Towards A Pragma-Semiotics of Ritual (Ized) Gesture and Performance
Towards A Pragma-Semiotics of Ritual (Ized) Gesture and Performance
Towards A Pragma-Semiotics of Ritual (Ized) Gesture and Performance
http://dx.doi.org/10.5209/ARIS.58494
Abstract. This paper analyzes some ritual and performing phenomena from different cultures, by using
a unifying pragma-semiotics approach, especially the speech acts theory. Claude Lévi-Strauss (1995)
refers to the rites as a “paralanguage”. In our opinion, his taxonomy of ritual praxis is reducible to
the dichotomy constative/performative introduced by John L. Austin (1962), that he later reconsiders
and transforms into the trichotomy locutionary/illocutionary/perlocutionary. In Austin’s opinion, the
speech acts theory is part of a theory of action. We aim to explain that this is confirmed not only in
the very linguistic act of utterance, but also in the multimodal expression (movement, gesture, word,
incantation, costumes, accessories) specific to some ritual(ized) social contexts, particularly ritual
performances. Like verbal performative utterances, ritual(ized) gesture and movement may have real
and immediate efficiency, which means that it may produce a real-world change, from the participant’s
viewpoint. Without a ritual context, the choreo-dramatic expression loses its pragmatic function – that
of “modification” of the real (Lévi-Strauss, 1995). However, it manifests a different one, essentially
“aesthetic”. From our point of view, the illocutionary ritual act is thus replaced by a “fictional act”, a
category which was previously described by both John R. Searle (1982) and Gérard Genette (1991).
Keywords: Ritual; gesture; performance; pragmatics; semiotics.
1
This paper was realized within the project Pedagogia patrimoniului natural şi cultural (2014-2016), 2014-1-RO-
01KA104-001576.
2
Vasile Alecsandri University (Romania)
E-mail: npopablanariu@yahoo.com
Cómo citar: Popa Blanariu, N. (2019) Towards a Pragma-Semiotics of Ritual(ized) Gesture and
Performance Arte, Individuo y Sociedad 31(1), 41-54.
Regardless of the form they took in different cultures, the “political gesture”, the
“liturgical gesture” (Schmitt, 1998), the daily gesture committed in public or private
space have an important performative value, which the ritual always activates.
Therefore, we propose an approach to “body techniques” (Mauss, 1950) – through
which corpor(e)ality is codified in cultural terms – from a pragma-semiotics
perspective. Particularly, “speech acts come in a variety of types”: by means of
“acoustical blasts, I make a statement or ask a question, I give an order or I make
a request”, that is, I perform an illocutionary act which is the “minimal complete
unit of human linguistic communication” (Searle, 1999). In our opinion, the same
convergence between the physical level of kinetic articulation and the symbolic
investment of bodily expression, including its illocutionary component, is manifested
in the cultural codification of gesture and movement from all over the world, as
exemplified below. Highly performative, the symbolic gesture is able to determine
the reconfiguration of the social landscape, of the inter-human relations, or of the
relation between the sacred and the profane, like in magical and religious rituals.
Claude Lévi-Strauss (1995) refers to the rites as a “paralanguage”. In our opinion,
his taxonomy of ritual praxis is reducible to the dichotomy constative/performative
introduced by John L. Austin, that he later reconsiders and transforms into the
trichotomy locutionary/illocutionary/perlocutionary (1962; 1970). Whereas the
constative utterance merely describes a fact or state of affairs, the performative
utterance not only says, but actually performs something (Austin, 1962). As
understood by Lévi-Strauss, ritual practice seems to closely follow Austin’s
dichotomy: “simultaneously or alternatively, rites gives man the means to either
change a practical situation or designate and describe it”. Most often, functions
“overlap” or recover “two complementary aspects of the same process” (Lévi-
Strauss, 1995, p. 410). When the rite aims to “change” a practical aspect, the ritual
expression – multi and intersemiotic (gestures, words, musical and visual rhythms,
costumes and accessories, etc.) – is, in our opinion, essentially performative. But,
if the ritual utterance only “describes” or “designates” a certain aspect, then it is
constative. We believe that the third possibility mentioned by Lévi-Strauss (1995)
– where functions “overlap” “two complementary aspects of the same process” –
is comparable to another aspect highlighted by Austin: the dichotomy constative/
performative, trenchantly established at the theoretical level, is not as firmly
validated in practice, as long as all utterances are, in fact, performative (Austin,
1970; Récanati, 1970; Popa Blanariu, 2012; Popa Blanariu, 2013a).
