Adizbaeva D. Zh. Cand.Phil.Sci., professor KazNAU;
A.Zh. Shoibekova S.D.Asfendiyarov KazNMU; Zh. F. Shalabaeva Kaz NAU,
Kazakhstan, Almaty
The problem of research of a carnival as mechanism of
communication of subjects of culture and as one of compound in definition of
its philosophical culturological status is shown in this article.In a carnival
various communication processes are staticized. The carnival is a manifestation
extramental the person of phenomenological dialogue in the form of humorous
culture. The carnival in different forms existed and "ruled the
world" at all times.
Problem
of research of a carnival as mechanism of communication of subjects of culture
– one of compound in definition of its
philosophical culturological status. As
a result of the conducted research we came to a conclusion that in a carnival
various communication processes which
set can be presented in the form of the structure including three levels are staticized. Autocommunication
and interpersonal communication belong to the first level. At the second level are group and mass
communication. And, at last, at the third level — the cross-cultural
communication connected with synchronous interaction existing in at one time
cultures and broadcast of cultural experience. From our point of view, such
association of various ways of communication allows to speak about universality
of a carnival as mechanism of communication of subjects of culture. Within a carnival the situation of
phenomenological dialogue as unalienated interpersonal communication and
effective way of development of valuable semantic layers of various cultures is
possible.Carnival - a type of mass national festival with street processions
and the dramatized games. Word "carnival", apparently, Romance origin
(compare Latin "carnelevamen", Milanese dialect -
"carnelevale", Italian "carnevale", French
"carnaval"). Explaining to his etymology express important semantic
tints: the name "carnival" is associated with the Latin phrase of
"Carni vale dico" ("I say goodbye with meat") or
combination of words of "Carnislevamen" from a "sago"
(meat) and "levare" (to renounce) is time in which on church canons
believers renounce theconsumption of meat. In the beginning a period was so
named from Epiphany (holiday of Three Tsars) to beginning of Lent. Actually by
a carnival, in obedience to the Explanatory dictionary of French to Letter,
night was named on the eve of the Ash-colored environment, in the north of
Italy so in Middle ages named the first days of Lent. However, some scientists
erect the origin of term "carnival" to the late Latin name of
representing a ship festive chariot of "carrusnavalis".
Here the
etymology given by M. M. Bakhtin:
«<...> carnival
processions were comprehended sometimes in the Middle Ages, especially in the
German countries, as processions of the discredited pagan gods. Antique
(ancient) gods of<...> play a
role of the discredited tsar of a Saturnalia. It is characteristic that else in the second half of the XIX
century a number of the German scientists protected the German origin of the
word "carnival", making it from "Kagp" (or
"Herth") that "the consecrated place" (i.e. a pagan
community — gods and their attendants) and from "val" means (or
"wal") that "dead", "killed" means. The carnival,
thus, meant <...> "procession of the died gods". So, "dance of death" =
"procession of the died gods". In Ancient Rome annually, since
December 17, a Saturnalia - a holiday in memory of the mythical "Golden
Age" which came in Latin when there god Saturn governed consulted.
Despite historical and geographical distinctions, at all stages of the
existence the carnival keeps an essence of idea of a Saturnalia: "the
world topsy-turvy", the change of an appearance allowing to break for
short time the norms obligatory in daily circumstances. The carnival had impact
on development of various forms of folk art and literature.Characteristic for a
carnival "peculiar, logic of incessant movements of top and a bottom
("wheel"), persons and the back, the logic of parodies and the travesty, decrease,
profanations and dethronements"
(M. M. Bakhtin) received reflection in creativity of F. Rabelais, I. Bosch and
many other masters, up to representatives of the West European romanticism.
According to legends of church historians, these days raved, that is put
on themselves masks (mask), suits, and men in women's suits, sometimes men
dressed up in quite strange suits more terrible to seem, and such masking was
the cause of the most cheerful revelry, fury and debauchery in which, to shame
of that time, women took part. Ancient pagan rites of a Saturnalia were given
new shapes; from Italy they passed into other Christian countries where samples
for imitation were and where domestic customs mixed up with them.
