Academic Writing
.Andrei Tarkovsky's Linguistic Subversion of the Abrahamic Knight of Faith
The UC Undergraduate Journal of Slavic and East/Central European Studies. Volume 14. 2021-22.
"Volume 14 opens with “Andrei Tarkovsky’s Linguistic Subversion of the Abrahamic Knight of Faith,” a fascinating paper by Aurora Amidon (Bard College), who fuses Genesis, Kierkegaard and Shakespeare in an ambitious examination of Tarkovsky’s “The Sacrifice” (1986)." Lydia Roberts - Managing Editor
Abstract This essay examines the language that Andrei Tarkovsky used to interpret the Binding of Isaac in his final film, The Sacrifice (1986). Employing semantics and scripture, Tarkovsky demonstrates the inherent border between faith and the subject who questions it in the character of Alexander, a middle-aged man struggling with his relationship to God in the midst of an impending nuclear Holocaust. Tarkovsky’s film intertextually highlights source material that addresses the Binding of Isaac and other interpretations of Abrahamic figures, namely Søren Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling (1843) and William Shakespeare’s Hamlet (1599–1601). Both Alexander and the titular hero of Hamlet are bound by their duty to family ties and torn by their increasing distance from reality—impossible situations that leave them with no option but to keep babbling “words, words, words!” until they finally decide to act, with tragic results. In contrast, Abraham demonstrates faith when he raises a hand to sacrifice his son and is stopped by God. In his analysis of Abraham’s speech, Kierkegaard characterizes him as an emigrant from the ethical sphere, stating that he has entered the absurd (the realm of faith) the moment he agrees to bring his son to Mt. Moriah. This paper challenges Kierkegaard’s view, however, and posits that language, rather than action, moves Abraham from one realm to the other. Based on analysis of Kierkegaard, Genesis 22, and Hamlet, this paper explicates how Tarkovsky develops the concepts of language, communication, faith, and silence in his film.
******************************************
Take Henceforth thy Pleasure for Guide:
How Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy uses Intertextuality to Subvert Sin
Bound in Heaven:
The Denial of Saint Peter in the Gospel According to Matthew.
Light to the Heart:
Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Theory on Happiness in Honore de Balzac’s Eugénie Grandet.
Transformed into Green Wood:
Authoring the Beloved in Petrarch’s Canzoniere
His Darksome Chamber:
Looking Through a Glass Darkly in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil.”
The UC Undergraduate Journal of Slavic and East/Central European Studies. Volume 14. 2021-22.
"Volume 14 opens with “Andrei Tarkovsky’s Linguistic Subversion of the Abrahamic Knight of Faith,” a fascinating paper by Aurora Amidon (Bard College), who fuses Genesis, Kierkegaard and Shakespeare in an ambitious examination of Tarkovsky’s “The Sacrifice” (1986)." Lydia Roberts - Managing Editor
Abstract This essay examines the language that Andrei Tarkovsky used to interpret the Binding of Isaac in his final film, The Sacrifice (1986). Employing semantics and scripture, Tarkovsky demonstrates the inherent border between faith and the subject who questions it in the character of Alexander, a middle-aged man struggling with his relationship to God in the midst of an impending nuclear Holocaust. Tarkovsky’s film intertextually highlights source material that addresses the Binding of Isaac and other interpretations of Abrahamic figures, namely Søren Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling (1843) and William Shakespeare’s Hamlet (1599–1601). Both Alexander and the titular hero of Hamlet are bound by their duty to family ties and torn by their increasing distance from reality—impossible situations that leave them with no option but to keep babbling “words, words, words!” until they finally decide to act, with tragic results. In contrast, Abraham demonstrates faith when he raises a hand to sacrifice his son and is stopped by God. In his analysis of Abraham’s speech, Kierkegaard characterizes him as an emigrant from the ethical sphere, stating that he has entered the absurd (the realm of faith) the moment he agrees to bring his son to Mt. Moriah. This paper challenges Kierkegaard’s view, however, and posits that language, rather than action, moves Abraham from one realm to the other. Based on analysis of Kierkegaard, Genesis 22, and Hamlet, this paper explicates how Tarkovsky develops the concepts of language, communication, faith, and silence in his film.
******************************************
Take Henceforth thy Pleasure for Guide:
How Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy uses Intertextuality to Subvert Sin
Bound in Heaven:
The Denial of Saint Peter in the Gospel According to Matthew.
Light to the Heart:
Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Theory on Happiness in Honore de Balzac’s Eugénie Grandet.
Transformed into Green Wood:
Authoring the Beloved in Petrarch’s Canzoniere
His Darksome Chamber:
Looking Through a Glass Darkly in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil.”
