“Blind Unrest of Humanity”: Kocbek’s Poetic Vision of History

Abstract

History, generally one of poetry’s rare themes, is the subject of the late poem by Edvard Kocbek, “Zgodovina” (“History”). In it, the Christian revolutionary Kocbek depicts history from that which came before the deeds, which as res gestae according to traditional thought constitute history. He depicts history out of unrest, a constant motive of human action, the origin of human intentions and directions. From here onwards, the course of history presents itself as a blind force, and at the same time as the creation of man, since these intentions are not directed by God’s providence, by no intention above all intentions. – The place of the core Christian event in a history depicted in such a way, the event of Christ or God’s incarnation, is beautifully presented in an earlier poem, “Trije modri” (“The Three Magi”): the birth of Christ, the first of the events in God’s incarnation, is merely one of the secrets, which seem to have no end. In the New Testament kairós, the time of God’s incarnation, is the central, unique and decisive historic time, but Kocbek transposes it to a different kairós, the time of man’s rather than God’s incarnation, the time of the Slovenian revolution. – In his poem “Molitev” (“Prayer”), the address of God absent in history, he finally depicts history as a human activity originating in God’s withdrawal. In this final vision, history is man’s creation that will be endorsed by God, even though God’s intention does not direct human intentions. God will approve it with the index finger which, quite contrary to Michelangelo’s depiction of the Creation of Adam on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, says to man at the end of history, at the end of human (self)creation, “So Be It” instead of “Be”.