Popa Blanariu, N. Arte, indiv. soc. 31(1) 2019: 41-54 43
In the logic of “wild thought” (la pensée sauvage), a “logic of the sensitive” (Lévi-
Strauss, 1962; Lévi-Strauss, 1970), the myth refers to an essential nonfictional truth,
despite its fabulous appearance (Eliade, 1978; Cassirer, 1972). The tabooisation of
this truth underlies all the anthropological theory of the “living myth” – an account
of actions committed by sacred beings. In the societies that produced them, myths
are considered “true histories”, as opposed to fictional “false histories” (Eliade,
1978). The opposition true vs. false is thus equivalent to real vs. fictional. Ojibwa
Indians believe that myths are “beings endowed with consciousness able to think
and act” (Lévi-Strauss, 1995). From our point of view, this means that myths – in
their original form, inextricably linked to rites – involve both a cognitive dimension
of Weltanschauung and a pragmatic one, of praxis. From the perspective of the
practitioner, the storytelling or the ritual performance leads the narrator or actor and
his audience in the middle of the mythical facts (Eliade, 1978; Cassirer, 1972). This
is an eminently pragmatic effect of the mythical expression, of the order of “to do”.
Thus, the performative ability of the myth validate, as a particular case, the general
theory of speech acts. In such circumstances, the mythical logos is a form of action.
(We do not here refer to its late, functionally modified aspect which is the literary
myth).
Not only the word but the entire ritual expression – movement, gesture,
incantation, costumes and accessories – may be, in the logic of “wild thought”, a
way of influencing the world. The rites aim to achieve a certain effect concerning
the human life. Ritual drama lies “in an act of presence towards the invisible” and
imposes some constraints related to “our body, posture, pose, gestuality”: dress
requirements, raising hands or kneeling, a certain orientation and position in space.
“The presence in front of the invisible” “essentially implies acts through which the
supplicant expresses his desires, thoughts, needs, love and repentance in front of
God or gods” (Chrétien, 1996, p. 37-75; Popa Blanariu, 2008, p. 322-323; Popa
Blanariu, 2013b, p. 35-46).
The typology of illocutionary acts performed by ritual expression covers the entire
taxonomic configuration proposed by Searle, following in the footsteps of Austin. In
our opinion, a statement by Searle on the relation between illocutionary force (which
belongs to a universal langue, thus transcending boundaries between particular
languages) and illocutionary verbs (language-specific) could be generalized. Searle
considers that illocutionary acts are part of language (langue in a Saussurian sense),
they belong to a quasi-universal linguistic pattern. Illocutionary verbs are, however,
always connected to a particular language: French, English, Spanish, etc. The
differences between illocutionary verbs are a good guide, but never an infallible guide
for establishing differences between illocutionary acts (Searle, 1972; Searle, 1982;
Searle, 2000; Searle&Vanderveken, 1985; Vanderveken, 1990; Vanderveken, 2005).
By developing a theory of relevance, based on the critique of the classical theory of
speech acts, Sperber and Wilson (1986) also note the universal character of acts such
as “to say that”, “to tell somebody to”, “to ask whether”. By this they differ from
“institutional” language acts that vary according to culture and language, moreover
some acts do not even exist in certain cultures (see also Moeschler & Reboul, 1999;
Alston, 2000; Tsohatzidis et alii, 1994). The generalization to which we referred is
considering not only the transidiomatic nature of illocutionary categories, but rather
their transverbal character. By this, we mean that different illocutionary values can
44 Popa Blanariu, N. Arte, indiv. soc. 31(1) 2019: 41-54
the other hand, Baal and his priests. The act concerning Baal has failed. The other
one, initiated by the prophet Elijah, succeeds. Substituted to the invocative word, the
kinetic figures (oklasma) perform an illocutionary (directive) act that becomes the
symptom of an act of faith. The crisis of the word – failure to call divinity through
words – is the context of the idolater’s appeal to the alternative manifestation of
illocutionary intentionality through a kinetic statement (oklasma).
