Tijelo u opusu Janka Polića Kamova
Authors:   , Jurčević Zorica 
Published: March 2024

The doctoral disertation is dedicated to the concept of the body in the works of Janko Polić Kamov. The body is approached as a signifier system on the basis of which numerous and complex meanings can be read. The basic hypothesis of the disertation is that the body is a semiotically charged phenomenon or a conceptual metaphor, and it is approached as an analytical tool for the articulation of socio-political, ethical and aesthetic issues important both for Kamov's literary poetics, literature and the culture of the period in which Kamov's work was created, as well as for modernity. In order to demonstrate with concrete examples the meanings of the body in Kamov's works, the disertation initially set up a theoretical framework within which different possibilities of reading the body were presented, with the aim of providing insight into the problematic issues of the body as both a biological entity and a cultural sign in the areas such as philosophy, anthropology, medicine, economics, literary and cultural theory, literature and art in general. On the basis of the established theoretical framework, the analytical-interpretive part of the disertation was then approached, divided into several separate problem units, which is dedicated to researching the form of representation of the body in Kamov's works, relying on different theoretical approaches to the body (philosophy, sociology, gender studies, anthropology, genealogy, structuralism, poststructuralism, psychoanalysis and others). The analysis is dominantly focused on the interpretation of the body as a cultural trope and, consequently, touches on issues such as: identity, otherness and the body, the body as an object of power, the institutionalization and normalization of the body, the relationship between the body and gender, the body and sexuality, the body and illness, the body and trauma, body and resistance, body and economy and more. The analysis ultimately showed that the body in Kamov's works, apart from the fact that its biological component is emphasized in the texts, is always represented as a social construct in which certain values are inscribed by strategies and mechanisms of power. In an effort to prove these assumptions, the introductory chapter on the body will first discuss theoretical discussions that will illustrate that the body is always a bearer of meaning and that it is inseparable from the culture it resides in. Since the body has been a part of theoretical discussions since the existence of mankind, its textuality and reading possibilities will be presented from the original disciplines of ancient Greek philosophy and Christian theology on the relationship of body and soul to understanding the body as a cultural construct in modern times. The ancient Greeks, Romans and Christian theologians percieved the body as inferior to the soul due to its physical limitations and transience, so the body was identified as a burden on the soul, or with less priority within the soul-body dualism. This perspective mostly changed in the 20th century with the development of science by which the body came into the focus of observation and research and began to be seen as matter, a semiotic object - a set of signs that can be read in relation to the society in which it resides. The body then, through cultural inscription, becomes the basis of the construction of man, which shows that it is both a physical and a social phenomenon. Based on this dualism, in the second chapter the disertation will focus on categorizing the concept of the body into several key conceptions: The Body in the Social Order (with the subsubchapter Male and Female Body), The Body as a Norm, The Body and Identity, The Sick Body and The Consumerist Value of the Body, based on relevant works related to the subject of the body. The aim is to present different perspectives on the body, corporeality and its significance in relation to the society (culture) in which it is located and to set a framework for the analysis of Kamov's works in the third chapter. In the above conceptions the body will be presented from the perspective of social order, norm, identity, disease and consumerist value, with emphasis on the body as an inscription surface of meaning about the culture that it occupies. It will be shown that the body is always the bearer of meaning about the society and culture that shape it, and based on their relation to the body the social regimes and dominant ideologies, that form the body by implementing their own laws and norms, can be read. In the first subchapter the emphasis will be on reading the body in relation to the social order, where the body will be seen as an object of power whose goal is to discipline, control and normalize the body in order to regulate and maintain the established social system. The relationship between the social order and the body will be further presented through an overview of the meaning of the male and female body within social systems that are initially based on male superiority, so the female body has historically been interpreted in relation to the male, but like its more imperfect version. The inferiority of the female body was based in the initial discussions on the male physiognomy, which, due to the appearance of its organs, marked the man as the one who creates (active agent) and the woman as the one in whom it is created (passive agent). This will again indicate that the social order, in this case patriarchy, is based on the inscription of meaning into the body which must then be normalized in accordance with the established doctrine. In addition, the normalization of the body and the regulatory strategies of the social apparatus will be discussed, by which all bodies are directed towards the desired model of the body, while those outside the 'space' of normalcy are stigmatized by negative labeling. For example, the research of Paul Broca, who, by measuring the brains of different races, tried to label (although unfounded) the 'white man' (European) as a desirable model, the norm, will show that the body is understood as an object of regulation, control and regimes of harmonization with social norms. The latter harmonization will then be related to the theme of identity in the second subchapter, which will be seen as a process of social interaction, ie. through the relationship of the body and the Other (environment) with whose values the body is constantly compared and adapted to in order to maintain the collective identity. Physical identities that go beyond desirable values (such as, for example, a masculine lesbian or a feminized man) by their deviance then pose a threat to the social order because values that are attributed to a particular gender were betrayed. An example of the concept of femininity as a promoted identity of a woman and the concept of a body enhanced by technology will be briefly pointed out, indicating that identity is constructed by biological dispositions and social interactions, ie. that the body is the primary anchor of identity. The connection between social order, norm and identity will then be demonstrated through the presentation of the concept of the sick/ill body in the third subchapter which is perceived as a deviation from norm and normality, therefore it occupies an unfavorable position in the social order, primarily economically. Since the dualism of body and mind is most pronounced in a disease, it will be presented that through their interaction the body is repeatedly shown as a biological and cultural object. The sick body is a system of signs (symptoms) for reading, but at the same time it is a system that is both a signified and a signifier of the culture that inscribes in it. This will be confirmed by examples that illustrate the body as a separate, self-moving and uncontrollable mechanism, physical matter that functions separately from the mind, but also the importance