I begynnelsen

Noen betraktninger om ord, landskap og poetologi

Abstract

This article explores the possibility of making Northern Norway and Sápmi the vantage point for poetological reflections. Starting with the contrast between the creative power of God’s words and human language, it latches on to the later Wittgenstein’s conception of how we learn to speak. Modifying some readings of Wittgenstein, it argues for a close, but complex connection between landscape and words, involving both instrumental and non-instrumental uses of language. Through readings of poems by the Sami poet Nils-Aslak Valkeapää, the article argues that poetic use of language may be the ultimate expression of human connectedness to landscape, and vice versa, that poetic expressions of such connectedness might be brought to bear on how we view the nature and function of (some kinds of) literature.