Stanislav Lem Language Period

Abstract.

STANISLAV LEM LANGUAGE PERIOD

Zahnitko Anatolii

Department of General and Applied Linguistics and Slavonic Philology, Vasyl’ Stus Donetsk National University, Vinnytsia, Ukraine.

Abstract

Background: peculiarities of Stanislav Lem’s language context, which influenced the per­ception of the Lviv language landscape, are considered. At the same time, the question of qualifying the set of works of the artist as a language era is clarified.

Purpose: The aim of the study is to establish the peculiarities of the Lviv language landscape in the 20s and 30s of the XX century with the disclosure of its main components and tracing their echoes in the cultural-linguistic and aesthetic-instructive reminiscences of Stanislav Lem.

Results: It is necessary to think whether these 13 (undoubtedly, there are many more) such attractive things of the future are motivated by the multilingual wealth in which Stanislav Lem obtained the primary realizations of his OWN SELF and which the artist named so creatively, finding out authorial words that later grew into authorial neologisms, and later – a significant part of them became common. Stanislav Lem’s incorporation of neologisms into socio-linguistic inquiries testifies to the high artistic aesthetics of the master of artistic word, his ability to feel the linguistic element and produce derivative lexemes in accordance with established traditions and tastes.

After all, why do we call it the «linguistic period of Stanislav Lem»? And is it legitimate to talk about the language period of his name? One is aware that this is, to some extent, a metaphor, which is based on the multilingual set, which formed the worldview and personal values of the artist. One of the most defining features of this language period is that «two world wars and interwar violence in different ways nationalized the life experiences of millions, often making their national identity a matter of life or death» (Hrytsak 2013: 14). National identity is fully revealed in the creative works of Stanislav Lem, but not in explicit form, rather in implied form. The linguistic self-expression of the outstanding science fiction writer, creator of numerous virtual worlds can be qualified as sensory-intuitive introversion, where inner self-suggestion motivates linguistic not even binary, but more arity, when Ego differentiates by self-expression in chronological and spatial dimensions up to linguistic and existential unrecognizability.

The study and analysis of the influence of the multilingual background of the Lviv urban continuum on the individual creative SELF of Stanislav Lem and the manifestation of this special functional-linguistic environment, structured by purpose in his works, are promising. And, as always, the implied realization of the linguistic set observed by the artist and its recognition in various discursive practices is hindered. No less interesting and important is the recognition of the evolution of Stanislav Lem’s linguistic persona, the establishment of those linguistic individualizations that have acquired the status of recognizability not only in the original texts, but also in numerous translations in different languages.

Discussion: The language situation of the 10s of the twentieth century was reflected in the census of 1919, according to which 58,9 % used the Ukrainian language in Eastern Galicia, 39,8 % ‒ Polish, 1,2 % ‒ German, but in Lviv Polish-language communication covered 85,8 % of the population, while Ukrainian-speaking ‒ only 0,8 %, and German-speaking ‒ 3 %. According to J. Habela and Z. Kurzowa, the high percentage of Polish-speaking residents is motivated by the fact that the majority of Jewish citizens defined their Polish language (Habela, Kurzowa 1989: 12). The analyzed situation was formed mainly due to the utrakwizm support in school education, which aimed at polonization. According to A. Portnov, who considers the studies of M. Ivanytskyi and S. Mauers­berg, in 1918 there were 3,600 Ukrainian-language schools in Poland, in 1921 – 3,000, and in 1939 ‒ only 450 (Portnov 2013: 37‒38). This can explain that according to the census of 1931, 63 % of the population of Lviv residents spoke Polish, 11,3 % ‒ Ukrainian, 0,8 % ‒ German and 24,1 % ‒ Yiddish.

Through the world of his creative meanings and generalizations, Stanislav Lem sought to show how important the issues of human identity, personal self-identification, nationality and national genesis are, because similar issues always addressed to him in the pre-war period by populist, in occupation – by szmalcowniki and in Poland – by Mochar supporters, already in free Poland, the artist heard these questions from the populists. The issue of personal national self-identification was not also avoided in 2002 by the LPR (Liga Polskich Rodzin), which attacked him for «promoting the civilization of death». No less important in this context is his stay in the Lviv ghetto, from which the artist managed to escape thanks to forged documents (science fiction novel «Voice of the God»).

The inner word was important for the master of the artistic word, which he preserved and was unlikely to fully reveal. This is the inner wealth in which happy and tragic moments of the experienced and meaningful were mixed. After all, the artist has never visited Lviv since leaving it, although in many novels and short stories the easily recognizable Lviv landscape is both the «High Castle» and the «Szpital Przemienienia» (a psychiatric hospital with a Moorish-style tower is an obvious hint to the Jewish hospital three hundred meters from Braierivska, now a maternity hospital), and «Return from the Stars» (the hero returns from an interplanetary expedition and finds the Earth unrecogni­zable), where there is an allusion to Lviv, which in several war and postwar years almost lost its original population.

Keywords: linguistic landscape, linguistic epoch, neologism, author’s words, Stanislav Lem.

Vitae

Anatoliy Zahnitko is Doctor of Philology, Professor, Corresponding Member of NAS of Ukraine, Head of Department of General and Applied Linguistics and Slavonic Philology at Vasyl’ Stus Donetsk National University. His areas of research interests include functional linguistics, cognitive linguistics, comparative linguistics, categorical linguistics, lexicographic linguistics, and text linguistics.