The expressive value of ritual dance (as homage and thanksgiving) is explicited in
a medieval invocation. Believers uttered it while dancing in the cathedral of Limoges
at the Vespers that ended the Feast of St. Martial: “Holy Saint Martial, pray for us/
And we’ll dance for you” (Bourcier, 1994, p. 53). A thanksgiving dance is King
David’s dance before the Ark of the Covenant, as he himself explains to Michal (2
Samuel 6). Lucian also mentions the expressive value of danced greeting, as well as
the perlocutionary intentionality associated to this: at dawn, Indians welcome the sun
by dancing, thus imitating the dance of the god himself. In this manner, they placate
their god (Lucian of Samosata, 2014).
The ritual performer often imitates a god or a mythical hero. By his mimetic
aspect – due to props and movement, exhibition of clothes marks and kinetic-posture
of divinity –, he not only “describes” the appearance of the god or the hero, but
actually causes a “change of the practical circumstances” (Lévi-Strauss, 1995, p.
410): he brings divinity in the middle of the community. Apparently purely imitative,
“constative”, his role is eminently performative. The dance(acto)r has been invested,
authorized by the community to assume this role, he “declares” that the sacred being
– which he embodies – is present among the participants. Assuming the emblems of
the god actually transform the dance(acto)r. His human condition is thus improved,
enriched, even transcended. Pantomimic dance is intended to transform the dancer
into any kind of demon, god or earthly existence that he performs (Cassirer, 1972;
Zimmer, 1994). According to a New Guinea practice, “when a captain goes to sea, he
personifies the mythical hero Aori”, he “wears the costume which Aori is supposed
to have worn, with a blackened face”, “the same kind of love in his hair which
Aori plucked from Iviri’s head. He dances on the platform and extends his arms like
Aori’s wings and dances on the platform, opening his arms like Aori would stretch
his wings”. Similarly, when hunting for fish, with his bow and arrow, someone else
would consider himself Kivavia. “He did not implore for Kivavia’s favor and help.
He identified himself with the mythical hero” (F. E. Williams qtd. in Eliade, 1964,
p. 32-36). To bring rain and abundance, dancers also mimic the gods of vegetation,
sexuality and rain (Cassirer, 1972; Zimmer, 1994). Inaugurated as trans-figuration
(in the proper sense, a change of the image, of the apparent figure through role and
props), the dance(acto)r’s transformation ultimately means “transubstantiation”
(Cassirer, 1972, p. 60-62; Popa Blanariu, 2008, p. 326-329; Popa Blanariu 2015b),
a change of essence. The phenomenon occurs from the perspective of intra muros,
that of the mythical community, but not from the viewpoint of the detached observer,
outside the group.
In some cosmogonies, the world is created through the force of the demiurgic
performative utterance. Fiat lux! is such a “supernatural declarative” (Searle, 1982)
in the Old Testament scenario. However, the Indian tradition brings a choreographic
alternative to this. The Indian demiurge, patronizing the ends and rebirths of the
Universes, is god Shiva, the “Cosmic Dancer”. His movements (nrityamurti) make
“Eternal Energy” manifest itself, “nature and all its creatures” being “the effects
Popa Blanariu, N. Arte, indiv. soc. 31(1) 2019: 41-54 47
of his eternal dance” (Zimmer, 1994, p. 145). In the Austinian sense, this mythical
dance is an “act of creation” (Zimmer, 1994, p. 146; Cassirer, 1972, p. 60-62). It
has a “cosmological function”, awakening dormant energies which can subsequently
shape the world (Zimmer, 1994, p. 145).
