Iona is a one-man play written by Romanian playwright Marin Sorescu, in 1968. It is inspired by the Biblical myth of Jonah who is said to have been swallowed by a big fish, where he spends three days. He is the archetype of the prophet.
The play imagines Iona’s (Romanian for Jonah) journey during these three days. The main motif that interests me about this play is Iona’s realisation that the fish he’s been swallowed by has itself been swallowed by another bigger fish. ‘All horizons are fish bellies’. In the end he has the epiphany that he’s been pushing in the wrong direction, and resorts to going inwards, cutting his own belly.
A recurring motif in the play is Iona’s increasing loss of echo. While in the beginning he’s happy in his solitude as long as he hears his echo calling back his name. With his echo leaving him, his exasperation raises as he loses his memory and sense of self: ‘what a thick fog’, ‘ I don’t remember any language.’
A reference to the Greek myth of Echo and Narcissus was made by Carrie Giunta during her lecture. The story was used to illustrate how the processes of mimesis and methexis, repetition and difference, work to create meaning in relation to Jean-Luc Nancy’s philosophy of listening and sense.
Why am I bringing up this play? This infinity of fish bellies seems to resonate with Peirce’s theory of infinite semiosis. And in turn, with Nancy’s correlation between sound and sense, where they share the space of referral.
‘But what can be the shared space of meaning and sound? Meaning consists in a reference [renvoi]. In fact, it is made of a totality of referrals: from a sign to a thing, from a state of things to a quality, from a subject to another subject or to itself, all simultaneously. Sound is also made of referrals: it spreads in space, where it resounds while still resounding ‘in me’, as we say […].’(p.9, Nancy, 2002)
‘If sense is sought in sound […], sound, resonance is also looked for in sense.’ (Nancy, 2002)
Belly of Venus? (Nancy, 2002)
How do much do I wanna keep the reference to the play?
Self-mythology, personal myth – Jungian – collection of memories and symbols that act as a frame of reference for an individual
References
Nancy, J.L., (2002). Listening. New York: Fordham University Press.