Ikoniek as betekeningsproses in die Marilyn Monroe-gedigtereeks in Afrikaans-'n kultuurstudiebenadering

Abstract

The term iconics was derived from Holland's suggested term "ikonic" for the characteristic double refractory style of post-postmodernism. In this study, iconics is applied as an inclusive term for the multi-refractory and -reflecting processes which take place in and about religious, secular and literary icons. Because of the symbiotic interaction between icons and their cultural contexts, a study of iconic texts requires a multi-disciplinary approach, such as cultural studies to transcend the traditional boundaries of literary theory. Although some critics regard cultural studies as a marginal and subversive critical practice, a theoretical survey has shown that contemporary cultural studies distinguish between (predominantly British) mass culture studies which focus mainly on ideological and hegemonous structures of meaning-production, and (predominantly American) popular culture studies which study the interaction of micro cultures within macro cultures. The post-modernistic view of culture as "text" is reflected in the incorporation of popular culture within traditionally elitist culture by means of the pastiche. Contemporary literature similarly reflect the refractory postmodernist style in increasing visual texts, presented as a bricolage of disparate pictorial elements which the reader then has to arrange and transmute into linear mind-language. Therefore the intention of this study was not to convert cultural studies to Theory, but rather to apply theory in its original meaning of theorin (to see) and theoria (to contemplate) to the text as the atrum (theatre). Despite the contemporary application of the term icon for a wide range of personae, artifacts and entities, Afrikaans literary theory mainly applies the term iconicity to denote the visual aspect of iconicity and thereby ignores its implicit reference to spiritual affect. Recent discourses on popular icons such as Marilyn Monroe and Princess Diana, however, have highlighted the spiritual affect of icons. At the same time, they have also revealed a visible tendency of discursive co-operation towards consensus of meaning, which serves as an indication of a post-postmodernist spiritual need to negotiate a coherent New Truth from the intellectualism and cynicism of postmodernism. Thus, due to its religious origin, the term iconics also allows for intellectual and spiritual textacy. Semiotics was found to be useful in describing the processes of meaning. However, Peirce's theory of icons has reduced the icon to a mere "sign" and iconicity to "visual referentiality". Concerning the description of the trans-mutational processes that take place between image and language, semiotics should thus be regarded as a meta-theory. A scientific system of signs proved unable to capture the spiritual affect which these trans-mutational processes generate because it pertains to free radicals in the connotative sphere. Iconography, the traditional metalanguage of icons, was found to be the more appropriate metalanguage to describe iconic texts. A closer look at Egyptian hieroglyphs has revealed that the boundary between language-independent iconography ("image language") and language-dependent hieroglyphs ("image script") is transgressed at some point where the visual image loses its plasticity and connotative freedom as it is transformed from symbol to emblem. Because iconic texts consist of nonlinear pictorial elements, iconographical links or cartouches determine whether such elements are perceived as emblems or referential symbols. To better describe iconic texts, a further distinction was made between a seemingly unstructured iconic text (tableau) and an obviously structured iconic text (scheme). The tableau appears to be a bricolage of disparate emblems until the reader schematises it to a structured collage of symbols by drawing his own cartouches according to his own intellectual and spiritual needs. lconicity thus constitutes true textual democracy as it allows the reader to shift the cartouches and thereby to generate "new readings" of the text. But such textual democracy also leaves the text vulnerable to contamination. A study of the Byzantine icon proved the current emphasis on the representational and reproductive characteristics of iconicity to be unjustified. After the post-iconoclastic "triumph of referentiality", Byzantine art split into two very distinctive art forms. The representational frescos and miniatures was meant to illustrate and explain the Holy Scriptures, while the icons functioned as Holy Scriptures and were therefore spiritually referential. Whereas metaphors function as mediators of meaning, icons function as mediators of spirituality. The strict icon discipline did not apply to the icon text, but to iconographic symbolism. Furthermore, Byzantine icons are narratives of their cultural contexts and refer to concrete and abstract intertexts. The visuality of the icon is therefore only the introductory phase of the spiritual engagement which distinguishes the living icon from mere representational works of art. Regarding the iconicity of photographs, it was found that the viewer also experiences "something more" which is not constituted in the photo text, but attributed to it according to the viewer's own intellectual and spiritual experience. The most appropriate term to be found , is the "aura". Because the aura relates to spirituality and affect, it taxes language beyond its means of description and the viewer may at best try to fix its meaning in metaphoric language. Because the transmutational processes between the visible and "invisible truth " in iconic texts are indeterminable, the meanings of iconic texts can never attain closure. By using Breytenbach 's poem ' ikoon' as an example, the iconic role of literary criticism was illustrated. By juxtaposing high culture with low and religious icons with the popular, Breytenbach confronted traditional expectation-horizons and perceptions of iconicity, thereby causing intertextual tensions which contaminated the poem and its reception. However, the poem iconographically refers to Grunewald' s ' lsenheim altarpiece', and thereby to the Medieval pest and religious revolt, and to the existential world of Breytenbach's Om te vlieg and Katasrofes - and through that to Breytenbach' s political, cultural and creative life. By shifting the iconographical cartouches, "new texts" and auras can be activated so that the meaning of 'ikoon' can never be static or fully comprehended. Shifting cultural contexts, zeitgeist and literary viewpoints will accordingly shift the meaning-paradigms of icon, iconicity and iconography. Thus it is this empowerment of the reader to contribute meaning to the text, together with the continuous regeneration of spiritual affect, which transports the reader to textacy. The application of the term icon to secular symbols derives from the fifties and by the eighties it had become a "fashion word" for any recognizable visual prototype or " representational sign" . However, since the nineties the meaning has again shifted to "cherished symbol", an indication that the icon is regaining its spiritual referentiality. In terms of human icons, contemporary culture studies distinguish between general audience behaviour and the energetic spiritual engagement of fandom and cult - a distinction which correlates with the difference between viewing and experiencing religious icons. As the " Hollywood blonde" sex icon of the fifties, Marilyn Monroe represented an era of bipolar sexuality. Contrary to her predecessors she has not become just another emblem in the greater "Hollywood blonde" text, but has been transformed into a multi-textual master icon. She transcends her stereotype because of the multiple ironic contradictions which causes the intertextual tensions in the iconic megatext, and in turn elicit the energetic intellectual, affective and spiritual engagement which expand the icon . She also transcends cultural historicity and genre and disperses the engagement/ universality-debate. Marilyn Monroe represents the true democratic text because she offers something for everyone. More than any other popular icon she proves that visuality is but the enticing facade to persuade the viewer towards the spiritual engagement which is the true essence of iconicity. Marilyn Monroe thus no longer represents just the person and persona, but also an enormous textual terrain with constantly shifting boundaries. The visual recognizability of popular icons is therefore important for zoning the communal playing fields of discourses on and through the icon. The refractedness of the Marilyn Monroe text is ideal for the purposes of the multi-reflectional and multi-refractional postmodernist activities. From a postmodernist perspective , the Marilyn Monroe text is regarded as a bricolage. However, the recent Princess Diana/Mother Teresa iconics displayed a visible tendency towards consensus of discourse and meaning - a definite sign of a post-postmodernist pursu it of spirituality and New Truth. As intertextual cartouches were drawn, a previously "misread" Greater Scheme became apparent. The Afrikaans series of Marilyn Monroe poems' cultivation and exploitation of the Marilyn Monroe icon as textual playing field, showed how iconic texts reflect their cultural and theoretical contexts. Breytenbach's empty grave/Marilyn Monroereference replaced Lesser's "empty hole" to become the nucleus of a "tremendous motivating force" of a powerful literary icon. As the icon expanded , it absorbed contemporary textual techniques like progressively compressed forms of symbolism, multiple intertextual references and especially refractional visuality. A striking phenomenon was the way in which successive poems "misread" and commented on their predecessors, thereby creating a cohesive critical subtext to both the icon and the iconics. Each additional poem kaleidoscopically reshuffled the literary icon so that all the others gained new meanings and references - but also became vulnerable to possible contamination of their aura and "truth" . The energetic iconic activity confirmed that the visual aspect of the iconic texts serves mainly as the drawing force and persuasive power, but that the essence of iconicity lies in the intellectual and spiritual engagement that it generates - and that iconics is a true sign of a new post-postmodernist spirituality.