Publication details
Žanr bestiariju u knizi Tani Maljarčuk : Zviroslov
| Title in English | Genre Bestiary in Tania Malyarchuks book Zviroslov |
|---|---|
| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2016 |
| Type | Article in Proceedings |
| Conference | Slovanský literární svět : kontexty a konfrontace II |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Mass media, audiovision |
| Keywords | bestiary; Fysiologus; Tania Malyarchuk; postmodernism |
| Description | The bestiary as a genre originated in the Late Antiquity, when a Greek anonymous work called Fysiologus was written. Not only it described animals (both real and mythical), plants and stones, but it also ascribed them their symbolical meaning, which is interpreted using the Bible. Medieval bestiaries have been attractive thanks to their inspirational fantasies and powerful metaphors until today, relating the appearance and character of various creatures to the life of a Christian, teaching him to live properly. Bestiaries are quite close to fables, but whereas a fable is supposed to teach and entertain the reader, the didactic and moral strength of a bestiary consists in the exoticism of depicted creatures and in the horror they cause. In modern literature, this genre is favourite among eccentric modernist writers. Outstanding examples are The Devil´s Little Garden or Natural Science of Spooks (1924) by a Czech writer Josef Váchal or the Book of Imaginary Beings (1957) by Jorge Luis Borges. The present study will be dedicated to the collection of short prose called Bestiary of Words (2009) by Tania Malyarchuk. It will analyse this book from the point of view of the typology and history of a bestiary as a genre. In its second part, the study will focus on the poetry of the Bestiary of Words and on the possibilities of this genre to describe our society. |
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