Aleš Šteger is a contemporary poet who reflects the influences of modernism, seen in the fluidity and experimental structure of his verse. Through a departure from traditional conventions, he seeks new expression in dehumanisation, like the modernists, and often expresses a dissonant hermeticism. The poems are written in the form of an address to the Other thus conceived, a philosophical term that defines a person separate from the Self, in whose place the woman often appears as a companion and co-observer of events. In the course of the oeuvre, Steger's poems show a shift from intimate inner distresses to an exploration of the wider world and space through a journey within the modernist abnormal function of space and time. The journey becomes a means of discovering the world, experimenting with feelings and understanding the past. The author's poetry is related to the stylistically complex poetry of Paul Celan, crucially marked by the tragedy of the loss of his parents and reinforced by his Jewish identity. In the comparison of the authors, poetic expression is at the forefront, making use of verbal experimentation. In their work, they self-referentially intervene in their own language and its meaning through lexis, rhythm, tone and other linguistic elements. The paradoxical nature of contradictory statements and semantic anomalies, imbued with existential questions,
challenges the reader's mind through the use of metaphors, symbols, repetitions and other poetic devices, through which they emphasise thematic elements such as love, time, death, and social criticism.
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