Concrete Poetry and Mimesis

Research project P 13612 Concrete Poetry and Mimesis Klaus KASTBERGER 28.06.1999 In common discourse of literary criticism Concrete Poetry and Mimesis are treated as two isolated and contradictory concepts. "Mimesis" used to be quoted as negative definition of "Concrete Poetry", e.g. by S. J. Schmidt: "Concrete Art, in which medium represented whatever, is non-mimetic, generative art, which supersedes the sensory perception of visual reality and concentrates upon its own artistic mediality". Facing this background, Concrete Poetry, as represented in the literary and editorial work of Heimrad Bäcker, is to be rethought - concerning its aesthetic and epistemological potential. An actual and renewed concept of Mimesis shall be adapted to Concrete Poetry. "representation", "imitatio" and "mirroring" will be proofed as insufficient extensions of the concept of Mimesis. On the contrary Walter Benjamin stresses the importance of language to Mimesis: language as the "highest level of mimetic behaviour and the most perfect archive of nonsensorial similarity". He considers Mimesis on the level of linguistic mediality; on that same level, which represents the nucleus in Schmidt`s definition of Concrete Poetry. Aims of the project: I) Examination, putting in order, description and archivation of the literary material of the poet and editor Heimrad Bäcker. The work on that material in collaboration with Heimrad Bäcker shall guarantee an authentic archivation to the highest degree, as well as a qualitative correct interpretation. II) Interpretation of the material as a monographic study, concerning Bäcker`s literary work "nachschrift" and Concrete Poetry in general. This study should be focussed on the critical formation of an innovatory concept of Mimesis. The innovation of the project results from the mutual adaption of two concepts (i.e. Mimesis and Concrete Poetry) which have been considered excluding each other so far. The project resumes methodologically and in its contents two former FWF-projects "Austrian literary bequests" and "Analysis of the Friederike-Mayröcker-Archives". Similar to these two (completed) projects this project deals with the description and interpretation of a textcorpus, which is essential to the Austrian literature. By this Austrian literature shall be conservated and an innovative way of literary criticism shall be followed up.