WORD AND IMAGE
Authors: Lebedova Rumyana 
Published: March 2020

The text is an attempt to present possible dialogical connections between works of literature and visual arts as an expression of the building up aspiration of the creative spirit to give rise to ideas ,by constructing the universe in fictional worlds. Such dialogue is far from utilitarian and bears the traces of artistic freedom; it is a kind of a play and provocation because it handles artifacts in which spiritual experience has crystallized, knowledge is preserved, and the coordinate system of values characterizing periods or communities is outlined. Although recreated through a different type of expression, a different articulation of meaning - verbal or non-verbal, they are manifestations of a worldview and moral convictions and fulfillment of aesthetic views - the author shows subjectivism regarding the choice of life material, regarding the scheme of its organization, the way its interpretation and the degree of distance from reality. In this sense, the analytical observations on works of literature and fine arts can be based on similar tendencies, related to the prerequisites for their emergence, the influence of sociocultural factors, and the distinction of imaginative, ideological, thematic and stylistic parallels.The characteristics are even more clarified in the contact zone of the two arts.Attention is drawn to icon and illustration, which are to some extent interconnected because, despite their iconographic, stylistic and printing differences, they can be defined as a plastic narrative. They are similar due to the presence of stylization and decorativeness in the image. Their aesthetic nature and social function are a kind of projection of the ideological and artistic tendencies in the spiritual pursuits of the community and the understanding of the role of the creative personality in the cultural and social life.Their juxtaposition with literary texts is conditioned by the possible thematic, ideological, figuratively-emotional and stylistic parallels, which are the basis of the functionality of similar psychological preconditions that determine their creation, as well as of similar aesthetic categories and social tasks to which the authors are subject. In such a view, the unique in both arts is more clearly distinguished, but at the same time, through the different languages, the “spirit of time” in its sociocultural condition is more fully reconstructed.The dialogue between works of literature and fine arts outlines a cultural field in which parallel worlds intersect. The various aspects of the relationship between them are examined - conflicting or complementary, with an emphasis on the idea of their mutual transformation or their clear separation. It is a communication in which meaning penetrates and dissolves into other cultural fields, overcomes limitations and generates additional nuances when it comes to ideas and emotions.The dynamics of their encounter, overlay, transformation or complementarity contribute to create a panoramic picture of the spiritual life over a period of time, to trace cultural interactions and to clarify the specifics of a work of art as an artifact.