Time and Memory: Florensky, Glazova, Vodolazkin

• In Event: Intersections of Philosophy and Literature: Approaches to the Concept of Memory

Abstract

This talk zooms in on the dynamic interplay between treatments of time and memory in philosophical and literary discourse. The philosophical-theological arguments under consideration are Pavel Florensky’s theories of temporality, eternity, and memory in his seminal studies "The Pillar and Ground of the Truth" and "Reverse Perspective." I put them in dialogue with contemporary poetry (Anna Glazova) and prose (Evgeny Vodolazkin). Like Florensky’s speculations, Glazova’s and Vodolazkin’s works destabilize Euclidean temporal modeling and portray memory as an active and creative force (simultaneously in danger of destruction). As I show, the transformation of the philosophical argument, while hinging in part on conceptual variances, is closely associated with the specific properties of the literary genre involved—Glazova’s compressed, trope-driven lyric utterance versus Vodolazkin’s novelistic emplotment.

Author

• Sofya Khagi, U of Michigan