The Poetic Ludism of Milan Jesih U Ime Slobode: Pesnički Ludizam Milana Jesiha
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In the Name of Freedom: The Poetic Ludism of Milan Jesih U ime slobode: pesnički ludizam Milana Jesiha ❦ Darja Pavlič ▶ [email protected] SLAVICA TERGESTINA European Slavic Studies Journal ISSN 1592-0291 (print) & 2283-5482 (online) VOLUME 24 (2020/I), pp. 160–182 DOI 10.13137/2283-5482/30675 SLAVICA TERGESTINA 24 (2020/I) ▶ May ’68 in Yugoslavia This paper examines how the demand U radu se analizira pitanje kako for freedom was fulfilled in Milan je ostvaren imperativ za slobodom Jesih’s poetry from different pe- u različitim periodima pesničkog riods, paying particular attention stvaralaštva Milana Jesiha, s poseb- to the origin of the label ludism. In the nim naglaskom na genezu termina broader perception, language play ludizam. U širem smislu reči, jezička was central to Slovenian ludism, igra je ključna za slovenački ludizam, but it flourished without a clear link međutim, takvo polazište se razvilo to Derrida’s concept of the play of sig- bez jasnog oslanjanja na Deridin pojam nification or Heidegger’s idea of being igre označavanja ili Hajdegerovu as play. A comparison of Jesih’s poetry ideju o biću kao igri. Upoređivanjem collections Uran v urinu, gospodar! Jesihovih zbirki Uran v urinu, gospodar! (Uranus in the Urin, Master!), Soneti (Uran u urinu, gospodare!), Soneti (Sonnets) and Maršal (Marshal) shows i Maršal, postaje evidentno da sve tri that all three books open up space for knjige otvaraju prostor za karneva- carnivalisation, as they connect the lizaciju, s obzirom na to da povezuju high with the low, and the comical with visoko s niskim, smešno s ozbiljnim, the serious. This happens against the na temelju pretpostavke o autonomiji background of belief in the autonomy umetnosti. Sloboda je ostala imperativ of art. Freedom remained an imper- u Jesihovom pesničkom opusu, što čini ative in Jesih’s poetic oeuvre, which mogućim poređenje njegove poezi- made his poetry comparable to play. je s igrom. Stoga je termin ludizam The notion of ludism thus seems primeren kako u pojmovnom tako appropriate both in conceptual and i u stilskom pogledu. stylistic terms. Slovenian poetry, Milan JeSih, Slovenačka poeziJa, Milan ludiSM, neo-avant-garde, JeSih, ludizaM, neoavangarda, play, aeSthetic autonoMy igra, eStetSka autonoMiJa 161 DARJA PAVLIČ ▶ In the Name of Freedom: The Poetic Ludism of Milan Jesih Milan jesih anD The sTuDenT MoveMenT The first public appearance of Group 442, which evolved from Group 441 (Ivo Svetina, Denis Poniž and Ferdinand Miklavec) when it was joined by new members, including Milan Jesih, came in the form of a special issue of the journal Problemi. Published in December 1968, it featured six poems by Jesih. According to Svetina, Problemi 442 (Problems 442) became the manifesto of the group, and they published Poniž’s ‘Esej o golem človeku’ (Essay on the Naked Man) as its programme. How- ever, as Poniž later pointed out in his role as a literary historian, the members of the group developed their own poetics, ‘which were loosely associated with only a few characteristics’ (Poniž: 116). Jesih’s memory also testifies to the fact that the group’s appearance was anything but a sign of a literary movement with clearly defined goals: [W]e found it inappropriate to talk about each other’s poetry. Only occasionally I exchanged a few words with Ivo Svetina about possible differences and common points, but more in the manner of amateur cooks […]. But to sit together over the verses—never. Never. […] It may be that others did, but we didn’t; Matjaž Kocbek was even dismayed that it would seem as if we were showing our penises to each other. We didn’t identify with the manifestos, which Ivo Svetina especially liked to write, as well as Denis Poniž, even though they were signed 442 or 443. (Jesih 2011) In addition to the desire for public recognition, the members of Group 442 appear to have been primarily associated with youthful resistance to restrictions, be they social, ideological or aesthetic. Thus, one can understand the fact that the group took its new name from Jesih’s poem 162 SLAVICA TERGESTINA 24 (2020/I) ▶ May ’68 in Yugoslavia ‘Obljuba’ (Promise), in which one’s complete freedom is not a utopia but an attainable goal, a promise that will come true: ‘lahko si boš nadel ime Ferkeverk ali Pupilo ali Stemson / lahko boš Jaka ali Judež / lahko se boš rimal ali pa se opajal s čim drugim / lahko boš počel prav vse (‘you can get the name Ferkeverk or Pupilo or Stemson/ you can be a Jake or a Jew/ you can rhyme or indulge yourself in something else/ you can do just about anything’ [quoted in Svetina 2009: 28]). The political message is hidden in the verses because they can be read as criticism of collectivism and totalitarianism, but one would seek in vain the call for a change in society. Jesih’s poetry was implicitly engaged in the context of social happenings, but the author was not a revolutionary. Although he was, by his own assurance, restrained from programmatic writings by the members of the group, his political activities can be explained in these words from one of them: ‘The poet is not a revolutionary at all! Only a provocateur provoking the public from behind (safe enough) ramparts.’ (Svetina 2009: 37) Artistic provocation, the inheritance of the avant-garde and Baude- laire’s maxim that the bourgeois should be shocked, were perceived as insufficient by some Group 442 contemporaries, as can be seen from the student journal Tribuna. In May 1969, Group 442 staged an evening of poetry at the Drama theatre in Ljubljana, entitled Žlahtna plesen Pupilije Ferkeverk (Pupilija Ferkeverk’s Precious Mould). The review in Tribuna stated that the group was primarily about a new way of pre- senting one’s poetry, ‘breaking the conventional image of a literary poetry evening’ (Šrot: 7). The authors took equal account of three lev- els: poetry, the acoustic image of the word and the visual dimension; however, according to the reviewer, they got stuck halfway, remaining within the frame of the formal and the usual. He was critical of the selection of poems (Andrej Brvar’s poems did not seem to be in tune 163 DARJA PAVLIČ ▶ In the Name of Freedom: The Poetic Ludism of Milan Jesih with other texts, and some poems were extremely bad), and he praised the directing by Dušan Jovanović. He compared the performance to ‘the playful and unprompted happenings of the groups OHO and Kata- log’, emphasising that, in such a constellation, ‘every provocation los- es its focus and transforms into a sufficient purpose and goal only in itself’ (Šrot: 7). Jesih co-authored the play Pupilija, papa Pupilo pa Pupilčki (Pupilija, Pappa Pupilo and Little Pupillos) in October of the same year, at that time as part of the Pupilija Ferkeverk Theatre, which was active from 1969 to 1972. In a memorial to Pupilija Ferkeverk, Svetina pointed to its political role, which did not require a clear ideological definition. Ac- cording to him, it was mainly a controlled opposition to socio-political currents, party resolutions, and so on. The Pupilija Ferkeverk Theatre was ideologically unburdened, but also undefined, because we did not follow the ideas of extreme leftists, young Marxists who (also) gathered around the student periodical Tribuna, or in the neighbouring premises in the Casino Building, where the University Committee of the League of Communists of Slovenia was based […]. The members of Pupilija did not identify with the ideas of Perspektive, or, to be more precise, with the most radical views of former members of Perspektive, which were then assembled in the editorial board of Problemi. (Svetina 2008: 90) Jesih’s engagement in the student movement, too, can be understood against the background of the exercise of individual freedom, ideo- logical relaxation and indeterminacy. In April 1971, Jesih participat- ed in demonstrations that took place in front of the Faculty of Arts in Ljubljana. The students first protested with the permission of the 164 SLAVICA TERGESTINA 24 (2020/I) ▶ May ’68 in Yugoslavia authorities against the noise caused by traffic, demanding the construc- tion of a bypass. A few days later, protests followed a visit by French Prime Minister Jacques Chaban-Delmas. An indictment was filed against Jesih for allegedly calling for physical confrontation with the police, and a student, Frane Adam, was in criminal proceedings for a different offense. Darko Štrajn, a student official who was also inter- rogated at the time, remembers how they tried to explain Jesih’s call for the policemen to be shot between the eyes as a metaphor. Police investigation at the Faculty of Arts was the reason for the student occu- pation of the faculty, which took place under the motto Our Movement is a Struggle for Socialism from 26 May to 2 June 1971, when it ended due to university holidays. In addition to reports of a boom in creativity at the time of the occupation, Tribuna published an article in which a supporter of a political programme written by Jaša Zlobec inciden- tally described the role of Jesih and other poets during the occupation of faculty: ‘Jesih is a bluffer, a false martyr. In the faculty occupation, he and Cizelj, with their poetry, only muddied the water and confused people. Other “revolutionary” poetry also caused more bad than good.’ (Gruden: 6) In the interview mentioned above, Jesih said the following: A young man shouted, ‘I’m here!’, he wanted to be seen and heard, I would write anything to be noticed. We provoked, used nasty words, wrote something politically questionable, albeit always with a healthy sense of keeping our asses safe … One time, the editor of Radio Student replaced some of my silly verses with music, something like ‘Tito washed his bloody hands in the wide waterfall …’—Something like this, purely silly.