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The artistic structure of Petersburg’s topos in the story «Artist» by Taras Shevchenko
Section 2. Literature
Boklakh Dmytro Yuriiovych, Luhansk Taras Shevchenko National University, postgraduate student, the Faculty of Ukrainian Philology
and Social Communication E-mail: dmytro.boklakh@gmail.com
The artistic structure of Petersburg’s topos in the story «Artist» by Taras Shevchenko
Abstract: The article investigates the artistic structure of Petersburg’s topos in the story «Artist» by Taras Shevchenko. The particular structural and semantic reproduction of the urban space are analyzed, the city allocated loci are mentioned as poetic topos of the city is also interpreted.
Keywords: artistic structure, the topos of the city, the locus of the city, the attribute of the city, urban space, «locus amoenus».
A city is a multidimensional way of life of mankind. The city is substantive unity of language of forms and history of style, which appear in the whole course of cultural life of the mankind [11, 83]. J. Ortega y Gasset believes that the city as a phenomenon of civilization is new space for life of the society that isn’t reduced to primitive human existence [7, 145]. O. Spengler claims that the city is creation of the mankind of “the highest language of forms”, and, therefore, the history of the mankind “is the history of a city person” [11, 91-92]. The city as the spatial and topographical significance always acted in reception of mankind as unique civilization, cultural and historical space (F. Braudel, M. Weber, G. Simmel,
J. Ortega y Gasset, O. Spengler). The city is an organized concept in daily consciousness of a person, it is an ordered topos of its attributes (streets, buildings, etc.) that acts as multilevel geographical space that is outlined due to presence of the person (N. Antsiferov, W. Benjamin, M. Butor, I. Grevs, Yu. Lotman, F. Miltoun, V. Toporov). Therefore, the research of geographical space of the city in fine literature and features of its image by the writers gains special importance. The topos of the city is one of unique spatial images of the artistic world of T. Shevchenko. Works by O. Boron [3], V. Levitsky [6], etc. are devoted to the analysis of city space in works by this author. Complex research of art structure of the topos of the city in the story “Artist” (1856) by T. Shevchenko is the low-studied issue in literary criticism and defines relevance of work.
The objective of the article is the research of features of specification of art structure of topos of Petersburg in
the story “Artist”. To achieve the objective of the article it is necessary to perform a number of interrelated tasks:
1) to investigate the spatial organization of the topos of Petersburg;
2) to allocate components of the semantic kernel of the topos — loci;
3) to investigate poetic specifics of reconstruction of the topos and loci of the city.
The concept of “topos” was widely used at the time of antiquity in philosophy (Protagoras of Abdera, Aristotle). The issue of studying the genesis of topos as literary concept was for the first time studied by E. R. Cur-tius. In the XX century, with the appearance of works by
N. Antsiferov, M. Bakhtin, Yu. Lotman, V. Toporov and others, the concept of “topos” got broader interpretation: researchers put in this concept “a place” of expansion of meanings, significant for the literary text, which can correlate with a fragment of real or imaginary space in time.
The topos of the city is the objective and conceptual reality of the city, a set of the city realities outlined and localized in existential limits, recreated in the text [4, 66].
O. Boron puts into understanding of the concept of to-pos “a sophisticated, foreseeable behind semantics, fragment of space of the literary work” [3, 41]. If the topos of the city is a broad concept of space, then smaller components of its structure — loci — represent a number of separate objects in space, which are the semantic center of topos (A. Bulgakova, O. Boron, I. Vykhor, A. Lovchin-skiy, V. Fomenko, F. Shteinbuk, and others). The problem of classification of loci as structural components of topos became the subject of researches of S. Ignatyeva,
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Section 2. Literature
V. Prokofieva, O. Frolova and others. Among the classifications of loci we find scientifically productive the classification of O. Frolova, who defines a locus as “the spatial referent of the literary text that is the result of the author’s choice of a place (places), where the action will unfold" [8, 12]. O. Frolova structures loci in detail as follows: private (estate, apartment, house), social (department), natural (wood, steppe), complex (ball), dynamic (road) [8, 18]. In our research we will use the concept of “topos” in the meaning of a place, which can be defined as the spatial phenomenon of the real geographical world (city), and the city locus as a limited spatial attribute in structure of the topos (street, house, garden, etc.).
The story “Artist” consists of artistically transformed autobiographical memories ofprivate and esthetic views of T. Shevchenko during the Petersburg period of life through the structure of loci of the city. Specifics of the author’s appeal to art reconstruction of own biography are connected with nostalgia in time of his exile to remember about the “years of his youth” that he spent in Petersburg — the city of his creative development as a master of painting. Analyzing the story it is possible to notice that the attention of the author is concentrated on construction of topos of the city from distinctly recognized loci. T. Shevchenko designs “the city text”, which is a certain hierarchy of loci in the topos of the city with characteristic signs of toponymics, city attributes.
