The Vitality of Bakhtin’s “Poetics of Space-Time” Exemplified by „Primeval and Other Times”by Olga Tokarczuk’s and her „Empuzjon”

Abstract

The article is an attempt to analyze the influence of Mikhail Bakhtin’s chronotope concept on the different ways of existence of time and space in two novels by Olga Tokarczuk: one of the earlier ones — Primeval and Other Times and the first one after receiving the Nobel Prize — Empuzjon.

Space-time was recognized here as a key element of the writer’s work, influencing the plot structure of the works, manifesting itself simultaneously as a constructor of meanings and active formative force of values. The author, using motives that were an important element of Bakhtin’s concept of the chronotope shows that time and space play an important role in shaping the ontological and epistemological dimension of human experience. One of the main goals of the article is to show that the creative implementation of these elements makes it possible to create autonomous stories, and how space (and time) as a cultural category is used to explore the issues of identity, history, culture, as well as the mental and human emotional condition in the relationship of us and the world.