Slovensko društvo za primerjalno književnost
Slovenian Comparative Literature Association

  Društvo slovenskih pisateljev
18^th International Literary Gathering of Poets, Writers and Essayists (Vilenica 2003)  

Literatura in prostor / Literature and Space

Prostori transgresije:
robovi literature

Spaces of Transgressiveness: Verbal Art at the Edge  

(povzetki simpozija / symposium abstracts; razprave / whole papers)

Vilenica, 3.-4. september 2003

Sodelavci / Participants
Jean Bessiere (Univerza Pariz III / University of Paris III - Nouvelle Sorbonne)
Marijan Dović (ZRC SAZU, Ljubljana)
Zoltan Jan (Univerza v Trstu / University of Trieste)
Marko Juvan (ZRC SAZU, Ljubljana)
Jelka Kernev Štrajn (Literarna kritičarka in prevajalka / Free-lance literary critic and translator, Ljubljana)
Bart Keunen (Univerza v Gentu, Belgija / Ghent University, Belgium)
Darja Pavlič (Univerza v Mariboru / University of Maribor)
Igor Škamperle (Univerza v Ljubljani / University of Ljubljana)
Jola Škulj (ZRC SAZU, Ljubljana)
Bertrand Westphal (Univerza v Limogesu, Francija / University of Limoges, France)
Igor Zabel (Moderna galerija / Modern Galery, Ljubljana)

Organizacija / Organisation
Slovensko društvo za primerjalno književnost
Društvo slovenskih pisateljev (XVIII. Vilenica)

Sponzorji / Sponsors
Institut Français Charles Nodier
Ministrstvo za šolstvo, znanost in šport RS
Inštitut za slovensko literaturo in literarne vede ZRC SAZU

Urednik / Editor
Marijan Dović

Program kolokvija / Colloquium Programme (Lipica, hotel Maestoso)
Torek, 2. septembra / Tuesday, September 2^nd
18.30 Dobrodošlica z večerjo in zabavo / Welcome party with dinner
Sreda, 3. septembra / Wednesday, September 3^rd
10.00-13.00 Hibridni prostori umetnosti / Hybrid Spaces of Art (Westphal, Škulj, Zabel)
13.30 Kosilo / Lunch
15.00-18.00 Prostori spremenljive identitete – Trst / Spaces of Unstable Identity – Trieste (Škamperle, Dović, Jan)
Četrtek, 4. septembra / Thursday, September 4^th
10.00-13.00: Vpis prostora v tekst / Space Inscribed in Text (Keunen, Juvan, Kernev, Pavlič)
13.30 Kosilo / Lunch
15.00-18.00 Novi koncepti primerjalne književnosti / New Concepts of Comparative Literature (Bessiere, Westphal)
Petek, 5. septembra / Friday, September 5^th
12.30 Ekskurzija v Ljubljano / Excursion to Ljubljana

The subject of the two-day colloquium in the framework of the international writers' gathering in Vilenica entitled »Spaces of Transgressiveness: Verbal Art at the Edge« will reflect the idea of space in regard to literary production. Literature itself is an inscription of cultural memory and as an artistic language praxis preserves the historicity of its space through its forms of enouncements. A comprehensive theoretical analysis of spatial conceptions (cultural, textual, geocritical ...) is thus fundamental for actual and future reality of our and European literatures. The mental paradigm shift which has been identified also through literature of modernism and postmodernism has introduced a new viewpoint on the existence and significance of the evidently irreplaceable enterprise, labeled the producing of artistic word. Thus it seems to be necessary to rethink and also revaluate this production – in the meaning of original »poiesis« – taking into consideration the ideas of the present time and not the ones burdened by the views of 150 years ago. From this perspective the creative reality of Slovenian literature can expand its horizons itself more succesfully and also with more penetrating impetus of its newly identified native subjectivity in the midst of future Europe, which is on the globalized map becoming less and less extensive, though its phyisical boundaries are moving towards East. The challenges of globally interconnected existence have of course opened our sensitivity for comprehension of our own spaces and identities, yet this notion also should not be understood in the same way as in the 19th century.

We shall recall Montaigne, who wrote: "Barriers are made to be broken down." Transgression presupposes the law and its recognition. There are many kinds of law. Let's say that the XX^th century avant-gardes were prone to recognize laws to be transgressed. Here, the issue is not so much the transgression itself as are its implications – we will suggest that these implications are related to the avant-gardes' will to power. But these implications should not divert us from considering the statute per se of the literary work or from considering the structural power of transgression which may be subscribed to the literary work. There is no literary work without the display of semantic move – which Y. Lotman named a semantic transgression. The final question should be: what relation is to be delineated between this semantic and structural transgression, which characterizes the literary work of art, and the manifest transgression, the one Montaigne refers to.


Marijan Dović
Literarni repertoar v polisistemski perspektivi: model za sistemsko generirano interferenco med literaturami

V kontekstu razprave o prostorskem v literaturi, ki naj bi obenem redefinirala predstave o nacionalnem in identiteti, je iz teoretičnega pojmovnika sodobnih empiričnih in sistemskih obravnav literature mogoče uporabiti predvsem koncept »literarnega repertoarja«, kakršen se je razvil v polisistemski teoriji Itamarja Even-Zoharja. Repertoar je eden ključnih elementov literarnega polisistema, saj mu omogoča nemoteno delovanje in tudi razvoj. V Even-Zoharjevih analizah se kaže, kako nacionalni literarni sistem sam posega po tujih vzorcih in modelih tedaj, ko te nujno potrebuje za svojo ohranitev in razvoj oziroma za vzdrževanje »sistemskega optimuma«. Nacional(istič)ne literarne vede se temu dejstvu sicer upirajo in ga prikrivajo s poudarjanjem samoniklosti posameznih avtorjev in njihovih proizvodov, a zgodovina jasno kaže, da se noben literarni sistem ni mogel razviti, ne da bi si vsaj v določeni fazi izposojal elemente repertoarja iz drugih polisistemov. Na ta način stopata v ospredje zgodovinska »globalnost« in sprepletenost – če hočemo, tudi transgresivnost – umetniške besede, ki so ju že od odkritij o tematoloških »potovanjih« pravljičnih motivnih drobcev po evroazijskem prostoru doslej morda bolj kot drugi ozavestili ravno nadnacionalno usmerjeni literarni komparativisti. Vse to je mogoče ilustrirati že s Prešernom, ki je v slovenski literarni sistem 19. stoletja, katerega repertoar je bil dotlej nizko razvit oziroma po Even-Zoharju šibak, načrtno uvajal formalne in vsebinske vzorce iz klasične latinske, italijanske renesančne in sodobne evropske romantične poezije (npr. oblike kot so sonet, stanca, tercina ali asonanca). Eden od rezultatov tega početja je bil – sploh glede na kasnejši pomen Prešernovega dela za razvoj slovenskega literarnega sistema – gotovo tudi zasidranje »pomenskih prostorov« drugih evropskih literatur v slovensko kulturo.

