alogia

[Svitlana Kobets]

Thank you one more time, I really appreciate your help. Actually I thought
that you would be the best person to ask in this case (and I was right) but
after all it is good that I posted my question to the list. I think what you
wrote will be interesting to all Slavic scholars.

Now, a couple more questions:
>
> The mid-seventeenth Latin dictionary (Leksikon" latynskyi)
> compiled by the Ukrainian lexicographer Epiphanii Slavynec'kyi
> translates the Latin term "alogia" as "be(z)slovesye."
I believe that the reference here is to a spiritual stance (contemplative,
meditative) rather than to a literary genre or any mode of self-expression.
It would be interesting to see actual examples of this term's usage. But, as
you said, for that

>One would have to study the Latin manuals of
> poetics and rhetoric and the manuals of philosophy prepared
> at the Kyiv-Mohyla Collegium to see how the Latin "alogia"
> was used by Ukrainian preceptors in the seventeenth and
> eighteenth centuries.

> The modern Ukrainian noun "alohija" appears to be related to the
> philosophical term alohizm (English alogism) which denotes the
> idea that cognition is attained through faith, revelation, intuition.
Interesting. Of course, this is what immediately comes to mind, yet I wonder
if such a thing as "modern Ukrainian noun 'alohiia'" exists. For one thing,
modern dictionaries don't mention this term. I myself met it only in
Kalynets. On the other hand, of course, the term exists, even if Kalynets is
the only Ukrainian who has used it lately. Again, this needs special
research.

I suggest that Kalynets's use of the term "alohiia" is both rooted in
Ukrainian tradition and is idiosyncratic. I don't know about alohiia as a
genre. I would like to find out about it. At the same time, Kalynets is a
modernist poet who continuously experiments with poetic forms and genres. I
think, his 'alohii' are representative of such experimenting in the area of
genre. They are also representative of his poetic (baroque) playfulness,
after all "Thirteen Alogies" is Kalynets's thirteenth collection of poetry
that contains thirteen poems- 'alogies.' I would say, 'alohia'  is
Kalynets's whimsical name for a playful, jocular, burlesque poem. Some of
these poems are addressed to his little daughter (e.g. Veselka, abo tretia
knyzhechka dlia Dzvinky), some are stylized folk verses, prayers, charms,
his poetic definitions of phenomena, objects, concepts. Increadibly vivid
imagery, pulsating, beautiful poetry! But, as you said, it definitely
contains political context and great admixture of the nonsensical. It looks
like he poetically defies logics/convention/tradition. In this sense his
poems are 'a+logical.'

Great talking to you,
Best,
Svitlana

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