Aska, Tomhet & Eld. Outsiderproblematiken hos Bruno K. Öijer

Sammanfattning: The topic of this dissertation is the work of the poet Bruno K. Öijer (b. 1951). My thesis is, that a recognition of how he has assumed the outsider position is vital for an understanding of his work, and that it also may contribute to an explanation of his particular importance in the cultural arena of the early 70s. The thesis is structured in four parts. Part one deals with the concept “outsider”, the outsider’s method of relating to a few specially chosen peers, and how the themes of the outsider are expressed in Öijer’s debut Sång för anarkismen 1973. Part two deals with his statements and actions in the 70s, which formed part of a larger public polemic in which opponents on a heterogeneous cultural arena fought for power, acted out, among other places, in the stencil journal Guru Papers of which he was one of the editors. This group preferred poetry that was rich in imagery, partly as a reaction to the experimental avant-garde of the previous decades, partly in order to bring poetry down to the level of everyday life as the historical avant-garde of 1910–1925 did. Part three is an analysis of Öijer’s poetics, using his manifestos and statements as a point of departure: in order to be able to live a true and creative life, people have to acknowledge chaos as the fundamental condition of existence. The demand for sincerity (toward oneself) can be regarded as the first step away from chaos. The poet becomes a seer, but simultaneously discovers the negative aspects of existence. One of Öijer’s driving forces is to try to recreate what, with Benjamin, can be called the primeval force of “pure language,” which can be done through rites and by using language as incantation. Finally, in part four, I discuss how Öijer, through the use of various strategies for converting his poetics into practice, seeks to place the stress on the “here and now” of the present moment, in order to experience the “aura” of the work of art. The first of these strategies is the use of poetic imagery, which are analyzed in the important poem “Outlines of one of Death’s Speeches” (1984). Secondly, I show how he seeks an expression founded on the same directness that we find in oral cultures. Being a poet of the written language this, however, is something one can never achieve. Poets of the “oral renaissance” have been striving for such a presence ever since the 50s, and it has given rise to a “secondary orality.” I introduce the term “poetry performance” to describe the third strategy. I show how rock’n’roll music is the primary reason for his performances, and how the outsider’s uncompromising demand for freedom makes him choose this extremely “un-pure” genre. In order to describe his poetry performance, I consider it in relation to Artaud’s “Theatre of Cruelty”. Through the impurity of the genre Öijer can create the purity of expression he is seeking.