|Generate QR code
Open Access
Subscription Access
A difficult entry into modernity: Tradition as a problem and ethnic narrative
https://doi.org/10.31425/0042-8795-2020-5-13-52
Abstract
Found among the principal subjects of contemporary discursive practice is the persistent metaconflict between a ‘fossilized' ethnopsychology embodied in tradition, and a universalistic spirit of the informational and electronic era. Tradition's primordial characteristic reduces it to an ethnic-protective mentality, but excessive ethnicization supplants the renewal function of tradition as a spiritual resource. A non-archival meaning of tradition, considered in time and dynamics, suggests, along with household ethnography, the willingness and ability to adapt to modernity. The latter tends to promote breaking with tradition as the best stimulant of reforms.
The conflict-inducing nature of the problem results from tradition needing a creative renewal in order to stay as it is, but from the standpoint of modernity it is mainly summed up as falling from temporality, and, consequently, an etymological family, thus turning into an anachronism out of use. The choice of the two canonical as well as the three recently produced works was directed by their focus on the eternal dilemma of ‘tradition vs. novelty.'
About the Author
K. K. Sultanov
A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature, Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Kazbek K. Sultanov - Doctor of Philology.
25A Povarskaya St., Moscow, 121069
References
1. Anchabadze, Y., ed. (2016). Peoples of the Caucasus: Ethnocultural traditions and modernization. Moscow: Tri kvadrata. (In Russ.)
2. Anderson, B. (2001). Imagined communities. Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism. Translated by V. Nikolaev. Moscow: Kanon-Press-TS, Kuchkovo pole. (In Russ.)
3. Benjamin, W. (2000). On the concept of history. Translated by S. Romashko. Novoe Literaturnoe Obozrenie, 6, pp. 81-90. Available at: http://abuss.narod.ru/Biblio/benjamin.htm [Accessed 3 Sept. 2019]. (In Russ.)
4. Boroday, T. (2001). Entelechy. In: V. Stepin, ed., New philosophical ency¬clopaedia (4 vols). Vol. 4. Moscow: Mysl. Available at: https://iphlib.ru/library/collection/newphilenc/document/HASH0194d86f3ba748084f864994 [Accessed 5 Nov. 2019]. (In Russ.)
5. Bourdieu, P. (2000). The literary field. Translated by M. Gronas. Novoe Lite- raturnoe Obozrenie, 5, pp. 22-87. Available at: http://bourdieu.name/content/burde-pole-literatury [Accessed 20 Aug. 2019]. (In Russ.)
6. Chubarian, A., ed. (2014). Theory and methodology of historical science: A dictionary of terms. Moscow: Akvilon. (In Russ.)
7. Dmitriev, V., ed. (2003). Adat. Caucasian cultural circle: Traditions and moder¬nity. Tbilisi, St. Petersburg: MNIINK, Izd. zhurnala ‘Zvezda'. (In Russ.)
8. Eagleton, T. (2019). The idea of culture. Translated by A. Smirnov. 2nd ed. Moscow: Izdatelskiy dom VShE. (In Russ.)
9. Eisenstadt, S. (2010). Disruptions of modernization. Translated by A. Zakharov. Neprikosnovenniy Zapas, 6. Available at: https://magazines.gorky.media/nz/2010/6/sryvy-modernizaczii.html [Accessed 2 Nov. 2019]. (In Russ.)
10. Greenfeld, L. (2012). Nationalism. Five roads to modernity. Translated by T. Gringolts and M. Virozub. Moscow: PER SE. (In Russ.)
11. Greenfeld, L. (2013). Nationalism and consciousness. Translated from English. Gefter.ru, [online] 8 July. Available at: http://gefter.ru/archive/9349 [Accessed 4 Sept. 2019]. (In Russ.)
