Outlines of a new paradigm of the analysis of the origin of invariant structure of culture texts: “the universal-cultural version”

6. Outlines of a new paradigm of the analysis of the origin of invariant structure of culture texts: “the universal-cultural version”

This chapter begins with a summary of historico-generative concept of Olga Frejdenberg about “metaphors of primitive consciousness” which is regarded by Me as a break of a paradigm „reality – text”. Further its critical analysis and a universal-cultural interpretation are given. As a result, there was deconstructed the real contents of her concept. The basic idea, extracted from her concept, consists in that the structure of texts of culture is not the "representation" of reality. This structure is a product of creative spontaneous activity of our consciousness which actualizes during the process of synthesis of deep meanings of texts those world outlook invariants which are determined by the basic vital purposes of the person. As a result, it has been ascertained, that "metaphors" offered by her are either categories of ultimate bases (for example, group of metaphors of "Death"), or world outlook codes (group of metaphors "Meal").

For a confirmation of my conclusions in the following parts of the work, there are considered theories and the concepts confirming a hypothesis of autogenerating of a universal-cultural structure of the texts of culture. Among them - Charles Jung’s and Stanislav Grof's ideas about subconscious factors of generating and synthesis of inner invariant semantic structures of texts of culture, fixing of the fact of spontaneous autogenerating of identical CUB-structures in a historical and political idea, in fairy tales and children psychology by Howard Olker, an explication of autogenerated reproduction of universal-cultural senses in the work of productive ability of imagination through experiments with children's creativity of Italian storyteller Janny Rodari and introspection of a Russian children's writer Nikolay Nosov.

In the following part of work there was carried out the analysis of processes of self-generation of universal-cultural senses in the conception „language as a home of objective reality” (Martin Heidegger) and through spontaneous poetic creativity (Maximilian Kirienko-Voloshyn). Then the process of creation of a piece of writing (on example of a short story) is investigated and it is offered to consider it as a fluent creative synthesis of universal-cultural connections of actants. The development of heuristic potentialities of critically reconsidered concept of O.Frejdenberg has finally fixed the results received in the previous sections. It was realized by a demonstrative explication of the fact that owing to a projection of the human CUB-senses which are available in structure of independent consciousness, to an objective reality, there takes place a universally-cultural semeiotization of the entire reality and its separate fragments and objects. But as both this semeiotization, and objects and fragments of reality are a mobile objective structure of the contents of world outlook consciousness then we have carried out a restoration of the invariant cultural-world outlook contents in stage evolution of objectively- figurative bearers of is universal-cultural meaning (a totem - tsar - slave-clown).

Examination of a conceptual part of work of O.Frejdenberg has shown that under "metaphors" she has presented a full set of categories of ultimate bases and world outlook codes, including their formula sheaf. Along with this, it is necessary to accept, that the classification of "metaphors" developed by her, is extremely inconsequent and incorrect, in particular in view of their universal-cultural sub-base.

Thus, the mortal CUB, represented in „metaphor” "Death", serves not only as a rubricator for a range of some other metaphors. This category is considering by O.Frejdenberg in itself also, as the subject of classification, being included in other headings, particularly, in the group of „metaphors” "Meal".

The second reproach consists in the following. Declaring, that the subject of her analysis should be initial formations of before-logical and before-world outlook consciousnesses, O.Frejdenberg actually carries out a reconstruction of „metaphors of primitive consciousness” on the basis of the analysis of late, derivative forms of logically structured and Weltanschauung, ideologically oriented consciousness (specifically, myths).

At the same time, O. Frejdenberg's doubtless merit is that she tried to find a source of structural invariants of texts in archaic formations of consciousness, though she did not reject the idea of their borrowing and „migrations”. Initial ceremony „reality”, the structure of which is usually considered as a source of structurization of the text of culture „derived” from it, is only a field of demonstration, but by no means the source of this structure origin.

The invariant universal-cultural structure of the text of culture lies in the depths of human subjectivity, on what O.Frejdenberg, neglecting serious enough for those times possible accusations in idealism, sagaciously indicated in her works.

