Viktor Žmegač and the Zagreb critical school: From immanentism to culturology

Članak polazi od pojma kulture i njegova odnosa prema književnoj znanosti 20. stoljeća te u tome kontekstu promatra Zagrebačku književnoznanstvenu školu i opus Viktora Žmegača. U prvome dijelu članka izoliraju se dva procvata pojma kulture: jedan na početku i drugi na kraju 20. stoljeća. Na početku 20. stoljeća ideja kulture bila je esencijalistička, supstancijalistička i elitistička (Diltheyev »duh vremena«, tragični rascjep između subjekta i njegovih objektivacija kod Georga Simmela, Freudova sublimacija nagonske sfere, kulturni apriori kod Cassirera, kultura kao »nadgradnja« u Frankfurtskoj kritičkoj školi). Takva ideja kulture potaknula je književnu znanost da izolira svoje vlastito područje i utemelji se izvan pojma kulture na paradigmi imanentizma. Na kraju 20. stoljeća, u vrijeme tzv. cultural turn, ideja kulture dio je epistemološkog obrata od esencijalizma prema konstruktivizmu, od elitizma prema populizmu. Ta je ideja kulture potaknula književnu znanost da napusti imanentizam i utemlji se u širokoj zoni nove kulturologije. U drugome dijelu članka daje se kratka povijest Zagrebačke škole iz vizure različitih otklona od paradigme imanentizma (Škrebove dileme oko interpretacije, Flakerova intermedijalnost, Katičićev rani recepcijski obrat u tumačenju književnoga jezika). U tome sklopu prati se razvojni put Viktora Žmegača od »kritičke sociologije« književnog teksta (Književno stvaralaštvo i povijest društva: Književno-sociološke teme, 1976; Književnost i zbilja, 1982) do književnosti u okrilju kulture i kulturologije (Bečka moderna: Portret jedne kulture, 1998; Književnost i glazba: Intermedijalne studije, 2003; Od Bacha do Bauhausa: Povijest njemačke kulture, 2006).The article defines the notion of culture and its relation toward the twentieth century literary studies, placing the oeuvre of Viktor Žmegač in the context of the Zagreb literary school. Firstly, two dominant concepts of culture are outlined: one at the beginning, and the other at the end of the twentieth century. At the beginning of the twentieth century the concept of culture was essentialist, substantialist and elitist (Dilthey’s »Spirit of the Times« [Zeitgeist], the tragic division of the subject and its objectivizations in the works of Georg Simmel, Freud’s sublimation of the instinctual, Cassirer’s doctrine of the a priori, culture as »superstructure« of the Frankfurt School). Such an idea of culture provided an incentive to the literary studies to isolate its own area of study and base it outside the concept of culture as defined by the immanentist paradigm. At the end of the twentieth century, at the time of the so called, cultural turn, the idea of culture became a component part of the epistemological turn from essentialism toward constructivism, and from elitism to populism. Such a notion of culture provided an impetus to the literary studies to depart from immanentist paradigm and find its foothold in the area of the new culturology. The second part of the article outlines a short history of the Zagreb Critical School with particular reference to the thought diverging from the immanentist paradigm (Škreb’s dilemma regarding the interpretation, Flaker’s intermediality, Katičić’s early turn in the reception regarding the explication of the standard speech). It is in this context that we trace the critical thought of Viktor Žmegač from »critical sociology« of the literary text (Literary Creativity and the History of Society: Literary and Sociological Issues, 1976; Literature and Reality, 1982) to literature in the context of culture and cultural studies (culturology) (Viennese Modernism: A Portrait of a Culture, 1998; Literature and Music: Intermedial Studies, 2003; From Bach to Bauhaus: A History of German Culture, 2006)