Inter-esse: Narrative, Theory, and the Stakes of Literature

Contrary to received wisdom—predicated, needless to say, on not reading—the theoretical work of Vladimir Biti in general, and that on narrative in particular, has always been keenly interested in the stakes of literature. Critically, this entails that his thought is precariously situated, within theoretical traditions by which it is underwritten no less than within the moment of its actualisation, in contradistinction to the habitual detachment of calculable observation. In addition to allowing for an abiding interest in all aspects of narrative, the radically in-between character of Biti’s writing is foregrounded in the patently narrative form of theoretical account it customarily assumes. The double bind of narrative theory is thus rendered manifest in a distinctive chiasmatic move: every theory of narrative is at the same time a narrative of theory. If this is least apparent in what is arguably his single most important book, Interes pripovjednog teksta (The Interest of Narrative Text, 1987), which has suffered undue neglect even as it demonstrably provides the groundwork for his entire undertaking, it is positively due to the fact that its overt concern is with the problematic of accountability. While all manner of relating—as giving an account and as positing a connection—of necessity takes place under conditions that actually obtain in a given situation, the latter is itself made possible by the potential for establishing any relations whatsoever and obviously cannot be accounted for within it. To make relating accountable therefore requires that both senses be made to bear upon the issue to the same degree, making relating accountable precisely on its own account. In this perspective, literature is enabled by the constitutional inability to separate theory from narrative, an impasse otherwise invariably overridden by reducing potentiality to actuality.