Imagology as image geology

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Imagologija; Literatūrinė imagologija; Įvaizdžiai; Imagology; Literary imagology; Images.

EN[...] At present, imagology is a promising field in that it addresses not isolated images but their relationships and associative links with other images, the chronological boundaries of image dispersion, and the shifts of the content elements. Yet it is claimed that, at times, the method lacks methodological flexibility and a prompt response to the social changes of the world, which explains why this paper proposes several revisions of imagology or possibilities for its expansion: (1) With the diversity of circulating identities growing on both macro (European, cosmopolitan) and micro (local, regional, ethnic, national) levels, and with the forms of their interaction becoming more complex, it is worth adding nuances to the unambiguous law of auto-image and hetero-image in imagological binarism as the instances of complicated (non)belonging are proliferating. If the method declares the supranational standpoint and sees culture as a dynamic process of interactions, terminologically it should not fall into the trap of dichotomy. (2) The questioning of the epistemic dualism between reality and the text. In my view, neither the dichotomy of the text and reality, nor the lobotomy of reality in the text when a claim is made that literary accounts lack any factographic value, constitutes a correct strategy. I therefore propose recognition of their synergy and expansion of the boundaries of literary imagology as a discipline according to the principle of the relationship between reality and the imaginary that I attempted to actualize by resorting to the symbolism of Nasreddin’s camel. (3) A stronger accent on the mutual dependency of "our" and "mine", because an individual image can accumulate the characteristics of a whole nation, and the other way round - it can deconstruct reductionist stereotypes regarding a nation’s group identity.(4) Although the literature of the Baltic countries is useful material for imagological research, I suggest dissociation from the opposing East/West typology, and examination of the literatures of small nations by conceptualizing Eastern Europe not as a projection of Western Europe, but by the mutual pairing of different small literatures and challenging the idea of a weak and historically insignificant Eastern or Central European. (5) It would be meaningful to employ the interdisciplinary nature of imagology not only as its immanent quality but also externally, by working in tandem with scholars of other disciplines (historians, sociologists, political scientists, anthropologists) and by conducting collective research. This would facilitate the verification and substantialization of literary images, and the research outcomes would be used to improve intercultural communication on the social level. [Extract, p. 24-25]