Page 21 - Potocco, Marcello, ed. 2018. Literatura v preseku družbe, družba v preseku literature. The Crossroads of Literature and Social Praxis. Zbornik povzetkov. Book of Abstracts. Koper: Založba Univerze na Primorskem
P. 21
ja Balžalorsky Antić the crossroads of literature and social praxis, ljubljana, 2018 19
University of Ljubljana
Women‘s Poetic Discourses in the Web of Postwar
Ideologies: Some Aspects
The paper will attempt to unveil some aspects of resisting various ide
ologemes established in the socio-political and cultural literary system
as well as literary discourse of the first decades after World War II that
can be found in the work of some women poets. The interdepend
ence and tension between ideology and poetry will first be addressed
from the perspective of setting up new poetic paradigms and the ideo
logical-aesthetic response towards them by looking at the poetry col
lection Senca v srcu (Shadow in the Heart) by Ada Škerl, which was pub
lished at the time of the prospering »(political) construction poetry«
as an ideologically prescribed poetological norm. As an actual found
er of the so-called poetic intimism, which contrasted with the prevail
ing praise poetry, this book was not only ignored, but also, as can be
seen from the then heated critical responses, denounced and destined
for marginalization or even ostracism; the recanonization of the poet
had to wait until the beginning of the next millenium. The poetry collec
tions Mesečev konj (The Moon Horse) and Naplavljeni plen (The Beach-de-
posited Booty) by Saša Vegri received a lot more critical approval. Vegri
was the most visible or (according to literary-historical categorizations)
the only female representative of the first wave of the so called »critical
generation«. The work by this generation of writers is distinguished by
the tension between the ruling ideology and the new, upcoming para
digm of modernism associated with sharper tones. With regard to this
aspect, Vegri‘s poetic voice in her first two books stands out as dis
tinctly different from the other seminal poetry collections (by male au
thors) that marked the emergence of »the critical generation«. The
then literary criticism recognised that this voice was somehow »pecu
liar« but did not show an unfavourable reaction towards it, as was the
case with Škerl; nonetheless, it remained deeply rooted in the patriar
chal critical discourse. The last aspect that I want to tackle is the ideolo
gy of motherhood. The evidence provided by the public media that fo
cused on »the women‘s problematics« after the end of World War 2,
especially the women‘s magazine Naša žena (Our woman), reveals that
the ideology of »mothering« as the most defining element of feminini
ty – following a short break between the Wars – re-entered the stage
in the new, socialist society. I will briefly deal with the representations
of motherhood in some texts by Saša Vegri and Svetlana Makarović,
who radically deconstruct the myth of motherhood either from »with
in« or »without«.
University of Ljubljana
Women‘s Poetic Discourses in the Web of Postwar
Ideologies: Some Aspects
The paper will attempt to unveil some aspects of resisting various ide
ologemes established in the socio-political and cultural literary system
as well as literary discourse of the first decades after World War II that
can be found in the work of some women poets. The interdepend
ence and tension between ideology and poetry will first be addressed
from the perspective of setting up new poetic paradigms and the ideo
logical-aesthetic response towards them by looking at the poetry col
lection Senca v srcu (Shadow in the Heart) by Ada Škerl, which was pub
lished at the time of the prospering »(political) construction poetry«
as an ideologically prescribed poetological norm. As an actual found
er of the so-called poetic intimism, which contrasted with the prevail
ing praise poetry, this book was not only ignored, but also, as can be
seen from the then heated critical responses, denounced and destined
for marginalization or even ostracism; the recanonization of the poet
had to wait until the beginning of the next millenium. The poetry collec
tions Mesečev konj (The Moon Horse) and Naplavljeni plen (The Beach-de-
posited Booty) by Saša Vegri received a lot more critical approval. Vegri
was the most visible or (according to literary-historical categorizations)
the only female representative of the first wave of the so called »critical
generation«. The work by this generation of writers is distinguished by
the tension between the ruling ideology and the new, upcoming para
digm of modernism associated with sharper tones. With regard to this
aspect, Vegri‘s poetic voice in her first two books stands out as dis
tinctly different from the other seminal poetry collections (by male au
thors) that marked the emergence of »the critical generation«. The
then literary criticism recognised that this voice was somehow »pecu
liar« but did not show an unfavourable reaction towards it, as was the
case with Škerl; nonetheless, it remained deeply rooted in the patriar
chal critical discourse. The last aspect that I want to tackle is the ideolo
gy of motherhood. The evidence provided by the public media that fo
cused on »the women‘s problematics« after the end of World War 2,
especially the women‘s magazine Naša žena (Our woman), reveals that
the ideology of »mothering« as the most defining element of feminini
ty – following a short break between the Wars – re-entered the stage
in the new, socialist society. I will briefly deal with the representations
of motherhood in some texts by Saša Vegri and Svetlana Makarović,
who radically deconstruct the myth of motherhood either from »with
in« or »without«.