12. Guardini, R. (1993). End of the modern world. Translated from Italian. In: P. Gurevich, ed., The phenomenon of man: An anthology. Moscow:
13. Vysshaya shkola. Available at: http://yakov.works/libr_min/04_g/va/rdini.htm [Accessed 21 Sept. 2019]. (In Russ.)
14. Hutton, P. (2004). History as an art of memory. Translated by Y. Bystrov. St. Petersburg: Vladimir Dal. Available at: https://www.gumer.info/bibliotek_Buks/History/hatt/index.php [Accessed 6 Sept. 2019]. (In Russ.)
15. Iskander, F. (1999). Stories. A short novel. A fairy tale. A dialogue. Essays. Poems. Yekaterinburg: U-Factoriya. (In Russ.)
16. Karpov, Y., ed. (2010). Traditions of the peoples of the Caucasus in a changing world. Continuity and gaps in social practices: A collection of papers marking L. Lavrov's 100th birth anniversary. St. Petersburg: Peterburgskoe vostokovedenie. (In Russ.)
17. Kapiev, E. (1945). A poet. Moscow: GIKhL. (In Russ.)
18. Kapiev, E. (1956). Notebooks. Moscow: Sovetskiy pisatel. (In Russ.)
19. Koselleck, R. (2014). Recurring structures in language and history. Translated by P. Dyachkina. Gefter. ru, [online] 4 Aug. Available at: http://gefter.ru/archive/12764 [Accessed 25 Aug. 2019]. (In Russ.)
20. Lipovetsky, M. (2011). ‘Famous Chegem cunning.' Fazil Iskander's strange idyll. Kontinent, 150. Available at: https://magazines.gorky.media/continent/2011/150/znamenitoe-chegemskoe-lukavstvo.html [Accessed 23 Aug. 2019]. (In Russ.)
21. Makhlin, V. (2017). A matter of reading. In memoriam: Sergey Bocharov. Voprosy Literatury, 6, pp. 9-33. (In Russ.)
22. Mannheim, K. (2010). Selected works: Diagnosis of our time. Translated from German and English. Moscow: RAO Govoryashchaya kniga. (In Russ.)
23. Marquard, O. (2003). The age of world alienation? Translated by E. Libman. Otechestvennye Zapiski, 6. Available at: http://www.strana-oz.ru/2003/6/epoha-chuzhdosti-miru [Accessed 12 Sept. 2019]. (In Russ.)
24. Megill, A. (2005). History and memory: pro et contra. Translated by M. Kukartseva. Filosofiya i Obshchestvo, 39(2), pp. 132-165. (In Russ.)
25. Melikhov, A. (2013). What will never disappoint us? Druzhba Narodov, 12. Available at: https://magazines.gorky.media/druzhba/2013/12/chto-nas-ne-razocharuet.html [Accessed 5 Sept. 2019]. (In Russ.)
26. Platonov, A. (1937). Pushkin and Gorky. Literaturniy Kritik, 6. Available at: https://ruslit.traumlibrary.net/book/platonov-ss08-08/platonov-ss08-08.html#s001015 [Accessed 19 Oct. 2019]. (In Russ.)
27. Platonov, A. (2006). Notebooks. Materials for the biography. 2nd ed. Moscow: IMLI RAN. (In Russ.)
28. Putintsev, V. and Elsberg, Y., eds. (1954). A. I. Herzen on art. Moscow: Iskusstvo. (In Russ.)
29. Tishkov, V. and Filippova, E., eds. (2016). Cultural complexity of modern nations. Moscow: ROSSPEN. (In Russ.)
30. Valery, P. (1976). The crisis of the spirit. Translated by A. Efros. In: P. Valery, On art. Moscow: Iskusstvo. Available at: https://www.gumer.info/bibliotek_Buks/Culture/valeri/ob_isk.php [Accessed 10 Oct. 2019]. (In Russ.)
Review
For citations:
Sultanov K.K. A difficult entry into modernity: Tradition as a problem and ethnic narrative. Voprosy literatury. 2020;(5):13-52. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.31425/0042-8795-2020-5-13-52
Views:
381
Email this article 