Marijan Dović
Literary Repertoire in Polysystemic Perspective: A Model for Systemically Generated Interference Among Literatures

From the vantage point of contemporary empirical and systemic approaches to literature (and in the context of discussion about the spatial in literature that also wishes to redefine the notions of national and identity) it is possible to stress the useful concept of »literary repertoire« that evolved from Itamar Even-Zohar's »polysystem theory«. Repertoire is one of the key elements of literary polysystem which enables its ongoing processes and evolution. Even-Zohar's analyses show how a national literary system takes up foreign patterns and models when it needs them to maintain its »systemic optimum«. National(istic) literary historiographies resist and try to conceal this fact by overemphasizing originality of national authors and their products, yet history shows clearly that no literary system could do without borrowing repertoire elements from other systems at least in one phase. In this way historical interconnectedness – or transgressiveness – of literary discourse (that was ackonowledged by literary comparativist at least since thematological discoveries of »travels« of fairy motives in Euro-Asian space) comes to the fore. This can be illustrated by F. Prešeren, a great Slovenian 19^th century poet, who deliberatly introduced various forms (mostly form ancient literatues, Italian renaissance and contemporary romanticism: sonet, terza rima, stanza, assonance ...) in Slovenian literature with a deliberate intention to expand its – in that time underdeveloped or in terms of Even-Zohar weak – literary repertoire. A by-product of this enterprise – especially in regard to later significance of Prešeren's works for the development of the literary system in Slovenia – was also anchoring the »semiotic spaces« of other cultures into Slovenian cultural space.


Zoltan Jan
Recepcija literature maloštevilnega naroda v velikem kulturnem prostoru sosednjega naroda (splošna vprašanja recepcije slovenske književnosti pri Italijanih)

Pri raziskavah recepcije slovenske književnosti v italijanskem kulturnem prostoru po drugi svetovni vojni sem izhajal iz številnih predhodnih obravnav. V najbolj pronicljivih so bili ugotovljeni kriteriji, na podlagi katerih je nastal repertoar prevedenih del, ki so ga obravnavale predvsem s kronološkega vidika ob upoštevanju avtorskega načela. Manj pozornosti je bilo namenjeno vprašanju, v kolikšni meri lahko slabši prevod predstavi italijanskemu bralcu tista dela slovenske književnosti, ki po splošnem prepričanju sodijo v reprezentativen izbor. Kljub natančnemu spremljanju vsakega odmeva slovenske književnosti v Italiji se je malo upoštevalo, kako nanj vplivajo reference o uveljavljanju slovenske književnosti v drugih nacionalnih prostorih. Neosvetljen je ostal pojav, da so posredniki predvsem Slovenci, ki z velikimi napori skušajo vedno znova zbuditi zanimanje za svojo literaturo pri Italijanih.

Ob razmeroma pogostih odmevih slovenske književnosti je relevantno, kaj pomeni število izdanih knjig ob primerljivih podatkih italijanskega in slovenskega kulturnega prostora. V istem obdobju, ko je v Italiji izšlo približno sto petdeset samostojnih publikacij, ki prinašajo prevode slovenskih leposlovnih del v italijanščino, so v neprimerno manjši Sloveniji objavili več kot sedemsto prevodov italijanskih del, kar postavlja vprašanje, ali je slovenska književnost manj zanimiva kot italijanska, kaj odloča pri uveljavljanju književnosti neprimerno številnejšega naroda in kako lahko prodira književnost majhnega naroda v širši prostor. Pri oceni mesta slovenske književnosti v italijanski prevodni literaturi je potrebno upoštevati, da je njihov kulturni prostor razmeroma slabo odziven za tuja dela. Ponudba prevodov, ki se hitro prilagaja trenutnemu zanimanju, je neprimerno bolj pestra kot repertoar slovenskih prevedenih del, a vseeno ne zajema niti četrtine letne knjižne naklade. Tako kot vsi zahodnoevropski narodi se tudi Italijani manj zanimajo za slovanske književnosti, saj predstavljajo prevodi iz teh komajda pol procenta celotne prevodne produkcije ali sto sedemindvajset naslovov knjig v letu 1990 oziroma šestinštirideset naslovov 1992. V obravnavanem obdobju so izhajali povprečno trije knjižni prevodi iz slovenske književnosti letno, medtem ko je npr. ukrajinska književnost zastopana le z dvema v vsej drugi polovici 20. stoletja. Temeljno vprašanje pa je, ali je objavljanje prevodov slovenske književnosti sploh dovolj vidno in odmevno v italijanskem kulturnem prostoru. Vse, kar je izšlo v polstoletnem obdobju, ne presega števila knjig, ki jih tam izdajo samo poklicne založbe v treh dneh.

Zoltan Jan
The Reception of a Small Nation's Literature in the Larger Cultural Space of a Neighbouring Nation

T he paper deals with general questions about the presence of Slovenian literature in Italian cultural space after the World War II: it is interested in the mechanisms, criteria, the quality and the number of translations. The enthusiastic mediators were in most cases Slovenians who were hoping to draw attention to their literature. When evaluating the position of Slovenian literature in Italian translations one has to consider the fact that Italian cultural space displays low responsiveness for foreign works. The translations are adjusted to momentary interests and their number doesn't exceed quarter of yearly literary publications. Similar to the other western nations the Italians are less interested in Slavonic literatures – they represent only 0.5% of the whole translation production. The fundamental question is whether translating from Slovenian draws enough attention in Italian cultural space if half century's production altogether doesn't exceed the number of books that professional publishers publish in three days?


