Mythological Space Research Articles

ВИРТУАЛЬНАЯ ПОЗНАВАТЕЛЬНАЯ ПРОГРАММА ПОЛЮСНОГО АРКТИЧЕСКОГО ТУРИЗМА

Virtual educational program for the polar Arctic tourism, creating metaphysical image of the Arctic, is presented. The theoretical basis of the investigation is the modern concept of cultural landscapes and geographical images. Historical documents belonging to different periods and peoples were used. The representation of the mythological space, visualized by the map, becomes a virtual resource of polar Arctic tourism.

Social myth-making in the space of mass culture

Studying the characteristic features of the modern socio-cultural space, which are largely determined by archaic phenomena, we can identify the following signs of the modern stage of its development associated with the mythological space: anonymization of culture, derationalization of consciousness and centrist socio-cultural orientations. The materials of the article may be of interest as a scientific and methodological material in the fields of Advertising and Public Relations.

A Metaphor Analysis of Love Allusions in A Dream of Red Mansions

The paper explores two love allusions, ‘the pledge between plant and stone’ and ‘Jin’s marriage’ in the Chinese literary classics A Dream of Red Mansions written by Cao Xueqin and provides new explanations to the theme of the novel. Nearly 20 metaphorical expressions in the novel are selected through Critical Metaphor Analysis with 6 specifically representational examples analyzed in the paper by building integration networks based on Conceptual Integration Theory (CIT). The findings are as follow: 1) the counterculture of ‘plant and stone’ is embodied in the mythological stories at the beginning of the novel. 2) a ‘nested integrational network’, originally proposed by the researchers, links the mythological narrative space and the fictional human world space. 3) the comparison between integration networks of the two love allusions shows anti-feudalism of the author Cao Xueqin. This paper offers an interpretation of the novel from the aspect of cognitive linguistics, which, in turn, could promote the development of CIT within this field.

Between Rome and Byzantium: The Golden Age of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania’s Political Culture—Second Half of the Fifteenth Century to the First Half of the Seventeenth Century

Between Rome and Byzantium: The Golden Age of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania’s Political Culture—Second Half of the Fifteenth Century to the First Half of the Seventeenth Century

Mythopoetics of ancient epics of turkic peoples

This article deals with the research on dastans, the oral lore of the epic genre of Turkic peoples, featuring daunting stories and rich ethnographic details. Interestingly, the voluminous epic monuments belong to the common cultural heritage of different groups of kindred Turkic peoples: Tatars, Kazakhs, Bashkirs, Nogai, Uzbeks, Azerbaijanis, Turkmens, and others. We analyzed the epic-dastans, widespread and preserved until now in many Turkic nations, including the Tatars and Kazakhs, to identify their mythological attributes and behavioral formulas in the image of their heroes. We have noticed that the heroes of the analyzed dastans act in a "mythological space" and reflect "mythological consciousness." There, ancient mythological ideas of the Turkic nations about the world intervene with the ideas created later under the influence of Islam. By analyzing the behavior and deeds of the heroes of epic-dastans, such as "Er Tishlik", "Alpamysh Batyr", "Edige Batyr", "Koroghly", inherent in both the Kazakh and Tatar nations, we managed to find common features between the epic and mythological heroes, made a number of conclusions regarding their behavioral nature and the continuity of the mythological and artistic systems of the Turkic peoples' thought. Starting with the ancient epic and ending with the heroic dastans of the Turks, their themes and motifs in varying degrees are related to the mythological chronotype. Scientists, who devoted their scientific works to epics research, note the presence of the mythological layer in them. The mythological motif can be most expressly traced in more ancient epics, which denoted the beginning of the ancient Turkic folklore genres' development. Since the second half of the XIX century, the scientist recorded numerous folklore works of Turkic nations, told by their bearers during long scientific expeditions across Altai, Tuva, Khakassia, Shoria, Southern Siberia, East Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Northern Mongolia, and other territories of the Turkic nations' residence.

