THE FORBIDDEN CHAMBER OF SEXUALITY: “SONG OF SONGS” AS A HYPOTEXT IN VENKO ANDONOVSKI’S THE NAVEL OF THE WORLD” Cover Image

ЗАБРАНЕТАТА ОДАЈА НА СЕКСУАЛНОСТА: ПЕСНА НАД ПЕСНИТЕ КАКО ХИПОТЕКСТ НА ПАПОКОТ НА СВЕТОТ ОД ВЕНКО АНДОНОВСКИ
THE FORBIDDEN CHAMBER OF SEXUALITY: “SONG OF SONGS” AS A HYPOTEXT IN VENKO ANDONOVSKI’S THE NAVEL OF THE WORLD”

Author(s): Tatjana B. Eftimoska
Subject(s): Macedonian Literature, Theory of Literature
Published by: Институт за македонска литература
Keywords: “Song of Songs”; hypotext; canonization; room; sexuality; censorship; microtext; desire/lust; chorus; originality; navel; world; eruptive; woman; bowl; personal identity

Summary/Abstract: Taking into consideration Manfred Fister’s criteria regarding the intensity of the level of intertextuality, from mild to intense, this study examines the “Song of Songs” (Song of Solomon) as a hypotext, or an earlier text to the novel The Navel of the World by contemporary Macedonian author Venko Andonovski. At the same time, it builds a purposeful and signified relation with Andonovski’s novel. It communicates with both stories/parts in the novel, “The Lock” and “The Key.” Since the Old Testament poem is a unique celebration of sexual love/attraction between the two lovers, its fragments are used to euphemize the explicit sexual scenes of making love, as a subtle, innovative act of censorship. Furthermore, in the second part called “The Key”, the Chorus of the daughters of Jerusalem receives an extremely powerful ideological significance. The main character in this part is constantly struggling with the idea of originality, as well as the open-ended question, namely whether unsatisfied erotic desire leads towards essential wisdom. Finally, the idea of the navel as a bowl is seen as an eruptive quotation point from the “Song of Songs,” since its meaning was dispersed into several concentric circles, all contained in the syntagm of “navel of the world.”

  • Issue Year: 2016
  • Issue No: 68
  • Page Range: 45-61
  • Page Count: 17
  • Language: Macedonian
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