Deciphering the message of the ancestors. Milan Kundera and the oldest matrices of Slavic culture.
Please sign in so that we can notify you about a reply
Philologists believe that certain features in the works of great writers and artists can be understood as an unconscious reference to the oldest cultural matrices (ritual, myth, folklore) and sometimes to lost meanings of linguistic forms. They are convinced that a literary work is not born entirely in the era when it was created, but is prepared by the culture of the people over centuries before its appearance.
This attention to ancient cultural forms is one of the most prominent characteristics of the work of the outstanding Czech writer Milan Kundera (1929-2023). Striving to present the contradictions of human existence, Kundera turns to binary oppositions, concepts, and cultural scenarios derived from traditional Slavic culture in his works, which ultimately trace back to myth and ritual and are preserved as social matrices on the periphery of collective consciousness for many centuries, becoming actualized at certain moments.
Using his works as examples, this book examines the semiotics of the traditional ritual Jizda kralu (Ride of the Kings), without knowledge of which it is impossible to understand the novel 'The Joke'. It analyzes the ancient meanings of key concepts that define the mentality of the Czechs, many of which Kundera dedicates entire linguacultural studies to in his novels 'The Book of Laughter and Forgetting', 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being', 'Ignorance'. The cultural origins of binary oppositions such as lightness - heaviness, strength - weakness, soul - body, angelic laughter - devilish laughter, memory - oblivion, which form the basis of the characters of many of the author's heroes, are studied.
This attention to ancient cultural forms is one of the most prominent characteristics of the work of the outstanding Czech writer Milan Kundera (1929-2023). Striving to present the contradictions of human existence, Kundera turns to binary oppositions, concepts, and cultural scenarios derived from traditional Slavic culture in his works, which ultimately trace back to myth and ritual and are preserved as social matrices on the periphery of collective consciousness for many centuries, becoming actualized at certain moments.
Using his works as examples, this book examines the semiotics of the traditional ritual Jizda kralu (Ride of the Kings), without knowledge of which it is impossible to understand the novel 'The Joke'. It analyzes the ancient meanings of key concepts that define the mentality of the Czechs, many of which Kundera dedicates entire linguacultural studies to in his novels 'The Book of Laughter and Forgetting', 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being', 'Ignorance'. The cultural origins of binary oppositions such as lightness - heaviness, strength - weakness, soul - body, angelic laughter - devilish laughter, memory - oblivion, which form the basis of the characters of many of the author's heroes, are studied.
Author:
Author:Stefanskiy Yevgeniy Yevgenevich
Cover:
Cover:hardcover
Category:
- Category:History & Geography
- Category:Medical Books
Dimensions:
Dimensions:20.7x13.8x1.3 cm
ISBN:
ISBN:978-5-94648-166-3
No reviews found