Andegraund : Istorija i mify leningradskoj neoficial'noj literatury

The history of the Leningrad underground is one of the key themes of late socialism. Samizdat, "black humour", religious syncretism, dissidence, apolitical bohemianism, the pathos of freedom of individuality and the mechanics of literature are closely interlinked with the cultural mythology of this passed epoch. Describing conceptions that, when taken together, form the contemporary understanding of unofficial culture, the author creates a historical portrait of this environment. Amongst the central figures here, there are well-known writers (Bitov, Brodsky, Dovlatov, Khvostenko, Krivulin) and literary activists who still await recognition. The analysis of works, many of which were only distributed in typewritten publications in the 1960s-1980s, gives a preliminary definition of the key factors that united the authors of the unofficial community. The book begins with a critique of the identification of the Soviet underground with political dissidence or with a society living in autonomous independence with regard to the state. Describing the historical development of the various names for this environment (the underground, samizdat, unofficial culture, podpolie and others), the author follows the genesis of the community from its appearance, in the years of "the Thaw", through to perestroika, when it dissolved. Taking the history of the publication of Bitov's "The Pushkin House" as an example, the concept of the unofficial is interpreted as a risky interaction with the authorities. Unofficial culture is then viewed as a late Soviet reflection of the Western underground in the 1950s-1960s. Unlike the radical-utopian-anarchistic source, it proclaimed a liberalist and democratic ideology in the context of the destruction of the socialist utopia. The historical portrait of the community is built up from the perceptions of its members regarding literature practice and rhetorical approaches, with the aid of which these perceptions are expressed. Taking typewritten publications as source material, four main representations are given: privacy, deviancy, criticism and irrationality. An understanding of literature as a private affair, neo-avant-garde deviancy in social and literary behaviour and the pathos of the critical relationship with officialdom and irrational message of literary work, comprise the basis for the worldview of unofficial authors, as well as the poetic system, genre preferences and dictums. An analysis of irrationality, based on the texts of Khvostenko and Bogdanov, leads to a review of the cultural mythologies that were crucial to the unofficial conception of the absurd. Absurd is an homonym. It contains ideas that are important for the worldview of unofficial authors and the poetics of their works. The irrationality of the Soviet order is reflected in the documentary nature of the satirical prose of Dovlatov. The existential absurd of Camus is perceived here as the pointlessness of social realities and the ontological alienation of man, while existentialist practices for consciousness in the "atmosphere of absurd" remain bracketed off. The third homonym of absurd - the conception of reality as an illusion - is a clear demonstration of religious syncretism, where neo-Christian ideas are interweaved with a modernized version of Hinduism, as taken from Rolland s books on Ramakrishna and Vivekananda. The unofficial community was influenced by the ideology of westernization. Even "the East" arrived here via French retellings and accounts. As a whole, unofficial Leningrad culture can be understood as a neo-modernist phenomenon which, unlike the western neo-modernism of the 1940s and 1950s, arose in the years of the Thaw and ended its existence in the mid-1980s.

Mifopoètika Andreja Platonova v romane Sčastlivaja Moskva

This dissertation focuses on the mythopoetics of the Soviet writer Andrej Platonov (1899-1951) in his late novel Schastlivaja Moskva (Happy Moscow), written in 1932 1936. The purpose of the work is to reveal the mythopoetic world model in the novel, to characterize the most significant features of Platonov's mythopoetics and finally, to reconstruct the author's myth in the novel by placing the novel in the context of Platonov's oeuvre and Russian literature and culture as a whole. The first chapter provides a representation of the problem and methodology of the work, a short overview of the history of creating and publishing the novel, and a survey of critical work on Platonov done to date. The study utilizes a structuralistic-semiotic approach devised by Tarto-Moscow scholars for analyzing mythopoetic texts and applies the methodology of a conceptual analysis of the mythology of language. The second chapter examines the peculiarities of Platonov's mythopoetics, and its relation to the neomythological paradigm of Russian literature. Some special consideration is given to the character of the scientific utopism of Platonov's myth, to the relation of Platonov's mythopoetic world model with mythopoetic thinking and to the syntagmatical, and paradigmatical aspects of Platonov's myth, in particular to the mythopoetical metasjuzhet and the ambivalent binary structure of myth. The third chapter presents a close examination of the mythopoetics of the novel by discerning the motif structure of the novel, analyzing the characters and main thematic oppositions of Platonov's myth in the novel. It is contended that in every textual level Platonov strives for ambivalency which provides an opportunity to discern his poetics as both utopian and antiutopian. The analysis in the fourth chapter of the key Platonovian ideological concepts revoljucia, kommunizm and socializm confirms this observation. The study concludes that Platonov's myth in the novel is based on the mythologema of his early prose, but reflect the gradual transition from early utopian themes to the intimate "humble" prose of the late 1930's.

