ОД АРИСТОТЕЛОВЕ ПОЕТИКЕ ДО ПОЕТИКЕ АНГАЖМАНА: У ТУМАЧЕЊУ СРПСКОГ ТЕАТРОЛОГА СЛОБОДАНА СЕЛЕНИЋА
FROM ARISTOTLE’S POETICS TO THE POETICS OF ENGAGEMENT: THE SERBIAN WRITER AND THEATER SCHOLAR SLOBODAN SELENIĆ ON ARISTOTLE’S POETICS

Summary/Abstract: This paper examines Slobodan Selenić’s theoretical stance on Aristotle in his book Engagement in Dramatic Form (1965), with particular attention to the applicability of Aristotelian principles in the interpretation of modern drama. Rejecting dogmatic criticism, Selenić emphasizes that the Poetics can be regarded “only as a model and a living example, but not as a pattern, as it had been for centuries.” In his view, the value of a dramatic work cannot be measured against pre-established systems but must be sought within its own structure and inner coherence. Special attention is given to Selenić’s interpretation of mimesis as a convention between playwright, performer, and spectator, which, in modern constructivist drama, leads to the conscious dismantling of illusion. At the same time, catharsis is redefined in Selenić’s reading as the category of engagement, understood as “the entire intellectual and emotional totality of the drama,” thereby linking the affective and intellectual dimensions of tragedy with the notion of aesthetic and social responsibility. By introducing the concept of the “closed world” of drama and emphasizing the “harmony between the type of engagement and the form in which the engagement is expressed,” Selenić employs Aristotle as a methodological rather than a normative point of reference.

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