| The only characters that inhabit the Regno della Materia Dinamica are Mata and the dinici. Mata (matter, mater) is described as "una massa insieme molle e rocciosa, vasta quanto una collina, ma con le forme di un gigante idropico vivo e parlante." (VG 3). She is blind and is bound to the Lake by a kind of umbilical cord with a funnel. She survives through a symbiosis with the Lake: "Cos� il Lago nutre Mata e Mata il Lago." [VG 5] The dinici are little headless beings of ebony black that have "braccia affusolate con mani in forma di cucchiai uncinati" (VG 5-6). They row towards Mata on rafts so as to be placed in her funnel and thus "liberati dal loro peso-necessit�" (VG 7). In Kristevan terms, this is the description of a foetus in the womb that receives persistent impulses and nourishment but neither differentiates nor orders them. Garar�, limping on her two 'crutch-compasses' enters the realm chanting her slogan: Ga - ra - r� tro - ve - r� Ga - ra - r� Toc - che - r� Ga - ra - r� sa - ne - r� Ga - ra - r� A - pri - r� [15] Her goal is to measure everything with the compasses and effectively to map Mata and the dinici. She asks Mata: "Non vuoi dunque conoscere gli splendidi labirinti del pensiero, precisi come cristalli risultanti dalla chimica della tua volont�? Non vuoi osservare le vivisezioni illuminate dalla logica spietata? Non vuoi entrare nei misteri profondi minacciati dalle lame acute della conoscenza!" (VG 14) But Mata refuses her and Garar� decides to scale her body in order to physically impose her law: "Ti insegner� cos� a conoscerti e giunger� fino alle tue orecchie e vi caccer� dentro le mie verit�" (VG 15). In so doing Garar� discovers that Mata is not a living being but instead she is made of rock, a materia inerte (VG 15). In this realm, Benedetta uses metaphors of birth to express Garar��s strenuous endeavour to bring Mata into a new space of language and action. Garar� officiates as a midwife assisting at a possible birth. She warns Mata that her "ventre crescente schiaccia sempre pi� il cordone ombellicale gi� piegato" (VG 12) and asks "Non vuoi dunque mai uscire dalla tua immonda semplicit� elementare?" (VG 13). Later she promises "Garar� ti guarir� del tuo peso" (VG 24). Garar� realises that the key to this metaphoric birth resides in the dinici who are the representations of primary linguistic expressions. Just like the impulses from the 'chora' that Kristeva described in "Revolution in poetic language", the dinici express themselves through rhythm, song and rhyme. However the expressions have no propositional meaning. At the same time, they have no desire except to be consumed. Garar� complains to Mata, "Che canti tediosi! � Tu li lasci parlare e dimentichi che parlano senza avere nulla da dire!" (VG 26). At a certain point, a dinico that does not want to be swallowed by Mata cries, "Fermaaa!... Fermaaa!" (VG 37). Garar� encourages it saying "Esci, esci dal Lago! Dinico! Esci presto! Tutti gli altri ti seguiranno. Avrai una testa! Sarai il pi� forte dei dinici... " (VG 38).The head that the Dinico lacks and which Garar� promises is the representation of an identity, an organ that would give it the possibility of surviving outside of the Lake. [16] However, the dinico is unable to leave because it is ensnared by the rhythm of the others and is swallowed by Mata. Defeated, Garar� enters into Il Regno delle Volont�-Tensioni. In a Lacanian discourse, Garar� would be the manifestation of the Name-of-the-Father that seeks to bring Mata into language. However, her 'name' in the future form of a nonsense verb (a perversion of 'guarire'?) represents merely the possibility of action and expression. She refuses to accept that she cannot have any authority over these realms and that she is only permitted as a visitor. More a linguistic imperative than a character with true agency, her actions are always indeterminate and chimerical. Garar��s project to reify the mystical inhabitants of the three realms into consciousness is presented as an impossible mission. It is only in the concluding stages of the text that she becomes aware of this and is forced to contemplate her own injunctive function. By her very nature, Garar� is incompatible with the mysterious creative forces that she [to page 75] encounters. Her journey, it must be remembered, is a failed project. She is never able to impose herself as Law. The second Realm is almost the opposite of the first. It is an organised Realm, full of static 'signifiers' and could be understood as the manifestation of the symbolic order. Benedetta introduces Il Regno delle Volont�-Tensioni thus: In un�atmosfera trasparente, nitidamente divisa in tre zone: grigio perla al basso, rosa carne al centro, giallo sole in alto, sono immerse numerose e differentissime Volont�-Tensioni radicate in un terreno piano con la irregolare densit� delle piante di un bosco. Le Volont�-Tensioni hanno per forma e colore la materializzazione della loro ragione di vita. Il terreno, d�un colore grigio scuro, ricco d�ogni possibilit�, � la base di tutte le origini. (VG 43) The Volonta-Tensioni are the Voluits, the Saoas, the Convols, the Tebii, the Acri, the Illiri and the Previdenti, and they all have their ragione di vita. The Voluits, for instance, are desiderio accanito di architettura e di solidit� (VG 44), the Saoas are hope, the Convols are passion, the Tebii are diafani megafoni dell�infinito amore (VG 45) and the Acri are violence and pain. They are all symbols of abstract, emotive or allegorical concepts, but here there is no meaningful interaction between them. The terrain is ricco d�ogni possibilit� but the atmosphere remains motionless. As Benedetta writes, "L�immobilit� e il silenzio sono carichi delle Volont�-Tensioni che vivono nell�atmosfera" (VG 45). The concept of �volont�-tensione� is almost contradictory in the sense that the tension contains the will (or desire) within its limit. In the same way the symbols are like platonic forms that are 'unrepresentable' but express a particular law. The law in the symbolic order is a linguistic law with which an agent interacts to express itself. For this reason, the symbolic is referred to as the domain of law, language and exchange. [17] Garar�, as the Name-of-the-Father, has a very different function in this realm. She can no longer impose an order because the order is pre-existent. Instead, Garar� wills the Regno delle Volont�-Tensioni to impose itself on the Regno della Materia Dinamica so that expression is possible. She also seeks to discover the grounds of the Volont�-Tensioni only to deconstruct them. The fact that she walks through the realm on a pathway is important because the pathway is a metaphor of the 'trace', a primary sign. She says: Garar� vi arricchir� della gioia di essere liberi, fuori dalle atmosfere che vi sommergono. Romperete i vostri limiti precisi per esprimervi in fronde deliziosamente molteplici. D�un balzo Garar� � nel centro del sentiero. (4, p. 61) The three atmospheres are constructed oppositions that give the realm its hierarchical structure while the precise limits are binary limits that Garar� wants to replace with a heterogeneous system. Garar� occupies the space of the pathway and is therefore in a position from which she can supposedly trace or reposition the limits. However, when Garar� encounters the Previdenti (symbols of speed), she realises that these Volont�-Tensioni can give expression to the Regno della Materia Dinamica. Garar� addresses the Previdents: "Vi condurr� al Lago delle nebbie dinamiche! Vi sono esseri veloci come voi, come voi, senza testa. Sono i piccoli dinici della materia che voi dinici del volere potrete dirigere ... Venite con me!" (4, pp. 64-5) [to page 76] |