In my opinion, the given structurization-forming subjectivity does not belong only to the "primitive" consciousness as O.Frejdenberg considered. The invariant of cultural consciousness in the same measure, as in remote times, lives and acts at present and will act in the future. Therefore, it is incorrect to consider this primitive consciousness and its "metaphors" as that source from which the stereotyped "patterns" of the subsequent cultural forms have originated.

What O.Frejdenberg considers as metaphors of primitive consciousness is not something forgotten in the far passed times. Their senses are always relevant, in any epoch. Taking into account a continuous action of eternal the existential factors, defining the stereotype of key parameters of human attitude to the world, these coincidences are caused by the fact that people of all times and nations certainly reflect on eternal philosophical questions and reconstruct the immortal themes in the literature. Owing to this deep identity of texts at level of CUB and codes, it becomes possible to observe the typological coincidences, identities and parallels in different cultural texts, but already at a level of their external displays (motives, plots, themes, figures, characters).

If we meet identical texts in different cultures it is impossible to deny the fact of any borrowing, migration or reproduction. But there is a question – what is the reason of borrowing of that by one culture from another? The reason of this, most likely, is that in each culture some "eternal" problems continue to remain relevant at all times. Therefore here it is necessary to speak not about simple mechanical borrowing, but about actualization of existential senses in texts of culture at a level of their inner structure. For each person who has come to this world, the questions of his own life and death will be always important and actual.

Caused by patrimonial unity of the person, the identity of notional and vital searches of people dictates the presence of the given identity also in these answers offered in different cultures, which as a result are reduced to a universal-cultural invariant of the persevering strengthening of a life, a passionate desire to overcome death and to reach if not eternal, but a long life. Ancient texts, which did not have any existential meanings (for example, inventory tablets from Mesopotamia), are interesting today only to experts of particular speciality, whereas the myth of Hilgamesh, of searches for immortality, excites imagination of our contemporaries.

C. Jung and S. Grof in a certain sense were inspired with a search of culture universalias as they, basing on the concept of subconscious, put before themselves the purpose to trace how these inborn elements of human subconsciousness determine the contents and structure of mythological legends, images, dreams and cultural texts in general. C. Jung considered these factors as archetypes, and S.Grof – as the so-called basic perinatal matrixes (BPM). Both the archetypes, and BPM, examined from my point of view, have easily opened their universal-cultural contents. And it concerns not only such obviously expressed CUB-archetypes, as blood or the murderer of the father (an aggressive code), but also some archetypes of erotic code, shadows (the latent negative features of the person as a result having mortality in their basis), "egoism" (Selbst) (a heart of personal consciousness as expression of completeness of vital forces, vitality), etc.

Eventually, as the base of vitally-important directives C. Jung points out the poles of a life – birth and death referred to the sphere collective subconscious. As the certain measure this circumstance was accepted also by C. Jung, speaking that archetype constituents of dreams of the little girl, which he has selected for a substantiation of his viewpoint, are reduced to ideas of destruction (aggression as destruction) and restoration (restoration as revival). The general limit of this phenomenon was pubertal age of the girl (erotic coding of life as continuation of a clan, as clan immortality) and the presentiments of her life premature ending (mortality).

Achievements of immortality through overcoming of threat of death as a formula invariant of all archetype motives is indirectly accepted by C. Jung as he draws a parallel between dreams of the girl and ceremonies of initiation (confirmation) which have such invariant structure (life – death – revival). From these important remarks of C. Jung it is possible to draw a conclusion, that he accepts, that in a basis of archetypes there are some wider world outlook structures which are the categories ultimate bases.

S. Grof, known as the initiator of transpersonal psychology, having investigated a huge file of texts of culture, has put forward an idea according to which the invariant constituents of the mentioned texts are determined by that they are structured according to certain schemes reflecting the stages of childbirth. One’s own birth does not pass for the person without leaving a trace, and in its key stages is fixed in „perinatal” to sphere of subconsciousness, determining to a great extent the following postnatal conscious experiences of many life circumstances within the limits of psychological structure of the person generated under influence of these matrixes. He declares that connection of biological experience of a person own birth with experience of dying and a new birth, which is shown in imaginations, dreams, works of art, etc. is rather deep and specific.