The art structure of the topos of Petersburg in the story is contacted with semantics of the city as a wide geographical space to which loci act as tangent elements (streets, squares, apartment, Neva Embankment, coffee house, the Summer Garden, the Academy ofArts, etc.). Considering the given classification of O. Frolova [8] we allocate such types of loci of the city in the work: private (apartment, Bryullov’s studio), social (the Academy ofArts, madam Jurgens’s coffee house, corner of the Senate), natural (the Summer Garden, the Neva, park), complex (the Bolshoi Theatre, the Hermitage, masquerade), dynamic (streets, Troitsky Bridge).
The story begins with creation of a picture of the topos of Petersburg by the narrator-character: “I almost always spent summer nights in Petersburg on the street or somewhere on islands, but most often on the Academic Embankment. Especially I liked it <...> when Neva was quiet and as the huge mirror, reflected with all details the majestic portico of the Rumyantsevsky museum, the corner of the Senate and red curtains in countess Laval’s house” [9, 121]. The corner of the Senate for T. Shevchenko is the locus of Senate Square and the mention of December 14 and of Decembrists,
with whom he was congenial. In the story the narrator emphasizes the beauty of Petersburg, exposed through esthetic and ethical definitions [6, 30]: the storyteller admires “the fine granite vase and majestic architecture of the Mikhailovsky Castle” [9, 121]. Gradually the author gives other loci: the Summer Garden, the Mikhailovsky Castle, the Hermitage, Petrovsky park, Peter and Paul Cathedral, Academy of Arts, madam Jurgens’s coffee house, etc., which act as concrete retranslators of life in the city. The church, the cathedral, culture constructions, in accordance with definition of C. G. Jung, become symbols of psychological balance of the person living in the city that have impact on him [10, 241].
Belonging of the hero of the story to a certain place is an important condition to the analysis of his character and space, where a specific action takes place (M. Bakhtin, Yu. Lotman). A dominant of space of the city is the topos of the city, which represents the “scene of action” of heroes in a particular living environment of the person. The young artist thanks to his friend manages to rent an apartment in Petersburg: “Between Bolshoy and Sredniy Prospects, on the Seventh line, in Kastyurin’s house” [9, 136], however the young artist was terribly afraid of loneliness in the house interior [9, 163]. Only the Academy of Arts made other emotional inspiration. Therefore the basis of the story “Artist” is the “chrono-tope of Academy”, which temporary component is defined by the period of acquaintance of the young hero to artists, and the spatial component is connected with the Academy of Arts and Bryullov’s art studio [2, 306]. The art studio of K. Bryullov can be called the locus of life in Academy: “The red room covered mainly with expensive eastern weapons, lit with the sun through the transparent red curtains <...> looked amazing” [9, 132]. The art studio of K. Bryullov became the place where the life of young hero as a free person and an artist began.
The topos of Petersburg is presented by bright memories of particular places: the storyteller hurried to “Troitsky Bridge to admire the sunrise <...> above the quiet beauty of the Neva” [9, 145]. However the young artist doesn’t always live on the “color” of the city, because his true purpose in the city is art: “The Petersburg greyish summer vanished into thin air. Damp rotten fall is outside, and in our Academy we have a brilliant exhibition” [9, 165]. The locus of the Academy of Arts acts as an important counterpoint, as here the hero feels psychological balance with the big city in general.
To understand “the soul of Petersburg”, according to N. Antsiferov, it is important to sit on granite slabs near the sphinx statues of the Academy ofArts, to fill your soul
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The artistic structure of Petersburg’s topos in the story «Artist» by Taras Shevchenko
with treasures ofthe Hermitage, to admire the row ofwhite columns of the Exchange building that appear behind the expanse of the Neva from Troitsky bridge [1, 37]. Finally, such short geography helps the characters of the story — the young artist and the storyteller, who look at the city with frank enthusiasm and dreams, to see the topos of Petersburg in general: the storyteller travels on Bolshoy and Sredniy Prospects, Troitsky Bridge and the embankment, observing “the skiff with cheerful passengers sliding across the open Neva and followed by a long thin silver stream" [9, 141]. The storyteller is fond ofvisits of cultural places of Petersburg: “Quite often I happened to visit the Hermitage together with Bryullov. Those visits were brilliant lectures of the theory of painting” [9, 129]. After creative work the characters visit a coffee house on the Third line: “Karl the Great liked to visit leisured madam Jurgens occasionally <.. .> He liked <.. .> the variety of views in our society” [9, 139]. Therefore, the author shows loci of the city that are involved into the general background of the topos of Petersburg.
