Folk Song Tradition as Cultural Memory. Drago Jančar’s Novel and Stage Play Katharina, the Peacock, and the Jesuit

Abstract

Na podlagi teoretskih premis o kulturnem, kolektivnem, zgodovinskem in individualnem spominu je v razpravi opredeljeno ljudsko pesemsko izročilo kot eden izmed t. i. nacionalnih kulturnih kanonov za različna literarna dela na Slovenskem. Razprava ob zgodovinskih in kulturnih prvinah (barok, romanje v Porenje, sedemletna vojna, ljudsko prozno izročilo, ljudska verovanja, ljudsko gledališče, materialna kultura) v Jančarjevem romanu in drami Katarina, pav in jezuit [2000 in 2005] odkriva medbesedilne vloge ljudske pesmi kot ene izmed temeljnih duhovnih podlag romana in drame, ki so vpisane v obe deli kot del zgodovinskega in kulturnega kolektivnega spomina, a tudi kot del individualnega avditivnega in vizualnega spomina slovenskega avtorja. Ljudsko pesem je pisatelj vpisal v oba žanra v sinkretični celoti: tekst, tekstura, ob upoštevanju nosilca in fenomena romanja kot družbenega konteksta pesmi, zato so v razpravi predstavljena polisemantična polja vsebinsko raznovrstne ljudske pesemske dediščine, predvsem romarskih pesmi, s posebno analizo ljudske pripovedne legendarne pesmi Marija in brodnik.

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Based on theoretical premises about cultural, collective, historic, and individual memory Slovenian folk song heritage has been defined as one of the so-called cultural canons of literary works. Analyzing historic and cultural elements (baroque, pilgrimage to Rhineland, Seven Years’ War, folk narrative tradition, folk beliefs, folk theater, and material culture) in Drago Jančar’s novel Katarina, pav in jezuit (Kahtarina, the Peacock, and the Jesuit; published in 2000 and adapted for stage in 2005), this study examines intertextual roles of folk song, which serves as a primary spiritual foundation for the novel and the play. In both texts, these intertextual roles figure as part of historic and cultural collective memory on one hand and as part of Jančar’s individual auditory and visual memory on the other. In both the novel and the drama, folk song has been intertwined with Jančar’s own text in its syncretic entirety, which takes into consideration not only the text and texture but also the phenomenon of pilgrimage and its participants within the social context of folk song. In view of the above, this study presents polysemantic fields of dif­ferent kinds of folk song heritage, especially pilgrimage songs, along with an analysis of folk narrative legendary song Marija in brodnik (Mary and the Ferryman).