Marko Juvan
Prostori intertekstualnosti – intertekstualnost prostora

Koncepcija intertekstualnosti je bila v jezik moderne teorije vpeljana prek pojmov, ki v polemičnem razmerju z linearnostjo pisanja implicirajo prostorskost. Značilne so spacialne metafore iz spisov Julie Kristeve in Rolanda Barthesa, kakršne so "volumen socialnosti", "prostor teksta", "tekst se umešča v zgodovino", "družba se vpisuje v tekst", "tekstualni prostor s številnimi dimenzijami", "decentriranje", "v paragramu teksta funkcionirajo vsi teksti prostora, ki ga je pisatelj bral" itn. Tem prostorskim modelom lahko dodamo zgodnejše in poznejše (topos, locus communis, palimpsest, hipertekst). Intertekstualnost je v tej perspektivi razumljena kot igra mnogoterih semiotičnih prostorov, ki jih pisanje in branje besedila evocira, vključuje v označevalne verige od drugod: iz drugih reprezentacij (besedilnih in vizualnih svetov), iz oddaljenih ali bližnjih kulturnih kontekstov ter s semantičnih polj, ki karakterizirajo posamezne sociolekte, regije. Toda perspektivo je mogoče tudi obrniti: prostori naših življenjskih svetov so vedno že tekstualni, intertekstualni: ne le zato, ker so naše percepcije t. i. zunanjega okolja kognitivno-vrednostno strukturirane v mreže, ki so proizvod predhodnega delovanja mnogih tekstov, izjav, diskurzov, temveč tudi zato, ker je življenjsko okolje semiotizirano s časovno mnogoterostjo ravni in vzorcev kulturnih form oziroma sporočil (nekaterih iz preteklosti, drugih iz neposrednje sedanjosti). Na podlagi takšnega premisleka bom v prispevku obravnaval pesniške tekste Srečka Kosovela (1904-1926), najzgodnejšega predstavnika radikalnega modernizma in avantgarde na Slovenskem. Žarišče bo na njegovih transgresijah mej (narava/kultura, ruralno/urbano, zasebno/javno, mitsko/zgodovinsko, središče/obrobje idr.), ki zlasti v strukturah njegovih pesmi-konstrukcij omogočajo simptomalno branje: so indeksi ambivalentne umeščenosti avtorjevega življenjskega sveta v 'mejno cono', tj. v politično buren kontekst zgodovinsko nestabilnih mej med državami in kulturnimi območji (slovensko/italijansko, romania/slavia, sredozemsko/srednjeevropsko).

Marko Juvan
Spaces of Intertextuality / The Intertextuality of Space

The conception of intertextuality was introduced in the discourse of modern theory by means of notions which, opposing to the linearity of writing, implied spatiality: e. g., spatial metaphors in the writings of Kristeva and Barthes ('the volume of the social', 'the space of the text', 'text places itself in the history', 'the society inscribes itself in the text', 'multidimensional textual space', 'all the texts of the space which has been read by the writer function in the paragram of the text ', etc.). Earlier and later spatial representations of intertextuality could be added to the above mentioned (e. g. topos, palimpsest, hypertext). In this perspective, intertextuality is understood as a play of heterogeneous semiotic spaces evoked by writing/reading of the text and linked to the chains of signification from elsewhere: from other representations (textual and visual worlds), from distant or close cultural contexts as well as from semantic fields pertaining to distinct sociolects and regions. However, the perspective can be reversed: spaces of our life-worlds are always already textual/intertextual. On the one hand, our perceptions of the environment are structured through cognitive and axiological nets produced by preceding working of various texts, utterances, discourses; on the other hand, the space as living environment is semiotized by temporal multitude of levels and patterns of cultural forms or messages (some of them stemming from the past, others from the actual present). What I have outlined so far, is a basis for my analyses of poetic texts by Srečko Kosovel (1904-1926), the earliest representative of radical modernist and avant-garde writing in Slovenia. I will focus on his textual transgressions of boundaries (nature/culture, rural/urban, private/public, myth/history, centre/periphery, etc.) which could be read as symptoms of the ambivalent position of the author's life-world in the border-zone, i.e. in the politically troubled context of historically unstable frontiers between states and cultural areas (Slovenian/Italian, romania/slavia, Mediterranean/Central European).

Jelka Kernev Štrajn
Narativnost v reprezentaciji prostorov

Med neštetimi pojmovanji in opredelitvami prostora, je tega mogoče razumeti tudi kot proizvod različnih pomenskih učinkovanj. Reprezentacije tako pojmovanega prostora in reprezentacije prestopanja njegovih mej se v literaturi uresničujejo prek različnih ubeseditvenih postopkov; najočitneje z deskripcijo, a tudi z naracijo in celo z argumentacijo, ki je nemalokrat zgolj implicirana v prvih dveh. Funkcija deskripcije je predvsem ta, da prostorsko umesti akterje in njihova dejanja ter bralcu tako omogoči postopoma prodreti v svet pripovedi. Udejanjanje prostora in prestopanje njegovih mej bodisi znotraj tega sveta bodisi v okviru teksta ali kontekstov ni nekaj statičnega, odvisno je od pozicioniranja in delovanja aktantov. Premestitve v prostoru in s tem tudi razmerja med subjektom in objektom v mnogih pripovedih funkcionirajo kot temeljno strukturno načelo. To se nazorno kaže v žanru, ki mu, glede na to, da zaenkrat ne premoremo ustreznejšega izraza, pravimo potopisna literatura (travel literature). Prispevek upošteva dejstvo, da gre za zelo heterogeno področje, kamor je mogoče uvrstiti tekste od Homerjeve Odiseje do Magrisove Donave ali Mikrokozmosov, zato se omejuje predvsem na en pojav te literature, in sicer na delo Mme de Stael (De l'Allemagne, Corinne ou l' Italie, Dix années d'exil)), nekatere druge primere pa evocira le, če so s teoretskega vidika nujni za razumevanje.

Razmišljanje izhaja iz nekaterih semiotskih koncepcij prostora, kakršne je na eni strani eksplicirala pariška semiotska šola, na drugi strani pa Jurij Mihajlovič Lotman ter njegovi nasledniki, pripadniki tartujske šole. Gradi pa predvsem na tistih Lotmanovih tezah, ki jih je ta razvil v svojem poznejšem obdobju. Prispevek skuša te teze povezati z nekaterimi uvidi drugih literarnih metodologij, kot so interkulturne raziskave, postkolonialne poetike, dialoškost v Bahtinovem smislu in teoretske obravnave potopisne literature. Slednjo pojmuje ne le kot način preseganja bodisi realnih bodisi fiktivnih prostorov, ampak tudi kot preseganje žanrskih opredelitev znotraj enega teksta.

Jelka Kernev Štrajn
Narrative Extension in Spatial Representation

The paper focuses on certain semiotic conceptions of space promoted by the Paris School of Semiotics and by Lotman's Tartu School. Actually it follows Lotman's views of his later period. The article considers these ideas through other methodological views, i. e. intercultural studies, postcolonial poetics, dialogism in Mikhael Bakhtin's meaning of the term and the theoretical views on travel literature. The latter is understood not only as the method of moving beyond territories, whether real or fictitious, but also as moving beyond the definition of a genre within a text. The article takes into account that this is a very heterogeneous area ranging from Homer's Odyssey to Claudio Magris' Danubio or Microcosmi. It limits itself to Mme de Staël's De l'Allemagne and it includes few other examples to illustrate the theoretical point of view.

