BALKAN CULTURAL STUDIES PUBLISHED IN ÉTUDES BALKANIQUES (2014 – 2023)

Author(s): Gergana Doncheva / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2024

The text summarizes a corpus of articles in the field of Balkan Cultural Studies published in the journal Études balkaniques during the period 2014 – 2023. In view of the plethora of topics and methodological approaches, the review is structured in three main categories covering the following areas: Literature and Cultural Relations, Theatre and Cinema, Visual Culture. The text outlines the general tendencies and contributions observed in the above-mentioned publications.

The Stepford Wives, Trajectories of Dystopia into Gender, Genre, Class and Race – From Novel to Film

Author(s): Ioana Pankova / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2024

The Stepford Wives, a novel by Ira Levin published in 1972, describes a micro-dystopian society, which imposes a strict ‘traditional’ order, by transforming women into compliant wives programmed to serve their husbands. The book has been adapted to screen several times. The present paper will focus on a comparison between the original literary work and the first adaptation of 1975 by British director Bryan Forbes, seen through the notions of genre, gender, class and race.

За книгата: Румяна Л. Станчева. Сравнително литературознание. Фаталната жена и 5 европейски кройки на романа. София, Изд. Колибри, 2023. [Roumiana L. Stantcheva. Littérature comparée. La femme fatale et 5 coupes européennes du roman]

Author(s): Dina Mantcheva / Language(s): French Issue: 1/2024

Book review: Румяна Л. Станчева. Сравнително литературознание. Фаталната жена и 5 европейски кройки на романа. София, Изд. Колибри, 2023. [Roumiana L. Stantcheva. Comparative Literature. The Femme Fatale and 5 European “Cuts” of the Novel. Sofia, Colibri Publishers, 2023./ Littérature comparée. La femme fatale et 5 coupes européennes du roman.]

За книгата: Йоана Славчева. Румънският политически роман от 60-те и 70-те години на XX век.

Author(s): Lora Nenkovska / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2024

Book review: Йоана Славчева. Румънският политически роман от 60-те и 70-те години на XX век. Велико Търново, УИ „Св. св. Кирил и Методий“, 2022, 187 с. [Joanna Slavcheva. The Romanian Political Novel of the 1960s and 1970s. Veliko Tarnovo, St. Cyril and St. Methodius University Press, 2022]

Compte rendu: Impact et réception de la culture française dans les Balkans (XIXe – XXe siècles). Textes réunis par Raïa Zaïmova.

Author(s): Sonya Aleksandrova-Koleva / Language(s): French Issue: 1/2024

Book review: Impact et réception de la culture française dans les Balkans (XIXe – XXe siècles). Textes réunis par Raïa Zaïmova. Académie bulgare des sciences – Institut d’études balkaniques & Centre de thracologie, 2023, ISBN : 978-619-7179-39-2 [Френската култура на Балканите (XIX – XX в.) – Взаимовръзки и рецепция. Съставител Рая Заимова. / French Culture in the Balkans (19th – 20th Centuries) – Relationships and Reception. Ed. : Raïa Zaïmova.

Ритъм и ритмична организация на речта

Author(s): Petar Tsonev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2024

The study examines the problems of rhythm as a non-linguistic and linguistic phenomenon, as well as the similarities and differences between rhythmic organization in poetry and in speech, the number and nature of rhythmic units, the classification of languages according to their rhythmic organization, and the role of various prosodic features in the rhythmization of speech. Moreover, special attention is paid to the nature of rhythm in relation to its participation in the temporal organization of speech and to the specificity of the rhythmic systém of the Bulgarian language. For this purpose, the theoretical propositions on the physiological, perceptual and linguistic conditioning of speech rhythm in relation to speech production and speech perception are presented in detail. At the end of the article on the basis of experimental data from a number of studies that have examined the rhythmic organization of Bulgarian spoken prose (colloquial language), both literary and dialectal, a number of important conclusions are made for the Bulgarian language on the discussed issues.

Galizische Wege zur ukrainischen Standardsprache: Omeljan Ohonovs’kyjs Граматика руского языка aus dem Jahr 1889

Author(s): Michael Moser / Language(s): German Issue: 2/2024

When Omeljan Ohonovs’kyj’s Grammar of the Ruthenian Language was published in 1889 it was the most comprehensive grammar of the “Ruthenian”, i.e., Ukrainian language. Ohonovs’kyj, as the second professor of the “Ruthenian” language and “Ruthenian” literature, was undoubtedly one of the leading experts on the Ukrainian language of his times. The most significant shortcomings of his grammar, which was used at schools and to ultimately serve as a standardizing tool, were soon criticized by Roman Smal’-Stoc’kyj and Theodor Gartner, who were about to set new standards in 1893, in their highly influential Ruthenian Grammar.

