Визволення від минулого: карнавал Бахтіна у дзеркалі радянського досвіду
Loading...
Date
2021
Authors
Чумаченко, Борис
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Статтю присвячено рецепції праці Бахтіна про Рабле в публічному просторі 1960-х у контексті історії читання. "Творчість Франсуа Рабле…" розглянуто як резонансний текст з можливістю багатьох інтерпретацій та різними рівнями рецепції контенту – літературознавчим, культурно-історичним і філософським. Показано, в якому ідеологічному полі та на якому рівні книгу
про народну культуру середніх віків і Ренесансу прочитало покоління відлиги. Стверджується,
що покоління 1960-х у дусі соціального оптимізму, притаманного епосі ілюзій і сподівань, вичитало в ній урок веселої свободи, а самого Бахтіна стилізувало під теоретика суспільної терапії
страху сталінської і постсталінської доби. На це вплинула колективна ментальність і специфічна читацька оптика 1960-х з її образом відлиги як аналога європейського Відродження. Показано,
що таке мислення було стратегією політичного утилітаризму лівої дисидентської інтелігенції
(зокрема Л. Пінського), але його відповідність баченню Бахтіна є сумнівною і навіть хибною.
Критично розглянуто популярний образ Бахтіна-народника, оптиміста і філософа сміху, сформований читацьким досвідом 1960-х; йому протиставляється більш аутентичний образ філософа трагедії та людини damaged life.
In this article an attempt is made to place Bakhtin’s case in the context of the Soviet 1960s with their specific mental world. The study question is why this almost forgotten figure of the 1920s has become a proper man in a proper place in time of transition from Stalin’s Great Fear to Khrushchov’s liberalization with its continuation till 1968 and how this resurrection from the dead occured. The virtues and scientific significance of Bakhtin’s works are doubtless and undeniable. But there is something else that helps to explain Bakhtin’s phenomenon and its popularity. His readers mentality determines the fate of books and the spreading of ideas. The sixties witnessed the unprecedented success of Bakhtin’s books. They changed the vocabulary of humanities and the mode of thinking in the generation of so-called Thaw. Bakhtin became one of the most influential figures of the sixties and greatly stimulated the emergence of the new trend known as culturology. Bakhtin’s Rabelais was a special success. This text can be read on different levels and interpreted in many ways. Its content combines such genres as literary criticism, the history of culture, and philosophy. The readers of the sixties paid special attention to Bakhtin’s vision of popular culture with its central image of carnival and were especially sensitive and receptive for the concept of Laughing Renaissance as a spiritual twin of Thaw which had Marxist roots, not Bakhtin’s. Thanks to the complexity of the text’s possible interpretation, Bakhtin was mistakenly considered as an ideologist of Thaw, and his Rabelais – as an intellectual product of this historical moment full of optimism, great expectations and hopes. Bakhtin was read by the generation of the 1960s in accordance with its mentality, its pursuit of a new form of “Socialism with human face” when left and even Marxist ideas dominated in the non-conformist discourse. But all of that had little in common with authentic Bakhtin who could share neither this philosophical worldview nor the illusions of the 1960s. The view of laughter as a kind of social therapy and as a means of emancipation in society was far from Bakhtin’s. He fully realized the demonic nature of carnival and saw it as his ambivalent ally from hell hostile to every kind of ideocracy. His readers who had invented Renaissance as a prototype of their time and the first Thaw in history misunderstood the inner intentions of Bakhtin himself. But doing this quite unconsciously, they gave the first and triumphant life for the outstanding scientific and philosophical text on Rabelais written by the person of a damaged life from the past.
In this article an attempt is made to place Bakhtin’s case in the context of the Soviet 1960s with their specific mental world. The study question is why this almost forgotten figure of the 1920s has become a proper man in a proper place in time of transition from Stalin’s Great Fear to Khrushchov’s liberalization with its continuation till 1968 and how this resurrection from the dead occured. The virtues and scientific significance of Bakhtin’s works are doubtless and undeniable. But there is something else that helps to explain Bakhtin’s phenomenon and its popularity. His readers mentality determines the fate of books and the spreading of ideas. The sixties witnessed the unprecedented success of Bakhtin’s books. They changed the vocabulary of humanities and the mode of thinking in the generation of so-called Thaw. Bakhtin became one of the most influential figures of the sixties and greatly stimulated the emergence of the new trend known as culturology. Bakhtin’s Rabelais was a special success. This text can be read on different levels and interpreted in many ways. Its content combines such genres as literary criticism, the history of culture, and philosophy. The readers of the sixties paid special attention to Bakhtin’s vision of popular culture with its central image of carnival and were especially sensitive and receptive for the concept of Laughing Renaissance as a spiritual twin of Thaw which had Marxist roots, not Bakhtin’s. Thanks to the complexity of the text’s possible interpretation, Bakhtin was mistakenly considered as an ideologist of Thaw, and his Rabelais – as an intellectual product of this historical moment full of optimism, great expectations and hopes. Bakhtin was read by the generation of the 1960s in accordance with its mentality, its pursuit of a new form of “Socialism with human face” when left and even Marxist ideas dominated in the non-conformist discourse. But all of that had little in common with authentic Bakhtin who could share neither this philosophical worldview nor the illusions of the 1960s. The view of laughter as a kind of social therapy and as a means of emancipation in society was far from Bakhtin’s. He fully realized the demonic nature of carnival and saw it as his ambivalent ally from hell hostile to every kind of ideocracy. His readers who had invented Renaissance as a prototype of their time and the first Thaw in history misunderstood the inner intentions of Bakhtin himself. But doing this quite unconsciously, they gave the first and triumphant life for the outstanding scientific and philosophical text on Rabelais written by the person of a damaged life from the past.
Description
Keywords
історія читання, рецепція тексту, Бахтін, Пінський, Ренесанс, відлига, радянський життєвий світ, ментальність, популярна культура, стаття, history of reading, Bakhtin, Pinsky, Renaissance, mentality, Thaw, popular culture, Soviet living world
Citation
Чумаченко Б. М. Визволення від минулого: карнавал Бахтіна у дзеркалі радянського досвіду / Борис Чумаченко // Наукові записки НаУКМА. Історія і теорія культури. - 2021. - Т. 4. - С. 90-98.