Metarealism
Encyclopedia
Metarealism is a direction in Russian poetry and art that was born in the 1970s to the 1980s. The term was first used by Mikhail Epshtein
, who coined it in 1981 and made it public in the Soviet magazine "Voprosy Literatury" in 1983; see below his "Theses on Metarealism and Conceptualism" from 1983 and the following years http://www.emory.edu/INTELNET/e.pm.concept.metareal.html Also: Third Wave: The New Russian Poetry. Ed. K. Johnson & S. M. Ashby. Preface by M. Epshtein, A. Wachtel, A. Parshchikov
. University of Michigan Press, 1992 ISBN 0472064150, p. 10, 53, 184 http://books.google.com/books?id=czhO4m4yjZUC&pg=RA1-PA173&lpg=RA1-PA173&dq=metarealism+poetry&source=web&ots=9zVPX-rMeG&sig=gKOXtyHheDWHsGEgc15Vh1Gknf4#PPP1,M1, Tom Epstein's essay «Metarealism» in the anthology Crossing Centuries: The New Generations in Russian Poetry. Ed. High, John. NY: Talisman House Pub., 2000 ISBN 1883689902, ISBN 9781883689902, p. 87-89, and Marjorie Perloff
"Russian Postmodernism: An Oxymoron?" in Postmodern Culture, Volume 3, # 2, January 1993 http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/postmodern_culture/v003/3.2perloff.html.
M. Epshtein insists that in its philosophic dimension metarealism is "metaphysical
realism," while "stylistically" metarealism is "metaphorical" realism. (See the most detailed explanation and exposition of this term in Epshtein's articles "Theses on Metarealism and Conceptualism" http://www.emory.edu/INTELNET/e.pm.concept.metareal.html, "A Catalogue of the New Poetries" (Russian version) http://modernpoetry.by.ru/proekt/epshtein.htm and in its English version http://www.emory.edu/INTELNET/e.pm.catalog.poetry.html Thus, "meta" means both "through" and "beyond" the reality that we all can see; hence, "metarealism" is the realism of the hyperphysical nature of things. The main expression of its essence is given through a non-visual metaphor
or, according to another Epshtein's term, a "metabola" (rather than hyperbole
), that means "transfer" or "transition," opening many dimensions. [See part 3 in http://modernpoetry.by.ru/proekt/epshtein.htm. "Metabola" is different from the symbol
or a "visual" metaphor, because it assumes the interosculation of realities. See: M.Epshtein. After the Future: the Paradoxes of Postmodernism & Contemporary Russian Culture. University of Massachusetts Press, 1995, 416 p. ISBN 0-87023-973-2, ISBN 0-87023-974-0, pp. 40-50. Metarealism has very little to do with surrealism
, since it appeals to the superconscious and not to the subconscious
, thus opening up a many-dimensional perception of the world.
, sub mental symbolism of the art form an avocation
of the soul that has little in common with the interdimensional identity of the self.
Conscious or mental art is inspired from the higher self, and is a channel for the dictation of the conscious science of art, instead of being simply a lower form of self-expression, a cultural artifact of relative value.
The mental artist has little need for unconscious expression and directs his creative "expiration" toward the exploration of higher consciousness through his art, rather than simply entertaining a fictitious role, in part to quell the domineering impulses of the soul, and in part for the recognition of his peers. Art in its astral form belongs to our kind of civilization. We still need its contention that there is more to reality than appears at first sight.
Mikhail Epstein
Mikhail Naumovich Epstein is an American literary theorist and critical thinker. He is Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Cultural Theory and Russian Literature at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia...
, who coined it in 1981 and made it public in the Soviet magazine "Voprosy Literatury" in 1983; see below his "Theses on Metarealism and Conceptualism" from 1983 and the following years http://www.emory.edu/INTELNET/e.pm.concept.metareal.html Also: Third Wave: The New Russian Poetry. Ed. K. Johnson & S. M. Ashby. Preface by M. Epshtein, A. Wachtel, A. Parshchikov
Alexei Parshchikov
Alexei Maximovich Parshchikov was a Russian poet, critic, and translator.Born in Olga, Primorsky Krai, Russian SFSR to the family of a famous physician, Maxim Reiderman , and a surgeon, L.S. Parschikova, Parshchikov was raised in the Ukrainian SSR and attended the Kiev Academy of Agriculture...
