In Quest for the Meaning of a Work of Art (On the Examples of Texts from Two Distant
Cultures)

The present article is an attempt to visualise the process of perception of a literary work on the basis of two theoretical concepts, separated by chronological as well as geographical distance. The first one is based on the idea of aesthetic experience understood as an effect of sahṛdayatā, formulated by Abhinavagupta in his work titled Abhinavabhāratī as well as on his observations on the relationship between the art work and a spectator, formulated in a passage from Dhvanyālokalocana. The second – on the concept of perception of a work of art, formulated by Roman Ingarden, in the first decades of the 20th century.
The exemplary part of the article will focus on the place of word and image in literary works, with an attempt to depict their primary functions, on the example of Agyeya’s Goldfish, and Laughter by Tadeusz Różewicz – two artistic creations belonging, just as the two presented aesthetic theories, to the same two, apparently disparate cultures.
 

In Quest for the Meaning of a Work of Art (On the Examples of Texts from Two Distant
Cultures)

The present article is an attempt to visualise the process of perception of a literary work on the basis of two theoretical concepts, separated by chronological as well as geographical distance. The first one is based on the idea of aesthetic experience understood as an effect of sahṛdayatā, formulated by Abhinavagupta in his work titled Abhinavabhāratī as well as on his observations on the relationship between the art work and a spectator, formulated in a passage from Dhvanyālokalocana. The second – on the concept of perception of a work of art, formulated by Roman Ingarden, in the first decades of the 20th century.
The exemplary part of the article will focus on the place of word and image in literary works, with an attempt to depict their primary functions, on the example of Agyeya’s Goldfish, and Laughter by Tadeusz Różewicz – two artistic creations belonging, just as the two presented aesthetic theories, to the same two, apparently disparate cultures.