Käsitteellisestä ruumiilliseen, sitaatiosta paikkaan - maalaustaide ja nykytaiteen historia

The dissertation "From Conceptual to Corporeal, from Quotation to Site: Painting and History of Contemporary Art" explores the state of painting in contemporary art and art theory since the 1960s. The purpose of the study is to re-consider the dominant "end of painting" -narrative in contemporary art history, which goes back to the modernist ideology of painting as a reductive, medium-specific form of art. Drawing on Michel Foucault´s concepts of discursive formation and archive, as well as Jean-Luc Nancy´s post-phenomenological philosophy on corporeality, I suggest that contemporary painting can be redefined as a discursive-sensuous practice. Instead of seeing painting as obsolete or over as an avantgarde art genre, I show that there have been alternative, neo-avantgardist ways of defining painting since the end of the 1960s, such as French artist Daniel Buren´s early writings on painting as "theoretical practice". Consequently, the tendency of the canonical Anglo-American contemporary art narratives to underestimate the historical and institutional codes of art can be questioned. This tendency can be seen, for example, in Rosalind Krauss´s influential theory on index. The study also reflects the relations between conceptual art and painting since the 1960s and maps recent theories of painting, which re-examine the genre´s possibilities after the modernist rhetoric. Concepts of "flatbed", "painting in the extended field", "as painting" and so on are compared critically with the idea of painting as discursive practice. It is also shown that the issues in painting arise from the contemporary critical art debate while the dematerialisation paradigm of conceptual art has dissolved. The study focuses on the corporeal-material-sensuous -cluster of meanings attached to painting and searches for its avantgardist possibilities as redefined by postfeminist and post-phenomenological discourse. The ideas of hierarchy of the senses and synesthesia are developed within the framework of Jean-Luc Nancy´s and Luce Irigaray´s thought. The parameters for the study have been Finnish painting from 1990 to 2002. On the Finnish art scene there has been no "end of painting" ideology, strictly speaking. The mythology and medium-specificity of modernism have been deconstructed since the mid-1980s, but "the archive" of painting, like themes of abstraction, formalism and synesthesia have been re-worked by the discursive practice of painting, for example, in the works of Nina Roos, Tarja Pitkänen-Walter and Jussi Niva.

Gustaf III inför sina undersåtar : Konsten att härska och politikens kulturhistoria

The dissertation analyses the political culture of Sweden during the reign of King Gustav III (1771-1792). This period commonly referred to as the Gustavian era followed the so-called Age of Liberty ending half a century of strong parliamentary rule in Sweden. The question at the heart of this study engages with the practice of monarchical rule under Gustav III, its ideological origins and power-political objectives as well as its symbolic expression. The study thereby addresses the very nature of kingship. In concrete terms, why did Gustav III, his court, and his civil service vigorously pursue projects that contemporaneous political opponents and, in particular, subsequent historiography have variously pictured as irrelevant, superficial, or as products of pure vanity? The answer, the study argues, is to be found in patterns of political practice as developed and exercised by Gustav III and his administration, which formed a significant part of the political culture of Gustavian Sweden. The dissertation is divided into three parts. The first traces the use and development of royal graces chivalric orders, medals, titles, privileges, and other gifts issued by the king. The practice of royal reward is illustrated through two case studies: the 1772 coup d état that established Gustav III s rule, and the birth and baptism of the crown prince, Gustav Adolf, in 1778. The second part deals with the establishment of the Court of Appeal in Vasa in 1776. The formation of the Appeals Court was accompanied by a host of ceremonial, rhetorical, emblematic, and architectural features solidifying its importance as one of Gustav III s most symbolic administrative reform projects and hence portraying the king as an enlightened monarch par excellence. The third and final part of the thesis engages with war as a cultural phenomenon and focuses on the Russo-Swedish War of 1788-1790. In this study, the war against Russia is primarily seen as an arena for the king and other players to stage, create and re-create as well as articulate themselves through scenes and roles adhering to a particular cultural idiom. Its codes and symbolic forms, then, were communicated by means of theatre, literature, art, history, and classical mythology. The dissertation makes use of a host of sources: protocols, speeches, letters, diaries, newspapers, poetry, art, medals, architecture, inscriptions and registers. Traditional political source material and literary and art sources are studied as totalities, not as separate entities. Also it is argued that political and non-fictional sources cannot be understood properly without acknowledging the context of genre, literary conventions, and artistic modes. The study critically views the futile, but nonetheless almost habitual juxtaposition of the reality of images, ideas, and metaphors, and the reality of supposedly factual historical events. Significantly, the thesis presumes the symbolic dimension to be a constitutive element of reality, not its cooked up misrepresentation. This presumption is reflected in a discussion of the concept of role , which should not be anachronistically understood as roles in which the king cast himself at different times and in different situations. Neither Gustav III nor other European sovereigns of this period played the roles as rulers or majesties. Rather, they were monarchs both in their own eyes and in the eyes of their contemporaries as well as in all relations and contexts. Key words: Eighteenth-Century, Gustav III, Cultural History, Monarchs, Royal Graces, the Vasa Court of Appeal, the Russo-Swedish War 1788–1790.

