From myth to literature

Western modernity owes its global influence as a cultural and political model to the rigid distinctions it makes between nature and cul- ture, as well as between their subdivisions. The creative reworkings of mythological and folkloric motifs that we frequently find in late modern literature and popular culture allow us to identify ways of overcoming these distinctions. Such reworkings show different possibilities for the uniting of the pagan and Christian heritage, of traditional narratives and ideas with the modern scientific worldview, of the exact sciences with other areas of culture, of “art for art’s sake“ with political engagement. The rigid separation of these spheres is a modern construct which has been immensely useful for technological and political progress, but which in the globalized era also reveals itself as psychologically and ecologically harmful.

Each literary work carries in itself the historical context of the era in which it was created, but the context of the time in which it is read and becomes popular is also superimposed onto it . Franz Kafka is one of the most analyzed authors because of his undeniable importance for modern literature, but also because of the extraordinary metaphorical nature and ambiguity of his texts. Kafka is an interesting phenomenon because his texts not only do not become obsolete, but they keep be- ing tirelessly translated all over the world. His most famous short story, „Die Verwandlung” (“The Metamorphosis”), has thirty-one translations in Spanish, twenty-five in English, and three in Bulgarian. The current study focuses on the questions why we need a new translation and what makes a new translation actually new.

This research presents some ideas concerning the new aspects of the national spirit, the relation between person and people and also the potentialities at the figurative language within Pencho Slaveikov’s poem “Song of Blood”. The rewrite of the familiar, in literature and history as figures and events, goes beyond the usual insert to common discourse 142or ordinary remake. Pencho Slaveikov himself is a founder of discourse – with new problems and decisions, in the center of which stays a different idea of the Human. The sources of the renovation within “Song of Blood” lead to Plato’s metaphysical foundation of the world and Aris- totle’s concept of potential and they are included in the new spirit of the Individualism.

Обект на изследването са фолклорните и митологични сюжети, които биват претворени по различни начини в българската белетристика от Освобождението до Първата световна война, както и идеологическите призми, през които тези сюжети са пречупени.

The article examines the potential of spiritual energy invested in one of the works of the great Bulgarian poet – the socalled “Revival prayer“, the role of the individual and his responsibility to God. Central to “My Prayer“ are images, themes, and motifs from the Bible, along with contemporary issues of institutional religion, which have been moved away in many aspects from genuine human care. Attention is paid to the structure of the prayer and all of its components – from the motto to the final metaphor, but also to the reversal and play with the genre, which gave rise to many contradictory interpretations of the text. A question has been touched on some religious motifs, repeated in other works of Botev, incl. the ideological suggestions of the poet’s new testament.

The current paper aims to put one of William Gibson’s latest novels – “The Peripheral“ – in the position of comparison, the boundaries of which are set by Stanislaw Lem’s phantomology. Its main goal is to determine how much of Gibson’s work fits into the traditional notion of phantomatics. The parallel is built on the motif of remaking which is considered crucial for the analysis of the chosen works.

The article offers a comparative reading of two short novels – “Scott Reynolds and the Unattainable” by Emilian Stanev (1973) and “Death in Venice” by Thomas Mann (1913) – ‘comparative’ primarily on a large cultural-civilizational scale, in which Stanev’s novel raises and further develops the main themes and motifs of Thomas-Man’s one. Namely, the global problem of the end of Western humanistic culture 202under the pressure of modern Technique/Machenschaft (Heidegger), collapsing towards the natural-monstrous. The similar structure and the common symbolic topoi of the two works are considered: ‘old man― child’, ‘North/West―South/East’...

In literary, film, and computer realities, a woman is projected in different ways. One of these transformations of the feminine is the witch. The knowledgeable woman is subjected to a number of taboos and (re)makings since ancient times. Creators embody diverse variants of the witch in their works to turn the image into a sustainable model. Wheth- er nurtured by the mythological, the gothic, or the popular, the witch embodies femininity that arouses fear because it cannot be completely rationalized. Female writers use the witch as a special type of femi- ninity – sometimes punished for her nature (Madeleine Miller’s Circe), sometimes able to overcome taboos and prohibitions (Angela Carter). How these “old” and at the same time “new” essences manage to coexist in modern prose, what implications and interpretive models are set for the image of the woman and the witch: these are some of the questions that this paper aims to raise and unfold in the context of the remake as a cultural practice.

Une des premières œuvres religieuses de Stoyan Mihaylovski est un cycle de poèmes, publié pour la première fois en 1884. À l’époque, il faisait partie du recueil de psaumes et de paraboles « Le Pope Bogomile ». En 1889, sa variante fort remaniée a été publiée deux fois – dans le recueil de poèmes « Novissima verba » sous le titre de « Sursum corda ! « et puis, toute seule, sous la dénomination « Dieu (poèmes bibliques) ». L’objectif de la présente étude est de comprendre les raisons pour lesquelles Mihay- lovski a procédé à ce remaniement de son œuvre. Une analyse attentive des corrections faites par l’auteur révèle qu’elles sont le résultat du désir de l’auteur de perfectionner l’œuvre mais aussi celui du tournant décisif dans les positions religieuses de l’auteur notamment pendant les années entre les deux éditions. L’œuvre change d’orientation – de la croyance des bogomiles vers le culte chrétien. La christianisation est réalisée au niveau lexical mais aussi par l’incrustation de symboles et de formes médiévaux typiques dans la composition du cycle et du rythme du vers (du symbo- lisme chrétien des chiffres, des allusions à l’hymnographie). Cette tech- nique fait de la création religieuse de Stoyan Mihaylovski une étape clé entre l’ancienne et la nouvelle littérature bulgare.

Travelling and friendship are the foundation narrative motives of N. Kazantzakis’ famous novel “Alexis Zorbas”. But they give strong impetus to H. Miller’s pen in his world-famous travelogue “The Colossus of Marоussi”, which became a symbol of philhellenism. The two classical literary works analyze the problems of (Greek, but not only) identity from both individual and socio-cultural point of view. In this article the 237concept of the remake is understood as a (re)making or a (re)creation of the Greek identity mostly in the context of universal moral categories, which unexpectedly gave the books “Alexis Zorbas” and “The Colossus of Maroussi” a long lasting popularity.