Prior to the
beginning of the XIII century carnival holidays according to agrarian works
made winter, spring and autumn cycles. About agricultural cults of antiquity
the, X to the XIII century, gradually regenerated in a classical carnival of
the Middle Ages. Coordination with a church calendar became its main feature.
Now the spring carnival passed on the eve of - the Lent and came to an end
"fat Tuesday". Ritual activity of a winter cycle concentrated in a
12-day interval between Christmas and the Epiphany.The semantic structure of a
medieval carnival always included a phase accruing "fillings" and a
phase of abundance and triumph, i.e. actually the carnival which was coming to
the end with a post and clarification. Its indispensable attribute - populous
procession though it is necessary to notice that in the Middle Ages of a
procession were favourite cultural action, and not only in the last,
"carnival", week of the Lent. In France wide fame was gained by the
processions dated for the Rise celebration. Processions during which carried
the image of the dragon won by "archangel Mikhail" proceeded some
days. The decline of this wonderful tradition begins in the XVIII century.
About any popularity of processions and processions and about that, how seriously
treated national culture in medieval Italy testifies that fact that time of
carrying out and nature of actions was strictly fixed in laws (statutes) of
city and rural communes. Processions differed on structure and structure of
participants.
As a rule, carnival
procession on the eve of the Lent began in craft quarters, bypassing then a
market square, a cathedral, the palace of the bishop, the house of sovereign
persons, and went beyond city walls where the big feast was arranged. The
procession took out the Death effigy made of the blood-stained shroud and
filled by rotten straw from the city. The carnival served as magic guarantee of
future populousness and the future prosperity of the medieval city.
As well as all
European folklore culture of the XIII-XVI centuries, a carnival developed within difficult cultural unity.
Having got in the XII century to the European city, pagan rite made close
contact with others, the subcultures developing parallel to it: university,
shop, courtois and, first of all, the church.
The city carnival differs with
a rural cult, gradually turning into a kind of city leisure. In Renaissance the
carnival finally turns into an esthetic event, becoming more and more
magnificent and spectacular and gaining theatrical character. In Europe the
Venetian carnivals, and in the XVIII century, during decline of Venice at that
time were best-known, the Roman carnivals became most noticeable.
It is known that clowns in the
Middle Ages united in shops. The shop is a form of institutional protection.
They provided certain actions, key of which - an annual Holiday of Fools (in
France). For it ritual destruction of a social order was characteristic.
Everything was interchanged the position - it was possible to criticize anyone,
except the king. And the church protected this institute. There were even works
of clergymen which proved need of its preservation. The tradition of this
holiday goes back to ancient rituals - to the Roman Saturnalia which main line
consisted that misters and slaves were interchanged the position.
I.e., the social order besides turned over. The holiday of footmen
in Ancient Babylon was same according to the contents. The most different
cultures give examples of ritual shift of a social order. Thus, "the
holiday of fools" is only an echo, heritage of more ancient rituals.
In Russia of "a holiday
of fools" wasn't. Clowns and buffoons a hook weren't institutionally
protected as their colleague in Western Europe. Similar function at us was
carried out by foolishes. And, it is interesting to note that the culture of
craziness came to Russia from the West, - so first canonized foolish was the
native of the western lands. In the Western Europe clowns appear from VIII-IX
centuries. And craziness gains distribution late enough - since the XIV
century. Foolishes carried out the same function, as clowns are there were
persons who obviously put themselves out of a social order. They achieved it in
the external ways - clothes, behavior, food; a main goal was to show that they
others, not such as all also stand out of the social order criticized by them.
