Monday, December 5, 2011

The Act of Representation.

In my last SCD, I decided to focus on the paradox of representation in terms of identification. While its already been turned in, I have had some time to reflect on the essay I wrote about Burke's identification and Butlers representation of identity. For me, I picture the paradox as a two step process that ultimately is contradictory. While I would have liked to include this in the scope of my SCD, these are just some spillover thoughts regarding the paradox.

First and foremost, the process of identifcation through terministic screens within literary discourse allows for people to communicate effectively. This in turn promotes individual and cultural connection. But in representing this identification in literary discourse, the author must adopt the voice of the "other", subjectively constructing the subject on their own terms. For Butler, a feminist literary critic, this was a big no-no. According to her, the process of representation is a dead end. During the attempt of identification based on perceived similarity, the authors own conception comes into play. The similiarity, or identity, is automatically flawed, and thus so is the attempt at representation. I tend to think of Conrad's Heart of Darkness, a novel in which representation of the subject based on the authors conception, or reconigiton of the "other" is contradictory in itself. The representation of the authors identification (or similarity) with individuals of a separate race and culture inevitably highlights the narrators dissociation with the intended subject as the "other." In addition, Butler argues that representation distorts identification as well. She points to women writing about women. To represent another based on femininity, to forge a sense of identification based on gender, is not representation. Instead, this further constrains women to a gender role assigned by a masculine society that forces women into the role of the "other" only based on gender. For Butler, this points out the flaw of identification and the paradox of representation. One cannot represent the "other" without both recognizing their similarities and exacerbating their differences.

1 comment:

  1. Daniel-

    Your post really made me think of this novel, which name (of course) escapes me at the moment. The entire novel is written without the reader being conscious of the race of the characters. You know right away someone dies, and the whole controversy about the book was that the reader never found out who dies. We never found out what his or her race was and they left many lingering questions for the audience. SIDE BAR: if anybody knows the name of the novel I'm talking about pleaseeee tell me, because it's driving me insane that I can't remember. This concept really threw a wrench into what the audience was expecting because it shouldn't have been a big deal to not know the race of the person who died, but it truly mattered. So replace everything in this post with the word race. "Male" becomes "the dominant hegemonic race" and "female" becomes the subordinate. The representation of the novel was almost compromised by this ultimate cliffhanger because the reader was left in the deep blue.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.