memory

The article dwells on Atanas Natev’s lifetime contributive research on the essence of aesthetic experience. It explores some of his most well-known publications on the forms of interaction between literature and society, as well as the dynamics and multiplicity of the reception of a literary product across a national culture. In addition, the paper tries to limn the contours of authorial intention in the long 20th century, offering insights into the controversial paths of the development of Bulgarian fiction and critical theory. We should also like to propound a strategy for perusing the matter of aesthetic responsibility through a closer look at Nikolay Haytov in view of Mikhail Bakhtin’s polemical perception of the content, material, and form of a literary work as founded on living experience.

The paper analyzes the place and the social roles allotted to intellectuals in post-totalitarian societies, with a special focus on the Czech situation. From the sources relevant to the topic, the choice here falls on Václav Havel’s public speeches since they offer particularly rich study material. Attention is paid to the political, social, and cultural contexts that have served as a stimulus for each of the analyzed texts, as well as the intention, implicit in them, to model the environment in which they are to function. The paper also touches upon the themes of historical and cultural memory, personal choice, the intellectuals’ resignation, and the sense of cultural isolationism, among others.

The paper interprets the critical (and readers’) success of Georgi Gospodinov's novel “Time Selter”, linking it to the potential crisis of contemporary liberal consciousness. Richard Rorty's concept in his book “Chance, Irony, and Solidarity” (1989) is used as a theoretical approach to defining liberal cultural consciousness. The article analyses the asymmetry in the representation of private self-creation and the construction of collective forms of identity. The main focus is on the workings of memory and the different modes in which the past functions in the construction of private and collective identity.

The text is both analytical and reminiscent reflection of the author on the genesis and then the reception of his novel, Time Shelter (2020). He focuses on his research in the field of memory loss diseases and their treatment and his delving into the traumatic past of 20th century that crystallized especially in one day: 1st September 1939 when everyday life became history. Among the various reactions after the publication of the novel, he focuses on two academic discussions: a theosophical one in the frame of Biblico Festival (Vicenza, Italy), and another one on memory loss and personal stories organized by the Department of Psychology, Bologna University. He also examines (not without a certain sense of humor) the effect of being awarded with the International Booker Prize 2023 for Time Shelter. In an ironic key, the title of the text is an allusion to M. Houellebecq’s title ‘Extension du domaine de la lutte’ (translated in English as ‘Whatever’).