За фантастичното/вълшебното в приказния свят на Николай Райнов: издигане над човешкото и завръщане към него

Author(s): Tatyana Batuleva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/2024

The article examines the dual nature of the fantastic and the magical in the fairy-tale world of Nikolay Raynov. On the one hand, it thrives in a universe completely different from reality. But, on the other hand, it is not a refusal to accept the human situation but rather a way to enrich this situation. The human is situated on the horizon of an ethical imperative that predetermines the fate of the characters. It stands to reason that authorization is a step from magical to fantastical. Parallels have been sought both with Propp's morphology and with Bettelheim's psychoanalytic optics. The existential choice of the heroes turns them into warriors of light and bearers of light, which, as a manifestation of the divine in man, is a key concept in the philosophical, theosophical, and artistic works of the prominent Bulgarian classic.

Научната фантастика и социалните промени във Великобритания. („Селото на прокълнатите“ и „Денят, в който Земята се запали“)

Author(s): Magdalena Vlastanova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2023

The report’s thesis illustrates how science fiction represents changing in British society’s hierarchy and popular feminine and masculine role’s in it in late 1950s and early 1960s. Two British films from the highest point of genre, between 1953 and 1963, are examined, because of their inner messages. The main methods of working are comparison and analysis. The concrete tasks are researching “Village of the Damned” from 1960 and “The Day Earth Caught Fire” from 1961 and to show how they represent new role of Britain in Cold war context.

O przestrzeni humanistyki

Author(s): Łukasz Kołoczek / Language(s): Polish Issue: 48/2024

In the philosophical article I would like to formulate a statement that the humanities are Geisteswissenschaften, although I am far from naively repeating the 19th century slogans. I respect what happened in the humanities in the 20th century, but it seems to me that it is possible to refer to old concepts anew, giving them new life. One such concept is the concept of spirit (der Geist). I am trying to give it new meanings by bringing relationships with space to the foreground (moving relationships with time to the background). The space, however, is thought differently than traditionally. The spirit turns out to be the space of the humanities.

Should the Humanities Be Slow?

Author(s): Marcin Maria Bogusławski / Language(s): English Issue: 48/2024

In this paper I present an understanding of the humanities from the perspective of cultural ontology. In the introduction, I specify the perspective from which I am conducting my reflections, synthetically characterise how cognition is understood on its grounds, and introduce a characterisation of the humanities as relating to meaning. In what follows, I show why, from the point of view of cultural ontology, the humanities are practical. In dialogue with other concepts, I introduce the notions of ontological imagination, mindfulness, phronesis, parrhesia, (etho)ecology. With a view to the relationship between the humanities and practical rationality, I try to show why it should be a slow science.

Zarządzanie to branie odpowiedzialności, czyli impulsy dla humanistyki stosowanej w praktyce i teorii zarządzania

Author(s): Tomasz Ochinowski,Jerzy Kociatkiewicz,Monika Kostera / Language(s): Polish Issue: 48/2024

Management is classically defined as taking responsibility. In the era of late neoliberalism, the crisis in management leads one to understand that this fundamental goal is not being achieved by mainstream management. Humanizing management is necessary to restore the balance of managed systems. This article specifically proposes a historiographical reflection and a dialogue between management and art as viable – and efficient – ways to accomplish this mission. Simultaneously, it offers hope for addressing the crisis in the humanities (as discussed by Lech Witkowski), by moving closer to concrete actions in favor of the Other. In this way, management and the humanities together can tackle the challenges of complex modernity and generate positive synergistic effects by means of taking responsibility for the future.

Gaston Bachelard’s Psychoanalysis of Reason and Its Practical Dimension

Author(s): Marta Ples-Bęben / Language(s): English Issue: 48/2024

The aim of the article is to analyze Gaston Bachelard’s psychoanalysis of the scientific mind in its practical dimension. Inspired by Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis, Bachelard deployed his own method to analyze the scientific unconscious, populated by epistemological obstacles inhibiting scientific cognition. As this article seeks to demonstrate, Bachelard’s psychoanalysis aims to purify, and thereby streamline the cognitive mind on two levels: individual and historical. Bachelard’s methodological experiment, transferring psychoanalysis into the spheres of the theory of knowledge and philosophy of science, turns out to be, at the same time, an instance of the architecture of a scientific mind, a polemic with cognitive realism and empiricism, and a postulate of analytical therapy in the field of cognition.