. University of Michigan Press, 1992 ISBN 0472064150, p. 10, 53, 184 http://books.google.com/books?id=czhO4m4yjZUC&pg=RA1-PA173&lpg=RA1-PA173&dq=metarealism+poetry&source=web&ots=9zVPX-rMeG&sig=gKOXtyHheDWHsGEgc15Vh1Gknf4#PPP1,M1, Tom Epstein's essay «Metarealism» in the anthology Crossing Centuries: The New Generations in Russian Poetry. Ed. High, John. NY: Talisman House Pub., 2000 ISBN 1883689902, ISBN 9781883689902, p. 87-89, and Marjorie Perloff
Marjorie Perloff
Marjorie Perloff is an Austrian-born U.S. poetry critic.Perloff was born Gabriele Mintz into a secularized Jewish family in Vienna. Faced with Nazi terror, her family emigrated in 1938 when she was six-and-a-half, going first to Zürich and then to the United States, settling in Riverdale, New York...
"Russian Postmodernism: An Oxymoron?" in Postmodern Culture, Volume 3, # 2, January 1993 http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/postmodern_culture/v003/3.2perloff.html.
M. Epshtein insists that in its philosophic dimension metarealism is "metaphysical
Metaphysics
Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world, although the term is not easily defined. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:...
realism," while "stylistically" metarealism is "metaphorical" realism. (See the most detailed explanation and exposition of this term in Epshtein's articles "Theses on Metarealism and Conceptualism" http://www.emory.edu/INTELNET/e.pm.concept.metareal.html, "A Catalogue of the New Poetries" (Russian version) http://modernpoetry.by.ru/proekt/epshtein.htm and in its English version http://www.emory.edu/INTELNET/e.pm.catalog.poetry.html Thus, "meta" means both "through" and "beyond" the reality that we all can see; hence, "metarealism" is the realism of the hyperphysical nature of things. The main expression of its essence is given through a non-visual metaphor
Metaphor
A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels." Metaphor may also be used for any rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via...
or, according to another Epshtein's term, a "metabola" (rather than hyperbole
Hyperbole
Hyperbole is the use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech. It may be used to evoke strong feelings or to create a strong impression, but is not meant to be taken literally....
), that means "transfer" or "transition," opening many dimensions. [See part 3 in http://modernpoetry.by.ru/proekt/epshtein.htm. "Metabola" is different from the symbol
Symbol
A symbol is something which represents an idea, a physical entity or a process but is distinct from it. The purpose of a symbol is to communicate meaning. For example, a red octagon may be a symbol for "STOP". On a map, a picture of a tent might represent a campsite. Numerals are symbols for...
or a "visual" metaphor, because it assumes the interosculation of realities. See: M.Epshtein. After the Future: the Paradoxes of Postmodernism & Contemporary Russian Culture. University of Massachusetts Press, 1995, 416 p. ISBN 0-87023-973-2, ISBN 0-87023-974-0, pp. 40-50. Metarealism has very little to do with surrealism
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
, since it appeals to the superconscious and not to the subconscious
Subconscious
The term subconscious is used in many different contexts and has no single or precise definition. This greatly limits its significance as a definition-bearing concept, and in consequence the word tends to be avoided in academic and scientific settings....
, thus opening up a many-dimensional perception of the world.
What is metarealism?
