Die digter in transito: reisverse en liminaliteit in Lykdigte en Ruggespraak van Joan Hambidge

Abstract

The poet in transit: travel poetry and liminality in Joan Hambidge’s Lykdigte and Ruggespraak

In the poem “Versugting” the first person narrator confesses: “reis na reis het ek in gedigte gekarteer, / in woorde opgevang elke slopende liefdeservaring”. The most important themes in Hambidge’s poetry converge in these two lines, namely the travel experience, reflection on the writing process, and love. These themes are the focus of this article. In both volumes under discussion the poet is presented as a traveller in real life. This concrete experience of reality becomes the isolated journey of the psyche and is “translated” and mapped in verse form. The journey as a liminal experience, the poet as the traveller and the writing process as the journey are some of the aspects that will be examined. For the poet the travel experience also implies the search for the beloved/love/the poem, while the transferral of the self causes a feeling of displacement. The city as destination also plays a role in the travel experience, which is experienced in a spatial-poetic manner, and finally becomes a poem itself.