The locus of the Bolshoi Theatre has special value, presenting a number of visual and acoustical images in reconstruction of the scene of action: “The shining hall was quickly filled with the masked public, music rattled, and in the noise of the public talk little capuchin monkeys squealed” [9, 161]. However the young artist can’t build up his private life. In general the city in T. Shevchenko’s impression correlates not only with potentially bad, but also with the secret incomprehensible beginning [6, 30]. Opportunities in the city became the starting point in destruction of the personality of the young man, and, therefore, his murderer, because everything that he ever wanted was available for him: “This is how I live now! I idle around the masquerades, have supper in a tavern and waste the money. And it
hasn’t been a long time since <...> that unforgettable bright and sunny morning by the Neva when you saw me for the first time in the Summer Garden in front of the statue of Saturn, has it?” [9, 161]. In the end of the story the loci of Neva and the Summer Garden get special importance because they conceptualize interrelation of the young hero with the city and recur as “pleasant places” (or “locus amoenus”), meaning special objects of action where spiritual aspects of the character get revealed at most. E. R. Curtius says that “locus amoenus” is a spatial description of natural places (garden, wood, sea) for presentation of a unique internal emotional state of the hero — the serenity of mind [5, 220-225]. The real “locus amoenus” in the story is the Summer Garden as here the life-changing acquaintance of the young hero to the storyteller took place and that acquaintance became a decisive factor of his further life in the city.
Thus the artistic structure of the topos of Petersburg in the story “Artist” by T. Shevchenko has complicated structural and semantic organization of loci, representing the author’s personal perception of the city. The topos of Petersburg is presented as a vital background of actions of characters of the story where particular events in time take place; these events have expressive implication of reception of the landscape and architectonics of the city. The loci of the Academy of Arts, Bryullov’s art studio, the coffee house, the theater, etc. become a guarantee of entry into the inner world of the heroes’ life in the city, because they connect the situation context and a certain attribute of the city. The locus of the Summer Garden is a “unique place” of Petersburg for the young hero as it is a fatal place in the city. The topos of Petersburg interprets T. Shevchenko’s personal individual state and his memories of the city that correspond the author’s intensions.
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7. Ortega-i-Gasset H. Vosstanie mass/H. Ortega-i-Gasset; sbornyj perevod s ispanskogo. - M.: Izdatelstvo AST, 2002. - 509 s.
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Kaplan Turkan,
Instructor of English in Department of Foreign Languages, University of Turkish Aeronautical Association, MA in English Literature, University of Vienna E-mail: tkaplan@thk.edu.tr
The Big House theme as reflected in the Irish history and literature
Abstract: The Big House is a symbol of great significance in Anglo-Irish ascendancy, played an important role in Irish history and literature. This article studies the function of the Big Houses and their historical and cultural significance within Irish society. The history of the Big Houses as part of the structure of Ireland in the early 20th Century and its reflection to Irish literature as in the selected novels; The Ladies’ Road, The Last September are considered to be the key images of this journal.
Keywords: Big House, Anglo-Irish, 20th century Ireland, The Ladies’ Road, The Last September.
Before examining the function of the Big Houses, which date back to the early 18th to mid 19th century in Ireland, it is necessary to give a definition of “the Big House" and, refer to its owners and to consider they differ from one another as important players in Ireland’s troubled history.
The term “Big House”, named “Country House" in England, shall first be defined as in the Oxford Companion to Irish Literature:
a theme in Anglo- Irish literature referring to the big houses of the ascendancy, reflecting the anxieties and uncertainties of the Protestant landowning class in their decline, from the late 18th cent., through Catholic Emancipation, the Tithe War, the Famine, and the growth of modern militant Irish nationalism, to the founding of new Ireland State [2].
Originating soon after the Acts of Union in 1800, the term “Anglo-Irish” historically referred to the descendants, successors of the upper-class, and Protestant landowners who ruled Ireland in the eighteenth century. They were English by descent and loyal to the crown [3]. Therefore, the Anglo- Irish class is commonly understood to refer to the dwellers of Big Houses, which derived from the Anglo-Norman tower houses and these houses are named
both allegorically and symbolically on the grounds that they are big in size and in a way represent the splendid and elegant life styles of the Ascendancy.
One of the Irish novels selected, The Last September [4] includes harsh criticism and satires on this social group. Though the detailed analysis of this class is far from the scope of this article, it is worth mentioning here that the members of this ruling elite living in these big houses flaunted their wealth and power by building large, stone houses with high ceilings, decorative fireplaces, and papered walls, all of which suited their luxurious tastes; in their free time, they pursued activities of a decidedly English flavor, such as hunting, shooting, fishing, cards, and tennis as well as eating, drinking, and visiting their neighbors, who, of course, belonged to the same social class. Both symbolically and literally as mentioned above, the pursuit of this lifestyle helped to estrange and isolate the elite from the rest of Irish society, which lived quite differently outside the comforts of the Big Houses [5, 24-25]. These houses were “built on wealth, privilege, and the large revolutions of politics and religions” [6, 215]. Therefore, since the dwellers of the Big Houses were of the Anglo-Irish Ascendancy, they had very little in common with the native Catholic Irish
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