Papers by Miglena Dikova-Milanova
Литературен вестник, 2024
Bloomsbury Academic eBooks, 2023
Възвишеното е естетическа и философска категория, с която могат да са измерят редица културни със... more Възвишеното е естетическа и философска категория, с която могат да са измерят редица културни състояния и човешки емоции. Възвишеното у Кант например е израз на способността за преодоляване на страха ни от силата на природата и за откриване на моралното ни предназначение. За френския философ Ж-Ф. Лиотар възвишеното предлага изход от задушаващото еднообразие и универсализиран униформизъм на съвременните културни институции – изкуство, обучение, философия, политика. В „Бял шум“ Дон ДеЛило описва нарастващата тревога на професор Джак Гладни и неговия панически страх от смъртта. Основният проблем, който този доклад разглежда, е – как литературният текст успява да пречупи и иронизира философската идея за възвишеното
The presentation will consider some current contested issues in aesthetics surrounding the conten... more The presentation will consider some current contested issues in aesthetics surrounding the content and significance of the 'object of art.' It will focus upon Michel Houellebecq's recent novel, The Map and the Territory, using some central concepts of Kant to access these questions. This approach will show how one can deploy a philosophical network of concepts as an interpretational matrix that challenges the novel's own meaning and conclusions. The philosophical ideas and aesthetic concepts of Kant and the German idealists are especially suitable for such an exercise, because they provide a well-ordered and comprehensive view of both human rationality and external material reality. The clash between philosophical concepts and literary characters staged in this presentation points in some broader and novel directions for aesthetic theory and its practical engagement with contemporary 'objects of art.'
Russian Literature, Oct 1, 2013
Philosophical concepts are traditionally used to explain and analyse literary texts. This article... more Philosophical concepts are traditionally used to explain and analyse literary texts. This article tries to investigate the opposite dependency. Namely, how literary texts and characters could illustrate certain philosophical concepts while re-interpreting, extending and changing their original meaning. In Kant's context speculative (theoretical) rationality operates within strict limits: the visible tangible nature. Speculative reason may dream of overstepping the borders of nature and reaching for the invisible realm of ideas. However, for Kant, such tendencies lead to illusions and distortion of the proper working of human rationality. The extremes of speculative reason, i.e. this reason's hubris, and its dreams, which are unlikely to be realized, have their illustration in the strange supernatural reality described in Bulgakov's novel. This article interprets Satan's actions in Moscow as a direct depiction of what Kant considered to be impossible: the unity of sensible nature and ideas under the rule of speculative reason.
Knjiženstvo, 2020
The article aims to disclose how the encounters with Drainac changed Bagryana's poetry and her pe... more The article aims to disclose how the encounters with Drainac changed Bagryana's poetry and her perception of poetic language and herself. For that purpose the poetry of Bagryana before 1930, mainly the key poems from "The Eternal and Holy", will be analysed. The views expressed in those poetic strophes will be related to Drainac's own poetic texts from the 1920s and his ideas on aesthetics and writing as expressed in the magazine "Hypnos". Then the article will proceed to investigate into Bagryana's 1930-31 poems and the tangible alteration in her wording, images and poetic rhythm. The final underlying question this article attempts to answer is about the struggle of poetic language to reinvent itself while incorporating and reassembling the poet's everyday life and encounters within the poems' structure.
The clash between two different world views can be tragic and lead to insolvable conflicts, or it... more The clash between two different world views can be tragic and lead to insolvable conflicts, or it can make us laugh. The two books explore the rather comic encounter between traditional Bulgarian attitudes and other European cultural settings. ‘Bai Ganyo’ is written at the end of 19th century and belongs to the classics of Bulgarian literature. In its turn, ‘Mission London’ is a contemporary novel set in 21st-century London. Both books however explore the theme of the journey to foreign lands in search for material gain, a better life, a prosperous career and adventure. The times have changed and while Bai Ganyo is convinced that his opinions, habits and home culture are the best possible, Popov’s protagonists are extremely critical of their original cultural background and idolize the possibilities that the better Europe (London) has to offer. Konstantinov’s character is blind to otherness, by contrast, Popov’s Bulgarians are blinded by everything foreign, they are ready to absorb, and be absorb, by difference. Needless to say, both relations to otherness do not work. As a result, the laughter signals the failure to accept, or to be accepted. In his work on difference, the French philosopher J-F Lyotard paints a rather grim picture of non-acceptance and denial. According to him, 'a differend' is a cultural, social, political or legal situation in which somebody is reduced to the status of an absolute victim. That is to say, that somebody does not have the means to voice the different understanding of reality he or she professes. Maybe laughter, despite its shortcomings, is an efficient way to acknowledge cultural otherness and move away from the deadlock of 'the differend'.
The paper examines some aspects of the Eastern Orthodox understanding of the existential gestures... more The paper examines some aspects of the Eastern Orthodox understanding of the existential gestures of self- reflection and self-discovery. In his 'Religio-philosophical Reflections', the contemporary Bulgarian philosopher Kalin Yanakiev returns to, and promotes, the orthodox-christian view on the life of the self. According to Yanakiev, such (in its essence religious) approach to being is a valuable alternative to the more objectified logical perception of life. The religiously inspired sense of the self can free the overly complex modern ego from the suffocating limitations imposed by radical rationality. The severe rationalization of the foundations of being, in Yanakiev’s opinion, lead either to state of permanent depression and suspension of vitality, or to perpetual confusion and bad relativism. Consequently, the paper follows the general outline of Yanakiev’s discourse and confronts the religious sensitivity and world view with these of modern European philosophy. The rationalistic methods of the latter, I argue, are the best exemplified by Immanuel Kant’s ideas on human reason. Kant attempts to rationalize human religious sentiments and declares the supremacy of reason over any empirical religious believe. The question is : is there a middle ground between the extremes of rationality and religion ? Also, could Yanakiev’s view on the intimate, private and happy religious celebration of life and the self offer a way out of certain current rational and political impasses ?
The aim of prison punishment is to bring balance into the social structure. The guilty (the crimi... more The aim of prison punishment is to bring balance into the social structure. The guilty (the criminal) is brought to justice and removed from the flow of ordinary life for a period of time. The desired ethical consequences of the punishment is to protect the rest of society from the dangers of criminal acts. The ethical repercussions of jail punishment for the ones sentenced is to reform their views on right and wrong, on social values and on wrongful action in general. The ideal picture of crime and retribution ends with the moral rebirth of the criminal. However, things can go horribly wrong if the committed crime is the way of life and being of one individual or of an entire group of people. In this latter case, the sentencing becomes a prelude to a postponed unjust execution. While Andrey Rubanov in contemporary Russia clearly identifies his actions as criminal in nature, the poet Osip Mandelstam in Stalin's Soviet Union is fighting a hopeless battle for his life. The poet had not purposively broken a single criminal law. What are the ethical lessons to be learned from the juridical motions for imprisoning a swindler and for sentencing a poet?
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Papers by Miglena Dikova-Milanova
Throughout the article, the sublime is regarded not so much as a purely aesthetic category, but rather as an intricate dynamic human interaction with the inner and outer world that reveals the hidden workings of emotions and thinking in the moments when we transgress the known limits of reality. Ultimately, it is not a pure coincidence that the marks of the sublime could be sensed in theoretical, philosophical and fictional narratives. Those types of narratives aspire to reveal and, if possible, to conquer and explain the boundless and the unknown although their narrative strategies differ.