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Arts and Humanities
This article aims to reconstruct the relationship between the poet and literary critic Vladislav Felicianovič Hodasevič (1886–1939) and the city of Paris, where he spent the final years of his life. The French capital was his ultimate residence as an émigré and the primary centre of Russian emigration following the 1917 Russian Revolution. Hodasevič’s status as an émigré, along with his time in Paris – where he settled permanently in 1925 after wandering across the European continent – profoundly influenced the final phase of his literary career and ultimately led him to cease writing poetry.
Hodasevič emigrated to Europe with his third wife, the poet Nina Aleksandrovna Berberova (1901–1993), in order to escape the repressive policies and cultural environment of the newly formed Soviet Union, which regarded art merely as a tool of propaganda and systematically silenced artists who either did not support the regime or avoided political themes in their work. However, Hodasevič never fully adapted to the European literary and social scene, of which Paris was one of the most prominent representatives. Indeed, as Western culture itself faced the threats of modernity and the violence of emerging political powers, the European cultural landscape only heightened the poet’s sense of rootlessness and pessimism.
Having fled the “darkness” of the Soviet regime, Hodasevič found himself trapped in the “European night.” Evropejskaâ noč (European Night) is, in fact, the title of his last collection of poems, published in Paris in 1927 as part of the collection Sobranie Stihov (Collection of Poems). In this work, he underscores the impossibility of writing poetry in modern Europe.
To fully explore Hodasevič’s relationship with Paris, the first part of this article provides a brief account of his life in Europe, highlighting the difficulties that ultimately led him to abandon poetry. The second part examines some of the most significant poems he wrote in Paris and its suburbs. Many of these are included in Evropejskaâ noč, while others, composed between 1925 and 1938, were published posthumously.
Through a thematic analysis of the most significant examples, it becomes evident that the poems written during Hodasevič’s émigré period vividly reflect the stylistic evolution marking the final phase of his poetic career. These poems represent his last attempt to reconstruct his identity after the trauma of emigration fractured his self-image, conveying his despair, loss of faith in art, and profound inability to adapt to Western customs and values.
Универсальное и «национально-специфическое» в лексике, обозначающей внутренние качества человека (на материале славянских языков)
Universal and “nationally specific” in vocabulary denoting person’s internal qualities: A study of Slavic languages
В настоящей статье рассмотрен ряд лексем, входящих в лексико-семантическую группу «Качества характера, ментальные характеристики человека». Данную ЛСГ по своему функциональному и прагматическому (в частности, эмоционально-оценочному, экспрессивному, стилистическому) зна-чению в целом можно считать одной из наиболее значимых в языке, т.к. именно с помощью входя-щих в состав этой ЛСГ лексических единиц, обладающих богатой палитрой значений и их оттенков, обозначаются различные ментальные качества, свойства и особенности человека в самом широком смысле (способности мышления, особенности характера и поведения и т.п.).
Помимо лексических универсалий, обозначающих общие явления и свойства природы человека, среди лексики, характеризующей качества характера, ментальные способности человека, особен-ности его поведения, обнаруживаются и слова, которые в определенной степени можно отнести к «национально-специфическим»: выражая в целом универсальное по своему значению понятие, они оказываются маркированными определенными коннотациями, возникающими в сознании носите-лей данного языка; подобные лексемы отражают важные с точки зрения носителей данного языка и менталитета черты характера и манеры поведения в общекультурологической системе ценностей и картине мира (в качестве примера можно привести такие уже ставшие «классическими» русские характеристики и понятия, как душевный – душевность, женственная – женственность, смекали-стый – смекалка, халатный – халатность, пошлый – пошлость и т.п.).
В семантике подобных слов, как правило, сочетается сразу несколько качеств, объединенных общностью значения. Иногда эти качества непосредственно связаны с национальными концептами и заключают в себе важные морально-нравственные критерии, поведенческие нормы, религиоз-но-философские взгляды и другие важные этно- и социокультурные характеристики, формирую-щие языковую картину мира нации (речь, в частности, идет о таких концептуальных понятиях, как, например, русские «душа» и «совесть», сербское и хорватское «obraz», украинские «свiдомiсть» и «щирість» и т.п. Нередко такие лексемы представляют собой межъязыковые лакуны: они или безэквивалентны, или переводимы лишь частично, в основном описательно или же близкой по зна-чению и смыслу характеристикой. Немаловажную роль при этом играет контекст: его коммуника-тивно-прагматические свойства, характеристики коммуникативной ситуации (иногда с учетом и экстралингвистических параметров). Затрагиваемая в статье проблема требует комплексного из-учения в рамках межславянских языковых (resp. концептуальных лингвокультурных) параллелей.
Анализ проводится на лексическом материале трех групп славянских языков: восточнославян-ские (русский, украинский), западнославянские (чешский, словацкий, польский), южнославянские (сербский, хорватский).
Abstract
This article will analyze some Estonian examples of increasingly popular contemporary rituals for creating spiritually meaningful ecocultural bonds. As one example, it offers a case analysis on contemporary beliefs and spiritual approaches related to the fly mushroom, providing an overview of shifts in its meaning compared to older folklore. The author will exemplify how the interest in using the fly mushroom for spiritual purposes has triggered a contested public image: practices related to the fly mushroom tend to be called “dangerous” in public discourse but are viewed by the practitioners themselves as a means to achieve a more holistic, spiritual, and healthy self. Thus, negotiated vernacular representations and media rhetoric that involve elements and keywords like ancient wisdom, divinity, intimate embodied connections with nature and self-development on the one hand, and stupidity, alienation from nature, addiction and danger on the other hand will be discussed. As another case analysis, the article scrutinizes the practice of attributing supernatural characteristics to real-life animals or pets and ways of communicating with them for spiritual guidance and wellbeing. The author concludes that rituals for creating or keeping such ecocultural bonds are in line with contemporary trends for experimenting with ritualized life and supernatural meaning-making but also with pursuits for coping better with insecurities and traumas and escaping boredom in the complicated liquid and technologized modern world.
