Is There War in ‘l’écriture de guerre’?
Is There War in ‘l’écriture de guerre’?

Author(s): Nirman Moranjak-Bamburać
Subject(s): Studies in violence and power, Victimology
Published by: Centar za ženske studije & Centar za studije roda i politike, Fakultet političkih nauka, Beograd
Keywords: LITERATURE; IDENTITY; FORMATION OF SUBJECTIVITIES; L’ÉCRITURE; L’ÉCRITURE FÉMININE; ‘L’ÉCRITURE DE GUERRE’ (‘RATNO PISMO’); WAR WRITING; VIOLENCE
Summary/Abstract: THIS ESSAY DISCUSSES THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LITERATURE AND WAR; BETWEEN VIOLENCE AND WRITING. IN THE CONTEXT OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA, ONE WIDELY HELD POSITION ASSERTS THAT, IN ITS LITERATURE, THE LAST WAR INITIATED PROCESSES OF IDENTITY FORMATION THAT SHOULD BE SEEN AS THE WAR FORMATION OF SUBJECTIVITY. IN THIS RESPECT, FAMOUS CRITICS ATTEMPT TO DEFINE THIS SO-CALLED CHANGE IN PARADIGM IN THE LITERATURE AS THE ABANDONMENT OF THE HERO FIGURE IN FAVOUR OF THE FIGURE OF THE VICTIM AND THE WITNESS. SUCH FORMATIONS OF ‘AUTHENTIC’ SUBJECTS ARE CRITICISED IN THIS ESSAY, STARTING FROM THE PREMISE THAT THE ORIGINAL VIOLENCE OF WRITING (AS ELABORATED BY DERRIDA) AND FACTUAL VIOLENCE CANNOT BE SEPARATED. I CALL FOR CAUTIOUSNESS IN DISCUSSING ‘L’ÉCRITURE DE GUERRE’ (WHICH IS DIFFERENT FROM DISCUSSING LITERATURE WITH WAR THEMES), BECAUSE IF THIS FIGURE OF SPEECH IS INTRODUCED INTO THE CRITICAL DISCOURSE UNQUESTIONINGLY, THIS, IN MY OPINION, PERVERSELY TWISTS THE PROJECT OF ‘L’ÉCRITURE FÉMININE’, WHICH HAS BEEN DENIED ITS TRUE EMANCIPATORY POTENTIAL TOO EARLY IN ITS EXISTENCE. I ALSO HOLD THAT IT IS NAÏVE TO BELIEVE THAT DISCURSIVE VIOLENCE CAN BE PREVENTED BY SOME ‘ANTI-WAR ORIENTED LITERATURE’. ON THE CONTRARY, I BELIEVE THAT EVEN IN THESE CASES OF IDENTITY FORMATION, THERE IS ALWAYS A RISK OF A STRENGTHENING, OR EVEN A REPLICATING AND MULTIPLYING OF VIOLENCE.

• Details
• Contents