Kognitiva system i namngivningen av finländska handelsfartyg 1838-1938

This dissertation is an onomastic study of Finland s stock of ship names (nautonomasticon) recorded over the period 1838 1938. The primary material investigated consists of 2 066 examples of ship names from the fleets of coastal towns, distributed over five sample years. The material is supplemented with two bodies of comparative data; one that consists of 2 535 examples of boat names from the archipelago area at the corresponding time, and another that comprises 482 examples of eighteenth century Finnish ship names. This study clarifies the categories of names that appear the frequency of the names, formation, morphology, linguistic origin, functions, and semantic qualities. By comparing the material with boat names from previous centuries, and from other countries, the characteristics of Finnish vessel names are further highlighted. Additional clarification is brought to the chronological, regional, and social variations, and to the emergence of various forms of systematic naming. This dissertation builds on older research from other countries, and uses traditional onomastic methods alongside a more modern methodology. The approach is interdisciplinary, meaning that the names are explored using facts not only from nautical history, but also from a range of other historical disciplines such as economics, culture, art, and literature. In addition, the approach is socio-onomastic, i.e. that the variations in names are studied in a societal context. Using a synchronised perspective, cognitive linguistic theories have provided the tools for this exploration into the metaphorical and the prototypical meaning of the names, and the semantic domains that the names create. The quantitative analysis has revealed the overall picture of Finnish boat names. Personal names, names from mythology, and place names, emerge as significant categories, alongside nonproprial names in Swedish and Finnish. The interdisciplinary perspective has made it possible to explain certain trends in the stock of boat names, for example, the predisposition towards names from classical mythology, the breakthrough of names taken from the national epos Kalevala, names in the Finnish language from around the middle of the nineteenth century, and the continuing rise of place names during the latter part of the period 1838 1938. The socio-onomastic perspective has also identified clear differences between those ship names used in towns, and those ship names used in the archipelago, and it has clarified how naming conventions tend to spread from town centres to peripheral areas. The cognitive linguistic methods have revealed that the greater part of the vessel names can be interpreted as metaphors, in particular personifications, and that many names are related in their content and also form semantic networks and cognitive systems. The results indicate that there is a mental nautonomasticon that consists of a standard set of traditional ship names, but they also reveal the existence of conscious or unconscious cognitive systems (rules and conventions) that guide the naming of boats.

Naiset rajalla : Kyöpeli, Nainen, Naara(s), Neitsyt, Morsian, Akka ja Ämmä Suomen paikannimissä

Women at the boundary. Kyöpeli ( ghost, devil, elf, fairy, enchantress, witch ), Nainen ( woman ), Naara(s) ( female animal, derogatory term for a woman ), Neitsyt ( young, [virgin] woman ), Morsian ( bride ), Akka ( old woman, wife, grandmother ) and Ämmä ( [old] woman, wife, grandmother ) in Finnish place names This study examines a total of about 4,000 Finnish place names which include a specific that refers to a woman: Kyöpeli, Nainen, Naara(s), Neitsyt, Morsian, Akka or Ämmä. The study has two main objectives. First, to interpret the place names in the data, that is, to examine the words included in the data and establish their background and to differentiate names of different ages. In establishing the background of a name, the type of place (e.g. lake, hill or marsh) and its location, as well as the semantics of the feminine specific, are taken into account. The connotations of words referring to a woman are also studied. Words that refer to a woman are often affective and susceptible to changes in meaning, which is reflected in the history of place names. The second main objective is to recognise and highlight mythological place names. Mythology is pivotal for the interpretation of many place names with a feminine specific. The criteria for mythological names have not been explicitly discussed in Finnish onomastics until now, and I seek to determine such criteria in this study with the help of the data. Mythological place names often refer to large and significant natural localities, which are in many cases important boundaries for the community. Names for smaller localities may also be mythological if they refer to a place with a key location or a special topography (e.g. steep or rocky places). I also discuss the stories involved with specific places in the data, such as stories about supernatural beings. Each of the name groups discussed in the study has its own profile. For example, Naara(s) names are so old that naara is no longer understood to refer to a woman. These names have thus often been misinterpreted in onomastics. Names beginning with Morsian, on the other hand, appear to be of fairly recent origin and may be attributed to an international cautionary tale. Names beginning with Nais, Neitsyt, Akka and Ämmä highlight the duality of the data. They include both old names for important natural localities or boundaries and more recent names for modest dwellings, small cultivated areas and useless marshy ponds. This distribution of place names may reflect a cultural shift that changed the status of women in the community.