of the mind in relation to its own body (ie. moral sexual behavior, body care, body healing etc.), with the aim of normalizing the body and its integration, acceptance in the social system. Disease will thus confirm that the meaning is always inscribed on the body, which is read and interpreted in relation to the Other (physical symptoms, cultural values) and that at the same time one's own self is constructed. The fourth subchapter will present the concept of consumerist value of the body within which it will be seen as economic value (capital) and the social product that is consumed. It will be pointed out that the body, especially in modern societies, is marked by the need to invest in it (cosmetic surgery, exercise, cosmetic beautification etc.) to increase its capitalistic value in a society that promotes an idealized image of youth, health and beauty. Such strategies create a sense of responsibility of the individual towards its own body and an aspiration to possess a desirable body, so it is presented that the power of the social apparatus uses the body to promote one's own values. After the presentation of theoretical discussions on the body, the disertation will focus to the application of the above theoretical framework to the analysis of the body representations in the works of Janko Polić Kamov. Following the conceptions of the body presented in the previous chapter, the disertation will present the body from perspectives that frequently appear within Kamov's works and read it as a surface of meaning. The third chapter will therefore be divided into four key problem areas (Body, Norm, Identity, The Body of a Rebel (with subsubchapters titled according to the selected rebellious figurations), The Female Body and The Body and Illness (with subsubchapters The Sick Body in Isušena Kaljuža and Somatization of the Illness of the Psyche Affected by Trauma) within which the body will be viewed as a signifier system, a bearer of meaning about the questions important for Kamov's literary poetics, literature and the culture of the period in which Kamov's work was created, as well as modernity. The first subchapter of the literary representations of the body analysis in the works of Janko Polić Kamov will focus on the body representations in relation to the norm and identity, where the analysis will focus on those of Kamov's works in which the repressiveness of social mechanisms, by which the construction of desirable identities is carried out by different body regulation strategies, is emphasized. Given this, the emphasis will be on illustrating the interdependence of one’s own perception of the body and the Other that forms that perception and on aligning personal identity with that of the collective. Since Kamov's characters are often 'located' outside of the space of normalization, the power of the social apparatus will be expressed through their bodies, by which negatively marked bodies are forced to normalize. The aim is to present that the body as an object of power is constantly subjected to regulatory social processes, the purpose of which is to control and discipline the bodies according to established norms. This will be followed in the next subchapter by the analysis of literary representations of the body of rebel characters, that will be conducted on the basis of isolated Kamov's characters marked by rebellion and resistance to the dominant ideologies of that time, which is presented through their bodies. They are attributed with the opposition's attitude towards the established cultural values and bear the characteristics of departure from standardization, uniformity and the prototypical. Thus, they can be percieved as a symbol of the arrival of the modern age because the aspiration for freedom from social laws and norms is caried out thorough their bodies, which is why they are considered a threat and danger to the social order. Therefore, it will be shown that Kamov's rebel characters are the product of resistance and protest to tradition and are consequently the bearers of a new order, which is inscribed on their bodies, marked by pleasure in indulging bodily urges such as smoking, drinking, physical violence, sex, sadistic and masochistic acts etc. The body will, therefore, prove to be a reading surface of a culture whose repression, uniformity and forgery are provoked by the bodies of rebellious characters who stand in opposition to it. Characteristics of the coming modern age in relation to previous traditional values will then be presented in the following subchapter through the analysis of literary representations of the female body because it will be shown that Kamov's female figures (such as prostitutes or maids) elude the established roles of women as wives and mothers and become active participants in creating a new order. It will be pointed out that the female body is represented as the surface of consumption, in contrast to the previous sacralization, and that by prostitution of her body she performs established and attributed gender roles. In keeping with the modern age of industrialization, capitalism, and consumerism, it will be seen that the female body is associated with the economic notions of market and mass production, thus degenerating the aura of female innocence and the concept of mythical femininity. Although the presence of repressive mechanisms will still be expressed through the female body, the deviation from the norm and changes in body perception will be presented again as a reflection of a change in social order. The final subchapter of the body representations analysis will talk about the sick body as a place of reading identity (especially in the part where the body is analyzed in trauma) and as a socio-cultural construct that defines the individual through its body. It will be shown that the sick body is a place of struggle with one's own self under the influence of the Other (society, disease, trauma), where the self undergoes processes of (re)identification in relation to that Other. Illness as a sign of a certain abnormality is a nuisance and burden to the individual, but also to others who are occupied by someone else's disease, so it is treated as a 'second condition', an enemy that takes control not only of the body but also the meaning of that body in society. It will be demonstrated that the diseased body is very much subjected to a social view that carries out the processes of identifying and classifying the body into categories of social desirability and undesirability, thus confirming that the body is a stronghold of social mechanisms and power strategies. Whether it is a matter of masking the visual symptoms of illness or trauma as an injury primarily to the mind, it will be found that through the body one can observe modalities of self-construction, which are inseparable from the culture in which the subject resides. In the conclusion, the basic findings that are the result of research and analysis of the concept of the body in general and in Kamov's literary works will be briefly highlighted, where two key things will be confirmed once again - that the body is a surface of continuous inscriptions on the basis of which a certain culture and the mechanisms of power on which it rests can be read, and that in Kamov's literary works the body is inscribed with a departure from tradition and the norm so, consequently, marked as a deviation and a threat to the established social order. The analysis of the literary representation of the body in Kamov's works ultimately showed that the body is always represented as a social construct in which certain values are inscribed by different strategies and mechanisms of power, and therefore can be approached as a methodological instrument for examining socio-political, ethical and aesthetic issues. important for Kamov's literary poetics, the literature and culture of the era in which Kamov's works were written, as well as for modern times, thus confirming the initial hypothesis.