As after the analysis carried out by us it was found out, that BPM of S.Grof on the whole are the original expression of a basic triad "life – death – revival" experienced by the person during the process of her birth, then we can draw a conclusion, that if this memory of one’s own birth sets the structure of personal consciousnesses, then its structure also should correspond with this triad. That is, an invariant of the derived from these BPM substantial layers of consciousness are the categories of ultimate bases.

H. Olker's leading ideas are close to my opinions. His analysis essentially differs from all previous attempts to throw light on the origin and essence of invariant constituents of texts of culture. The main point of his idea consists in the statement of generating of culture invariants in depths of our consciousness owing to that a text of culture appears not so much as reflection of "reality" by our consciousness, but as a product of active designing by our consciousness of universal senses which are introduced in this "reality". He has carried out the proof of this thought by demonstration of identity of fairy tale texts with historical and political ones. Besides it turned out, that the American test for the best memorizing of the text by children shows, that such text is the fairy tale, defined by V. Propp as the basic (Аф₁₃₁) at the heart of which, as well as in historical works (Arnold J. Toynbee), there lays the basic world outlook formula.

So, each of these scientists following their own way, actually came to conclusion, that the structure of consciousness is determined by categories of ultimate bases, which during their autogeneration and filling with the concrete contents form an authentic CUB-structure of all texts of culture.

From the point of view of a substantiation of idea of autogenerating of universal-cultural structures and one of the variants of the basic world outlook formula there are interesting examples of spontaneous children's creativity which are accompanied by introduction in the texts of the certain threat with the purpose of reproduction of the full basic formula „life - death – immortality” in the variant „life – a fatal threat – removal of the threat”. Giving children a task of creation of their own fairy tale, J. Rodari has found out, that all of them do not fall outside the limits of a drama of life and death. That is, the productive childish consciousness spontaneously generates such structures that base on categories of ultimate bases and the basic vital purpose.

Something similar was found out by another children's writer, N.Nosov during introspection of his creative work when he found out, that in a basis of the plot of the story (touching contemporary themes) written by him there has laid down an archaic, though weakened and transformed motive of occurrence of threat and its avoidance. Determined by stage and age-specific and sociohistorical factors the forms of representation of the given intention in the structure of subconsciousness of children, and, by the way, of adults, cannot be denied. There will be no greater exaggeration to state, that the basic intention of our consciousness, initially programmed on avoidance of danger and on a survival, is always turned up to overcoming of a fatal threat. For these reasons, the person, young or adult, during realization of his mysterious productive ability of imagination (I.Kant) and creative imagination from any offered objective material, certainly synthesizes such texts, which will be structurally organized on the basis of this fundamental intention.

The analysis of game behaviour of children, ideas on „an instinct of immortality” by Jacob Golosovker, Elena Ulybina's psychoanalytic reconstruction of psychology of the girl-teenager in A.Ostrovsky's play Snow Maiden, show, that corresponding universally-cultural intentions of consciousnesses can invariantly structure a fairy tale (and any other text) directly during their generation. Plots with the CUB-structural core become "eternal" not owing to presence in them of any images already known before, characters or motives, but owing to "eternity" (topicality for each generation) of their invariant universal-cultural contents. The Last one is independently generated (self-generated) by modern sub/consciousness, originating as a result of working of cognitive creative mechanisms.

