Page 150 - Vinkler, Jonatan, Ana Beguš and Marcello Potocco. Eds. 2019. Ideology in the 20th Century: Studies of literary and social discourses and practices. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 150
Ideology in the 20th Century: studies of literary and social discourses and practices
garian literary prizes (e.g. Katalin Ladik, László Végel, Ottó Tolnai) and
found success also in Poland and Western Europe. Surely their interna-
tional reception was not as widespread as the Hungarian one, but it is not
insignificant. On a sidenote, some authors (István Koncz, Pál Böndör)
still have not been recognised as relevant in Hungary.
Returning to the trend of ludism: it is not clear when it started. There
is no ludist manifesto as in the case of avantgarde ‘-isms’. Huizinga’s claim
that play is the basis of poetry makes it even more difficult to determine
the beginnings of ludism. In the case of Yugoslav ludism, avantgarde and
neo-avantgarde will be the guidelines. Croatian literary critic Dubravka
Oraić differentiated between five types of ludism (1996, 99):
1. semiotic ludism: the play with the artistic sign. It has two vari-
150 ants:
a.) inner: the play with the relation between signifier and signi-
fied (e.g. pun)
b.) outer: e.g. theatrical performance of a text
2. metaludism: play with the play (e.g. the textual play with the
word ‘play’ in Khlebnikov’s work)
3. autoludism: play with one’s own text (intertextuality with self-
-quotations)
4. interludism: play with various signs (all kinds of intertextualism
and intermedialism)
5. ontoludism: play with reality, or the creation of artistic reality
If we take a comprehensive look at the history of Yugoslav poetry, we
find that all the above mentioned types can be detected in the works of
avantgarde authors. The term ‘ludism’, however, was initially coined by
Croatian literary historians to describe the poetry of Ivan Slamnig from
the 1950s. His reception is loaded with the label ‘play’ (Donat 2004, 7).
The same is true of the poetry of Josip Sever, who used Khlebnikovian
‘zaum’-plays (Bagić 1994, 23–98); he was another Croatian poet of great
influence, who inspired the development and orgy of the Croatian ludist
poetry of the 1970s and 1980s, especially among the authors of the jour-
nal Quorum. Zvonimir Mrkonjić defines ludism thus (in relation to let-
trism):
play with structures of sounds, the creation of sound formations or sonic
neologisms from the dissolutions of the conventional forms of words. Ac-
cording to a later interpretation, originating from Slovenian poetry, ludism
is concerned with the verbal visualization of objective relations following
garian literary prizes (e.g. Katalin Ladik, László Végel, Ottó Tolnai) and
found success also in Poland and Western Europe. Surely their interna-
tional reception was not as widespread as the Hungarian one, but it is not
insignificant. On a sidenote, some authors (István Koncz, Pál Böndör)
still have not been recognised as relevant in Hungary.
Returning to the trend of ludism: it is not clear when it started. There
is no ludist manifesto as in the case of avantgarde ‘-isms’. Huizinga’s claim
that play is the basis of poetry makes it even more difficult to determine
the beginnings of ludism. In the case of Yugoslav ludism, avantgarde and
neo-avantgarde will be the guidelines. Croatian literary critic Dubravka
Oraić differentiated between five types of ludism (1996, 99):
1. semiotic ludism: the play with the artistic sign. It has two vari-
150 ants:
a.) inner: the play with the relation between signifier and signi-
fied (e.g. pun)
b.) outer: e.g. theatrical performance of a text
2. metaludism: play with the play (e.g. the textual play with the
word ‘play’ in Khlebnikov’s work)
3. autoludism: play with one’s own text (intertextuality with self-
-quotations)
4. interludism: play with various signs (all kinds of intertextualism
and intermedialism)
5. ontoludism: play with reality, or the creation of artistic reality
If we take a comprehensive look at the history of Yugoslav poetry, we
find that all the above mentioned types can be detected in the works of
avantgarde authors. The term ‘ludism’, however, was initially coined by
Croatian literary historians to describe the poetry of Ivan Slamnig from
the 1950s. His reception is loaded with the label ‘play’ (Donat 2004, 7).
The same is true of the poetry of Josip Sever, who used Khlebnikovian
‘zaum’-plays (Bagić 1994, 23–98); he was another Croatian poet of great
influence, who inspired the development and orgy of the Croatian ludist
poetry of the 1970s and 1980s, especially among the authors of the jour-
nal Quorum. Zvonimir Mrkonjić defines ludism thus (in relation to let-
trism):
play with structures of sounds, the creation of sound formations or sonic
neologisms from the dissolutions of the conventional forms of words. Ac-
cording to a later interpretation, originating from Slovenian poetry, ludism
is concerned with the verbal visualization of objective relations following
