RUSSIAN, JEWISH OR HUMAN? JEWISH MYSTICAL THOUGHT IN THE POETRY OF BULAT SHALVOVICH OKUDZHAVA
PDF

Keywords

Bulat Shalvovich Okudzhava
poetry
imagology
Jewish mysticism
Jewish philosophy of dialogue

How to Cite

Kornacka-Sareło, K. A. (2018). RUSSIAN, JEWISH OR HUMAN? JEWISH MYSTICAL THOUGHT IN THE POETRY OF BULAT SHALVOVICH OKUDZHAVA. Porównania, 21(2), 197–214. https://doi.org/10.14746/p.2017.21.14001

Abstract

While looking at the literary output of Bulat Shalvovich Okudzhava from the perspective of imagology, one can see that the image of “the Other” in the poems of the Russian bard was created, paradoxically, just by this “Other”, and it was not constructed by the images (imagines) intrinsically present in the consciousness of the ethnocentric “Self” or “The Same”. In other words, in the case of Okudzhava’s poetry, the image of “the Other” stands on the basis of some ideas of Jewish mystics and the ones of Jewish philosophers of dialogue (Martin Buber, Franz Rosenzweig and Emmanuel Lévinas). Therefore, the aim of this article was to present the motifs stemming from Jewish mysticism in the poems-songs by Okudzhava which, as it seems, influenced theological, anthropological and ethical views of the bard. The distinctive feature of Okudzhava’s philosophical approach is perceiving every person, regardless of their ethnic or cultural origin, as a being responsible for themselves in the process of constituting themselves in their humanity. The same person is also responsible for other people, for the world of nature, and even for an impersonal and non-anthropomorphic godhead who does not intervene in human affairs. Therefore, Okudzhava – similarly to Jewish mystics – regards the human being as a co-creator of reality, obliged to perform ethically positive acts and respect an old Kabbalistic postulate tikkun ha-olam - “to mend the world”.

https://doi.org/10.14746/p.2017.21.14001
PDF

References

Berkovits, Eliezer. “Faith after the Holocaust”. Essential Essays on Judaism. Ed. D. Hazony. Jerusalem: Shalem Press, 2002. P. 315-332.

Berkovits, Eliezer. God, Man and History. Ed. D. Hazony. Jerusalem: Shalem Press, 2004.

Baigell, Matthew. “Jewish-American Artists and the Holocaust: The Responses of Two Generations”. In God’s Name: Genocide and Religion in the Twentieth Century. Ed. O. Bartov, P. Mack. New York-Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2001. P. 342-349.

Buber, Martin. “Distance and Relation”. Martin Buber on Psychology and Psychotherapy: Essays, Letters, and

Dialogue. Transl. Ronald Gregor Smith, Syracuse, NY, US: Syracuse University Press, 1999. P. 3-16.

Chosiński, Sebastian. „Zmarł Izaak Szwarc – legendarny radziecki kompozytor”. Web. 10.05.2016. http://esensja.stopklatka.pl/film/publicystyka/tekst.html?id=8811

Dmitriev, Andriei. “Proizrastanie mysli” [The Vegetative Period of Thought]. Samoilov, David. Izbrannoe [Collected Works]. Moskva: Knizhnyi Klub Knigovek, 2014. P. 5–12.

Elior, Rachel. “Tzimtzum: A Kabbalistic Approach to Creation”. Shma: A Journal of Jewish Ideas. Web. 10.05.2016. http://shma.com/2010/01/tzimtzum-a-kabbalistic-approach-to-creation/

Fackenheim, Emil. To Mend the World: Foundation of Post-Holocaust Jewish Thought. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994.

Fine, Lawrence. Physician of the Soul, Healer of the Cosmos: Isaac Luria and His Kabbalistic Fellowship. Stanford: Standford University Press, 2003.

Heschel, Abraham J. God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism. New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 1975.

Ivanova Vera, Manykin Mikhail. “Vladimir Vysotsky (1938-1980)”. Web. 10.06.2016. http://www.russiaic.com/people/general/v/122/

Jonas, Hans. “A Concept of God after Auschwitz: A Jewish Voice”. The Journal of Religion 67, No. 1 (Jan. 1987). P. 1-13.

Lévinas, Emmanuel. Totality and Infinity: An Essay on Exteriority. Transl. Alfonso Lingis. Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press, 1969.

Levitanskii, Iurii. “Kazhdyi vybiraet dlia sebia” [Everyone chooses for himself]. Den’ takoi-to [A usual day]. Moskva: Sovetskiy pisatel’, 1976. P. 101.

Leerssen, Joep. “Imagology: History and method”. Imagology: The Cultural Construction and Literary Representation of National Characters. A Critical Survey. Eds. M. Beller, J. Leerson. Amsterdam-New York:Rodopi, 2007. P. 17-32.

Matt, Daniel C. The Essential Kabbalah: The Heart of Jewish Mysticism. New York: Harper One, 1995.

Okuzdhava, Bulat, “O Volodie Vysotskom”. Web. 08.06.2015 (1). http://www.kulichki.com/vv/ovys/pesni.html

Okudzhava, Bulat. “Pesenka o moiei zhizni”. Web. 10.05.2015 (2). http://www.bards.ru/archives/part.php?id=10368

Okudzhava, Bulat. Zamek nadziei [“The Castle of Hope”]. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 1984.

Podgórzec, Zbigniew, red. Wysocki. Życie i twórczość. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Współpraca, 1989.

Pushkova, Darya. “Prominent Russians: Bulat Okudzhava”. Web. 10.05.2016. http://russiapedia.rt.com/prominent-russians/music/bulat-okudzhava/

Scholem, Gershom. Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism. New York: Schocken Books, 1995.

Sikora, Tomasz. “Aliud valde – wokół idei Hebraizmu Oskara Goldberga” [Aliud valde—Around the Idea of Hebraism by Oskar Goldberg]. Oskar, Goldberg. Rzeczywistość Hebrajczyków. Transl. Tomasz Sikora. Kraków: Nomos, 2012.

Urban-Podolan, Aleksandra. Poezja Bułata Okudżawy. Między poetyką a interpretacją. Zielona Góra: Uniwersytet Zielonogórski, 2008.

Vlady, Marina. Wysocki, czyli przerwany lot. Transl. Kalina Szymanowska. Warszawa: Czytelnik, 1990.

Vysotskii, Vladimir. “Antisemity”. Web. 30.04.2016. http://www.kulichki.com/vv/pesni/zachem-mne-schitatsya-shpanoj.html