From Theater to Cinematography: Creative Search of Les Kurbas

The article examines the artistic path and creative pursuits of Les Kurbas, the Ukrainian and soviet director, who undoubtedly remains an outstanding figure in the history of Ukrainian cultural life in the 1920s and 1930s. He was the founder of Ukrainian political theater, and later philosophical theater; also fruitfully worked in early cinematography. The article emphasizes the relevance of studying the creative work of the director, his original creative method of educating actors nowadays. In his own way, Kurbas became a standalone theatrical institute for young people, raised more than four dozen professional directors who later became theater managers and directors of Ukrainian theaters, teachers. The director created Ukrainian theater and cinema school of acting; his innovative artistic ideas still remain relevant today. He developed his own aesthetic-theatrical concept of conditional-metaphorical theater based on life itself. Being the man of art, Kurbas influenced the formation of stage constructivism in Ukrainian theatrical art. In addition to the positive memories of his contemporaries, we also encounter some legends, various testimonies and assessments of events of that time, which create a certain mythological space around the artist. Hence, today we need to carefully analyze numerous documentary evidence, facts, memoirs, literary and theatrical sources, as well as try to be objective in reconstructing events and reflecting on the fate and work of the director.

Looking for national and genre identity in the modern Russian and Hungarian author fairy tale (on the example of the texts by A. Kabakov, A. Stepanov and A. Mosonyi)

The essay deals with the interaction between the genre transformations of the author fairy tale and the national problematics, as well as the question of the modern strategies of genre renewal on the example of the texts by modern Russian and Hungarian writers (“The Moscow fairy tales” by A. Kabakov, “The fairy tales not about people” by A. Stepa-nov, “The Budapest fairy tales” and “The supermarket fairy tales” by A. Mosonyi). Among other questions, I address the so-called “genre me-mory” (M. Lipovetsky’s term), which in the texts by Kabakov, Stepanov, and Mosonyi functions at the level of entire cycles but rarely at the level of separate texts. With regard to the fi eld of children’s literature, the na-tional locus makes the texts appear more modern-looking and therefore appealing to an adult reader who rediscovers the details of everyday life. The opposite strategy is often applied in the philosophical, parable or political fairy tales, when the authors give priority to the nation-specifi c, nuanced and recognizable locus, which at the same time receives the features of the fairy tale or mythological space.

Generation 1956: The Phenomenon of Ágota Kristóf

In this article, the authors consider the work of Ágota Kristóf (1935–2011), a writer who fled from Hungary after the events of 1956 and began to write in French, as a cultural and literary phenomenon of Hungarian emigration, and, more particularly, the part of it that is directly related to the Budapest uprising and the reaction period that followed it. In addition, Kristóf’s famous trilogy about twins ( The Notebook , 1986; The Proof , 1988; The Third Lie , 1991), where politics and psychologism, history and auto-documentalism, acute social, existential, and philosophical aspects are organically intertwined, has all the signs of a European émigré novel of the twentieth century and correlates not only with the works of Hungarian émigré writers, but also with the literary heritage of the Russian, German, and Czech emigration of the twentieth century. The authors polemise with numerous statements by critics, literary critics and journalists, saying that Kristóf’s prose is deprived of a socio-political background, and the writer herself “turns her back upon reality”. The analysis of Kristóf’s three novels leads the authors to conclude that all the values that underlie her plot and compositional constructions have relevance to her only when they are placed against a background of a concrete, quite recognisable historical reality. Each novel has two substantial layers: psychological (philosophical) and socio-political. The first is deeper, more elaborate, but also more unstable, because it includes everything that is related to the sphere of feelings, thoughts, and emotions. The second layer is more external, directly related to the movement of historical time, but it is this layer that determines the types of the main characters, endows the mythological space of existential experiences with concrete recognisable features, and gives the books an inner backbone, making the fragile world of their storyline integral and quite stable.

PROCESSION: ILLUSION AND REALITY IN IRRATIONAL SPACE (to the problem of iconography and composition in ancient art)

The article is devoted to the problem of classification of iconographic and compositional types in the monuments of ancient art, in particular, the so-called «processions», which are associated with the artistic design of the objects belonging to the sphere of great semantic meaning. Being located on objects of the category of personal adornments and weapons, on architectural monuments or ritual objects, they are always associated with sacred acts, mythological space and ritual content. Interpretation of these compositions is impossible without a primary classification, which has not yet been developed, and this causes difficulties in research.
 Compositions, which could be concerned as processions could consist of anthropomorphic or zoomorphic images, or comprise both type of images in the same composition. All of them always show some rhythmical characteristics with constant intervals as well as evident direction of movement.
 In some occasions such type of compositions could be taken as an embodiment of the scene of a concrete ritual event, sometimes, perhaps, with costumed as mythological personage figures, but in other case they could be interpreted as a mythological subject with well-known images, which were recognizable for ancient society. In any case reiteration of images and regular intervals in compositions made an impression of slow movement in solemn procession, even with statical figures.

