EN HERMENEUTISK UNDERSÖKNING AV DEN INTERTEXTUELLA RELATIONEN MELLAN BIRGITTA TROTZIGS I KEJSARENS TID OCH BRUNO SCHULZ VERK

Sammanfattning:

This thesis analyses the intertextual relation between Birgitta Trotzig’s I Kejsarens tid and the works of the Polish author Bruno Schulz, using a hermeneutical method. The application of Manfred Pfister’s model for qualification of intertextual intensity initially motivates that the most important intertextual relations should be sought in the realm of “refer to” rather than “use”. According to the hermeneutical approach, the conclusion demands an exposition of Birgitta Trotzig’s interpretative practices in relation to intertexts. Her reception of Schulz can therefore be incorporated into a stronger intertextual framework of archetypal patterns occuring in myths, dreams and mysticism. The thesis discusses the presence of a number of these patterns in relation to myths and, primarily Jewish, mysticism, which is shown to have a fundamental significance in the understanding of both I Kejsarens tid and the works of Bruno Schulz. In addition, both Trotzig and Schulz write about the opposition between the poetical world of myths and the real world of power and oppression, where the mythical world is often portrayed through the eyes of a child or childish character. This evolves into a messianic motive of redemption, which primarily is visible in the Trotzig texts. Certain potent mythical symbols, such as the serpent or the descent into the Otherworld, are present in both authors’ texts. A unique feature of the Trotzig texts is however the way in which these symbols are connected with sacrality and ambivalence, characterized by a physically palpable intermingling of birth, death, suffering and joy. These hermeneutically privileged structures are induced from Trotzig’s interpretation of the textual material and are shown to carry a much stronger intertextual significance for I Kejsarens tid than the works of Bruno Schulz.