Briefly, in such mythical and ritual scenarios, the performative value of kinesics
is manifested either as an act of god – of the creation of the world, as in Shiva’s
dance –, or as one of re-creation of the world by reconnecting it with primordial
energies. It becomes possible just through ritual remembrance of the founding myths
(Eliade, 1978). Like verbal performative utterances, kinetic expression may have
real and immediate efficiency. In relation to the participants, it may produce a change
in reality. Through the ritual actor, authorized to represent him, god himself or the
archetype manifests. The performative function of the mimetic rite is thus fullfiled
by changing the essence of the dance(acto)r during the ceremonies (Popa Blanariu,
2015b).
One aspect specific to the mythical mode of existence is that the efficiency of human
action is conditioned by the continuous reiteration of an archetypal act, committed
in illo tempore by a god, an ancestor or a cultural hero (Eliade, 1964). Ritual
dances always imitate an archetypal gesture or commemorate a mythical moment.
The ritual scenario is not just a show. It is not a simple “staging” that imitates an
event (archetypal, exemplary), but drômenon (the event itself, real and effective).
We find this trait of mythical practice everywhere, from the primitive expression
of the magical view upon the world to the most elaborate and late manifestations
of various religions and spiritual traditions. Different ritual dances are performed
for magical purposes. The efficiency of the sign is at its peak in magical practices,
whose purpose is to obtain a change of reality, namely the real-isation of the magical
referent (otherwise said, its transposition into reality).
The “dialectic” (Cassirer, 1972) relationship between sacred and profane
organizes the entire system of ritual. Mircea Eliade formulated his well-known
principle of “camouflaging the sacred into the profane” (Eliade, 1965). It requires a
reconsideration of the dichotomy proposed by Greimas when analysing the “symbolic
system of gestuality”: “practical/ mythical” (Greimas, 1975, p. 83). For the mythical
man, the practical connotes the mythical and the profane carries (“camouflages”) the
sacred. The poles between which there are built the oppositions practical/mythical
(Greimas, 1975), sacred/profane (Cassirer, 1972; Eliade, 1965) are only theoretically
distinct levels of organizing the world. In reality, in the practice of the “mythical”
man, they always slide towards each other. This convergence characterizes a
“dialectic” of “mythical consciousness” (Cassirer, 1972, p. 98).
The ritual of Romanian Hobby Horses (the Căluşari) is a very ancient pre-
Christian practice (Buhociu, 1957; Pop, 1975; Kligman, 2000; Eliade, 2000;
Giurchescu and Bloland, 1995). It may be interpreted like a semiotics of ambiguity
built on the isotopies of the limit (threshold) with mythical fundamentals and
magical function (Popa Blanariu, 2008). The scenario of the Căluşari is based
on a mythical archaic system, able to support the triple pragmatic valence of the
ritual: therapeutic, initiation, fertilizing. The magical function is assumed by the
48 Popa Blanariu, N. Arte, indiv. soc. 31(1) 2019: 41-54
Căluşari each year, during a period that is traditionally marked as a critical time: the
interval between Ascension and Pentecost (Mesnil, 1997). To elucidate the particular
significance of this interval in most European folk environments, we propose the
opposition ordinary/critical time. It corresponds to the oppositions stable/unstable,
order/entropy (Popa Blanariu, 2008). This mode of polarization of the category
of temporality is based on ancient superstitions according to which the respective
period is a dangerous one: the Genii (or Demons) of time, the souls of the dead, the
spirits from the other world can now travel without hindrance throughout the world
of the living and in the other world (Mesnil, 1997). Once released, they cross the
threshold of death/life, which is usually forbidden to them, and endanger people’s
lives and health. In our opinion, the critical time also involves a de-structuring of
the symbolic space. From a heterogeneous, bipolar space, symmetrically structured
in relation to a threshold accessible in one direction (from life to death), the ritual
space becomes a homogeneous and chaotic one, enabling the endangering of life
values: health, longevity, fecundity. Thus, there are two series of oppositions able
to structure the categories of space and time: ordinary/critical time, and structured/
deconstructed space (i.e., bipolar/chaotic space) (Popa Blanariu, 2008). Space is
divided by the the limit (threshold) which enables the establishment of oppositions:
this/the other world, natural/spiritual realm, human/superhuman beings and powers.
