Background information
Research school of historical and contextual approach to world literature studies
Research school type – scientific research, pedagogical research.
Intellectual sphere – philological science.
The nature of scientific activity: fundamental research.
The research school is operating at PSU, Faculty of Humanities, Department of World Literature and Foreign Languages.
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Special emphasis is made on the historical and contextual character of the literary process. The central part of this process is a work of fiction studied at nine levels. The method was theoretically justified in 1970-1990s by A. Gugnin, D. Sc. in Philology.
The methodological basis is formed by a multi-level analysis of a literary text:
- analysis of a literary text at "text as such" level
- literary text in synchronous and diachronic aspects in the work of a particular writer
- literary text in synchronous and diachronic aspects in the context of national, European, and world literature
The method can be applied:
- for studying national literatures and works of particular representatives, taking into account the historical and cultural context
- in comparative literature studies, taking into account the national, European, and world literary context
History of the research school
The founder of the school is A. Gugnin. The idea of the school came during his researchship at Humboldt University of Berlin (1969–1970). Research and teaching activities led to generating the scientific concept.
1984–1998. The development of the historical and contextual method continued based on the history of the national literature of lower- and upper-Sorbs. The interest in Sorbs led to the defence of a doctoral thesis "The main stages of Sorbian literature development in Slavonic and Germanic context" (1998), 5 monographs and over 100 articles connected to the development of the historical and contextual method were published. Approbation of the results was carried out in the Russian Federation, Germany, Austria, Ukraine, and the Republic of Belarus.
1999 – present time. The research school started to operate at Polotsk State University:
- the opening of postgraduate and master's degree programmes
- introduction of the literary subjects and optional courses
- philological programme opening
- carrying out scientific conferences and seminars
After defending the first doctoral theses (D. Kondakov, S. Lyasovich, N. Nester, T. Gordeyonok) the foundation for the intensive development and international scientific cooperation was created.
In 2008, the first set of students for the programme "Romance and Germanic Philology" was held, which gave an influx of young scientific personnel, and increased the efficiency of master and postgraduate studies.
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Address: 211415, Belarus, Vitebsk region, Polotsk, 4 Streletskaya Street,
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Research fields
Research fields
- the history of national literatures (German, English, American, French, Russian, Belarussian, Sorbian)
- the history of literature in terms of separate literary movements (ex. romanticism, expressionism, magic realism, modernism, and post-modernism)
- the history of genres (ex. traditional and literary ballad, novel)
- the history of Russian and German literary interconnections; issues of Slavonic and Germanic relationships from medieval to modern times
- theory, history and practice of literary translation
Research activities
PARTICIPATION IN EDITORIAL BOARDS OF PEER-REVIEWED JOURNALS
- Peer-reviewed journal "Vestnik of PSU" (A. Gugnin, D. Kondakov, M. Putrova)
- Collection of scientific works "Issues of literary history" (A. Gugnin)
- Collection of scientific works "Romance and Germanic Philology" and "World literature contexts" (A. Gugnin, D. Kondakov, N. Lysova, T. Gordeyonok)
- Peer-reviewed journal "Bulletin of Moscow University. Issue 9. Philology" (A. Gugnin since 2018)
PARTICIPATION IN ACADEMIC BOARDS
- from 1998 to 2004 a member of specialised dissertation councils at MSU and Sholokhov Moscow State University for Humanities (former MSOU)
- in 2007-2015 a member of the expert council of the Higher Attestation Commission of the Republic of Belarus on literary studies
- a member of coordination council of the Higher Attestation Commission of the Republic of Belarus on foreign literatures
PARTICIPATION IN INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS
- Projects of the Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow): collective academic works "Russian Federation and Germany: literary meetings (1880-1945)", "Dictionary of XXth century foreign literature movements", "The history of Swiss literature", "The history of Austrian literature" (A. Gugnin)
- New Sorbonne University Paris 3 (France): collective project on researching francophone literary and domestic texts in Eastern Europe of XVIII–XIX centuries (D. Kondakov)
PUBLIC RECOGNITION
- A. Gugnin was awarded the Francysk Skaryna Medal (2011) and the Order of Francysk Skaryna (2019).
Academic connections
UNIVERSITIES
- Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences
- Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences
- MSU Faculty of Philology (Moscow, Russian Federation)
- German Historical Institute Moscow (Russian Federation)
- Higher School of Economics (Moscow, Russian Federation)
- Foundation "House of Human Sciences" (Paris, France) - Institute of Advanced Studies
- Lyon college (Lyon, France)