The Catholic Internet discussion on cloning : A study in cognitive rhetoric

This work combines the cognitive theory of folk-theoretical thought with the classical Aristotelian theory of artistic proof in rhetoric. The first half of the work discusses the common ground shared by the elements of artistic proof (logos, pathos, ethos) and the elements of folk-theoretical thought (naïve physics, folk biology, folk psychology, naïve sociology). Combining rhetoric with the cognitive theory of folk-theoretical thought creates a new point of view for argumentation analysis. The logos of an argument can be understood as the inferential relations established between the different parts of an argument. Consequently, within this study the analysis of logos is to be viewed as the analysis of the inferential folk-theoretical elements that make the suggested factual states-of-things appear plausible within given argumentative structures. The pathos of an argumentative structure can be understood as determining the quality of the argumentation in question in the sense that emotive elements play a great part in what can be called a distinction between good and deceptive rhetoric. In the context of this study the analysis of pathos is to be viewed as the analysis of the emotive content of argumentative structures and of whether they aim at facilitating surface- or deep cognitive elaboration of the suggested matters. The ethos of an argumentative structure means both the speaker-presentation and audience-construct that can be discerned within a body of argumentation. In the context of this study, the analysis of ethos is to be understood as the analysis of mutually manifest cognitive environments in the context of argumentation. The theory is used to analyse Catholic Internet discussion concerning cloning. The discussion is divided into six themes: Human Dignity, Sacred Family, Exploitation / Dehumanisation, Playing God, Monsters and Horror Scenarios and Ensoulment. Each theme is analysed for both the rhetorical and the cognitive elements that can be seen creating persuasive force within the argumentative structures presented. It is apparent that the Catholic voices on the Internet extensively oppose cloning. The voices utilise rhetoric that is aggressive and pejorative more often than not. Furthermore, deceptive rhetoric (in the sense presented above) plays a great part in argumentative structures of the Catholic voices. The theory of folk-theoretical thought can be seen as a useful tool for analysing the possible reasons why the Catholic speakers think about cloning and choose to present cloning in their argumentation as they do. The logos utilized in the argumentative structures presented can usually be viewed as based on folk-theoretical inference concerning biology and psychology. The structures of pathos utilized generally appear to aim at generating fear appeal in the assumed audiences, often incorporating counter-intuitive elements. The ethos utilised in the arguments generally revolves around Christian mythology and issues of social responsibility. These structures can also be viewed from the point of view of folk psychology and naïve sociological assumptions.

Paradise Reconsidered : A Study of the Ophite Myth and Ritual and their Relationship to Sethianism