De l'Allemagne is in this context an adequate example of the intercultural interests. It seems to be a case of spacial transgressions in several directions and also the instance of various identities. The author is a woman, a protestant in predominantly catholic country, in permanent conflict with the napoleonic regime. She had to move her literary salon simbolically as well as geographically from Paris, the very centre, to Coppet, across the border and to the province. At last she started to cross the borders territorially and culturally when she set about Europe. And when she began to write about her impressions, opinions and considerations, she crossed the borders of different modes of writing and genres as well.


Bart Keunen
Moralizem in transgresivna individualizacija v urbani fikciji: deleuzovska in bahtinovska kritika urbane prostorskosti

Ko se realistična fikcija ukvarja z modernostjo in modernistično spacialnostjo, jo zaznamuje močan, skoraj mitičen način mišljenja. Moralne polarnosti, ki imajo že od klasične tragedije in visokosrednjeveške romance obliko opozicije med krepostjo in pregreho, so semantična osnova za strukturiranje zgodb in junakov. V pustolovskem romanu preizkušenj iz renesančne kulture (Bahtin) so se te polarnosti prilagodile modernemu svetu. Junaki teh romanov so preizkušani v nenehni bitki proti antagonizmom z moralnimi konotacijami. V francoskem realizmu 19. stoletja in kriminalki 20. stoletja je mogoče polarnost med uganko in resnico oziroma med problemom in rešitvijo videti kot oživljanje starega mitičnega vzorca. Posebno v urbani fikciji je ta struktura detajlno izvedena kot opozicija med labirintskimi in anomičnimi prizorišči na eni strani in poskusi razjasnitve na drugi. V tem smislu je mogoče razumeti urbano fikcijo kot močan izraz enega vidika tega, čemur bom rekel “sindrom modernosti”. V mnogih besedilih imamo opravka s fenomenom, ki sta mu Deleuze in Guattari skovala oznako “dekodiranje” moralnih vrednot v sodobnih “civiliziranih” družbah.

Nova mitična zgodbena struktura kot drugi vidik sindroma modernosti je pogosto dopolnjena z junaki, ki izražajo močan čut individualnosti in nagnjenje k zasebnim introspekcijam. Razjasnitev osebnih konfliktov in problemov gre z roko v roki z razbiranjem moralnih vrednot. Moderno fikcijo, posebej urbane kriminalke, organizirajo dejanja junakov, ki so na preizkušnji osebnostne integritete. V tem se odraža individuacijski proces modernosti, ki ga je mogoče imenovati “proces rekodiranja”. V kriminalki od A. Vachsa do E. Mendoze je mogoče jasno videti, kako se avtorji uspešno spopadajo s sindromom modernosti (paradoksen soobstoj mehanizmov dekodiranja in rekodiranja): območje javnega je opisano, kot da je strukturirano iz mitičnih opozicij ali kot prostor materialne in moralne dezorientacije, a je hkrati kombinirano z zaprtimi zasebnimi prostori v obliki čustveno varnih življenjskih svetov (kot v bostonskih kriminalkah R. Parkerja), individualiziranih stanovanjskih skupnosti (npr. Burke pri A. Vachsu) ali idiosinkratičnih psiholoških prostorov (npr. protagonist v Mendozovi barcelonski trilogiji). Enako velja za eksistencialistično prozo v povojni književnosti in mnogih sodobnih filmih.

Prostor sodobne urbane fikcije, ki je vedno že interioriziran (rekodiran), pa ni brez političnega pomena. Beli heteroseksualni avtor srednjega razreda, katerega totalizirajoče izhodišče je bilo nagnjeno k monopolizaciji zgodnejše urbane fikcije, je bil uspešno izzvan. Tako pisci kot bralci so se zavedli, da so pogledi na velemestno življenje vedno pogojeni z razrednimi, rasnimi, etničnimi in seksualnimi izbirami/nagnjenji. Ta pretanjena občutljivost je proizvedla večjo pestrost urbanih naracij, ki so včasih izrecno prikrojeni različnim publikam in tržnim nišam. V svojem prispevku bom te sisteme povezal s prehodom od “razbrazdanih prostorov” k “zglajenim prostorom” (Deleuze in Guattari v Mille Plateaux). Slednji so v resnici izraz transgresivne narave sodobnega urbanega prostora.

Bart Keunen
Moralism and Transgressive Individualization in Urban Fiction: A Deleuzian and Bakhtinian Critique of Urban Spatiality

Realist fiction, when dealing with modernity and modern spatiality, is marked by a strong and almost mythical way of thinking. Moral polarities – which, since classical tragedy and high medieval romance, take the form of an opposition between virtue and vice – are used to give a semantic foundation to plot structures and heroes. In the renaissance adventure novel of ordeal (Bakhtin) these polarities were adapted to the modern world. Heroes in those novels are tested in a constant battle against antagonisms with moral connotations. In the French realism of 19^th century and in the 20^th century crime fiction the polarity between enigma and truth or between problem and solution can be seen as a revitalizion of the old mythical pattern. In urban fiction especially, this structure is particuralized as an opposition between labyrinthic and anomic settings on one hand and elucidation attempts on the other. In that sense urban fiction can be seen as a powerful expression of one aspect of what I will call the “modernity syndrom”. It deals in many texts with a phenomenon which Deleuze and Guattari have coined the “decoding” of moral values in modern “civilized” societies.

The new mythical plot structure, and this is the second aspect of the modernity syndrom, is often combined with heroes that express a strong sense of individuality and a predeliction for private meditations. The elucidation of personal conflicts and problems goes hand in hand with the decoding of moral values. Modern fiction, and urban crime fiction in particular, is organised by actions of heroes which are tested for their personal integrity. This reflects the individuation process of modernity, a process that can be labeled a “recoding process.”

In crime fiction from Andrew Vachs to Eduardo Mendoza, we can clearly see how writers cope with the modernity syndrom (the paradoxal coexistence of decoding and recoding mechanisms): the public realm is pictured as structured by mythical oppositions or as a space of material and moral disorientation, but is also combined with closed private spaces which take the form of emotional secure lifeworlds (as in the Boston crime novels of Robert Parker), of individualised gated communities (cf. Burke in Andrew Vachs) or idiosyncratic psychological spaces (cf. the protagonist in Mendoza’s Barcelona trilogy). The same goes for existentialist fiction in post-war bellettrie and in several contemporary movies.        

The always already interiorized (recoded) space of contemporary urban fiction however, is not without political significance. The white middle-class heterosexual male author whose totalizing vantage point tended to monopolize earlier urban fiction has been successfully contested. Both writers and readers have come to realize that perspectives on metropolitan life are always gendered and inflected by class, race, ethnicity and sexual preference/orientation. This enhanced sensitivity has produced a considerably greater variety of urban narratives, sometimes explicitly tailored to different audiences or ‘niches’ in the market. In my contribution, these symptoms will be associated with a shift from “striated spaces” towards “smooth spaces” (cf. Deleuze and Guattari in Mille Plateaux). The latter are in fact an expression of the transgressive nature of contemporary urban space.