Metarealism is synonymous to metaconscience, which means beyond psychological consciousness, beyond a subjective psychological polarized view of reality. Metarealism seeks to depict the reality which exist beyond that psychological subjective perspective. Metarealism proposes not only to communicate further than the pictorial aspect of the perception of other dimension of reality, but also the essence of those dimensions and their relation to us as human beings. Metarealism then becomes a tool for the evolution of consciousness; just like in the old days artists painted sacred art to depict their vision of the reality they perceived, through their spiritual interpretation of other dimensions. Metarealism could be considered a sacred art, in that it also tries to depict, through a [metaconscious] perspective, the essence of reality as perceived by a metaconscious mind. Meta meaning, a holistic view of reality as perceived by a metaconscious mind, who sees reality as a whole rather than from a subjective personalized intellectually fragmented point of view. Metarealism is the materialization in pictorial form of the reality of other dimensions and their direct effect, and relation upon us. Metarealism tries to depict the relations between those dimensions of reality and how we psychologically interpret them through our sub mental symbolism.Metarealism in visual art
According to Bernard De Montréal, metarealism in visual arts is an involutionary art that expresses the dissimulated frustrations and struggle of the unconscious self in his search for real identity through the euphoricEuphoria (emotion)
Euphoria is medically recognized as a mental and emotional condition in which a person experiences intense feelings of well-being, elation, happiness, ecstasy, excitement and joy...
, sub mental symbolism of the art form an avocation
Avocation
An avocation is an activity that one engages in as a hobby outside one's main occupation. There are many examples of people whose professions were the ways that they made their livings, but for whom their activities outside of their workplaces were their true passions in life...
of the soul that has little in common with the interdimensional identity of the self.
Conscious or mental art is inspired from the higher self, and is a channel for the dictation of the conscious science of art, instead of being simply a lower form of self-expression, a cultural artifact of relative value.
The mental artist has little need for unconscious expression and directs his creative "expiration" toward the exploration of higher consciousness through his art, rather than simply entertaining a fictitious role, in part to quell the domineering impulses of the soul, and in part for the recognition of his peers. Art in its astral form belongs to our kind of civilization. We still need its contention that there is more to reality than appears at first sight.
External links
- Mikhail Epstein: A Catalogue of the New Poetries
- Mikhail Epshtein: Theses on Metarealism and Conceptualism
- Marjorie Perloff "Russian Postmodernism: An Oxymoron?" in Postmodern Culture, Volume 3, # 2, January 1993
- On Russian Meta-Realist Poetry: A Conversation with Ilya Kutik - article by Reginal Gibbons
- On Rhyme - article by Reginald Gibbons
- Tomas Epstein: Dictionary of Russian Literature
- What is metarealism? - article by Vika Bregeda
- Словарь литературных терминов/Dictonary of the Literary Terms
- Encyclopædia Britannica
- Lyn Hejinian and Russian Estrangement by Jacob Edmond, p. 13-111
- Englishing Metarealism by Patrick Henry, UofCA, Berkeley
- Владимир Аристов. Заметки о "Мета". For its English translation, see: Re-entering the sign : articulating new Russian culture by Ellen E Berry; Anesa Miller-Pogacar. Ann Arbor : University of Michigan Press, 1995 ISBN: 0472103016 9780472103010 0472082779 9780472082773
- Metarealism in art - its roots in the works of Giorgio de Chirico
- About Russian metarealism - Interview with D. Dragilew, in German
- Metarealism
- Metarealism - article by Charles Sabourin, who quotes from the "Theses on Metarealism" by M.Epshtein
- Article by Charles Sabourin about Bernard De Montréal
- Severskaia O.I. IAzyk poeticheskoi shkoly: idiolekt, idiostil', sotsiolekt. (Language of Poetic School: Idiolect, Idiostyle, Sociolect) M.: Slovari.ru; Institut russkogo iazyka im. V.V.Vinogradova RAN , 2007. 126 p. Soft. ISBN 5-903021-05-0. 500 copies. In Russian. The offered edition reflects the experience of language description of one of leading schools of the modern Russian poetry, metarealism, as a “social dialect” of poetic language. Poetics of I.Zhdanov, A.Parshchikov, A.Dragomoshchenko, S.Soloviev, V.Aristov, I.Kutik, E.Dayenin is considered in comparison with Russian conceptual and ironic poetry, and also with poetic principles of some foreign authors. The reader is able to get an idea about a peculiar “philosophy of language” of metarealists, constants of their poetic world, metametaphor, “poetic theater” and other things.