These oppositions function as isotopies of spatial order. Critical time and chaotic
space are isotopies of disorder. The transitory state (the crisis of the world prey
to hostile forces coming from the other realm) could be expressed by the semiotic
equation of a critical chronotope.
On the other hand, the ritual of the Căluşari follows the scheme of the passing rites,
formulated by Arnold von Genep (Genep, 1996), as a ternary structure involving:
a) A stage of segregation, marked by the isolation of the novice or the group. It
coincides, in the case of Căluşari, to temporary leaving the home, solidarity with
their spiritual “brothers” and isolation of the group most often in the wood. The
consecration of the group as a solidary formation is achieved through swearing and
establishment of the collective label, the flag.
b) An intermediary, ambivalent, liminal stage which novices cover by fulfilling
magical practices for their own protection and for that of the community. At this
stage, the group of Căluşari act like a martial formation, whose function is to provide
protection against the Rusalii (Pentecost Fairies). These are evil feminine spirits
that, in the critical time of the year (between Ascension and Pentecost) are more
dangerous than ever. During this interval, the group of Căluşari practice rites of
purification, expulsion of evil spirits, healing of the sick whose suffering had been
caused by the Rusalii, according to popular beliefs. The applied therapy is a choreo-
musical one. The gestures, postures, movements, positions in space, the clothes and
accessories of the cathartic dance(acto)rs are selected in order to be aimed at the
success of the magical action.
c) A stage of aggregation, integrating the group of “cathartic” (Eliade, 2000, p.
608-610) dancers into the community. This is the stage of “breaking” the Căluşari
dance, symmetrically opposed to the segregation from the beginning. The most
important event of this stage is the flag “burial”. Once the group of Căluşari has
overcome this critical period, it is “undone” until next spring. The circle closes by
returning to everyday occupations: the dance(acto)rs resume their former status
within the community.
Popa Blanariu, N. Arte, indiv. soc. 31(1) 2019: 41-54 49
In our opinion, a code that allows us to understand the ritual of the Căluşari is the
symbolism of the critical and prohibited limit – that is, the symbolism of the space-
between-the-two-worlds. It comprises several levels (Popa Blanariu, 2008). Of these,
we shall examine one that we find to be full of meaning: the relationships between
the cathartic dancers (Căluşari) and the creatures of the air that patronize them
(the Rusalii). (The latter are also known as Evil Nymphs, Them Fairies or Stormy
Fairies). If the dominant figure of the symbolic space is that of the threshold, the
Căluşari are the guardians of the threshold. During the “critical period”, they ensure
that the meeting between the two worlds does not disrupt the human community.
If this happens, however, the Căluşari make sure that the victims of the Rusalii are
healed by applying magical choreo-musical therapies. From our point of view, the
relation Căluşari - Rusalii is a case of deliberate ambiguity (Popa Blanariu, 2008).
It first seems one of contradiction: protection/aggression, bringer of good/bad luck,
healing/harmful, wisdom/madness. At the same time, it is however one of identity, in
terms of the exceptional nature of the two categories. We believe that it is precisely
the essence identity that enables a differential function: by means of ritual white
magic, the Căluşari can cure the evil caused by the Rusalii. In order to remove evil,
the dancers apparently identify with its cause. Therefore, they acquire three types of
marks specific to the Rusalii: denominative; spatial marks, static and dynamic (how
they travel and organize their symbolic space); and finally, clothing. In our opinion,
each of these types manifests the same ritual ambiguity.
a) Each dancer of the Căluşari group carries the name of the Pentecost Fairy that
he represents. (In some regions, the patroness of the Rusalii is called Herodiada.)