Darja Pavlič
Prostor in lirski subjekt

Nemški romantiki so v svojih opredelitvah lirske poezije poudarjali, da gre za najbolj subjektivno vrsto poezije, ker je v njej prikazana človekova notranjost. Podobe zunanjega sveta (zlasti narave) so v romantični poeziji metafore za pesnikovo razpoloženje. Novejše teorije pravijo, da vsaka pesem konstruira lasten besedilni svet, ki je bolj ali manj ločen od dejanskega sveta. Prispevek se bo ukvarjal s podobami geografskega prostora v poeziji, to pa tako, da bo ob izbranih primerih slovenskih in evropskih pesnikov ugotavljal, kako živ je romantični koncept prostorskega projiciranja subjektivnih občutkov in kakšni so alternativni odnosi lirskega subjekta do sveta, v katerem se nahaja.

Darja Pavlič
Space and the Lyrical Subject

German romantics claimed that lyric poetry is the most subjective kind of poetry because it was supposed to represent the inner world of the poet. In the romantic poetry, images of the outer world (especially of nature) function as metaphors for the artist's mood. According to recent theories, each poem construes its own textual world which is more or less separated from the actual world. While discussing images of various geographical places in representative examples from Slovenian and European poetry, the paper will investigate how vivid is the romantic notion according to which subjective feelings are being projected spatially and what alternatives are applied by the lyrical subject (poem's speaker) to relate to her/his outer world.


Igor Škamperle
Transgresija, obrobje, središče

Izhajal bom iz izkušnje, ki mi jo je posredoval Trst in njegova bližnja okolica, Istra in Kras, na katerem se tudi nahajamo. Trst je bil od 18. stol., ko je postal prosto cesarsko pristanišče, mesto obrobja, a hkrati tudi konvergentno središče, v katerem so se srečevali in spajali Italijani, Slovenci, Nemci, Grki, Srbi, Hrvati in Judje. Kljub urbani konvergenci različnih etnij pa je bila in ostaja se danes temeljna razlika med mestom in njegovo okolico, Istro in Krasom. Na tej valenci so dogaja večina tistega, kar lahko označimo za transgresivno, od jezikovnih, kulturnih, estetskih, interesnih in nazorskih izbir. V tem pogledu je celotna kulturna pokrajina Trsta, Istre in Krasa zanimiva tudi danes, v času zatona vertikalnih in nacionalnih identitet in prevladi koncepta mreže, ki ga diktira naš čas. Zanimiva je tudi zato, ker je prav Trst primer, kako je mogoče v mreži arbitrarnih izbir (tudi narodnih) ustvarjati in živeti v sintezi lokalnega in središčnega, globalnega in transgresivnega. V Trstu nam je oboje domače.

Igor Škamperle
Transgression, the Centre, and the Margin

The paper is based on my personal experience of Trieste and its surroundings (the Karst and Istria) where I was born and spent my childhood. Since the 18^th century when it became a free imperial port, Trieste has been paradoxically a marginal town and a nodal point of cultural interchange among Italian, Slovenian, German, Greek, Serb, Croat and Jewish populations. Although it is possible to speak of the urban merging of heterogeneous ethnicities, the difference between the city itself and its (more rural) surroundings remains crucial. It is within this constellation where the majority of transgressions (linguistic, cultural, aesthetic, ideological) are being produced. The whole Triestine region together with Karst and Istrian hinterland is culturally interesting even nowadays, when vertical and national identities are collapsing and the web of arbitrary decisions (regarding national identities as well) prevails. Trieste is a telling example of how it is possible to live and create in the synthesis of the local and the central, the global and the transgressive.


Jola Škulj
Spacialnost v modernistični reprezentaciji

Razpravljanje bo osredotočeno na dvoje težišč, (1) na prezentacijo krajine v modernistični umetnosti in na (2) koncept spacialnosti kot logiko modernističnega teksta. Krajina se v modernistični umetnosti kaže kot nekaj nedoločnega, kot izmuzljiva entiteta. Koliko je sploh pojem krajine kot scenske reprezentacije še ustrezen v poetiki modernistične literature, ki skozi svoja gibanja manifestira izrazit značaj urbanosti? Kako lahko modernistične poetološke strategije z logiko nedovršenosti sploh zajemajo podobe krajine? V kontekstu modernističnega preboja pomenita eliotovska pusta dežela ali votli človek emblematično mentalno podobo reprezentacij. Krajina se v tej umetnosti zdi v stanju disociacije, navzoča zgolj v svojih segmentih, kot fragmentarna entiteta s kaj majhno ali sploh nikakršno zavezanostjo resničnemu. Bi ob navezi z modernistično literaturo lahko uporabili pojem hipotetične krajine? Če modernistična umetnost »ni umetnost posnemanja, ampak umetnost pojma«, kot je že 1912 trdil Apollinaire, ali rečeno drugače, če je modernistična umetniška intenca v tem, da »reprezentira konceptualizirano realnost in ustvarjalno realnost«, lahko predpostavljamo, da je možno govoriti le o hipotetičnih krajinah. Modernistične krajine so zgolj postulirane krajine, močno abstraktne po svojem pomenu, nekaj, kar označimo lahko edinole kot območje domnevnega. Po Apollinairu modernistična umetnost ne predpostavlja »realnosti pogleda« ampak »realnost vpogleda«, tj. nekaj konceptualnega v svojem bistvu. Zato so modernistične reprezentacije krajine lahko zgolj konceptualne. Konceptualnost implicira hipotetične instance, njihovo virtualnost, zato modernistične krajine težijo k večji abstraktnosti kot v predhodnih umetniških upodobitvah. Modernistična umetnost s svojimi značilnimi konstrukcijskimi obeležji, s svojimi lastnostmi sugeriranih pomenov in odprtih interpretacij, izpostavlja dileme inferencialnega.