It is well known, that M. Heidegger defines language as the Home of Being, which proclaims itself to us through poets. The poetry is understood by him as formation of Being by means of a word. In the work I was limited to consideration of a question on how the language of poetry correlates with Being (in all its meanings known to philosophy) which in this case is understood as the text, that is as totality of obvious or mysterious senses and as through language of poetry their possible revelation. I searched for the answer to it in works of M. of Kirienko-Voloshyn, the reference to whom has shown, that through spontaneous creativity of the poet the Being demonstrated itself as a certain text, which in its basis does not fall outside the limits of categories of ultimate bases and codes, and it was the result of spontaneous autogenerating of senses, instead of simple reflection of reality. M. Kirienko-Voloshyn describes this process in an image of a spider, which spins from itself a fabric of knowledge: „Where spun in smoky dreams the consciousness-spider / The living tissues bodies, but body was – a sound”.

One of the most interesting problems of the theory of creativity is a problem of spontaneous synthesis by story-tellers or writers of numerous plots. Here the most important for us was a substantiation of the statement about a certain "a priori" prediction of produced plots. The idea consists in development of that indisputable conclusion, that at a final set of constant structural elements of the text the number of their combinations is also final.

Reasoning from the results of my work on the structural analysis of a short story I have shown, that Marguerite de Navarre was free in her choice of characters and in representation of variations of relations between them, drawing them from their final register. But she was not free in a choice of most these very relations. As well as modern science fiction writers, she recreated these relations mainly in two of their four possible forms – erotic and aggressive though communications on the basis of alimentary, and in particular – informative code were also realized by her.

It is obvious, that their astonishing stable presence in works of different genres of different times can be explained only by autogeneration of the given types of relations, that testifies that exactly these intentional, spontaneous, immanent preferences of creators of the work of literature, which are at the bottom of their basic vital directives, make a basis of those humanly important senses which are shown during the work of their productive ability of imagination and can are realized in the results of their creative synthesis of texts.

As I already said, the world is a projection of humanly important senses on an objective reality. A fundamental feature of the substantial and structurally-formal side of these senses is their subordination to the universal-cultural meanings inserted in the general world outlook formula „strengthening of life, overcoming of death, aspiration to immortality”.

Having passed the theoretical "circle" and having critically reconsidered the concept of „metaphors of primitive consciousness” of O.Frejdenberg, we again, but already at higher, theoretically-based level, have approached the statement declared at the beginning of work that owing to this projecting feature of our consciousness both the world as a whole, and its separate fragments, are semiotized by us within the limits of our most fundamental vital aims.

At the same time, the acceptance that the mentioned "metaphors" are anything else but categories of ultimate bases and the world outlook codes connected in a formula sheaf „life – death – immortality”, allowed us to show, that the unusual meanings of habitual things reconstructed by O.Frejdenberg do not fall outside the limits of this formula. For example, it has been shown, that such „archetype” concepts as House, Field, Temple have exactly these meanings.

The temple appears as a special sacral place, where there is given a communion of “favour and life of a deity” to the believers. Its vertical and horizontal dimensions have strongly expressed CUB-semantics. It is clear from orientation of temples on a line „East – West” (life - death), that determines the position of altars only in its eastern part, and a front entrance – so that the movement to a temple was only from the West on the East, from death – to life.

Crowning of the dome-sky by the cross with its diasemantics „death-revival”, the peculiarities of the orthodox cross with slanting section of its bottom horizontal part which by its spatial orientation also symbolizes a victory over death and the strengthening of life - all this unconditionally points out to universal-cultural structuredness of a temple architectural text which is not limited only to these senses. „The temple” acts also as a high life ideal (an information code of vital universalia) to which should lead all the roads.

According to O.Frejdenberg, the matter concerns a certain complex of senses which was developed during a semiotized consumption of food, copulations and funeral actions during initial, before-ceremonial periods of their display. The general "scheme" of its „construct” looked like a movement from occurrence and bloom to the decline, and that movement was carried out by an animal-totem, which was torn up and eaten up, managing certain ritualized actions. Later is the sun, leaders, emperors, gladiators, olympians, defendants and, finally, actors became its personification.

