the principles of poetic framing, semantic and syntactic compression, multiple integration of mental spaces, referential uncertainty, the functioning of computer terms as metaphors in poetic discourse, and their secondary metaphorization/demetaphorization. The active interaction of poetry and technology leads to the creation of communication aesthetics, with a key parameter being the formation of hybrid cognitive-communicative zones in poetic discourse.