Professor Jaccard from Geneva Gives Lecture at ASU

Professor Jean-Philippe Jaccard from the University of Geneva has visited Astrakhan State University. The distinguished specialist in the field of Russian modernism and avant-garde has given a lecture about “expanded vision”.

Prof. Jaccard has presented a very interesting lecture about the impact that the philosophy of expanded vision exerts upon the development of the avant-garde poetry. The fact is that the notion of expanded vision is abstract; it is a particular state of mind that artists are experiencing while they are creating their poems – they can see and feel with backs and tops of their heads, with their temples, and even with their feet. Analyzing artistic works by Matyushin, Kharms, Tufanov, and many other poets, Prof. Jaccard has given a complete image of how the philosophy of expanded vision was being developed – from Avvakum the Protopope (who lived in 17th century) up to the poetry of Leningrad’s underground in 1970s. One should remark that the Swiss distinguished guest has not used interpreters’ help at all; his own splendid Russian caught the audience’s attention during the whole lecture.