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• Identity Problems from Historical, Cultural and Literary Aspects

  7 p.

  Andrea Posta

  Views:

  243

  This critique focuses on the latest part of the publication series by the Slavic Historical and Philological Association entitled “Individual and Collective Identities”, which is of great importance for the field of Russian Studies in Hungary as it provides a regular platform for academics with annual conferences. In the three main chapters of the book, identity is approached in different contexts from a historical, cultural, and literary point of view. For this reason, we can say that this collection stands out due to its interdisciplinary nature and complexity serving as a useful resource for those who deal with identity issues.

• Images of the East in the Short Fiction of Ivan Bunin

  16 p.

  Kata Juracsek

  Views:

  240

  The article examines the images of the East in the short fiction of Ivan Bunin. With the help of the narrative model of Jan van der Eng, consisting of three basic thematic levels (action, characterization, geographical and social setting) we read and arrange the works of Bunin through the prism of postcolonial criticism. On the one hand, we will consider the arguments of traditional postcolonial studies; on the other hand, we will also take into account the postcolonial theory regarding the “second world” (Russia, Eastern and Central Europe).We start our analysis with the texts in which images of the East are only featured on one thematic level, gradually directing our attention towards the short stories in which these images determine the whole semantic structure.

• The Generational Narrative in Criticism of New Realism

  Zsuzsanna Kalafatics

  Views:

  177

  At the end of the 20th century, New Realism emerged in contrast to postmodern literature. The representatives of this school defined themselves in their manifestoes and critical writings as a generation with the same aesthetic and ideological principles. The anthology of New Russian Criticism, edited by Roman Senchin, is a demonstration of this common action. The present study aims to present how and what elements of this generational consciousness and cultural identity are created, i.e. how thinking about literature has changed.

• On the Reception of the Poem The Twelve by Aleksandr Blok in German Criticism and Literature Studies of the Past 50 Years

  Mária Gyöngyösi

  Views:

  135

  The article examines the German reception of Alexander Blok’s poem “The Twelve” based on selected criticism and works of literary history published by Slavists, poets and translators during the last fifty years. Analyses and interpretations of the poem are presented in detail, while other post-1917 writings and statements by Blok are also mentioned in order to provide context.

• Bugs, Burrow, Inquisitor: Dostoevskian Intertexts in Eyeless in Gaza

  Angelika Reichmann

  Views:

  133

  The present article is devoted to the discussion of intertextual connections between Aldous Huxley’s Eyeless in Gaza (1936) and three works by Dostoevsky: Notes from the Underground(1864), Crime and Punishment (1869) and The Brothers Karamazov (1880, Grand Inquisitor scene). As is well-known, the Dostoevskian novel of ideas was a major inspiring force for Aldous Huxley’s art: Huxley’s rewriting of the Grand Inquisitor episode in Brave New World (1932) is probably the best-known case in point. Nonetheless, insufficient critical attention has been devoted to the actual intertextual connections between the two novelists’ output. As I have demonstrated earlier, on closer inspectionPoint Counter Point (1928) turns out to be a rewriting of Devils (1872), which, however, alsoproves to be a low point in Huxley’s assessment of Dostoevsky – a companion piece to his incidental vicious critique included in his 1929 essay on Baudelaire, in which Huxley also targets spiritual quest. Let me argue that Eyeless in Gaza can be read as a sequel to that polemic, in which a change of Huxley’s attitude to Dostoevsky is clearly notable: the novel provides a much more subtle and even respectful critique of Dostoevsky by implying the universal relevance of the Dostoevskian underground to the understanding of the modern human condition and by re-embracing spiritual quest.

• Between Cyborg and Larva: A Vicious Circle That Human Beings Experience in the Post-humanist Era

  8 p.

  Andrey Chukurov

  Views:

  213

  The article reveals the reasons for and specific features of the transition to the posthumanist
  era. The author of the study reviews the criticism of classical humanism and analyzes
  the relationship between the concepts of "trans-humanism" and "post-humanism." In a
  situation in which a permanent identity is impossible and people move to a “current” “unstable”
  identity, the Imaginary becomes the main guideline for the self-identification process.
  Human beings are unable to cope with the challenges of our time and are aware of their own
  inferiority. That is why they are trying to improve themselves through the available body
  modifications. However, this process gives them a new panic attack over the potential loss
  of control over the body. Analyzing these processes, the author turns to the most controversial
  and specific phenomenon of popular culture – "body horror". This genre reveals the deep
  layers of consciousness, fears and insecurity of human beings in the post-humanist era.