The essence of art: cultural and psychological discourse

Abstract

The author starts from the concepts and understanding of the art of M. Bakhtin and L. Vygotsky, which he analyzed in his other works. For a better understanding of the theses, three cases are examined and analyzed — the novel by Israeli writer Meir Shalev “Two bears came out of the forest”, a poem by Marina Tsvetaeva and the process of opening an artistic image by a small child. Several issues are discussed: problems that could worry Shalev and his readers, some features of the author's work that made it possible to create the artistic reality of this work, the features of artistic reality, the mental mechanism that generates strong emotions of readers. The techniques and means of expression used by Shalev in the course of creating his novel are analyzed. The factors (semiotic, personal, cultural) that determine the independent existence of artistic reality, as well as the naturalness and realism of its events are analyzed. These events are more real and natural because Shalev opens the way for the reader to the events of artistic reality, allows him to see the whole, emphasizes the most important. An important role is played by the genius of Shalev as a storyteller, his wonderful language. It is concluded that the necessary conditions for the creation of artistic reality and the living of its events are the semiosis of art and a special form of human life in art (leisure according to Aristotle, “non-utilitarian form of life” according to the author).