Alojzija Zupan Sosič
Na literarnem otoku Berte Bojetu
On Berta Bojetu's Literary Island: From Žabon to the Birds' House
Slovenski sinopsis
English synopsis
English summary
Slovenski sinopsis
Razprava obravnava motivno-tematsko in oblikovno sklenjeno celoto umetniškega dela Berte Bojetu Boete. Ženske, ptiči in nasilje so središča pesemskih sporočil v zbirkah Žabon, 1979, Besede iz hiše Karlstein, 1988 in romanih Filio ni doma, 1990 in Ptičja hiša, 1995. Ta središča so povezana v grozljiv krog enoličnega ponavljanja in spodletelih poskusov ubranega sožitja, ki nikomur ne dovoli izstopa. Zato predstavljajo poseben »otok« slovenske literarne tradicije, ki ga kljub ženskim likom in pogostim razmišljanjem o vlogi ženske ni mogoče obravnavati samo v okviru t. i. »ženske literature«.
English synopsis
The article discusses the thematically and formally rounded literary work of Berta Bojetu Boeta. Women, birds and violence are the nuclei of her poetic messages in the collections of poems Žabon (Male Frog, 1979), Besede iz hiše Karlstein (Words from the House of Karlstein, 1988) and the novels Filio ni doma (Filio Is Not at Home, 1990) and Ptičja hiša (The Birds' House, 1995). These nuclei are linked into a horrifying circle of monotonous repetition and failed attempts to achieve harmonious coexistence, a circle permitting no one to get out. This makes Bojetu's writing a special »island« in Slovene literary tradition, which despite its female characters and frequent reflections on the role of women cannot be discussed only within the framework of the so-called »women's literature«.
English summary
Berta Bojetu Boeta's literature is sometimes referred to as »women's literature« although the artist herself strictly rejected this characterisation. Study of the term shows that the name may have been appropriate only in the first, provocatively activistic period, while today, with its many complex and loose meanings and a more equal status of women writers, it has become useless and superfluous.
Berta Bojetu's prose uses a balanced combination of features of three narrative procedures: grotesque, parabolic and anti-utopian. Anti-utopian elements (manipulation of people by the state, their controlled alienation, a hopeless situation of those not accepting the dominant ideology, an apocalyptic atmosphere) are used to create negative symbols, and their didactic value is developed into a moral. The most stirring symbol of brutal relations among people is the rape. Its symbolism is closely tied to the other two negative symbols: the house and the bird. The message about fatality of any violence among people is intensified by onomatology. Especially in novels it is very deliberate and systematic. Almost all island women, village women and women kept as prisoners in the brothel have sexually undifferentiated names, and their masculinisation warns against the danger of human hybridity.
