Repetition and variation in Milan Adamčiak’s typewriter concrete poetry Cover Image

Repetícia a variácia v strojopisnej konkrétnej poézii Milana Adamčiaka
Repetition and variation in Milan Adamčiak’s typewriter concrete poetry

Author(s): Jaroslav Šrank
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature, Slovak Literature
Published by: Ústav slovenskej literatúry SAV
Keywords: Milan Adamčiak; typewriter poetry; concrete poetry; constellation; seriality; repetition; variation

Summary/Abstract: The contribution deals with the typewritten concrete poetry of the intermedia artist Milan Adamčiak (1946 – 2017), which was created in the second half of the 1960s. It focuses on two characteristic forms of concrete poetry: verbal and sentence constellations. It observes how the principle of seriality is applied to these text-image compositions. Seriality, as a key compositional and meaning-generating principle, is particularly associated with repetition and variation. In the context of verbal constellations, the article emphasizes the function of visual composition in dealing with a word extracted from linguistic syntax. In sentence constellations, it concentrates on the metacritical function of these forms, specified in the form of a critique of language as a means of communication and an instrument of power. Adamčiak’s repetitive-variation manipulation of linguistic material represents the application of visual techniques to literary creation. The contribution also points out the intermedia character of Adamčiak’s concrete poetry, highlights its parallels and connections with Czech experimental poetry, and selectively considers the socio-political circumstances of the time.

  • Issue Year: 71/2024
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 28-45
  • Page Count: 18
  • Language: Slovak