Mariya Nikolaeva

Genius of the Place : Semantics of Space in Lebanon Literature of XX Cent.

Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Москва, 2014, 224 p.

This work is the research of space perception peculiarities, inhabited envi-ronment (locus), as a category of geoculture, on the material of modern Leb-anese literature. It helps to comprehend the world outlook and mentality of one of the most interesting and rich in cultural traditions society of Arab world in XXth cent. – Lebanon. The author tries to trace special features and cultural evolution of perception and understanding by a person his position in surrounding space and in certain historical circumstances, and within the frames of general conformities of Mediterranean basin countries in their his-torical development. In modern Lebanese literature in which for a long time have existed side by side Islamic and Christian cultural traditions one can see now the process of washing away the traditional structures of selfcon-sciousness. It is especially felt in border societies seeking to find their place in a changing world. Lebanese literature of XXth cent. proves that these trends are typical for critical periods of civilization development, when the society has to find and make out new ideas and morals in progressing sur-rounding space.