Travelling towards an Identity as creative principle in new texts of Breyten Breytenbach In three recent (unpublished) public lectures, Breyten Breytenbach uses travel as a metaphor to emphasise the importance of intellectual flexibility. By doing so he explicitly defines identity as well as the creative processes of writing and painting in terms of movement. In the context of his work, movement immediately evokes transformation, and this article explores the way in which Breytenbach's thesis - as expounded in these lectures - unfolds in two (as yet unpublished) poems which paradoxically deal with frozen, winter landscapes. The way in which different forms of movement operate as creative principles in these poems - and by extension in all his thinking - also clarifies what is meant by Breytenbach's metaphoric "Middle World" ("taalstaat"), which has repeatedly been misunderstood in the popular press
Zen-Boeddhistiese selfloosheid as sentrale interteks van die Breytenbach-oeuvre
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The a im o f this article is tw ofold:*
T o p o s tu la te th e B u d d h is t n o tio n o f se lfle s s n e s s a s ce n tra l to th e art a n d w riting o f BreytenBreytenbach. * T o provide an overview o f the p h ilo so p h y this im plies a n d o f the w ay in w hich it offers a reading o f the Breytenbach-oeuvre.
T he B uddhist concept o f selflessness as expressed in the work o f Breytenbach is by way o f contrast firstly set against th e b a c k g ro u n d o f th e m o re fa m ilia r W estern p h ilo so p h ic a l tradition, a n d then an a lysed within the context o f B u d d h ist experiences such as Sunyata, Satori, Z a ze n a n d th e T aoist prin cip le o f relativity to w hich it is inexorably linked. In doing s o an a ttem p t is m a d e to fu lfil a n ee d that becam e apparant fr o m d iscu ssio n s with colleagues a n d (post)graduate stu dents: A lth o u g h Z e n -B u d d h ism in genera l h a s lo n g been acc ep ted a s a p rim a ry intertext o f th e B reyten ba ch oeuvre, a n d a lth o u g h it is c o m m o n practice to refer to notions such as Satori, Z azen a n d the V oid when studying h is work, it is n ot always clear in which way the B u d d h ist p h ilo so p h y is pertinent to the creative p rocess a s such, be it that o f creative writing or painting. T o construe th e presence o f B uddhist term inoloy in th e Breytenbach text as a m ere to o l f o r the unfolding o f p lo t o r as an attem pt to define h is writing as m oralistic o r m ystical is an unfortunate m isconception. In addition to the fo c u s on B uddhist selflessness a n d the way in which it is reflected in B reytenbach's work, this article therefore offers s o m e suggestions o n the w ay in w hich an u nd erstanding o f B u d d h ist principles can serve as elucidation o f th e n a tu re o f th eBreytenbach oeuvre a n d the creative experience as such.
As representative of Breyten Breytenbach’s more recent writings, the anthology of prison poems ('yk') appears to a great extent hermeneutically closed on a first reading. Recurring references to the poet’s position in his own discourse, as well as the expression of despairing feelings of depersonalisation experienced by prisoners in general, however provide the key to a possible reading of these poems, especially when analysed in terms of the French psycho-analyst Jacques Lacan’s theory of subjectivity. This article highlights relevant aspects of this theory, showing subjectivity to be a process which is always constituted in relation to discourse, and offers a reading of the poem "Nekra" to illustrate the way in which it elucidates the Breytenbach discourse.
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