Artificial Intelligence and the Limits of the Humanities

Author(s): Włodzisław Duch / Language(s): English Issue: 48/2024

The complexity of cultures in the modern world is beyond human comprehension. Cognitive sciences cast doubts on the traditional explanations based on mental models. The core subjects in the humanities may lose their importance. The humanities have to adapt to the digital age. New, interdisciplinary branches of the humanities emerge. Instant access to information will be replaced by instant access to knowledge. Understanding the cognitive limitations of humans and the opportunities opened by the development of artificial intelligence and interdisciplinary research necessary to address global challenges is the key to the revitalization of the humanities. Artificial intelligence will radically change the humanities, from art to political sciences and philosophy, making these disciplines attractive to students and enabling them to surpass current limitations. The main goal of this article is to alert people working on different branches of humanities that a new wave of very advanced technology is quickly coming, enhancing human intellect in an unprecedented way.

O specyfice wiedzy we współczesnych naukach humanistycznych

Author(s): Mateusz Falkowski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 48/2024

In the paper, the current condition of the humanities is confronted with the crisis of foundations in mathematics at the turn of the 20th century. This reveals the difference between mathematical knowledge and the humanities, especially that of the structuralist variant with its formalist aspirations. The birth and decay of structuralism involve a simultaneous transformation of the research field, which henceforth becomes culture, and of the cognitive instrumentarium. As a result, it turns out that not only is there no proper object of humanistic research, but also no truly humanistic language. Humanistic knowledge – called extensive knowledge, in contrast to mathematical intensive knowledge – is doomed to meta-languages.

1790: The End of Truth in the Interpretation of Complex Contexts

Author(s): Horst Ruthrof / Language(s): English Issue: 48/2024

The paper argues that the standard pro- and anti-Kantian reception of the Critique of Judgment has largely misconstrued the relationship between Part I and Part II of the book by failing to recognize that the former is primarily providing a series of stepping-stones laying the groundwork for the elaboration of reflective-teleological reasoning in Part II. Instead of its dominant reading as foremost relevant to the study of biological nature, the paper distils from the reflective-teleological judgment a universal principle by which we typically interpret any complex set of particulars. As such, the reflective-teleological judgment of 1790 is shown to have done away with interpretive truth, replaced by Kant with the more modest claim of intelligibility.

The Eco-Logic of Olga Tokarczuk’s Prose Worlds Tenderness and Anger as the Pillars of a New Order

Author(s): Magdalena Ochwat,Małgorzata Wójcik-Dudek / Language(s): English Issue: 48/2024

In this paper, we offer a reading of selected novels by 2018 Nobel Prize winner Olga Tokarczuk in terms of their dedication to changing the world. We show that Tokarczuk’s essays and fiction defy genre limits and invite readers to exercise their imagination in conceptualising the world and redefining values. The alternative modes of viewing reality proposed by Tokarczuk may provide a starting point for change, in which the synergy of ostensibly mutually exclusive tenderness and anger kindles hope in the times of crisis and inspires courage to embrace change and, in doing so, to use the opportune moment (kairos) and institute a new order – one based on justice for the bio-community.

ОБРАЗУВАНЕ НА БЪДЕЩЕ ВРЕМЕ С ЧАСТИЦА „И“ В ГОВОРИ ОТ СРЕДНОГОРИЕТО, СТРАНДЖА-САКАР И БЕСАРАБИЯ

Author(s): Vasil Kondov,Ivan G. Iliev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 16/2019

This article traces the use of the future particle i/j ‘shall, will’ in Bulgarian dialects spoken in the region of the Sredna Gora to Middle Northern Bulgaria, in South-Eastern Bulgaria, and in Bessarabia. The authors argue that this phenomenon is one of the characteristic features of the socalled Chijshij Bulgarian dialects in Bessarabia and that, in them, it is inherited from the dialects in the region of Sredna Gora which is the land of origin of the above-mentioned Bulgarian dialects in Bessarabia.

БЕЛЕЖКИ ЗА ФОРМИТЕ НА ДВЕ БЪДЕЩИ ВРЕМЕНА В БЪЛГАРСКИЯ ПРЕСЕЛНИЧЕСКИ ГОВОР В УЗУНКьОПРЮЙСКО

Author(s): Ivan G. Iliev,Petko Petkov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 16/2019

This article discusses future tense particles in a Bulgarian dialect spoken in European Turkey (in the villages around the towns of Uzunköprü and Babaeski). The dialect is spoken by Muslim Bulgarians who left Bulgaria at the end of the 19th century or later. Most of them originate from Middle Northern Bulgaria but some of them have come to this place from Northern Greece and have mixed with the others. There is a variety of future tense particles in the dialect under consideration: ša, sa, za, ža ‘shall, will’. The authors show examples of the use of the above mentioned particles and draw conclusions about their origin in the dialect analyzed.

АРТИСТЪТ ОТБЛИЗО, АРТИСТЪТ НАДАЛЕЧ

Author(s): Vladimir Atanasov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 19/2021