As M. Bakhtin wrote: "Craziness... there is some kind of form, some kind
of estheticism, but as if with the return sign". They were protected by
both the church authorities, and secular. Also there was a craziness very long
- it died under ice of Neva in 1916 in the person of the last foolish of the
aged man - Grigory Rasputin. And though foolishes were protected, and buffoons
were exposed to persecutions, nevertheless, the humorous culture in Russia
carried out the function similar western, but peculiar: in the general culture,
public opinion, mass consciousness it took a place "out of" and
"sideways". As it stood out of a social order, the powers that be
when it was necessary to change them in this order something resorted to its
help. It is possible to remember that introduction by Ivan the Terrible happened through a carnival, ridicule of
the existing order. This historic fact is well illustrated in Sergey
Eisenstein's movie "Ivan the Terrible". I.e., to destroy an order, it
is necessary to jump out in a certain zone where possibilities of the new
future - in a zone of chaos open, laughter; to designate the exit in a zone of
other future, to mark it with this humorous culture, and then to return back.
The same was undertaken by Peter I, creating the humorous cathedral - to change
a social order, he "jumped out" in a chaos zone, behind a mask of
humorous culture made changes, I forgot then about conventions.
So, all western institution of
"carnival" is also based on that that laugh when - it "is
possible", addresses in it "is possible" - with such on such
number — and in it its radical difference from the Russian tradition of
humorous culture more precisely when most it "is impossible" owing to
the special formalized permission to time. Of course, and the Russian tradition
knows the Christmas-tide, knows Buttered Week before the Lent. However
Orthodoxy didn't test anything similar to Franciscan revolution and, we will
notice, "laughter" and until now appears in the authorized catalog of
sins of which the Orthodox Christian has to repent.
M. M. Bakhtin who couldn't but
realize so significant distinctions, nevertheless, built the Russian philosophy
of laughter on reflections about Rabelais and other phenomena of the West
European tradition. It is possible to object, certainly: he reflected on such
Russian subject as Gogol's humour. For Bakhtin important that "the
Ukrainian bursa sky laughter was the remote Kiev echo of western "risispaschalis".
Obviously, for creation of the Russian utopia of the laughter self-sufficient
and autocratic, life-giving and pure, Bakhtin was in great need in otherness of
the West.
Having returned to a subject of world humorous culture in one note, he
more didn't speak neither about the Middle Ages, nor about Rabelais any
more. L. E. Pinsky noted in due
time that the idea of the personality,
seemingly western, is shown at Bakhtin on works of the Russian writer
Dostoyevsky, and idea of conciliarity, seemingly Russian - on works of the
western writer Rabelais. But after all not only by acceptable rules of the game
the word "conciliarity" for Bakhtin's book is tabooed: it is
lexically incompatible with the word "laughter". Bakhtin's thought
with need was attracted to removal of some quite Russian problem perhaps
further out of limits of the Russian context. Known reaction of A. F. Losevto
Bakhtin’s interpretation of Rabelais
practically reminded of this Russian context, or, better to say, through it
this context reminded of itself. So, as A. Gurevich notices, M. M. Bakhtin
"almost thought up everything".
Thus, we are as if presented
by M. M. Bakhtin with a choice - or it is necessary to recognize system
imperfection of its communication culturological concept, or to try to answer a
question of why the basis of research of national humorous culture elected by
him material, so contrast and alien for the Russian culture. These
contradictions induce us to address once again to the primary source - not to
M. M. Bakhtin, and to Rabelais. And, first of all, we will note that Rabelais's
book on party positive and negative at all desire doesn't share.
Development and cultures, and
the identity of the person is carried out on a joint of two various systems of
representation, sign and to sign, figurative and evident and effective,
presented, in particular, by official and national humorous culture. During
medieval carnivals the content of "official culture", religious
ideals was also exposed to "decrease" through derision, parodying,
andthe translation into language of "a corporal bottom". The ritual
laughter was directed on the highest:
shamed and mocked at the sun (the highest god), other gods, and the
higher terrestrial authority to force them to be updated. Official state and
religious texts were expressed in parody images of vulgar culture, vulgar
gestures. Overcoming of a gap between the content of "official
culture" and the semantic sphere of the personality was result. Mocked and
the reduced values became closer and clear, and observance of norms which were
rejected and destroyed during a carnival - more natural. Contact became
possible due to refusal of a sign form. As a result refusal of the principle of
significance as a protest against official culture led to its acceptance
through assimilation. Is result of a carnival that Bakhtin, development of the
culture due to destruction of unambiguity, rigidity of forms, completeness
highlighted. Structural elements of a carnival are shown, on the one hand, and
with another - will organize structure of consciousness i.e. in order that
these structures were embodied in a certain cultural form, they have to exist
in human consciousness. Through derision and violation of norms of people
masters culture both in historical scale, and in the course of individual
development.
