Semiotics of Intertextuality: Based on the Philosophical Category “Humanism” in a Postmodern Text

Humanism as an epistemology began to develop back in the Renaissance, but today the conceptual field of humanism continues to be refined: philosophers, literary critics and other representatives of humanitarian knowledge are asking questions about the boundaries of humanism, about its qualification as a proclamation of the value of life and the dignity of an individual subject, about its status as a social phenomenon that should be considered diachronically. The article examines the philosophical category of humanism on the material of the postmodern novel cycle “Dreams of the Damned” by A. Zhaksylykov. Despite the fact that humanism as an epistemology began to develop back in the Renaissance, today its conceptual field continues to be refined: philosophers, literary critics and other representatives of humanitarian knowledge are asking the question what the boundaries of humanism are whether it can be qualified as a proclamation of the value of life and the dignity of the individual subject - or is it a social phenomenon that should be considered diachronically? Literature, especially the literature of postmodernism, answers the question posed differently. Postmodernism is an artistic trend that seemingly rejects humanism as it is. Its main vector, on the contrary, is the dehumanization of both the individual and society. A deliberately travesty manner of presentation, concentrated intertextuality, and modification of canonical texts of the past create a mode of perception in which it is impossible to consider humanism as a holistic idea outside of satirical or ironic overtones. However, in Kazakh modern prose we find examples of works of art that overcome this trend. These include the novel cycle “Dreams of the Damned” by A. Zhaksylykov. The relevance of the chosen topic lies in the fact that the postmodern work is analyzed from the point of view of the concept of humanism: such an approach allows us to draw conclusions about the importance of historical memory and the authenticity of ethnocultural scenarios. The object of study is the concept of humanism, the subject is the implementation of humanistic discourse in a literary text. The research material was the cycle “Dreams of the Damned” by the Kazakh writer A. Zhaksylykov. The purpose of the work: to comprehend the category of humanism through the artistic mode and to prove that, in line with postmodernist discourse, dehumanization is “inverted humanization.” Research methods: descriptive, hermeneutic commentary method, intertextual analysis method.