“Borne-Across Humans” – the Migrant Experience as a Way of Viewing Artistic Practice

Abstrakt

DOI: 10.19251/sej/2018.7(6)

In an essay on Günter Grass, Salman Rushdie suggests that the migrant experiences a triple disruption involving place, language and behaviour. Rather than being disabling, however, Rushdie [1992, p. 278] views it is empowering, where migrants become something magical, “borne-across humans – (…) metaphorical beings in their very essence.” In the first part of the paper it is sug­gested that Rushdie’s description of Grass as migrant not only gives a useful way of viewing the writer’s work, but also provides a tool for viewing other artists’ work. In doing so, the initial premise is extended to cover the existential alienation of which both Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre write, as well as Gilles Deleuze’s examination of the event. In the second part of the article, in light of these considerations, works by the artist and theatre director Tadeusz Kantor are analysed – Linia Podziału [The Dividing Line, 1966] and Umarła Klasa [The Dead Class, 1975], as well as the writer and playwright Samuel Beckett – Watt [1953], Molloy [1955] and Waiting for Godot [1955]. In the conclusion, it is suggested that even though there may be positive aspects to migrant experience these may not be (or want to be) understood.

Key words: migrant, alienation, event, Salman Rushdie, Günter Grass, Tadeusz Kantor, Samuel Beckett