Культурная память и структура локального пространства в селах Чуново, Яровце и Русовце (Южная Словакия)

The paper describes the structure of the local space of the Croatian villages of Chunovo and Jarovce, and the Slovak (earlier predominantly Hungarian-German) village Rusovce (Southern Slovakia, the region of Bratislava) in the form in which it conceptualities in the minds of local residents. The material was oral records on the results of the field survey of villages in May 2018. It is noted that the specificity of the structuring of local space in the villages was influenced by their complex geographical and sociohistorical peculiarities since the villages are located within the capital of Slovakia and at the same time they became part of the state only after 1947. It is shown that each of the three villages is characterized by orientation to a certain type of space which is significantly transformed with the passage of time. Thus, in Chunovo, which is located closer to the Hungarian border, the mythological and sacred space is supported. The natural space in the village is closely intertwined with the mythological, and the domestic is subordinated to the sacred, while the historical space does not play any significant role. Rusovce, located five kilometres towards the capital, is a completely different type of spatial organization, a significant imprint on Rusovce was imposed by the deportation of indigenous people after the Second World War. The disintegration of the ethno-cultural tradition is perceived by the remaining indigenous people as a traumatic experience. Sacred space in Rusovce is the subject of the opposition “real (old)” and “fake (modern)”. Domestic space is characterized by the deprivation of former buildings from their household functions, while they are turning into symbols of the past. The transformation of the village takes place not on the principle of expanding its borders but on the principle of concentration, filling the old coordinates with new objects. Natural space bears traces of human intervention and is associated with the consequences of the territory's accession. In the structuring of the mental map of the old residents of Rusovce, the opposition “real” and “false” plays a significant role. The false, artificial, is associated with modernity, and the signs of the present remain within the village but either lose their direct function or are “lost” as a result of the concentration of the village space by objects which are similar in form and but foreign in origin. The village of Jarovce, which is the closest to Bratislava, is dominated by a focus on specific historical events and on the functional relevance of the locus. The sacred space in the village is subordinated to the historical, and the domestic, in turn, is subordinated to the sacred, the dominants of which structure the village and at the same time are clearly associated with specific events in the relatively distant past. Mythological space in Jarovce is almost not structured but natural topos serves for orientation about weather events or specific localities.

Генеза традиційних образів фольклорного карнавалу як вияв національного світобачення українців

The purpose of the article. Deep into the archaic layers of the outlook in the ancient Slavs, the author seeks to trace the genesis and the ritual masking institute evolution, the game and ceremonial-etiquette reincarnation, on its basis a motley gallery of traditional images in Ukrainian folk carnival has been formed. Research methods. The historical-genetic method, or the retrospective reconstruction method, which is used not only in the humanities but also in the natural sciences, it is served as a guide. It is based on the idea that the initial stages of the development of certain objects and phenomena can be recreated on the basis of later stages. The scientific novelty of the study is to emphasize the mask special role as reincarnation and disclosure means of the mythological origins in the system of images in Ukrainians folk theatre. Thus in the national humanitarian space a new research direction is masculinity cultural studies is being established. Conclusions. The materials in this article reveal the genetic affinity of myth and ritual, the immanent property of the agricultural rites to create a temporary mythological space, reacting in it ancient sacred symbols and representations. The systematization instrument of a particular material in the reflexive work was the reincarnation reception, ritual masks and the persecution institute as a whole. As the analysis showed, that they kept the archaic basis of ritual traditions, the old conceptual motives, most firmly. During the XX and the beginning of the XXI century, the reduction line and accelerated death of ceremonial traditions and folklore is clearly traced. However, strangely enough, the institute of authentic folk masks continues to function today. In a lot of Ukrainian regions the living crests of the Christmas and New Year's carnival are preserved, and in recent years, there are corals rounds, a «live vertebrate» performances, the traditional custom interacts with the development processes in national festivity and art.