This thesis examines the mythology in and social reality behind a group of texts from the Nag Hammadi and related literature, to which certain leaders of the early church attached the label, Ophite, i.e., snake people. In the mythology, which essentially draws upon and rewrites the Genesis paradise story, the snake's advice to eat from the tree of knowledge is positive, the creator and his angels are demonic beasts and the true godhead is depicted as an androgynous heavenly projection of Adam and Eve. It will be argued that this unique mythology is attested in certain Coptic texts from the Nag Hammadi and Berlin 8502 Codices (On the Origin of the World, Hypostasis of the Archons, Apocryphon of John, Eugnostos, Sophia of Jesus Christ), as well as in reports by Irenaeus (Adversus Haereses 1.30), Origen (Contra Celsum 6.24-38) and Epiphanius (Panarion 26). It will also be argued that this so-called Ophite evidence is essential for a proper understanding of Sethian Gnosticism, often today considered one of the earliest forms of Gnosticism; there seems to have occurred a Sethianization of Ophite mythology. I propose that we replace the current Sethian Gnostic category by a new one that not only adds texts that draw upon the Ophite mythology alongside these Sethian texts, but also arranges the material in smaller typological units. I also propose we rename this remodelled and expanded Sethian corpus "Classic Gnostic." I have divided the thesis into four parts: (I) Introduction; (II) Myth and Innovation; (III) Ritual; and (IV) Conclusion. In Part I, the sources and previous research on Ophites and Sethians will be examined, and the new Classic Gnostic category will be introduced to provide a framework for the study of the Ophite evidence. Chapters in Part II explore key themes in the mythology of our texts, first by text comparison (to show that certain texts represent the Ophite mythology and that this mythology is different from Sethianism), and then by attempting to unveil social circumstances that may have given rise to such myths. Part III assesses heresiological claims of Ophite rituals, and Part IV is the conclusion.

Eru Ilúvatar : Jumala J.R.R. Tolkienin legendariumissa

The purpose of my research is to inquire into the essence and activity of God in the legendarium of the English philologist and writer J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973). The legendarium, composed of Tolkien’s writings related to Middle-earth, was begun when he created two Elvish languages, Quenya based on Finnish, Sindarin based on Welsh. Tolkien developed his mythology inspired by Germanic myths and The Kalevala. It is a fictional ancient history set in our world. The legendarium is monotheistic: God is called Eru ‘The One’ and Ilúvatar ‘Father of All’. Eru is the same as the Christian God, for Tolkien wanted to keep his tales consistent with his faith. He said his works were Christian by nature, with the religious element absorbed into the story and the symbolism. In The Silmarillion, set in the primeval ages of Middle-earth, the theological aspects are more conspicuous, while in The Lord of the Rings, which brings the stories to an end, they are mostly limited to symbolic references. The legendarium is unified by its realistic outlook on creaturely abilities and hope expressing itself as humbly defiant resistance. ”The possibility of complexity or of distinctions in the nature of Eru” is a part of the legendarium. Eru Ilúvatar is Trinitarian, as per Tolkien’s faith. Without contextual qualifiers, Eru seems to refer to God the Father, like God in the Bible. Being the creator who dwells outside the world is attributed to Him. The Holy Spirit is the only Person of the Trinity bestown with names: the Flame Imperishable and the Secret Fire. When Eru creates the material world with His word, He sends the Flame Imperishable to burn at the heart of the world. The Secret Fire signifies the Creative Power that belongs to God alone, and is a part of Him. The Son, the Word, is not directly mentioned, but according to one writing Eru must step inside the world in order to save it from corruption, yet remain outside it at the same time. The inner structure of the legendarium refers to the need for a future salvation. The creative word of Eru, “Eä! Let these things Be!”, probably has a connection with the Logos in Christianity. Thus we can find three “distinctions” in Eru: a Creator who dwells outside the world, a Sustainer who dwells inside it and a Redeemer who shall step inside it. Some studies of Tolkien have claimed that Eru is distant and remote. This seems to hold water only partially. Ilúvatar, the Father of All, has a special relation with the Eruhíni, His Children, the immortal Elves and the mortal Men. He communicates with them directly only through the Valar, who resemble archangels. Nevertheless, only the Children of Eru can fight against evil, because their tragic fortunes turn evil into good. Even though religious activities are scarce among them, the fundamental faith and ultimate hope of the “Free Peoples” is directed towards Eru. He is present in the drama of history as the “Author of the Story”, who at times also interferes with its course through catastrophes and eucatastrophes, ‘good catastrophes’. Eru brings about a catastrophe when evil would otherwise bring good to an end, and He brings about a eucatasrophe when creaturely strength is not sufficent for victory. Victory over corruption is especially connected with mortal Men, of whom the most (or least) insignificant people are the Hobbits. However, because of the “primeval disaster” (that is, fall) of Mankind, ultimate salvation can only remain open, a hope for the far future.

La música en la fiesta del dios Xipe Totec

In Aztec mythology and religion, Xipe Totec ("our lord the flayed one") was a life-death-rebirth deity, god of agriculture, vegetation, the east, disease, spring, goldsmiths, silversmiths and the seasons. The music used for his worship has been described by a diversity of documents (carved stones, depicted codices, and chronicles made by the first European friars arrived to Mexico). This article explores the symbolic content of these descriptions, especially in association with Xochipilli Macuilxochitl, master of music and poetry.