ZENITODADAISTIČKI PORTRET MARIJE BOGORODICE

Abstract

In this paper, we examine the radical and scandalous poetic representation of Mary the Theotokos in Serbian avant-garde poetry, primarily within Zenith-Dadaist poetics. Avant-garde Marian poetry subverts traditional religious and Mariological norms, articulating a profound crisis of Christian discourse and a strong resistance to formalist and dogmatic structures. Following the insights of Hans Küng and Mikhail Epstein, scandal—as an act of scrutinizing and unveiling traditional religiosity—is understood as a paradoxical yet essential component of authentic religious experience. In this context, Mary the Theotokos, as one of the foundational Christian signs, initially undergoes a radical poetic scandalization, in which she is variously identified with a mistress (Branko Ve Poljanski). This identification in fact negates institutionalized Christianity as a network of dehumanizing discourses that contributed to the tragedy of the Great War and to the complete alienation of humankind. Yet the defaced and rejected Mary, purified through avant-garde negation, is subsequently rediscovered in verses that reveal a forgotten virginity of language, a new beginning, and a new love—realities constituted outside official confessions (Ljubiša Micić).