Correspondence: a.zagnitko@donnu.edu.ua

Article.

References.

Література

Винничук Ю. Танго смерті. Харків: Фоліо, 2013. 320 с.

[Vynnychuk Yu. Tanho smerti. Kharkiv: Folio, 2013. 320 s.]

Грицак Я. Передмова. Незвичайні долі звичайних жінок. Усна історія двадцятого століття / гол. упоряд. Іроїда Винницька; Бібліотека «України модерної», Серія: Спогади, щоденники, інтерв’ю, частина 1. Львів: Видавництво Національного університету «Львівська політехніка», 2013. С. 9–28.

[Hrytsak Ya. Peredmova. Nezvychaini doli zvychainykh zhinok. Usna istoriia dvadtsiatoho stolittia / hol. uporiad. Iroida Vynnytska; Biblioteka «Ukrainy modernoi», Seriia: Spohady, shchodennyky, interviu, chastyna 1. Lviv: Vydavnytstvo Natsionalnoho universytetu «Lvivska politekhnika», 2013. S. 9–28]

Лем С. Високий Замок / перекл. Л. Андрієвська. Тернопіль: Богдан, 2016. 176 с.

[Lem S. Vysokyi Zamok / perekl. L. Andriievska. Ternopil: Bohdan, 2016. 176 s.]

Хобзей Н., Сімович К., Ястремська Т., Дидик-Меуш Г. Лексикон львівський: поважно і на жарт. 2-е вид., доповн. і випр. Львів: Інститут українознавства імені І. Крип’якевича НАН України, 2012 (Серія «Діалектологічна скриня»). 852 с.

[Khobzei N., Simovych K., Yastremska T., Dydyk-Meush H. Leksykon lvivskyi: povazhno i na zhart. 2-e vyd., dopovn. i vypr. Lviv: Instytut ukrainoznavstva imeni I. Krypiakevycha NAN Ukrainy, 2012 (Seriia «Dialektolohichna skrynia»). 852 s.]

Портнов А. Історії для домашнього вжитку: Есеї про польсько-російсько-український три­кутник пам’яті. Київ: Критика, 2013. 344 с.

[Portnov A. Istorii dlia domashnoho vzhytku: Esei pro polsko-rosiisko-ukrainskyi trykutnyk pamiati. Kyiv: Krytyka, 2013. 344 s.]

Шевельов Ю. Українська мова в першій половині ХХ ст. (1900–1941). Стан і статус. Чернівці: Рута, 1998. 212 с.

[Shevelov Y. Ukrainska mova v pershii polovyni ХХ st. (1900–1941). Stan i status. Chernivtsi: Ruta, 1998. 212 s.]

Fastyn M. Stanislawa Lema zabawy językiem – czy neologism rzeczywiście – czy neologism rzeczewiście jest neologizmem? Studia et documenta Slavica. 2019. № 4(10). S. 73–78. URL: https://czasopisma.uni.opole.pl/index.php/sds/article/view/2637/2110

Gajewska A. Zagłada i gwiazdy. Przeszłość w prozie Stanisława Lema. Poznań: Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM, 2016 (dodruk 2017). 242 s.

Krajewska M. Polsko-rosyjski slownik Lemowych neologizmów. Toruń: Towarzystwo Nauko­we w Toruniu, 2006. 164 s.

Kurzowa Z. Polszczyzna Lwowa i Kresów Południowo-Wschodnich do 1939 roku. Warszawa; Kraków: Państwowe Wyd-wo Naukowe, 1985. 551 s.

Habela J., Kurzowa Z. Lwowskie piosenki uliczne, kabaretowe i okolicznościowe do 1939 roku. Kraków: Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne, 1989. 339 s.

Leclerc de Buffon G.-L. Discours sur le style. Discours prononce a l’Académie Française par m. de Buffon le jour de sa réception le 25 aout 1753, texte de l’édition J. P. Librairie, Ch. Poussielgue, Paris 1896. URL: https://www.academie-francaise.fr/discours-de-reception-du-comte-de-buffon (30.01.2022).

Lem S. Powrót z gwiazd. Warszawa: Czytelnik, 1961. 237 s.

Lem S. Bomba megabitowa. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 1999. 224 s.

Lem S. Dzienniki gwiazdowe. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2000. 388 s.

Lem S. Okamgnienie. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2000. 160 s.

Lem S. Pokój na Zieme. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2001. 376 s.

Lem S. Bajki robotów. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2006. 224 s.

Lem S. Kongres futurologiczny. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2012. 192 s.

Lem S. Opowieści o pilocie Pirxie megabitowa. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2012. 520 s.

Lem S.Filozofia przypadku. Literatura w świetle empirii. Cyfrany, 2014. 636 s.

Lem S. Cyberiada. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2015. 508 s.

Lem S. Glos Pana. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2016. 344 s.

Lem S. Śledztwo. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2016. 288 s.

Lem S. Astronauci. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2017. 420 s.

Lem S. Pamiętnik znaleziony w wannie. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2017. 340 s.

Lem S. Solaris. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2003. 340 s.

Lem S. Wysoki Zamek. Kraków: Wydawnictwo literackie, 2020. 232 s.

Piotrowski T. Lem – nowator językowy. Quart: Lem – numer specialny 3–4(37–38). S. 179–186. URL: https://quart.uni.wroc.pl/pdf/37/quart3738_Lem_17_Piotrowski.pdf (30.01.2022).