Jack of all trades with a master’s degree. Review of the book “Obrazovatel’naya model’ svobodnykh iskusstv i nauk. Mirovoi i rossiiskii opyt” [Educational Model of Liberal Arts and Sciences. World and Russian experience]

Today when the remnants of a political system based on liberal values is finally breaking down all over the world and the values themselves are being subjected to purposeful profanation and relativization, an educational model based on academical freedom and development of a truly Renaissance breadth of scientific horizons – i. e. principles one would least expect to flourish in with the atmosphere of the forthcoming digital concentration camp – is gaining popularity with the pace none could have expected.. At least this is what the authors of the book in question are trying to convince us of. But despite all their efforts, reality – that is, who and why needs to rebuild the higher education system according to the model of the liberal arts and sciences – transpires before the attentive reader in all its inhuman pragmatism.

‘Semi-third-day fever’ according to special observations and experiments carried out in the southern countries of Russian Empire. Described by Dr. Iog Mart Minderer in 1770–1772

The article Semi-third-day fever is based on personal experience obtained during the hostilities in the southern regions of the Russian Empire in 17701772 by Doctor Ioannes Mart Minderer, Active State Councilor and companion, correspondent of various scientific societies, and member of the Imperial Medical and Surgical Academy. At first glance, the semi-third-day fever described by the author looks completely mysterious, but an attentive reader can solve this puzzle based on a detailed description of the course of the disease by days, clinical symptoms, course options, and most importantly, the climatic and geographical characteristics of the area, which is characterized by the spread of this disease, as well as based on own clinical experience and contemporary literature. The logical chain created by the author is of particular note, as it linked together the clinical presentation, geographical, climatic, and social conditions under which the disease considered develops, which is essentially a prelude to the formation of understanding of the role of environmental factors in the development and spread of various infections. Despite the archaic language of presentation, the article is percepted with great interest and is an example of a deep and comprehensive approach to the material analyzed.

Seeing Double(s)

This article considers the Lucianic Erôtes a receptor of Greek novels and focusses on Chariton’s Callirhoe as hypotext. It argues that Chariton’s construction of Callirhoe as a double of Aphrodite, and the plot that this predicament generates, are central to the presentation of the statue of Aphrodite in the Erôtes. This is revealed by consistent verbal echoes and by the re-enactment of memorable scenes in the novel. The Erôtes emerges as an important document for the early reception of Greek novels, and its author as an attentive reader of them.

LYRICAL AWKWARDNESS

The stylistic quirkiness of Ulysses is not only inconceivable but also unfathomable. The meanderings of speech from the opacity of narrative through chunks of silent thought to adopted discursive conventions do not leave the reader with the impression that they are facing a transparent narrative. On the contrary, the prose epic of Ulysses subverts expectations concerning “mood”, voice and discursive conventions, yielding threads of lyrically opaque speech. As these threads intertwine and cut across one another, a poetic fabric develops that diverts attention to itself and reveals how prose can foster lyrical foregrounding. The “Eumaeus” episode presents textual constructions that employ marked conventions of speech and eminent syntactic arrangements besides the indeterminacy of “mood” and voice to defamiliarize correlations of perception, thought and emotion. Accordingly, the work demonstrates that the thickly woven opacity of a multifarious fabric is indeed capable of leaving a lyrically subtle imprint on the attentive reader.

Syntax of the «Poet of Thought» (To the 220th Anniversary of the Birth of Evgeny Baratynsky)

E. A. Baratynsky’ influence on the 20th-century Russian philosophical lyrics is undeniable. The syntax used by the «poet of thought» demonstrates a tendency towards complication and archaization over time, which generally contradicts the aspirations for the democratization of the poetic syntax that emerged in the Karamzin era. The complexity of the syntactic structure in the poet’s search for a «metaphysical» language is achieved not by increasing the number of complex structures, which make up half of the sentences used by Baratynsky, but rather by saturating sentences with various kinds of clauses (participial, adverbial participial, adjective, noun, adverbial, infinitive) that complicate the model by conjunctive syntagms (prepositional-nominal, comparative, conjunctive), parentheses, vocatives, segments of the «nominative of the theme» type. In an effort to preserve the continuity of poetic traditions for a thoughtful, attentive reader, Baratynsky resorts to archaizing the syllable at the lexical and grammatical levels and, in particular, to using absolute clauses. Complex constructions often accompany iambic trimeter, trisyllabic metres, variable-foot verses consisting of longer and shorter lines characterised by changing the order of stress. Sentences with cumbersome isolated clauses are typical for iambic and dactylic hexameter, metres with a connotation of «high» genres. A more complex syntactic structure is observed in polymetric and variable food poems. The added complexity of syntax in long-sized verses is achieved not by increasing the number of parts of complex structures, but rather by adding clauses and homogeneous parts of the sentence. Large stanza forms are frequently divided into several simple sentences of two or three lines in length. The tradition of poetic rhythm requires a coincidence of the boundaries of quatrain and sentences – their symmetry; therefore, in quatrains, similar to couplets, the occurrence of complex and compound structures is much higher. Free stanza or the lack of stanza division additionally complicates the syntax.

