Ars Non Scribendi as Artwork of the Absent: The Art of Not Writing in Ivan Vladislavić's The Loss Library. Issue 2 (2nd July 2016)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- Ars Non Scribendi as Artwork of the Absent: The Art of Not Writing in Ivan Vladislavić's The Loss Library. Issue 2 (2nd July 2016)
- Main Title:
- Ars Non Scribendi as Artwork of the Absent: The Art of Not Writing in Ivan Vladislavić's The Loss Library
- Authors:
- Swanepoel, Rilette
- Abstract:
- Abstract : In The Loss Library and Other Unfinished Stories (2011), Ivan Vladislavić takes his characteristic genre experimentation to a new extreme. Presenting story ideas, bits of research and anecdotes, he interrogates several literary genres, but the volume as a whole has few obvious generic antecedents. Here I briefly consider the established literary genres that the author explores, and argue that the text is closer to a type of fine arts and artefacts that has always fascinated Vladislavić: those that commemorate loss. To refer to what he does in The Loss Library, I coin the term ars non scribendi – the art of not writing – as the inverse of ars poetica, the closest genre to (almost) accommodate the text. Encouraged by Vladislavić calling Micha Ullman an artist of the absent, I call the genre of The Loss Library and these other works 'art of the absent'. Aligning Vladislavić's ars non scribendi with artworks that he has written about in non-fiction or invented in his fiction, I show that the book represents and mourns loss, and conclude that The Loss Library 's genre-transcendence gives form to loss and absence.
- Is Part Of:
- English studies in Africa. Volume 59:Issue 2(2016)
- Journal:
- English studies in Africa
- Issue:
- Volume 59:Issue 2(2016)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 59, Issue 2 (2016)
- Year:
- 2016
- Volume:
- 59
- Issue:
- 2
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2016-0059-0002-0000
- Page Start:
- 41
- Page End:
- 53
- Publication Date:
- 2016-07-02
- Subjects:
- Ivan Vladislavić -- The Loss Library -- genre -- ars poetica -- loss -- absence
English literature -- History and criticism -- Periodicals
English language -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals
English language -- Africa -- Periodicals
English literature -- Periodicals
American literature -- Periodicals
American literature
English language
English language -- Study and teaching
English literature
Africa
Criticism, interpretation, etc
Periodicals
Electronic journals
420 - Journal URLs:
- http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/reia20/current ↗
http://www.tandfonline.com/ ↗ - DOI:
- 10.1080/00138398.2016.1239417 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 0013-8398
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library DSC - BLDSS-3PM
British Library HMNTS - ELD Digital store - Ingest File:
- 171.xml