The Energy of Language in Eastern European Modernism
Refractions of Religious and Philosophical Thinking

The comprehensive exploration of the history of the “energy” concept in the Avant-garde movement would be incomplete without considering the influence of intellectuals who, on one hand, engaged in philosophy and theology, and, on the other hand, deliberated on the nature of language. Indeed, the idea of energy gained widespread usage and emerged as a fundamental concept not only in the realms of Avant-garde art and scientific (academic and public) discourse but also in philosophy, theology and early 20th-century language theories in pre-Revolutionary Russia and the early Soviet Union. Therefore, as a continuation of our preceding workshops dedicated to the discourse on energy in the Avant-Garde movement, this workshop will specifically focus on the impact of the concept of energy in philosophical and religious considerations on language in Slavic modernism (mainly in Russia, the USSR, and the Russian emigre circle) during the early 20th century. Particularly, we will explore the influence of Palamite "energetic" discourse and Wilhelm von Humboldt's teachings on energeia and ergon in language, as well as his concept of the inner form of the word, on the development of Eastern European modernist teachings about language.

Program