‘The Prey or the Shadow’: Klossowski, Kierkegaard, Desire

During the late 1930s, towards the beginning of a long and colourful career as a translator, writer, novelist and painter, Pierre Klossowski (1905–2001) proved an attentive reader of the work of the Danish thinker Søren Kierkegaard (1813–55). This article examines Klossowski's twofold engagement with Kierkegaard, the first in the form of a commentary, published in Bataille's magazine Acéphale in 1937 addressing the Dane's use of Mozart's Don Giovanni in his philosophical treatise Either — Or, the second, a year later, being a translation of an essay by Kierkegaard, also originally part of Either — Or, offering an alternative interpretation of Sophocles’ Antigone to the one proposed by Hegel. The aim of the article is to examine how Klossowski, in these texts, problematizes the possibility of mediation and translatability, and emphasizes instead the irreducibility of immediacy, secrecy, indirection.

F.M. DOSTOEVSKII IN THE ARTISTIC CONSCIENCE AND CRITICISM OF V.YA. BRYUSOV

The existing research is primarily dedicated to the reflections of motifs and images from Dostoevskii’s works in V.Ya. Bryusov’s art. This article focuses on Bryusov’s direct quotes about Dostoevskii and his art from the pages of his critical works, correspondence and diary entries, which lead the author to the conclusion that Bryusov was not only an attentive reader of Dostoevskii but also a researcher of his work. Unlike other notable authors of the late 19th and early 20th centuries (I.F. Annenskii, D.S. Merezhkovskii, A. Belyi etc.), Bryusov didn’t write a separate article on Dostoevskii, but he planned to write a monograph, a critical work, based on scientific foundations. However, he never finished it. This analysis leads the author to the conclusion that Dostoevskii held a special place in Bryusov’s artistic conscience. For him Dostoevskii’s literary craft was an art of mystery, capable of lifting the veil from the depths of a human soul. Additionally, the study of the features of Dostoevskii’s art became an important factor in the formation of Bryusov’s own poetics and in his approach to the traditions of poetics of the writers of 19th century.

SENTIMENTALIST CODE IN THE NOVEL ‘SERОTONIN’ BY M. HOUELLEBECQ

The article analyzes sentimentalist origins in the poetics of the novel Serotonin (2019) by M. Houellebecq. It considers realization of the sentimentalism traditions in the literature process at the turn of the 20th–21st centuries; the analysis is based on the studies of Russian and foreign scholars. The revival of interest in the inner world of a private person, sincerity of the words is considered to be one of the main reasons for developing ‘new sentimentality’. The research is focused on J. J. Rousseau’s traditions in sentimentalism. The paper provides a comparative analysis of the novel under study and autobiographic works by J. J. Rousseau such as The Confessions (Les Confessions, 1765–1770) and Reveries of the Solitary Walker (Les rêveries du promeneur solitaire, 1776–1778). The starting point of the plot in both Reveries of the Solitary Walker by Rousseau and Serotonin by Houellebecq is the narrator’s statement of his absolute solitude and premonition of his coming death. In such tragic circumstances every person tries to say the last words about themselves. In both novels the theme of writing is of great importance and the narrator’s own personality and destiny become an object of creative reflection. The main purpose of the narrator in Reveries of the Solitary Walker is to tell the truth about himself to himself. There is no companion in the person of a compassionate reader, which is important to the sentimentalist tradition, in the Rousseau’s novel. The character of narrator in the novel by Houellebecq is focused on describing the circumstances which led him to the failure in the fight for survival. That is why his life ends in loneliness, sadness and suffering. Reflecting upon his own life, he offers the attentive reader to fill the gaps and establish a casual connection. The theme of memory is realized in relation to the process of self-description. In the Rousseau’s novel, the narrator’s diving into himself and writing about himself are done during his solitude walks full of dreaming and contemplation of nature, which helps him find peace and quiet. The Houellebecq‘s narrator compares his own experience with that of the Rousseau’s character and admits the mediocrity and insignificance of his own existence. He is running on a sentimental journey to the places of the lost love and friendship but he is incapable of reaching unity with nature, which could be salvation for him. His lot is despair. Reproducing a significant number of motifs and images used by Rousseau in The Confession and Reveries of the Solitary Walker, Houellebecq reflects on the human and eternal values via the dialogue.

The Myth of Prometheus in Plato’s Protagoras

The Polish version of the article was published in “Roczniki Humanistyczne,” vol. 58–59 (2010–2011), issue 3 Protagoras is an exceptional dialogue of Plato as it uses two modes of expression: mythos and logos. Both are used by Protagoras in Great Speech, but the first one seems to be the most important. Protagoras chose the mythical mode of expression when he described to Socrates how he makes his pupils good citizens and politicians. The famous sophist told the story about two brothers: Prometheus and Epimetheus. It is easy to notice that Protagoras identifies with the clever Prometheus. However, the attentive reader can notice that Prometheus from Protagoras’ myth made a decision with fatal consequences. He entrusts his brother Epimetheus with a too re­sponsible task. If Prometheus had been clever he should have predicted the dramatic conse­quences of his decision (see the etymology of his name). It might have been a conscious and in­tentional effort of Plato who wanted to ridicule Protagoras, the main opponent of Socrates. The resulting effect is so strong because Protagoras, who identifies with Prometheus, told the myth by himself in which Prometheus is in fact the less clever of the two brothers.