The Chinese perception of Daqin – widely accepted to denote the Roman Empire in pre-6th century texts – has been at the center of scholarly attention for a substantial time now. Nevertheless, the overwhelming majority of previous analyses focused on standard dynastic histories. Besides these texts compiled at the imperial court, however, numerous other sources, including geographical treatises, religious texts, and encyclopedias also mention Daqin, and provide differing accounts of the distant land. Therefore, the present paper provides a comprehensive analysis of these non-dynastic accounts of Daqin including a completely new translation of the Chinese texts and an in-depth comparison of dynastic and non-dynastic accounts providing valuable additions to the previously known picture of Daqin.
The present article aims to analyse and contextualise a poem by Laza Kostić, published in 1865 in the magazine Srbski letopis [Serbian Chronicle] under the title Beseda. Both its title and the definition of its genre – an “allegorical drama without dialogues” – were seen as unusual by its contemporaries, provoking a lively debate in the press. This article attempts to analyse the poem in the context of the ambitions of young Serbian intellectuals to reform radically Serbian self-representation and entertainment in the age of national Romanticism. The paper relates the structure and topics of the poem Beseda to the so-called Serbian beseda [srpske besede] festivities, continuously organised since 1862. These events included music, choral performances, recitations, and dances, their ticket proceeds were donated to charitable goals. This study traces how this genre arrived from Prague through Vienna to Pest and travelled onward to Novi Sad, and other cities within the Habsburg Empire with sizeable Serbian populations.
The textual analysis of the poem focuses on the allegory of Beseda, its meanings and metamorphoses throughout the acts and scenes. The symbolism of the “allegorical drama” connects contemporary music, recitations, and dances from nineteenth-century bourgeois salons with (purportedly) ancient Serbian folk poetry. Beseda, as a fairy or muse, introduces various scenes from mythical medieval history, incorporating female figures of Emperor (Tsar) Dušan’s ‘golden age’, the episodes from the Kosovo cycle and the subsequent downfall of the Branković dynasty. The analysis pays special attention to the tragic figure of Mara Branković and the intertextual parallels with Károly Obernyik’s historical tragedy, Brankovics György. Like many beseda festivities of the 1860s, Kostić’s text promotes the Serbian National Theatre as a crucial Serbian national issue. The poem and the author’s commentary can be seen as part of an intensifying discourse on forms of urban entertainment which are suitable for national self-representation. The paper briefly reflects on this aspect of Kostić’s work, presenting Beseda as a cultural paradigm, which was adopted by the United Serbian Youth movement, one year afterward.
Abstract
I argue that the system of Standard Yoruba vowels and their harmonic behaviour follow directly from the internal structure of vowels assumed in Government Phonology 2.0, a theory which reinterprets aperture (openness) as empty structure. I address a common connection between aperture and [−atr] and propose that while aperture is empty structure in general, [−atr] is a particular position within that empty structure. As a result, both Yoruba vowel harmony as well as other typical limitations of [−atr] (e.g. in high vowels) become derivable. What is more, the same reasoning (and the same solution) can be applied to the representation of consonants, in languages as diverse as French, Swedish, and Arabic, allowing me to unify (at least) aperture, [−atr], lowering, emphaticness, and retroflexion.
Abstract
This article examines an episode in Austrian-Saxon relations and the diplomatic career of Count Nikolaus Esterházy that resulted in a brief disruption to bilateral relations in 1747. The Dresden court, which was regarded as a potentially advantageous ally for the belligerent powers of Austria and France, was compelled to take sides in the ceremonial conflict that had arisen on the eve of the dynastic wedding of Elector Frederick August II's daughter and Bavarian Elector Maximilian III. As an expression of exceptional benevolence, the recently elected Emperor Francis, who was not yet officially recognized by France, elevated the status of his minister to that of ambassador for the duration of the festivities. This symbolic gesture served to dismantle the diplomatic hierarchy, humiliate the French ambassador, and exacerbate the already strained relations between Saxony and France, which had been meticulously cultivated in the preceding months. One of the instruments utilized in this conflictual dynamic was the language of correspondence, which was initially employed to convey respect but ultimately transformed into a means of asserting power, disciplining, and exerting control. Nikolaus Esterházy was confronted with a dilemma: he could either obey the imperial rescript and ostentatiously withdraw from the Dresden court, or avoid confrontation by declining to participate in the festivities. He ultimately opted for the former, a decision that would lead to his reputation as a selfish and inflexible diplomat.
Abstract
This study presents the findings of a study of the use of the mother tongue by Hungarian-speaking secondary school students in Slovakia who are members of a minority group. In the course of our questionnaire survey, we investigated the use of two varieties of the Hungarian language, the standard Hungarian variety and the regional Hungarian varieties spoken in Slovakia. The results of the survey, conducted with the assistance of 13 educational institutions and 793 respondents, demonstrate whether Hungarian secondary school students in Slovakia perceive a distinction between the Hungarian varieties used in Hungary and Slovakia, in which communicative contexts they perceive themselves to employ them, and to what extent they self-report their familiarity and recognition of the varieties.
