Kolmas merkitys toiseen
Kinekfrasis suomalaisessa nykyrunoudessa
Abstract
The Third Meaning Squared. Kinekphrasis in Contemporary Finnish Poetry
In this article I develop the concept of kinekphrasis to designate a particular form of intermediality, speci cally, the verbal representation of cinema or other form of moving image. Kinekphrasis builds upon ekphrasis, the classical rhetorical term that today generally refers to texts about static artworks, such as paintings and statues. Representing the medial complex of cinema, however, sets a distinct sensorial and semiotic challenge to a text and brings about a form of intermediality di erent from the traditional ekphrasis. I exemplify kinekphrasis with a reading of contemporary Finnish poetry, namely, individual poems by Pauliina Haasjoki and V. S. Luoma-aho, and one book-length work, Karri Kokko’s Töllötin (“The Tube”, 2010), the most extensive kinekphrasis in Finnish literature. In addition, I analyze Marko Niemi’s digital, animated version of Töllötin, which uses Kokko’s text and so adds yet another layer to the medial process. In representing lms and television, the texts foreground what Roland Barthes termed “the third meaning” (le troisième sens): all those excessive elements, details, and digressions that cannot be reduced to any narrative or symbolic functions.