Specifičen modernistični pristop h krajini v modernizmu je mogoče ustrezno pojasnjevati tudi skozi vidike spacializacije (tj. s konstrukcijo prostorske logike in avtorefleksivnosti) modernističnega pisanja. Odkar je 1945 J. Frank zastavil svoj teoretski pogled na naracijo Joycea, Prousta, Djune Barnes in na modernistično poezijo skozi pojem spacialne forme, je ideja spacialnosti sprožala močne ugovore in živahne debate v najrazličnejše smeri. Natančna razdelava obsežne diskusije in nasprotujočih si stališč ob pojmu spacialnega pokaže, da je obstajal razlog za neustrezno razbiranje Frankovih poskusov formalne analize, kako zajeti fluidni značaj modernističnega pisanja pod enovitim pojmom. Njegovo pojmovanje je ostalo na prepihu diskusij prav iz razloga, ker je oznaka figurativno zajela troje temeljnih vidikov, narativni jezik, ustroj in bralčevo percepcijo, ter tako ni mogla biti enoumna. – Ali je morda idejo spacialnega mogoče razbirati na manj sporen način skozi poststrukturalen pojem spacializacije (Kristeva, W. Spanos) ali bahtinovsko oznako dialoga? In še, kako lahko ideja spacialnega, kakršno so promovirali manifesti konkretističnih gibanj, osvetli naša razumevanja literarnih reprezentacij v literaturi 20. stoletja?

Jola Škulj
The Spatial in Modernist Representations

The paper will focus on two separate issues, (1) on the presence (and possible employment) of landscape in modernist literature, and (2) on the concept of the spatial as logic of modernist texts. Landscape appears to be a rather vague or elusive entity in the arts of modernism. To what extent is the concept of landscape as a scenic representation still relevant in poetics of modernist literature which manifests strongly urban character through its movements? How can modernist poetic strategies with their logic of inconclusiveness involve images of physical space? In the context of modernist breakthrough Eliot's waste land and hollow man were very emblematic mental ideas of representations. Landscape in modernist art seems to be in the state of being dissociated, it appears to be present only through its segments, as a fragmented entity with very little or no claims to verisimilitude. Would the concept of hypothetical landscapes be more applicable to the problem of modernist literature? If modernist art »is not an art of imitation but an art of conception« as argued already by Apollinaire in 1912, or in other words, if modernist artistic intention is »in representing conceptualized reality or creative reality« one can imagine we can talk only about hypothetical landscapes. Modernist landscapes are postulated landscapes, rather speculative in their meaning, something that is entirely conjectural. According to Apollinaire, modernist art presumes not "the reality of sight", but "the reality of insight", i.e. something conceptual in its essence. For this reason modernist representations of landscapes could not be but conceptual. The conceptual implies hypothetical instances, their virtuality, so modernist landscape have a tendency to be more abstract than in foregoing literary realizations. Modernist arts with their distinctive constructive qualities, with their quality of suggestive meaning and open-ended interpretation put the stress on the predicament of inferential.

The distinctive artistic treatment of landscape in modernism can be well explained also in view of spatialization (i.e. spatial-logic and selfreflexiveness) of modernist writing. Since 1945 when J. Frank put forward his theoretical insight into Joyce's, Proust's and D. Barnes's narrative and into modernist poetry through his notion of spatial form, the idea of the spatial initiated strong controversy and vital debates in different directions. Close consideration of the formal discussion of opposing points of view on the concept of the spatial reveals that there were certain grounds for misreading Frank’s attempt at formal analysis, i.e. to grasp the fluid character of the modernist writing under a single notion. His concept remains widely discussed due to the fact that the term figuratively embraces three fundamental aspects of narrative language, structure, and the reader’s perception and thus could not be univocal. - Could the idea of the spatial be read less arguable through poststructuralist concept of spatialization (Kristeva, Spanos) and the bakhtinian notion of dialogue? And how can the idea of the spatial as promoted in manifestos of concretist's movements throw the light upon our understanding of literary representations in 20^th century literature?


Bertrand Westphal
Metodološki pristop k prostorski transgresiji

Glagol transgredirati izhaja iz lat. transgredi, ki ima prvotno prostorski pomen 'preiti na drugo stran'. Za Rimljane je transgrediral tisti, ki je prestopil mejo ali reko oziroma preskočil z ene teme na drugo (s spremembo argumentov). Transgresijo je pomenilo tudi obnašanje, ki je šlo preko družbeno sprejemljivih omejitev. Samostalnik transgressio je ustrezal dejanju transgredi in običajno odražal pomen povedka, rabili pa so ga tudi kot oznako za retorično figuro. V tem drugem pomenu bi ga danes prevedli kot “hiperbaton”. Hiperbaton na splošno velja za figuro, v kateri so besede, ki so sicer normalno povezane, obrnjene in razdružene. Toda nekateri v hiperbatonu vidijo poseben učinek, ki nastane zaradi "spontanosti, ki na videz fiksni skladenjski konstrukciji daje posebno resničnost, bodisi očitno bodisi implicitno". Morda ta učinek sodi k bistvu transgresije, saj ta onkraj meje lahko ohrani cono intimnosti. Tretji pomen transgressio ustreza pomenu 'kršitev zakona': ne da se iti prek meje, ne da bi šel čez normo. Vendar pa ta pomen besede za Rimljane ni bil običajen.

V germanskih jezikih (zlasti v nemščini in švedščini) je le malo besed izpeljanih iz korena transgressio, še te niso postale del besednega zaklada. V moderni francoščini (pa tudi v italijanščini in španščini) je transgresija dobila pomen, ki se je razvil iz dokaj obrobnega pomena korenske besede: transgresija je povezana bolj s prehajanjem moralnih kakor pa fizičnih omejitev. V francoščini je s transgresijo zakona tako kot v angleščini: pomeni samostalnika in glagola (transgression , to transgress v angleščini, transgresser v francoščini) so v obeh jezikih skoraj enaki, čeprav se zdi, da ima glagol v angleščini bolj dinamične prizvoke, verjetno zato, ker je skoraj sinonimen z glagolom to trespass. Razlika med angleškim to trespass in francoskim trépasser bi utegnila biti spodbudnejša, saj trépas v francoščini pomeni končno transgresijo (v pomenu 'smrt'). Kaže, da ima beseda trepassare v italijanščini vmesen pomen, saj stoji med pomenoma francoskih besed transgresser in trépasser.

Naj bodo današnje pomenske razlike v besedi med jeziki takšne ali drugačne, pa je jasno, da se cona, ki jo zaseda naša "transgresija", ne ujema s tisto pri Rimljanih. Zanje je bila preprosto problem raziskovanja tistega, kar je bil onstran meje …, mejo samo pa so razumeli na dva načina: bila je limes, tj. končna omejitev, kakor tudi limen – porozna meja, ki jo je bilo treba prečkati. Transgresija pa ni problem prečkanja poroznih mej. Implicira namreč namen, v vseh primerih gre za prečkanje sprejetih omejitev. Rimljane je od prepovedanega vidika transgresije bolj zanimal novatorski vidik. Morda smo z leti pričeli verjeti, da tisto, kar je novo, lahko obstaja samo v coni, v katero je treba vdreti.

