Naslov
Love for Love's Sake: Code of Romantic Love in South Slavic Literatures (Wien, 05-06 July 2018)

Autori
Sardelić, Mirko

Vrsta, podvrsta
Ostale vrste radova, ostalo

Godina
2018

Ključne riječi
Romantic love ; literary codes ; South Slavic literatures

Sažetak
In his study Love as passion (1982) Luhmann expounds that new semantics of intimacy is mirrored in the structural characteristics of modern society. He points out that the first signs of the new code of love are to be found at the beginning of the seventeenth century already, however, it is only in the romantic period that its outlines are completed, and love, only then freed from “external” factors, begins to be based on its own facticity. However, Luhmann stresses that romantic love, free from restrictions of the social order, is only seemingly rooted in the free will of the partners. Namely, romantic lovers are bound in a new way: chance and passion happen against their will and control, it is something they “suffer” and cannot “change” or “be held accountable for”. Double instance and uncontrolled passion breed “hope and fear”, “alternative to true and false love”, while the choice of partners is transferred into symbols of a communication medium. As this is supremely non-pragmatic communication which does not rest on any verifiable guarantee of success, but, paradoxically, on the “principle of the improbable”, on expressing “the sense which cannot be communicated”, doubt and fear never subside completely. Transferred into the sphere of the discursive, always balancing between expression and sense, hope and fear, freedom and discipline, each romantic love lives its own story, has a clear beginning and end, as well as the most diverse ups and downs. Therefore, critical literature often sees it as a narrative form par excellence, closely connected with the emergence of the middle class novel, first in English, and in time in German literature, as well (Richardson’s, Schlegel’s and Goethe’s novels are often taken as relevant standard). The unity of mutual physical passion and emotional affection, requited love, equality between lovers (androgynous love), exclusivity, love as a phenomenon which transcends the experiential world, love which lasts forever (amor meus aeternus) and conquers all (amor vincit omnia), and non-pragmatic communication are highlighted topoi mediated through romantic narratives, “ideals”, which stand before the lovers’ eyes, before love itself (Luhmann 1982 ; Tyrell 1987 ; Lenz 1998 ; Burkart 1998 ; Illouz 1997, 2008). The below given interpretations of the concept of romantic love open space for numerous explorations: DEFINITION OF THE TERM. Is romantic love a cultural or a biological phenomenon? What are its specificities in comparison with other matrices of love, such as, for example, ancient philia and eros, Christian agape and caritas, medieval mysticism, Petrarchan love or scientia sexualis (Foucault 1976), the pure relationship (Giddens 1992) and partnership love (Beck/Beck-Gernsheim 1990)? ISSUES OF LOVE AND POWER. Freed from the privileges of social class, available to the widest masses, is romantic love free and if so to what extent? How is it conditioned by power structures of a society? Can it be observed and explained in the categories of oppressor and the oppressed (Hegel 1807), habitus (Bourdieu 1979 ; 1998), discursive production (Foucault 1976) or market laws (Sombart 1902 ; Illouz 1997 ; Hahn 2008)? ECONOMISATION OF LOVE. Does the capitalist order define romantic love relationships and if so to what extent? Is market development resulting in “social pathologies” (Adorno 1951 ; Marcuse 1955) or in “romantic simulation and stimulation” (Illouz 1997)? PUBLIC AND PRIVATE. How does the new configuration of intimate and public space prompted by technologisation influence experience and expression of romantic emotions? To what extent do commercial rituals (Illouz 1997) channel and condition lovers’ emotions? GENDER. Is romantic love androgynous, feminine or masculine? Is Western concept of romantic love but one of many ways to establish patriarchal surveillance over women (Illouz 1997), or does it contribute to the liberation of women (Giddens 1992)? Do men understand romantic love differently from women (De Beauvoir 1949)? To what extent does the representation of homosexual romantic love differ from the homosexual one (De Lauretis 1994)? THE LOVING OTHER. In a world of mass production does romantic relationship lend itself as the sole possibility of constituting identity (Luhmann 1982 ; Beck/Beck-Gernsheim 1990 ; Hahn 2008)? How much does the romantic Other differ from significant Others which are considered in other theories of love/theories of identity? LOVE NARRATIVE. Is there a recognizable structure of narration of romantic love? Is it universal or does it branch into different diachronic and national variants? Is there a specific romantic love narrative in South Slavic literatures (Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian)?

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Povijest, Interdisciplinarne humanističke znanosti, Književnost

POVEZANOST RADA