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The avant-garde literary group OBĖRIU, with its poetics of the absurd, alogism and grotesque, had a great influence on later Soviet Russian literature and on neo-avant-garde movements as well. This paper investigates the connection between OBĖRIU and the neo-avant-garde of the 1970s and 1980s, especially by comparing two representatives of these different ‘ages’ of avant-garde – Daniil Kharms and Dmitrii Prigov. The analysis will focus particularly on the genre of the anecdote, with which they both experimented. After tracing the heritage of OBĖRIU poetics in Conceptualism and in the work of Prigov, who was interested in the form of Kharmsian prose miniatures, the paper will compare the well-known Anecdotes from the Life of Pushkin by Kharms (1937) with a series of quasi-hagiographical texts, Stories about Stalin, by Prigov (1975-1989). These bizarre sketches have several common features related to the genre, the formal structure, and the stylistic devices employed. Despite some striking parallels, however, the analysis will demonstrate that Kharms and Prigov have two different approaches to understanding deconstruction of myths, the grotesque, and the absurd.

What serves as a starting point for the article are theses regarding the analogy in legal acts and regulations -- the rule analogy and the precedent analogy. What in turn serves as its point of reference are theses concerning cultural schematization, which include narrative patterns of myth, general (universal) history, and individual history. The legal rule and precedent analogies may be considered as argumentative and narrative strategies. The precedent analogy plays an important role in contemporary, modernist, individualized biographical and autobiographical micronarratives. In fact, the anecdote and the episode may be examined as examples of the precedent analogy. In the contemporary humanities, as well as in the social sciences, the presence of "travelling concepts" has been observed (Mieke Bal). The "episode" and the "anecdote" can be seen as examples of this inter- and trans-disciplinary concept. With this in mind, the article poses questions regarding the argumentation that refers the anecdotal and the episodic in microhistories, especially in particular, individual histories, and, above all, in subjective (auto)biographies. The terms "episode" and "anecdote" pertain to two different modes of describing that which is instant, short-lived, and seemingly included in the allegedly coherent historical whole. The former refers to an extraordinary event that constitutes a breach and disrupts the much sought-after temporal and semantic coherence which helps give meaning to events. The anecdote, by contrast, confirms this coherence (which includes alleged historical purposefulness and necessity) along with a revealed sense. What serves as a crucial context for the reflections presented in the article is the theory put forward by Max van Manen in Phenomenology of Practice. Meaning-Giving Methods in Phenomenological Research and Writing. In his applied phenomenology, van Manen proposes an argumentative reference to the history of an individual subject -- to biography, which he recognizes not only as a documentary testimony to individual existence, but also as an "anecdote" -- an example of a general subjective attitude. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The anecdote is a borderline case of literature and literarily constructed living speech (parole). Its specific poetics, viewed from the “aspect” of literature, is arresting for its endurance (owed among others to the participation of unconscious factors). Meanwhile, from the “aspect” of fictional techniques, the anecdote shows itself as an element of rhetorical strategies. The anecdotal phrase would thus mean stepping beyond the strict rules of discursive communication towards imposition of suggestions. Namely, the anecdote is usually a veiled critical statement that acts subliminally. By combining components of information with sceptical intent it undermines this content. Its thrust is often directed against the lofty pretensions and pathos under which authority presents itself to the world. The anecdote brings the scintillation and duality of human motivation to the image of the world as a part of its unique strategy of subversion. Keywords

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Copyright of Autobiografia is the property of University of Szczecin Press / Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Szczecinskiego and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Ziel: Der vorliegende Beitrag zielt auf die Analyse der auf dem polnischen Gebiet ersten Renaissancebiografie – Vita et mores Gregorii Sanocei von Callimachus. Forschungsmethode: Man unternahm die Kompositionsanalyse und wies auf die Anekdoten im Werk hin, die als eines der wichtigsten Elemente einer antiken Biografie gelten und an die Callimachus direkt anknüpfte. Ergebnisse/Schlussfolgerungen: Eine so angestellte Analyse schildert nicht nur die Rezeption der antiken Vorbilder in der Renaissancezeit, sondern auch die Nutzung der Form einer Anekdote, die sich seit dem Altertum kaum verändert hat. Das Werk Callimachus’ hat eine zweiteilige Struktur – der erste Teil erinnert an die tradierte chronologische Biografie Plutarchs, der zweite an die thematische Biografie Svetonius’. Die Anekdoten im Werk erfüllen die gleichen Funktionen wie in den antiken Werken. Erfolgreich realisieren sie ihre Aufgaben unter neuen Umständen und mit einem neuen Helden, d.i. einem polnischen Magnaten im 15. Jahrhundert.

The following article is devoted to anecdotes on Demosthenes and consists of two parts. The first one is an introduction to the anecdotes themselves. Starting with a short biography of the pre-eminent Greek speaker, it discusses the rest of the content of a manuscript which clearly shows awakened interest in Antiquity. Consequently, the biography itself becomes a subject. Later the reception of Diogenes Laertius's Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers is briefly discussed, highlighting the influence and evolution of ancient authors and ancient thought on, among others, Poggio Bracciolini and Petrarch. Then the author some introductory remarks on Renaissance attempts to translate and exemplify a stylised biography of the philosopher in Polish tradition. One of these attempts was made by Filippo Buonaccorsi, called "Callimachus", who composed the Life of Gregory of Sanok, the archbishop of Lviv. Finally, the author poses the question of why Demosthenes appeared as a character interesting both in terms of a biography and anecdotes. According to Turasiewicz, it seems that people were filled with the ideals of Athenian democracy and let themselves be somehow charmed by the eloquence of Demosthenes. This did not happen through flattery but through honesty and clarity of thought and due to the idea of a kind of sacrifice entailed in the orator's speeches. An admiration for the speaker's political views was reflected not only in a golden wreath but mainly in the silent approval of the struggle for political sovereignty at the expense of "money, pleasure and life." The wise people of Athens accepted without objection reprimand and instructions uttered by the speaker, but they did it only because it was honest criticism supported by reasonable arguments. With the fall of Constantinople, the works of Demosthenes returned to Europe and thanks to Byzantine scholars he found himself again in the humanist circles of the Renaissance Italy. Elizabeth I, Jan Ostroróg, Georges Clemenceau, Friedrich Nietzsche-these are just a few of the important people who found themselves influenced by him. The introductory notes are followed by the second part of the paper, which consists of a translation of the anecdotes. Enriched with necessary footnotes, the translation attempts to provide an interesting insight into Demosthenes' personality, since one might find there not only stories praising his qualities but also some anecdotes on his faults. All in all, the reader is left with a thorough, though not comprehensive, image of the famous Athenian orator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anecdotes are classified as narratives and examined as the kind of epic prose by folklorists. This article's aim is to show that contemporary anecdotes based on dialogues are much more similar to the dramatic rather than epic oeuvre, according to cycle of anecdotes about Petriukas. Discussing about the compositional models, close tone to the dramatic nature of the remarks is being showed in a narrative. It emerged, that only the information function was left to narrator, while plotting and characterizing functions were intercepted by dialogues, comparing the narrator's and character's functions. Dramatic function is also intense in dialogues, in addition to these two functions. Anecdotes about Petriukas are dominated not by epic, but by conflicting dramatic dialogues, which are created by a help of appositionally placed characters. The fact that Petriukas having ambivalent features as a trickster could lead him to both positive and negative side of the opposition. In many cases the dialogues are polysemous, based on contexts' junctions, whereas the deciding factor to the comic is contacts with addressee, as in oeuvres of dram [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]