Consequently, these initial senses became inherent to all things and actions which surrounded these figures – actually to ceremonies and rituals, cities, Olympic and other games, constructions (to triumphal arches, pillars, to images of lions, to gates, doors, to wreaths on them, to windows), to things of the daily use (to a table, a cloth, a chair, awnings, marquees, to a veil, to a carousel), to a theatre (comedy and tragedy, stage, orchestra), to literary genres and other texts of culture, inclusive with ritual food (sausage, pies, forcemeat and peas). E.g., such traditional elements of Olympic Games, as letting out of an eagle before their opening (now - pigeons) and crowning the winner with a laurel wreath have the meaning of a victory over forces of death (immortality).

In antiquity Olympic struggle was a real hand-to-hand fighting, and it continued until one of the opponents was not killed. Since those times when these games still were a fatal competition, the one who after games remained alive, was crowned with a wreath as a token of a victory over death.

The initial meanings of peas are also unusual for us. Special ritual semiotization of food has led to transferring of "food" semantics to things and phenomena entirely different from food. It is well know, that the clown is often given an epithet "pea fool", as well as the expression "under the tsar Pea" (in days of yore).

Exactly from farces of beans and lentil there was originated a stereotypic expression "a pea clown". In general, both the clown, and tsar once directly personified the universal-cultural basic formula life – death – revival, and peas (lentil) became associated with them for the reason, that before ritual killing of princeling (and then - his substitute, the slave), they were crowned with a pea straw, echoes of that have reached in some ceremonies almost up to present times.

„Storm of applause turning into ovation” now is a sign of approval by a public of performance of an actor or report of a speaker. But their original meaning was differed from the modern one. The main character of an ancient theatre was the god of death and revival Dionysius. In a theatrical drama it was the Dionysius-bull or the Dionysius-goat.

If this goat partially denominates two drama genres, then the sheep denominates a drama of a victory, an ovation. Ovation is a pleasure, a celebration, a wreath that was put on a head of commander which assimilated to a victorious animal (Dionysius-ram-goat) which revives for life during the moment of passage under a triumphal arch. Here we also see a full development of basic formula.

Similar semantics had also the triumphal arches which are present in many cities of the world. According to O. Frejdenberg, a triumphal arch was a celestial horizon and consequently they had a semicircular arch. The victory of the sun, the occurrence of totem coincides with entrance through a heavenly- afterlife gate, through a triumphal arch which divided the two worlds. The semantics of a triumphal arch as means of overcoming death is better expressed by the fact that sometimes it was constructed for prevention of danger that in itself guaranteed rescue from death. Emperor, solemnly passing under the arch to a circus, appeared as the winner-sun. By this he expressed the idea of overcoming of death, the establishing of life. Here it is easy to see the presence of the basic world outlook formula.

Often near a gate, doors or on the walls there are represented lions (the so-called „lion's gate”). In their image there was fixed a crossing of "border" between two worlds, light and darkness. So, stone lions, which are half put out from the house, or just simple images of their muzzles on the walls is the transformed image of an archaic totem which has died and has revived. The universal-cultural formula is also totally presented here.

A bright erotic-genetic semantics have the doors of houses or gates which indicated a maternal womb. Giving birth, continues O.Frejdenberg, the woman opens and closes the celestial doors. Therefore Janus, the god of door, was called at childbirth. Except the mentioned CUB-semantics the door had also additional meaning which originated from a custom to copulate on a threshold and to hang up a wreath on a door as modern Americans like.

Traditional night or evening songs (serenades) of an enamoured man under a window (balcony) of his beloved originate from that tradition when a drunk reveller in a “komos” (a night procession) in the end of procession addressed not a woman, and a door (later – a window), and then publicly laid down with a woman directly on a threshold. From the same sources, considers O.Frejdenberg, there is a tradition to hang up a wreath on a door. In fact „komos” is a variant of a carol which name originates from the name of a branch of laurel or an olive in skeins of wool which was left on a door as a sign of fertility (erotically coded genitive).

