Elmir Mirzoev on totalitarianism and the avant-garde

Baku/17.05.21/Turan: Living in Germany since 2016, composer and culturologist Elmir Mirzoev has published a book entitled " Totalitarianism and Avant-garde" in the Baku publishing house "Ganun". This is the fruit of his creative work over the last 15 years, the best cultural essays and articles on history, society and politics.

Mirzoev has previously published scores of his works in various countries, edited musicology books, and decided to write his first book this year, when he turned 50," the author told Turan.

The central idea of the main essay in the book is intertwined with the reflections of the Azerbaijani society, which emerged from the war six months ago. E.Mirzoev writes:

- From the creation of man until the present day, wars, which have lasted indefinitely, have created everything else around them - shaping social relations and human consciousness itself, science and technical civilisation, culture and art. But since the beginning of the twentieth century, all this has taken a catastrophically total form and unprecedented proportions. All this was certainly reflected in the cultural processes and especially in the art of the past century.

As sad as it is to say, war was and is, unfortunately, the quintessence, the very essence of human history and, as paradoxical and absurd as it sounds, the main engine of Homo Sapiens civilisation.

In the 20th century, a rotting totalitarianism still prevails, and a young avant-gardism is developing. This is how the struggle between the old and the new is understood by the author of the book:

- "In totalitarian societies it was vital to counter the "destructive stance" of the avant-gardists with the " strictness" emanating from the State... Art's mission is only to follow this living movement relentlessly in the role of a reliable propaganda symbol.

In this way, Mirzoev rejects the idea of the leading role of creative people in the development of society, which was imposed by idealists, reducing them to a servant propaganda staff of acting politicians.

There are many other collisions in Mirzoev's collection worthy of reflection and heated discussion. But one should read the book first, and then much of our false, as it now turns out, expectations will turn out to be illusory...-0-