Canon, anti-canon and post-canon in the discourse on identity of cultures in central and Eastern Europe (1991-2011)

Bakuła, Bogusław

The article discusses the issues of canon and anti-canon in the debate on identity, tradition and contemporaneity on the basis of chosen examples from literature and arts in Poland, the Czech Republic, Ukraine and Russia. The author distinguishes two basic forms of anti-canon: official (anti-canon which takes part in the culture game) and situational (anti-canon which is a form of harrassment) and three basic attitudes towards the canon: lustrative, essentialist, antiessentialist. The chosen discussion in the four cultural areas provide material for the analysis of the contemporary discourse on identity based on the issue of canon. The last form of canoneity distinguished in the article is the postcanon which functions outside of hitherto undertaken debates on value and identity perceived as ideological. It is a new form of relationship between art and axiology, hierarchy and power, represented by the canon. It is included in the widely understood concept of fluctuating reality, in which the most important aspect is the presence, creativity and experience, whereas the demonstration of position is less valued.


ISSN 1733-165X
Article Title Type Size
Porownania 9 01 01 [pdf] [1.1 MB]