Similar mortally-immoral semantics in different codes have also fabrics, curtains, tents of circus and roundabouts on which the stars were painted. They represented the idea of heavenly circulation, a motion from death to life. A bridal veil is the same heavenly arch which has a dualistic semantics both of death, and revival. Hence – coverlets and cloths with which the dead men and a table on which they laid were covered. Staying on a table-altar, the died man was considered as totem-king, certainly due to revive. From here originate those meanings of a table which are connected with the Supreme authority – „Vоlоdуmуr in Kуїv on a table” (ukr., russ. „стол” – ‘a table’, derived concepts „столиця” - ‘a capital’, „престол” – ‘throne’).

All this allows to draw conclusions that usual things and phenomena examined from the point of view of the approach offered by O. Frejdenberg which heuristic potential is developed by us with reference to the offered universal-cultural concept of the analysis of culture texts, show their forgotten or unusual meanings which go back to invariants, or culture universalias, such as birth, life, death and immortality, and corresponding world outlook codes.

Rejecting the idea of direct borrowing of deep universal-cultural invariants in texts of culture in general and in pieces of literature in particular and insisting on acceptance of the concept of their generation, I do not deny the fact, that development of cultural forms provides the presence of a certain continuity, tradition and heredity of development of the fixed cultural images, plots and characters on a background of their natural transformation.

But even this transformation does not lead to disappearance of primary CUB-senses involved in semiosphere of things, processes and figures. Thus, it is possible to outline the history of origin of a figure of a circus clown as stage evolution of certain personifications of world outlook senses of strengthening of life through dying of a totem-animal, tsar, slave and clown.

The clown is the degenerated figure of the slave, the double of tsar-leader who took up the mortal semantics of Saturnalia. In this festival the social relations "turned over", a tsar for a while became a "slave", and the slave became "tsar". In traditional ritual of change of tsar instead of him there was killed his temporary assistant, the slave. Later the slave turns into the clown who was dressed up as tsar.

In circus he gets the appearance of the "red-haired circus clown", who was not killed any more, but simply beaten on an arena and who later turns into a strolling actor, a juggler, a skomorokh, acting on stilts (the former cothurnus) in booths, demonstrating the puppet-show and so forth. However in spite of radical changes in roles and meanings, successive figures of an animal-totem, tsar, slave and clown keep as the fundamental structurally-semantic basis the categories of ultimate bases and dominating world outlook idea of overcoming of death by an immortal life.

Table of Contents

Summary

TOPICS

1. Philosophical and methodological basis of the Weltanschauung Categories of Ultimate Bases researching.

2. Categories of Ultimate Bases as Universalias of Culture

3. Investigation of profound invariant of the structure of a fairy tale as the applied version of search for universalias in texts of culture

4. An explication of internal contradictions of the theory of V. Propp as a precondition of its falsification

5. Falsification of the theory of V. Propp by means of increasing a level of universality of a deductive hypothesis about a universal-cultural structure of culture texts

6. Outlines of a new paradigm of the analysis of the origin of invariant structure of culture texts: “the universal-cultural version”

Олександр Сергійович Кирилюк

Анти-Пропп

Критика теорії В. Проппа зі структури чарівної казки та її генезису

kiriliuk@infra.co.ua

Брошура

Наукове видання

Англійська мова

Olexander Kyryliuk. ANTI-PROPP. Criticism of Vladimir Propp’s Theory on Genesis of Magic Fairy Tales’ Structure – Odessa: Autograph / CHE UNSA, 2009. – p. 50. In Engl.

Separate English supplement to the book: Olexander Kyryliuk. Weltanschauung Categories of Ultimate Bases in the Universal Culture Dimensions. – Odessa, Ukraine: Autograph/CHE UNAS – 2008. – 416 р. In Ukrainian.

Олександр Кирилюк. АНТИ-ПРОПП. Критика теорії В. Проппа зі структури чарівної казки та її генезису. – Одеса: Автограф / ЦГО НАН України. – 2009. – 50 с. (англ. мова).

Окремий додаток до книги (автореферат англійською):

Кирилюк О.С. Світоглядні категорії граничних підстав в універсальних вимірах культури. – Одеса: Автограф. – 2008. – 416 с.