Thomas Pavel

At the heart of this article is a fairly straightforward assertion: that literature has a trans-verbal level at which it affects us as a work of art. Hence discussing a novel means bringing to the fore not only its overt narrative function but also its covert artistic function: a consideration of the work in light of its aesthetic intention. Following the phenomenological traditions of Roman Ingarden and Maurice Merleau-Ponty, I argue that aesthetic intention does not determine the significance of the art object, which is presumed to be dynamic within a spectrum of meanings. Rather, aesthetic intention takes into account the circumstance of the novel having been actuated into form by an " artistic gesture. " This " gesture " is not physical: it is a metaphorical motion referring to the artist's actuation of an aesthetic intention using one or another medium to give an artwork its perceivable form. In painting, this " gesture " can sometimes be traced through a work's visible brushstrokes or formal composition, but in literature such " gestures " can appear beyond the literal text and remain invisible even while they are experienced in the literary work. The conception of such a " gesture " is meant to incorporate the insights of literary and aesthetic theory, along with poststructuralism, in a critique that allows for structural analysis to also pursue a reconstituted significance. What appears below is more a program of the problem than a full treatment of its implications – a stretching of the canvas, so to speak. But I believe that the articulation of this kernel has a value in itself even if the full unraveling of the subject is yet to come.

This essay reinterprets Kundera’s best-known novel through philosophical considerations of vulnerability and the human/animal relationship. It begins with an understanding of irony—associated with Cora Diamond’s notion of embodiment shared by humans and animals—as a counter to Cartesian mastery of nature. It turns to the denial of embodiment through shame and disgust, as theorized by Martha Nussbaum and illustrated with several characters. One main character, Tereza, stands out against a normotic backdrop of human disembodiment (which Kundera calls kitsch). Her acceptance of vulnerability and encounter with shame gradually envelop her spouse, Tomas, as well. The final section examines the novel’s closing pastoral passages, in which a thorough investigation of human and nonhuman animality takes place, leaving the reader somewhere between an extremely empathetic Tereza and a sympathetic but gently skeptical narrator. It describes the novel as a “fallen idyll” where human vulnerability and shame can be expressed and considered.

Quando una storia inventata viene considerata una menzogna e quando invece assume un valore estetico? Se Emma Bovary e Anna Karenina non esistono, come possiamo emozionarci per i loro tragici destini? È possibile apprendere dai mondi di invenzione qualcosa di valido nel mondo reale? Con l’obiettivo di far luce su simili questioni, il libro propone una panoramica delle ricerche sulla fiction compiute in vari ambiti,  inserendole in un quadro organico. Sulle orme di Aristotele, secondo cui il dominio eletto della creazione letteraria è quello del possibile, uno dei più affascinanti e vitali filoni della narratologia contemporanea ha associato i mondi di invenzione ai mondi possibili teorizzati dai filosofi. Tali analisi hanno ridato linfa agli studi estetico-letterari offrendo nuovi strumenti per indagare anche forme di espressione multimediali e interattive, come la fiction ipertestuale e il videogioco.

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El concepto de ficción como mundo posible cobra en la teoría literaria contemporánea una dimensión sin precedentes. Los trabajos de Linda Hutcheon, Lubomír Doležel o Thomas Pavel afianzan en la posmodernidad la caracterización de la mímesis como un heterocosmos imaginario a cuyos espacios ilocalizables sólo es posible acceder a través de los diferentes canales semióticos. En el caso de la literatura, es la palabra que abre la brecha entre la realidad y los diferentes mundos posibles de la escritura. Tal es el concepto de ficción presente en el relato “Finlandia” de Hernán Casciari (Mercedes, 1971), publicado en primera instancia en 2005 como fragmento de su blogonovela e incluido posteriormente en El pibe que arruinaba las fotos (2009). Heredero de la concepción poética de Borges, Cortázar o Aira, Casciari concibe la escritura como una creación de distopías trágicas, de universos paralelos autoficcionales, de realidades potenciales generadas merced a la phantasia del autor. El universo utópico de la imaginación se ve personificado en tal espacio ficcional por Finlandia, una región real que, sin embargo, en los límites utópicos de la escritura adquiere la condición de un no-espacio, de un mundo alternativo y paralelo, de un heterocosmos antiutópico vinculado a la potencia de ser de toda mímesis. En este trabajo nos aproximamos, pues, a la obra narrativa de Casciari a fin de analizar el concepto de ficción como mundo posible y asimismo la significación de “Finlandia” como antiutopía dentro del imaginario creado por el escritor argentino.

The concept of fiction as possible world charges in contemporary Literary theory an unprecedented dimension. Works by Linda Hutcheon, Lubomír Doležel or Thomas Pavel entrench the characterization of mimesis in the Postmodern period as an imaginary heterocosm, whose untraceable spaces can only be accessed through different semiotic channels. In the case of Literature, it is the word that opens the gap between the reality and the diverse possible worlds of the writing. This conceptualization of fiction is present in the short story “Finlandia” by Hernán Casciari (Mercedes, 1971), firstly published in 2005 as a fragment of his blognovel and later included in El pibe que arruinaba las fotos (2009). Heir to Borges, Cortazar or Aira poetical concept, Casciari conceives writing as a creation of tragic dystopias, autofictional parallel universes, potential realities generated by the author’s phantasia. Casciari’s utopian universe is personified by Finland in the fictional context, an actual region where however the utopian nature of writing gives it the non-space condition, as an alternative and parallel world and an antiutopian heterocosm linked to mimesis’ potentiality-for-being. Therefore, this paper approaches Casciari’s short story to analyse, on the one hand, the concept of fiction as possible world and, on the other, the significance of “Finland” as a dystopia within the imaginary created by the Argentine writer.