Features of the mytho-logical space in Doris Lessing`s dilogy “Mara and Dann”

Features of the mytho-logical space in Doris Lessing`s dilogy “Mara and Dann”

Образы еды и напитков как часть мифопоэтического образа города во владивостокском тексте (на примере киноповести И. Лагутенко, В. Авченко «Владивосток-3000»)

The article is devoted to the analysis of “food and drinks” symbols used by the authors of urban literary texts in reconstruction of the mythopoetic image of Vladivostok. The novel “Vladivostok-3000” is investigated. The authors consider it as one of the works about Vladivostok, for which the concept of “Vladivostok text” is used, based in turn on the concept of “local text” accepted in the scientific literature. The basic thesis is that one of the characteristics of local (regional, provincial) texts is their myth-generating function - the creation of mythological space, which reflects the features of the region. The novelty of the research is that the images of food and drinks has not been considered before as an element of the Vladivostok text, involved in the formation of the mythopoetic image of the city. On the basis of the novel “Vladivostok-3000,” all language units denoting food and drinks were singled out. The role of the corresponding images in the text is defined: products, dishes and drinks are a marker of the own and others; they act as a means of transformation of the hero; give him strength; symbolically fasten relations between characters; they are part of etiquette; become a bright marker of the fantastic space created by the authors. It is concluded that the images of food and drinks play an important role in the artistic transfer of the specificity of the city (real Vladivostok and fictional Vladivostok-3000), being a necessary element of the Vladivostok text.

Мовні засоби актуалізації міфопростору поезії Е. А. По

Мовні засоби актуалізації міфопростору поезії Е. А. По

КОНСТРУИРОВАНИЕ САКРАЛЬНОГО ПРОСТРАНСТВА КАК ИСТОКА РУССКОЙ ВЛАСТИ

The present paper considers the problem of determining the legitimation of Russian power within the context of the traditional archaic political culture. The problem is solved based on the material of the discovered medieval spatial and myth-heroic construct (Korsun, Kiev-Moscow). The fact of Putin's legitimization of the reunification of the Crimea as a sacred land is associated with the sacral sources of political power. To describe the myth-spatial scheme, the method of reconstruction based on the heroic political monomyth model is used. Mythohistory tells about the birth of a new world with the help of a heroic deed, through which the sacred space of the sources of power is constituted. An essential analogy between sacred space and mythological space is made in the paper. The structure of this mythohistory is dual: originally Prince Vladimir I played the heroic role; he is correlated with the two loci of mythological space, Korsun and Kiev. There are mytho-constructs of the first move: Vladimir victoriously enters Korsun and takes the sacred symbols out of it, and then his consciousness transforms, and Ancient Kiev becomes the transformed sacred center of the Russian world. Acting as the baptizer of the Russian Land, Vladimir is associated with the cross of Constantine, i.e. the heroic transformation of the political sphere is not symbolically completed. Then comes the second move: the sacred ritual of crowning, introction into political power of Ivan IV as a real Orthodox king. And here the third locus of the mythological space of the sources of Russian power, Moscow, is constituted. It is in Moscow that the hero completes his political transformation, and the Orthodox state obtains the symbolic form of Rome, becoming its Third Incarnation. The localized mythological space of Russian political power acquires its truly sacred characteristics: it becomes a landmark (Moscow is the land of true Orthodox faith), since the Third Rome is the correct and united Christian state, the image and likeness of the Kingdom of Heaven (and the Orthodox king's charisma is modelled by Christ's one), and, finally, the political-sacred essence of the mythical hero is comprehended. It is to this general sacral-spatial source of Russian power, constituted in the myth, that Vladimir Putin appeals in 2014. Identifying the Crimea and Korsun as Russian Orthodox shrines, he extrapolates this symbolic identity to the similarity of their political value - Moscow's unity of lands was laid under Vladimir the Holy, and is the basis of the Russian world order. Thus the traditional construct of sacred space serves for the ultimate myth-heroic legitimation of Russian power. Furthermore, this constant of Russian political culture served as the basis for the current legitimizing discourse of Putin.

Íikin y k’eex. Cronotopos del ritual terapéutico maya

En este artículo se discuten ideas de los mayas yucatecos sobre el tiempo en el espacio mitológico puestas de manifiesto en el ritual. Se analiza un ritual terapéutico para curar la rivalidad entre hermanos, proponiendo la ocurrencia de una transformación espacio-temporal que sucede en el acto ritual, así como un cambio en la “comida” como objeto de intercambio. El análisis aplica las perspectivas semióticas de Bajtín y Lotman, sobre todo sus reflexiones acerca del tiempo, el cronotopo, la memoria cultural y el papel de la mitología en la cultura.