The principle of action and the direction of carnival
changes is additional in relation to other interesting process -
psychoanalysis.
The main mechanism of carnival images, carnival in general - acceptance
through rejection, the birth through destruction - is symbolical realization of
the process described by Freud when murder of the father led to identification
with it and to acceptance at the level of the identity of the ban existing as
external. In this plan the carnival is opposite to process of the
psychoanalysis directed on acceptance by the individual of own, forced-out in
unconscious feelings, thoughts, memoirs connected with realization of instincts
It. "On a place It has to become I", - Freud claimed, and
manifestation of instincts has to be most subordinated to control of
consciousness, but notextramental censorship Over - I. No full merge of official culture and
national, consciousnesses and unconscious hardly perhaps and it is hardly
desirable.
On the structural and
substantial features, on function and the had effect action of a carnival forms
complementary couple in relation to process to psychoanalysis. Both in one, and
in other case there is a movement between different forms of representation,
reflection levels, in one case culture levels, in the friend - levels of
individual mentality.
Psychoanalysis and a carnival can be presented as opposite
processes by means of which the movement from unconscious to consciousness,
from the individual to weight, from natural level to the cultural is made.
Contact between those elements of the contents which don't seek for contact is
as a result reached and are focused on "the monological mode" of
existence that defines the compulsory nature of a carnival and psychoanalysis
assuming inevitable overcoming of resistance.
The carnival and psychoanalysis are also included in uniform
process • adaptations and developments as which model the autocommunication
mechanism as transfers of the message described by M. Yu. Lotman in one system
leading to emergence of new meanings acts.
At the level of culture and at the level of the personality there is a
continuous change of the dominating description language - system of the used
codes, the movement up - from to sign level to sign and down, from sign to sign
that leads to complication of system, generation of new meanings and
accumulation of information
Counter flows are crossed at
the level of ordinary consciousness and other intermediate, media even
educations which the carnival and psychoanalysis. Substantial and structural
proximity of carnival culture and unconscious It such is that it is possible to
assume that the speech in general goes about the same phenomenon. At the same
time other couple, the personality and official culture don't form unity,
keeping among themselves a big or smaller distance.
"The free combination of
details in the new, forbidden for the existing culture model combinations is
creativity. If the world given to the person is reflected in system of signs,
creativity, creating new, unprecedented signs, destabilizes the old world and
creates the new. Therefore at creativity — two persons: laughter and mutiny.
Their relationship reveals in the general merge in elements of a carnival. The
laughter is connected with the world mobile, creative, with the world open for
freedom of judgments. The carnival releases thought. And the carnival has one
more face — a mutiny face".So, the "many-sided" carnival is,
certainly, both the culture phenomenon, and a protest form, and a lot of things
many other things. However, first of all, in our opinion, the carnival is a
manifestation extramental the person of phenomenological dialogue in the form
of humorous culture. The carnival in different forms existed and "ruled
the world" at all times.
References
1.
Random House Webster s Dictionary (The dictionary of English Webster) -
USA: Random House, 2001.-864 p.
2.
Bakhtin of M. M. Problem of the text in linguistics, philology and other
humanities. Experience of the philosophical analysis.//M. M. Bakhtin. Esthetics
of verbal creativity. M.:Art,1979. – p.286-287,304
3.
Karpova O. Memento Dei carnival
SveetEvangeliya ¹ 7 (453) 15. 02 04
4.
Bakhtin M. M. Questions of literature and esthetics. Researches of
different years. M, 1975, p 487.
5.
Bakhtin M. M. Literary critiques. M, 1986, page 513-514 ("If the
people on the square don't laugh...").
6.
6 .Averintsev S. S. Bakhtin and the Russian attitude towards laughter
the Collection in honor of E. M. Meletinsky's 75 anniversary. - M, 1993. - Page
341-345