For the meaning of the unconscious and for the power of the imagination

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For the meaning of the unconscious and for the power of the imagination

With stone on the virgin or: erotic of the subordinate stairs

One of the most subtle stories of this Poland writer, speaks for adolescent “experience” of the main character – the young Alicia – the artistic personification of the imagination for the unconscious. As main character, put in the middle of the narrating procedure and focused from aspects of omniscient taller, this typical female character – put in the frontier between the infantile naivetй, and honest female maturity – is in expectation of uncertainty which will become from he young lower, represented in the role of Pavel – the fiancйe. So from the beginning of this essential relation man – woman implicated in the proposition of the type: Isn’t easy to retain that creature whose only reason for existence is attraction5F, Gombrowicz is initiating the problem of sex maturity. So, as a fundament of male vision of morality of the woman, he is painting that often quoted feminists virginity around which are shaped, in fact, all male instincts equal with the unconscious and instinctual virginity in this story of Gombrowicz is idealized to the frontiers of one illogical combination of physics and metaphysics, from the concrete and abstract. Against the woman virginity expressed by specific Gombrowicz symbols, the male virginity is put on level of society institutional valor. From here analogously to the relation man – woman distinction between the Nature and the Culture we will put on the opposition: unconscious and conscious – conventional.
From those reasons, the sema of virginity, suggested in the headline itself, we can easy expect as archisema of one “pre-situation”, which in basic is discovering the myth for the first sin, and for the primeval founding for the good and for the evil. This bible myth shaken from the pain – which in accordance with the plot of our story is initiating one indifferent and cynical stroke with stone – presents according to Gombrowicz, general feeling from which is starting and on which everything comes to. In essence, he is equal to the conciseness of the first paradise people and is leading us to the thought that every realization is in essence painful! This is the key mythema which in the story “Virginity” is confirming the suggestion: “When first parents by persuade of the Satan, have tasted in the paradise the fruits of the tree of consciousness, as you know, everything went wrong. – O, God begged the people – give us even little from the lost pureness and virginity. But, God was helplessly watching over majority, and he doesn’t know how, or were to put Purity and Virginity in that filthy herd. Than he created the virgin, the model of virginity, he had closed her hand and he had let her among people in which she was to inflame nostalgic restlessness. (page 18).
Having in mind that intertextual mark of this quotation as well as researches of Claude Levis-Stross, put in the book “For the fresh and for the baked”, we can say that consciousness in relation with the a-centric structure of the myth, had pointed Jacques Derrida6F on very intuitive conclusion, the myth can’t have its own absolute object, either absolute center, but, because of that, he himself can be center for one epistemological way of thinking, that is that point in which the substitution of the contents, of elements or terms, is not possible. From that and from the opinion that – in role of center the myth doesn’t allow any permutation or any other transformation of the elements. So, we are going to say: he will be that something which despite, that on some way, is ruling with the structure itself, anyway repeatedly is going distance away of her. In that case, said by the works of Derrida,
the myth can’t be center in real sense of the word, because it doesn’t belong to the structure itself, but is somewhere out of her – in the epistema of the author.
Logically is asked the question – is precisely this mythema that nucleus, around which, very intuitive, Gombrowicz has build its artistic fiction, or we have discovered something else in the deep structure of its stories?
As for example, we will illustrate “the experience” of his young Alicia, seen with the eyes of Witold Gombrowicz: “… that stone, you know, in me had burned special restlessness. Don’t speak to me nothing, I don’t want to know nothing – but, anyway, I am troubled by this garden, and roses, and the wall, and the whiteness of my skirt, and oh, what I know, maybe I want that the hole my back to be full walls… The stone was whisper to me, he had whisper to my back that there behind the wall there is something – and that something I will eat, I will bite… in fact we will bite together, Pavle, you with me, me with you, I have to, I have to… if not, without that I will decease young. (page 21-22).
It’s obvious that insisting on the pain and the unconscious need for breaking of the firm rules, had disavowed the Culture and valiant acquisitions in the narrating world of Witold Gombrowicz. Possessed from the phenomenon women – girl, that from artistic point of view presents one “subtle idealism”, this artists has formed his literature profilation under the influence of the Eros, because all its aesthetically goals look like there are sunken in plot, instinctive and delicate erotic.
The story “On The Subordinate Stairs” presents unique stylization of the Second Human Nature. By the hidden, but interesting adventures character Fillip – attaché in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, sub-secretary of the Government and fan of fat, veiled servant, which are returning him in the past – Gombrowicz is warning us that toward them, after all doesn’t feels any passion, at least not from that kind, says the character in the story “On The Subordinate Stairs”, just deep somewhere in my soul, some big too much sweat fear. It is the only thing left I was watching our servant… Suffocated from the descant holding, that fear for ever had loved the kitchen woman that were pushing around the shops, and in them he was founding peace.” (page 56)
Feared from the impression that he could leave on the colleagues from the Ministry, Fillip decides to hide his intimate: his young little wife is typical antipode of the servants in his fantasy. But, her specious carefulness toward the body, our character seeing as cruel, tyrannical intention which can be suffocate in even the last piece of nostalgically excitement from the past. Anyway – hidden even under the descent dresses of artificially gained refinance – the excitement is extant. O, forbidden, faded memories – how an sensible creature is the human… the sensibility in him is always defeating the sense. (page 61)
To summarize: what was basic for the first story, of Gombrowicz can with some reserve to be sign to the second. In him we also have replacement of sema in arhisema, and there is effort to role that “individual nature” of the characters – that was is forbidden and from which is fear the whole society Culture and that unwanted which is creating “sweat fear” in the narrative world of the Polish writer. But beside the fact that individual values of his characters are entering the socialized instances, they aren’t necessary interested in the society law of the hole. Therefore, there are possible offenses on this point of the story. But, because of the shame, and the fear as affective product of the community, are numbered in the allowed gains of the Culture, they are those reasons which are forcing the characters in the narrative world of Gombrowicz, to suffer the tyranny repression on the “instinct”. The language of those characters is discovering turning values symbolic erotic, and unconscious paradigm: “In that hour before sunset, in time when lightened first lanterns, I wanted to go out in town and to meet the servants. That inconspicuously had gone into habit, and as you know – consuetudes alter nature (page 55), says the main character from the story “On The Subordinate Stairs”. We will remain: Enthronization of the unconscious and the nature instincts on account of the controlled conscious and institutionalized relations is key object in the stories of Gombrowicz. They are questioning the natural, atavistically and if you want – private moral. So, the key is the instinct, questioned unconscious reaction which is constantly putting in opposition the Nature and the Culture. Because of that the language of Gombrowicz is working unconsciously and authentic. That is also his style. In huge part of his stories the joke spontaneously is transferred in seriousness, and that infantile irresponsibility – in responsibility. “You will admit that I am quite decent producer of primitiveness in her pure condition7F” – will say for himself this Poland writer. And really – for it and for the virtuously guided narrating procedure, finally, we will have to give acclaim to this world-range artist, on these territories as well.

#b
5. Gombrovič, Pripovetke, Beletra, Beograd, 1989, str. 13.
6. Jacques Derrida, Struktura, znak I igra u obradi ljudskih znanosti, во книгата на Miroslav Beker, Suvremene književne teorije, Zagreb, 1986.
7. Vitold Gombrovič, Dnevnik II, Beograd, 1985, str. 175

AuthorAngelina Banović-Markovska
2018-08-21T17:24:04+00:00 June 1st, 1998|Categories: Reviews, Blesok no. 03, Literature|0 Comments