b) The ambiguity of the relation identity/rivalry leads to reading the real space
as a highly symbolic topography. It is believed that the Rusalii stop especially at the
waters’ edge, near hills, at crossroads. Therefore, when the dancers cross a stream,
a bridge (isotopy spaces of the critical limit), they twist on one leg, looking around
as if they want to see whether they are followed by the Rusalii. Moreover, the
Căluşari’s choreography contains figures with magical efficacy: movements of the
body launched in vertical leaps; circular movements, either closed or not, performed
horizontally. Through their leaps Căluşari imitate the flight of the Rusalii that cross
the heavens dancing. The “aerial” dance of the Căluşari, consisting of high leaps,
iconically evokes the complex movements (circular, horizontal and vertical) of
whirlwinds (Eliade, 2000, p. 608-610). The protective spirits of these whirlwinds are
the Rusalii themselves. The height of the dancers’ leaps is a mimetic double of the
Rusalii’ movements who dance without touching the earth, rising higher and higher
like the gusts of wind. Horizontal circularity connotes a defensive attitude. The
circle is generally attributed magical powers of protection, from the circle formed by
animals to protect themselves to the alchemist’s magic circle. The circle of dancers
can be open or closed (Eliade, 2000, p. 609; Kligman, p. 153-154).
The kinetic figures traced vertically and horizontally by the Căluşari during
the dance may be seen as forms of mimetism that strengthen the ambiguity of
the opposition: identification/difference, mask/role. Similar to the Rusalii in their
mimicked behaviours, the dancers are in fact the only ones able to cancel the effect of
Rusalii’s action. Thus, similarity hides difference. The same essence – superhuman
– covers two different functional roles: harming people (which is the function of the
Rusalii) / being useful to human beings (the role of the Căluşari).
50 Popa Blanariu, N. Arte, indiv. soc. 31(1) 2019: 41-54
c) In general, the attitudes and props of the Căluşari are male-specific. However,
a book from the 18th century – Descriptio Moldaviae – written by the Romanian
Prince Dimitrie Cantemir, describes an unusual and archaic version of the Căluşari:
the dancers dress, adorn themselves and talk like women, covering their faces with
a white veil. Anyone who dares to unravel or pull the veil off forcibly from the face
of a Căluşar is doomed to death (Cantemir, 1973). We believe that this situation has
its explanation in the rites of passage. Initiation involves a switch towards another
social group and age. Before the ritual initiation, the social identity of the young man
is equated with that of the mother and the female group where he was raised. The
dichotomy male/female is not yet socially relevant. The absence of this opposition
characterizes, in the system of the Căluşari, the liminal (ambiguous, unstable,
transient) state.
Briefly, how can we explain the attachment of a masculine and warrior-like group
to a typically feminine way of being? We may give an explanation directly related
to the three codes that converge in the ritual of the Căluşari: warrior, initiation,
fertilizer. In the warrior code, disguise must deceive evil spirits (which are feminine
creatures, the Rusalii) with regard to the true identities of the disguised dancers.
In the initiation code, the feminine attire evokes the old identity that needs to be
abandoned by the teenager who has made his entry into the male group. In the code
of primordial elements and fertility, the feminine appearance of the Căluşari (who
also dance for abundance) reminds of the chthonian Great Goddess, worshiped as the
source of life. It is about a magical practice for vitality and fecundity. Summarizing,
we find the marks of the liminal state at several levels of the ritual of the Căluşari:
the spatial and temporal context (critical chronotope); mimetic kinetics (imitation of
the evil which must be removed); the props of the cathartic dancers. The figures of
liminality have a magical function in this case.
5. Conclusions. From the Sacred to the Aesthetic: “Fictional act” and “Speech
act”
Narrated or performed, the myth may lose its original ritual function. Without a
ritual context, the choreo-dramatic expression loses its pragmatic function – that of
“modification” of the real (Lévi-Strauss, 1995). However, it manifests a different
one, essentially “aesthetic”. From our point of view, the illocutionary ritual act is
thus replaced by a “fictional act”, a category which was previously described by both
John R. Searle (1982) and Gérard Genette (1991).
