Sabinet | Breyten Breytenbach se boek : die taal (poësie) as voelinstrument om bewussyn te verken : research article
n Literator : Journal of Literary Criticism, Comparative Linguistics and Literary Studies - Breyten Breytenbach se boek : die taal (poësie) as voelinstrument om bewussyn te verken : research article Navigate this Journal About Current issue Previous issues Submit a paper Contact the Editor ISSN :
Bewussyn, Boek: prison literature, Boek: tronkliteratuur, Breyten Breytenbach, Consciousness, Functions of art; poetry and Funksie van kuns; digkuns
Abstract HTML Metrics Related Content Abstract Breyten Breytenbach&apos;s Boek : language (poetry) as feeling-instrument to explore consciousness
One of the big questions of science is the mystery of consciousness. How is it possible that a state of consciousness, an awareness of your own being and actions, can originate from matter, from the movement of neurons in nerve tissue? While neuroscience does not have answers to these questions (yet), the subjective exploration of consciousness by means of works of art, could make a valuable contribution. Breyten Breytenbach explicitly views his art (writing and painting) as ways to investigate consciousness. In "Boek" (1987) Breytenbach explains his views on art. In this complex work, he focusses, among other aspects, on the idea that the work of art, at a specific moment, produces an "other", a meaning that has not hitherto existed somewhere, waiting to be discovered. This hitherto unknown meaning comes into existence in the moment of creation. The creative moment in which the hitherto unknown is wrestled from the known, cannot be produced by following a recipe. The unknown, the other, virtually invades the world of the artist, as if the work of art happens to the artist, instead of him creating it. This experience has a changing effect on the artist and in the process he learns more about his own consciousness. The changing effect is not restricted to the artist, as the reader of the poem shares this experience. Because the reader is also writer, according to Breytenbach, the work of art is recreated by the reader and the reader has the same experience of a virtual invasion of the "other" on his/her own life and in the process also discovers more about his/her own consciousness.
Een van die groot vraagstukke in die natuurwetenskap is die misterie van bewussyn. Hoe is dit moontlik dat &apos;n staat van bewussyn, &apos;n besef van jou eie bestaan en jou handelinge kan ontstaan uit materie, uit neuronbewegings in &apos;n stuk senu-weefsel? Terwyl die neurowetenskap (nog) nie antwoorde hierop het nie, kan die subjektiewe ondersoek van bewussyn in kunswerke ook aandag ontvang. Breyten Breytenbach beskou sy kuns, beeldend sowel as poësie, as &apos;n manier om bewussyn te ondersoek. In "Boek" (1987) sit Breytenbach sy kunsbeskouing uiteen. Een van die verskeie fasette wat hy in hierdie komplekse werk aanroer, is dat daar in die kunswerk, op &apos;n sekere moment, &apos;n "ander betekenis" tot stand kom wat nie vooraf reeds iewers bestaan en wag op ontdekking nie. Hierdie betekenis kom tot stand in die moment waarop die bekende vervorm word. Hierdie kreatiewe moment waarop die tot-dusver-onbekende uit die bekende losgeworstel word, kan egter nie op &apos;n resepmatige wyse voorgebring word nie. Hierdie onbekende, die ander, maak as&apos;t ware uit &apos;n ander wÃªreld inbreuk op die kunstenaar se wêreld - asof die ontstaan van die kunswerk mÃ©t hom gebeur eerder as wat hy dit láát gebeur. Dit is &apos;n veranderende ervaring, waardeur die kunstenaar iets meer van sy eie bewussyn leer ken. Die veranderende ervaring is egter nie slegs die kunstenaar s&apos;n nie. Dit geld ook vir die waarnemer van die kunswerk. Omdat die leser ook skrywer is, omdat die kunswerk telkens deur die waarnemer daarvan op &apos;n manier "herskep" word, het ook die waarnemer hierdie ervaring van &apos;n ingryp van elders op sy lewe en die lees van poësie is dus ook &apos;n verkenning van die eie bewussyn.