Мифологическое туристское пространство Самарского края: реальность и возможности

Article is devoted to the study of mythological tourism space of Samara land. Mythological tourism space exists equally with other types of tourism spaces of the region: cultural and historical, recreational, service, ethnic, sporting, scien- tific to and other. The author reveals the mail features of the mythological tourism space. It is a system consisting of geographical space, mythological cultural heritage of territory and it use in tourism practices. Based on the system approach all elements of mythological tourism space are identified and presented as applied to Samara region.
 All variety of myths is divided on the groups; in more detail the topological, religious, myths about caves, folklore, and historical myths are researched in the article. The author analyzes certain tourism practices, where the use of myths is possible and makes the conclusion that, in spite of abundant base and various studies of myths, their use in tourism of Samara land still insignificantly, and mythological tourism space is on the early stages of development. In this connection, Samara land needs to not only study the myths, but actively to involve them in tourism space of cities and settlements, be- cause development of mythological tourism space makes territory unique and contributes to increasing the tourist flows. The study was supported by Russian Humanitarian Research Foundation Grant 14-03-00036 «Spatial-Temporal Diagnostics of a City».

Mytholinguistic Interpretation of Sacral Toponym Astana in Sociocultural Practice of the Siberian Tatars

Siberia takes a special place among the regions of Russian Federation; its population has its own mentality,unique historical past, moral and economic consciousness. The authors fix their attention on the specificity ofmythologized consciousness of the Siberian Tatars in order to reveal the places of Sufi views and stories aboutAstana.Today we agree that the name, as a bundle of psycho-energetic forces of the ethnos, has a doubtless influence onthe evolution of history in whole, forming the collective unconscious, promoting the consolidation of thearchetypical images force to perceive yourself integrally. Modern onomastics leaves the interpretation of theproper name exclusively under the frames of etymology. As a rule, the basis can be presented by imagery,metaphor-metonymic processes, lying in the basis of denomination of specific denotations and lexicalbackground, i.e. the combination of information, referring to the named object. In this connection, mental spaceof the proper name presents a special interest, because, functioning in polyethnic environment, all elements ofregional onomastic system are subject to the influence of perception-stereotyped standards, peculiar of a man, asa knower.Saint places of the Siberian Tatars, Astana, take one of the central places in traditional sociocultural practice ofthe Siberian Turki. Astana complexes themselves present the material implementation of the Sufism idea aboutimplicit knowledge communication. Siberia was associated and is still associated with some mythological space,where the reality, forgotten by the civilized world, is the actuality, where the world edges come in touch witheach other, where the heroes live and act, that is why this space is marked by the special sacral places - Astana,which offer a clue to understand Sufism among the Siberian Tatar. The stories about Astana were published by N.F. Katanov. The stories themselves were written in variants: the first version - by Saad Vakkas, the son ofRadjab, Allakulov, and the other - by Kashshaf Abu-Said. At present, these notes are kept in Tobolsk RegionalMuseum of Local Lore and are available for the researchers.The researchers pay special attention to the significance of Sufism in traditional views of the Siberian Tatars,fairly underlying, that Sufism has a lot of directions. The authors tend to think that worship practice to Astana isconditioned by Sufism, equally as the manuscript literature of the Siberian Tatars, reflecting theethno-sociocultural practice of the Siberian Tatars.Oral folk arts always presented that ideologic and artistic property of people, where they could express theiroutlook and attitude to life. According to the data of folkloristics, which counts nearly one and a half centuries,the Siberian Tatars has a rich folk-poetic heritage, including different genres of the oral folk arts. Unfortunately,in the flow of time, there are less and less opportunities left to collect and record the folklore pieces, as they gointo wilderness together with their bearers, oldsters. Fortunately, a great volume of folklore material wascollected and studied so far, based on which is possible to make several conclusions. As a result offolklore-dialectological expeditions of scientists from Tobolsk, Kazan and Tyumen, there were written thestories about Astana, among which the following are distinguished: 1) the stories, telling aboutconservative-protecting function of Astana; 2) the stories, telling about wonderful curing energy of Astana; 3)the stories about vindictive force and power of Astana spirits. Many Sufi folk tales about santons and legends ofthe Siberian Tatars about Astana have similar episodes. These plots tell about miraculous power of sheiks: mind reading, curing of the ill, control of nature and jinns, movement by air and water etc. According to Sufi ideas, theman's spirit presents the man's essence, and the body is only the ash. If you die, you will be mourned by yourchildren, but only Tengere (the God) will know your essence. At present, the Kazan and Tyumen researcherscarry out a meticulous work to certificate all Siberian Astana.

The Disruption of Mythological Space

The Disruption of Mythological Space

Yeats' Mythological Space and Territorial Identity

Yeats' Mythological Space and Territorial Identity