Private Universes II. A metaphysics of a world disappearing into infinity

Patrik Baka L.

IN: Partitúra Irodalomtudományi folyóirat, Volume: XI. , Issue 2, 2016, p. 51-72., ISSN 1336-7307

DOI: 10.17846/PA.2016.11.2.51-72

Abstract:

The paper conducts a comparative analysis of Zoltán László’s works Nagate and Nulla pont. Since the universes are identical and there are recurring characters, we might consider the works as a dilogy. Nevertheless, the way the two works relate to the structure of the world, more particularly, the way they deconstruct it, justifies the analysis. In parallel, we are dealing with the inter-genre connections of the two opuses and we put them into, or rather correlate them with the known categories of speculative fiction. Beyond the infinitive nature of the universe, the unsureness of its existence, and the artificiality of the way it is constructed, we focus on the metaphysical dimensions as well: the mask-like nature of the universe and genre levels which temporarily overlap each other, the integration of fictitious worlds as intertexts, the intensified autoreferentiality, the language issue, the trauma from ontological disturbances, being subordinate and being chosen, the references of racism, and the reflections of the social issues of our time. We end the paper by integrating the main conclusions of the up-to-date receptions of the works.

Keywords: the mask of fantasy, the mask of steampunk, the mask of allohistorism, the mask of sci-fi, postmodern poetics of the novel

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Partitúra is a Hungarian literary journal published in Slovakia twice a year. The first edition was issued in 2006. From 2007 to 2014 its publishers were the Faculty of Central European Studies at The Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra in cooperation with Sambucus Literary Society. Since 2014 the Faculty of Central European Studies at the CPU in Nitra became the sole publisher.

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