LIMINALITY EFFECT AND THE VERSE: ENERGY ACCUMULATION IN SUPER LONG, USUAL AND SUPER SHORT LINE (BASED ON POETRY MATERIAL OF V. LEKHTSIER AND V. MANGOLD)
Authors: Seifert E. I. 
Published: June 2018

The article uses the materials of Our Literature section of the BiZ-Bote magazine of ethno cultural education. The author suggests using the term «liminality zone» for the designation of the zone of apparent transition from one plane to another in perception of literary read and the term «liminality effect» for the designation of the result as a consequence of reception of this transition zone. Studying liminality proves efficient in respect of the aspect of super long and super short lines. Repetition on the ground of both super long and super short lines allows accumulating and redistributing creative energy, building up liminality zones and effect, multiplying the amount of interpretations of texts and contexts. In the super long line by V. Lekhtsier both lexical and semantic repetitions are present. Apparentness and – more rarely – polarity of the flanks allow the middle length line to lie inside the super long. It is interesting that while Vitaly Lekhtsier is reading his verses, he ensues to articulate the longest lines (38–42 syllables) in one breath, emphasizing the tension of super long line. This proves that the liminality zone lies exactly at the juncture of verbal and non-verbal, and the text plane remains integral. Vendelin Mangold usually works in the realm of a small text. His favorite practice is creating the liminality effect by combining exalted and prosaic. W. Mangold’s «pyramid poems» («Pyramiden») are of great interest in terms of liminality [Mangold, Hymne auf den Menschen]. Their literal meaning fades through crescent and/or decrescent phrases/words. Visually, the poem is shaped like a pyramid, and both explicit and implicit (phantom) parts of a word/phrase are in the liminality zone. That is how the context of love is severed from the context of egoism through decrescent lines: having started with passionate confessions, only «I love» and, finally, «I» remains. Mangold’s «Pyramiden» are characterized by strong or slight paradoxes that create the liminality effect. In case the «pyramid» is first decrescent and then crescent, the liminality effect is created twice: at the apex of the pyramid and in the paradoxical part. Vitaly Lechtzier’s extralong stanza ranges from 12 to 42 syllables. The liminality effect emerges through repeating the left and right parts of the verse. This is where variations are formed. Lechtzier’s message is overtly political, the author works with imperative forms and disavowed call for «open writing».Vitaly Lechtzier’s extralong stanza with its anaphoras, imperative forms, syntactic parallelism, repetitions and escalation is similar to Valery Nugatov’s extralong stanza. This affinity did not emerge under direct mutual influence but probably rather through Allen Ginsberg’s poetry, who was of interest to both authors: Nugatov used to translate his poems, and Lechtzier mentioned being interested in Ginsberg’s works. Nugatov also mentioned Ginsberg in his own works. The syntactic construction in Ginsberg’s poems is based on the lyrical «self». The same is true for Nugatov’s poems, however, Lechtzier steps away from the «self» completely. Unlike Nugatov, in his opinion, Lechtzier does not resort to deconstruction in his poetry, but instead endeavors to «do positive work with other people’s words, create variations within them and make them sound like poerty». Nugatov’s works «sound like poetry» in part due to the deconstruction. It is enough to compare some extracts from these three authors’ works. The study shows that in case of both extralong and extrashort stanza, repetitions help accumulate and redistribute creative energy, creating the liminality effect and liminality zones that increase the number of potential interpretations and contexts.