Regarding this process of desemantization through “aestheticization”, Lévi-
Strauss points out that: “Where the domination of magical thinking tends to weaken
and when rites acquire the character of vestige, the second function survives the
former” (Lévi-Strauss, 1995, p. 410). In a way, the “constative” function survives
the “performative” one, in Austin’s terms. This does not mean that “aesthetic” and
“fictional” expression does not perform any illocutionary acts. But, they have a
“fictional” character (Searle, 1982; Genette, 1991), and the pragmatic value of the
fictional differs from that of the rite. The illocutionary acts performed in a show
(ludus aestheticus) are “real” acts manifested in a fictional universe, assumed as such
by the actors. However, the illocutionary ritual acts (ludus sacer) are perceived by the
respective community as real acts in a real world (Eliade, 1964; Eliade, 1965; Eliade,
Popa Blanariu, N. Arte, indiv. soc. 31(1) 2019: 41-54 51
1994; Popa Blanariu, 2015b; Popa Blanariu, 2017). From the perspective of the
ritual protagonist (whose illocutionary act of supplication, thanksgiving or homage
is directed towards the sacred), rite is not fiction, fabulous action, but “real” action,
aimed at attracting certain pragmatic effects in the order of the real. The reality of the
ritual fact is traditionally stated: for the archaic world, the myth is “real”, because it
tells of the manifestations of “true reality”: the sacred (Eliade, 1994). Ludus sacer may
however become ludus aestheticus (Popa Blanariu, 2008). The illocutionary ritual act
is thus replaced by a “fictional act” (Searle, 1982; Genette, 1991), manifested by the
art’s means of expression. The status specific to the “aesthetic” – “fictional” – speech
act comes from its nature of “simulacrum” (Searle, 1982, p. 111-113). Herein lies
the “essential rule” of the fictional discourse, its illocutionary “goal”. But, the ritual
actor summons the magic forces that he experiences – like the rest of the practicing
community – as being “real”, able to truly change the world around them. The force
of the rite, circulated through the illocutionary force of the ritual statement, verbal
or non-verbal, relies on the practitioners’ faith in its full objectivity and efficiency.
The “artist” (the protagonist of a ludus aestheticus, functionally different from
ludus sacer) assumes its subjectivity, the fictionality of his own discourse. This is the
rule of the game art, a game of illusion. If he accepts it, the spectator participates in
the fictional game. Unlike the ritual act, whose “reality” is traditionally postulated,
the fictional act gives an alternative to the real. The fictional game builds a fantastic
world – this is its illocutionary purpose –, but no less viable (albeit unlikely) for those
who accept the game. “Master of a universe which he amends”, the artist “creates
forces, summons invisible presences, that are yet tangible for him” (Robinson, 1981,
p. 48). The spectacular act “thus achieves a density that gives it authenticity and
fullness” (Robinson, 1981, p. 49). “Authenticity” and “fullness” are indicators of
the “success” of the fictional act, to the extent in which it manifests as an act of
god – creating a para-real (fictional) universe with its own laws and conventions,
alternative to those from reality.
The inaugural logos of any fictional work is either directive or declarative act. This
hesitation is also visible at Genette (1991). Implicitly or explicitly, fiction informs the
spectator that he enters – or is invited to enter – a universe other than “real” world.
The simulated illocutionary acts which constitute a work of fiction are made possible
by the existence of a set of conventions that suspend the usual role of rules linking
illocutionary acts and the world (Searle, 1982). The author of fiction “pretends to
perform some illocutionary acts”, but “does not accomplish them in reality” (Searle,
1982). It is true that the author of a fictional discourse (in particular, the actor or
dancer on the stage) simulates the achievement of illocutionary acts. But, based on
this structure of simulacra, (s)he performs a specific illocutionary act: the fictional
act – distinct from any other and constitutive of a good part of the manifestations of
creativity. In a work of fiction, as Searle (1982) postulates, the illocutionary act is
simulated, but the act of enunciation is real. The illocutionary act is simulated, which
means that the normal illocutionary commitments of the enunciation are suspended
(Searle, 1982).
If the illocutionary acts of the fiction writer are generally simulated, if the
illocutionary acts of the characters are “real” within the frames of the fictional
universe (the actors pretending to be the characters), in one respect at least, the author
complies with the “sincerity condition” of the illocutionary act: when he admits to be
an author of fiction (Searle, 1982, p. 111). His fictional act (i.e., an act of producing a
52 Popa Blanariu, N. Arte, indiv. soc. 31(1) 2019: 41-54
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