The motifs of ‘ecclesiastes’ and ‘the song of songs’ in J. Chr. Gunther's poetry (on the issue of biblical archetextuality)

The problem of correlation between literature and the Bible is one of the relevant issues of contemporary literature studies, with the Bible being an 'axial' archetext of the European culture and literature, an ancient text of a crucially high axiological and aesthetical importance, performing the function of meaning- and text-generation. This research paper is focused on the investigation of the archetextual function of The Book of Ecclesiastes and The Song of Songs in J. Chr. Günther’s (1695-1723) poetry. The concept of dialogue of cultures, especially ‘the dialogue of texts’ (M. Bakhtin), as well as the theory of intertextuality (J. Kristeva, R. Bart, G. Genette) provide theoretical and philosophical basis for the investigation. We employ a combination of cultural, historical, biographical, comparative, hermeneutic, structural and holistic analysis methods. Günther is constantly engaged in dialogue with the Bible, no matter in what genre he creates his poetry. He is often guided by the Biblical poetics. The Book of Ecclesiastes became highly consonant with the poetry of Baroque, as it investigates tragic antinomies of the world and in a paradoxical way connects the idea of vanity and absurd of life with the call for getting joy and pleasure from its every moment. Günther preserves the features of the Baroque worldview to a large extent, therefore the motifs of Ecclesiastes naturally permeate his lyrical poetry (spiritual and student songs, love and philosophical poems). Günther’s hedonism is stronger in comparison to that of the ancient Hebrew poet and the Baroque poets of the 19th century. However, his hedonism is that of a new type as it is built on the reasonable nature of a human and the natural pursuit of happiness, which is first of all seen in the poet’s student songs (Studentenlieder), being the first works of Rococo in German poetry. The new hedonism together with the motifs of the vanity of life, seen through the topoi of The Book of Ecclesiastes and The Song of Songs, manifests itself in Günther’s innovative love poetry, standing out due to its special confessional manner. In the late works of Günther, reflections on the irresolvable problem of theodicy from the perspective of The Book of Job and The Book of Ecclesiastes are intensifying and becoming organically interwoven with the aspiration to redemption and Divine love in the world. Therefore, the poet refers to the mystically understood topoi of The Song of Songs. The Biblical archetextuality allowed Günther to express his individuality and the problems of human spirit in a deeper way during the difficult and life-changing period of time.