V tem gibljivem kontekstu ni preprosto govoriti o coni transgresije. Opraviti imamo torej s cono transgresije, na katero je mogoče gledati kot na območje intimnosti, ki se razpre onkraj navidezno fiksne (zaprte) konstrukcije – pač v okviru definicije hiperbatona. To območje je mogoče raziskati s sociopoetičnim pristopom. Zato moramo določiti pravila, ki veljajo za mejo, ki je transgredirana, in določiti, kako so ta pravila uporabljena, odložena ali prelomljena. Omenjene meje obvladuje več kodov, npr. kod gostoljubnosti. Preseku, tj. coni družbenega stika med ljudmi, vladajo formalno izražena pravila, ki predpostavljajo obstoj skupnega ritma. Če ritem ni skupen, neizogibno pride do transgresije meje. V nekaterih primerih transgresija dobiva velikanske razsežnosti, spreminja se v hoteni vdor: to je primer vojne, ki je ogromna transgresija države.

Toda transgresija ima lahko tudi drugo razmerje s prostorom: lahko jo imamo za eno od značilnosti samega prostora, uporabno za vse enote. Prostor navadno dojemamo kot stabilno entiteto (razen ko je predmet vojne, ki skuša modificirati uveljavljeno ureditev). S heraklitskega vidika pa imamo prostor za transgresiven že po njegovi naravi. Ni fiksiran, temveč fluktuira, zasidran je v silah (ali pa te poraja), ki povzročajo neprestano gibanje (ali pa so učinek tega). Morda omenjeni perpetuum mobile ni v zvezi s transgresijo, temveč bolj s transgresivno zmožnostjo, ki je lastna prostoru in percepciji umestitve. Neprestano gibljivost/transgresijo so preučevali filozofi (Panta rei!). V literaturi uporabo tega najrazločneje vidimo v delih Lotmana (v "semiosferi"), predvsem pa Deleuza in Guattarija (v "dialektiki teritorialnosti").

Na koncu: kolikor je transgresija povezana s prečkanjem mej (z gibanjem), ki veljajo za moralne norme, je očitno, da jo je treba razumeti kot problem gledišča. Prostor pogosto dojemamo kot stabilno entiteto, podobno pa tudi na gledišče gledamo kot na nekaj enotnega. Kakor hitro prostor motrimo v gibanju (v trans/gresiji, trans/formaciji), se spremeni v območje, ki je predmet multiplega žarišča (množenje, celo razplajanje gledišč); raziskati ga je treba kot kompleksen vzorec. Imagologija je preučevanje gledišča in umestitve. Geokritika je preučevanje multiplega žarišča. Prva pripada pretežno modernistični perspektivi, druga pa postmodernističnemu pristopu, v katerem je transgresija postavljena v relativno luč, medtem ko pojmi resnice (s tem tudi norm) in resničnosti postajajo šibkejši.

Predlagani načrt raziskovanja prostora transgresije in transgresije prostora (običajno ne uporabljam takšnih retoričnih figur, vendar ta v tem primeru odraža predmet) je torej takšen:
1.      Sociopoetika transgresije: prečkanje meje (kod in njegove motnje) oz. ritem gostoljubja; nasilno prečkanje meje, nasilen vdor oz. vojna;
2.      Dinamika transgresije in gibanje celih enot: Lotmanov pojem semiosfere, Deleuzova dialektika teritorialnosti;
3.      Multiplo žarišče: imagologija, geokritika.

Bertrand Westphal
A Methodological Approach to Spatial Transgression

To transgress derives from the Latin transgredi, which has a primarily spatial meaning: “to pass to the other side”. For the Romans, you transgressed when you crossed over a boundary or a river, or when you jumped from one subject to another (changing arguments). You also transgressed when your behaviour was beyond socially acceptable limits. The substantive transgressio corresponded to the action transgredi which normally reflected the meaning of the predicate, but it was also used as a figure of rhetoric. In this second sense, it would be translated today by the term “hyperbate”. However, hyperbate is commonly said to be a figure where normally connected words are inverted or dissociated. Yet some see in hyperbate a specific effect due to “a spontaneity which gives to an apparently fixed syntactic construction some special truth, either obvious or implied.” Perhaps this effect is part of the essence of transgression which may retain a zone of intimacy beyond the boundary. The third sense of transgressio corresponded to the sense “a breach of the law”: you cannot go beyond the boundary without going beyond the norm. However, for the Romans, this was not the usual meaning of the word.

In Germanic languages (especially German and Swedish), few words have been formed from the root transgressio which is not included in the Wortschatz. In modern French (as in Italian and Spanish), transgression has taken on a meaning which has developed from a rather marginal sense of the root word: transgression is connected to the fact of going beyond moral rather than physical limits. You transgress the law in French as you do in English: The meaning of the substantive and verb (transgression and to transgress in English, transgresser in French) are very much the same in both languages, although in English the verb seems to have more dynamic overtones, probably because it is almost synonymous with to trespass. The distinction between the English to trespass and the French trépasser would have been more stimulating as trépas in French is… the ultimate transgression (meaning “death”). It seems that the word in Italian has an intermediate sense as the meaning of the word trapassare is in between that of the French words transgresser and trépasser.

Whatever the differences in meaning between languages today, it is clear that the zone occupied by our transgression no longer corresponds to that of the Romans. For them, it was simply a question of exploring what was beyond the boundary… but the boundary itself was to be understood in two different ways: it was both limes-the final limit, and limen-the porous boundary which was to be crossed. However, transgression is not a question of crossing porous boundaries. It implies purpose, and is in all cases a question of going beyond an accepted limit. The Romans were more interested in the novel aspect of transgression rather than the forbidden aspect. Perhaps over the years we have come to believe that what is new can only be in the zone we have to break into.

In this moving context, it is not easy to talk about the zone of transgression. We have therefore a zone of transgression which can be seen as an area of intimacy which opens up beyond an apparently fixed (closed) construction, in terms of the definition of hyperbate. This area can be examined according to a socio-poetic approach. We must therefore determine the rules which apply to the boundary which is transgressed and how they are applied, set aside or broken. Several codes govern these boundaries: the code of hospitality, for example. The intersection, that is the zone of social contact between people, is governed by formally expressed rules which imply that there is a shared rhythm. If this rhythm is not shared, the boundary will inevitably be transgressed. In some cases, the transgression takes on enormous proportions and is transformed into a voluntary intrusion: this is the case especially with war, which is a huge transgression of the State.

