Podoroga’s Method. An Ocular Analytics and an Instant of Writing

Abstract

This paper is dedicated to the philosophical method of artistic ontologies analysis developed by the Russian philosopher Valery Podoroga. It explores certain formal elements of this method, particularly the use of oсular metaphors as abstract schemes of representation in Podoroga’s analyses of works by such Russian authors as N. Gogol, F. Dostoevsky, A. Bely, A. Platonov, Y. Druskin and S. Eisenstein. Particular attention is paid to the concept of the Instant in Podoroga’s anthropology. It is viewed not only as a physical or metaphysical category, but as an authorial technique manifesting an operational link between the optical and temporal lines of discourse. The Instant may be construed as a form of reflection on a variety of transgressive transitions, existential breaks and aberrations arising in writing practices.