Yet transgression can have another relationship with space; it can be considered as one of the characteristics of space itself and thereby apply to whole units. Space is usually perceived as a stable entity (except when it is subjected to war which aims to modify established order). However, from a heraclitean point of view, we may consider that space is by nature transgressive. It is not fixed; it fluctuates; it is anchored in forces (or it generates forces) which cause (or are caused by) perpetual movement. Perhaps this perpetuum mobile is related not to transgression but rather to a transgressive capacity which is inherent to space and to the perception of location. Philosophers have studied this perpetual mobility/ transgression. Panta rei! In literature, we see its application most obviously in the works of Lotman (and the “semiosphere”) and above all in the works of Deleuze/Guattari (and the “dialectics of territoriality”).

Finally, it is obvious that as transgression is related to crossing boundaries (movement) which are seen as moral norms, it must be understood mainly as a question of point of view. Just as space is often perceived as a stable entity, point of view is frequently seen in terms of its unicity. But once we consider space to move (trans/gression, trans/formation), it becomes an area which is subject to multiple focus (multiplication or even proliferation of different points of view) which must be examined as a complex pattern. Imagology is the study of point of view and location. Geocriticism is the study of multiple focus. The first belongs to a more modernist perspective, the second to a postmodernist approach where transgression is seen in a relative light as the concepts of truth (and therefore of norms), as well as reality tend to weaken.

The proposed plan for a study of the space of transgression and the transgression of space (I do not usually like this type of speech figure but here it reflects the subject) is as follows:
1. The sociopoetics of transgression Crossing the border: the code and its perturbations ex. The rhythm of hospitality - Forced crossing of the border, violent intrusion ex. war
2. The dynamics of transgression and movement of whole units Lotman: notion of the semiosphere; Deleuze: dialectics of territoriality
3. Multiple focus: Imagology, Geocriticism


Igor Zabel
Umetnost na robu vidnega

Likovna umetnost ni bila nikoli samo vizualna. Res je da je ena glavnih značilnosti razvoja modernizma od poznega 19. stoletja naprej nenehno prozadevanje, da bi iz dela odstranili vse, kar sega »prek« njegove neposredne navzočnosti. Modernistični kritiki so zahtevali, da je treba delo omejiti le na njegodo dejansko, neposredno (kar pomeni tudi vidno) navzočnost. »Medija« in »vsebine« se naj ne bi več ločevalo, saj naj bi prava vsebina dela postal prav sam medij. Ta težnja je bila značilna tako za minimaliste kot za modernistične kritike, kakršen je bil Michael Fried, in to kljub nasprotjem med njimi. Eno skrajnih točk tega prizadevanja označuje izjava Franka Stelle iz leta 1966: »What you see is what you see.« (»Kar vidiš, vidiš.«) V istem času pa so bili konceptualni umetniki zelo kritični do modernističnih poskusov, da bi umetnino reducrali zgolj na vizualno prezenco. Kritizirali so idejo »čiste« vizualnosti in opozarjali na nevizualne strukturne elemente in okoliščine vidnega. Ob tem so ustvarili vrsto del, katerih vidna prezenca je bila minimalna in kjer se delo dopolni šele kot racionalni koncept. (Tako so, na primer, ustvarjali dela, ki so le opisi možnih ali nameravanih del in akcij – npr. Statements Lawrencea Weinerja. Hrvaški umetnik Jospi Vaništa, ustanovitelj skupine Gorgona, je že leta 1964 ustvaril sliko, ki obstaja zgolj kot opis.) Od šestdesetih let je napetost med vizualnim in nevizualnim ostala ena od osrednjih tem likovne umetnosti. Raziskovanje okoliščin videnja in vizualnosti in torej »dematerializacija« umetnine sta bila bistvena za umetnost zadnjih desetletij. Pri tem so si umetniki pomagali s sredstvi, kot so raba najdenih in ready made materialov, dela in akcije, ki so dostopni le z dokumentacijo, raba nevizualnih elementov, kot sta zvok in celo vonj. Še zlasti pomembna in zanimiva metoda je raba teksta. (Ta ima poleg tega še dolgo tradicijo, kajti razmerje med tekstom in podobo je bilo bistveno v vsej zgodovini umetnosti.) Raba teksta je učinkovit način za dematerializacijo dela in za njegovo (samo)refleksijo lastnih okoliščin. Po drugi strani pa ima seveda napisani tekst svoj materialni, vidni aspekt, in način in kontekst njegove prezentacije lahko bistveno vplivata na njegov pomen. Ustavil se bom pri več delih, ki jih imamo za likovna, vendar uporabljajo kot svoj bistveni element tekst, in pri katerih gre za močno napetost med vizualnim in nevizualnim ali celo med umetnostnim in neumetnostnim. Med njimi so dela Jenny Holzer, Smrti v Newport Beachu Lewisa Baltza, Hoja Jožeta Baršija in drugi.

Igor Zabel
Art at the Edge of the Visible

Visual art has never been merely visual. It is true, the history of modernism since the late 19^th century displays, as one of its crucial features, a constant attempt to eliminate from the work anything that would go “beyond” it. According to modernist critics, a work of (visual) art should be reduced to its actual, immediate (which also means visual) presence. “Medium” and “content” should not be separated and the real content of a work of art should be the medium itself. This tendency was essential for the minimalist as well as for modernist critics, such as Michael Fried, in spite of their controversies. In 1966 Frank Stella marked one of the final points of this efforts, declaring that “What you see is what you see”. At the same time, however, conceptual art has been radically critical towards the modernist attempts to reduce the work of art at the mere visual presence. Conceptual artist criticized the very idea of a “pure” visuality, pointing at the non-visual structural elements and conditions of the visual. Dealing with these aspects, they have produced a number of works where visual presence has been minimal and where the piece is actually completed as a rational concept. (They have, for example, produced works that were mere descriptions of intended or possible works or actions – e.g. Statements by Lawrence Weiner. Croatian artist Josip Vaništa, founder of the Gorgona Group, produced a painting just as a description already in 1964.) Since the 1960s, the tension between the visual and the non-visual in the arts has remained a central point in art. The tendency to research of the conditions of seeing and visuality and therefore to “dematerialize” the work of art have been crucial issues in art of the last decades. The use of found and ready-made materials, works and actions that are only available through documentation, use of non-visual elements, such as sound or even smell, have all been means in this efforts. The use of text has been a particularly important and interesting method (and one that refers to a long tradition, since the relation of text and image has been essential throughout the history of art). The use of text has been an effective way to dematerialize the work and develop it as a (self)reflection of its own conditions. On the other hand, of course, the written text has its material, visual aspect, and the way and context of its presentation can affect its meaning essentially.

I will discuss several works that are considered works of visual art but use text as its essential elements and involve a strong tension between the visual and the non-visual, or even art and non-art. Among them will be works by Jenny Holzer, The Deaths in Newport by Lewis Baltz, Walking by Jože Barši and others.