the theory of relativity of dialectics chall/a/nging presented by: kristina yegoryan j.m.coetzee j....
TRANSCRIPT
A SKEW
ED L
OOK A
T J.
M.
COET
ZEE’
S W
ORKS:
the Theory of Relativity
of Dialectics
Chall/a/nging
Presented by: Kristina Yegoryan
J.M.Coetzee
J. Derrida
A. Einstein
BIOGRAPHY SCHOOLING
O born in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1940
O mother: a primary school teacher
O father: trained as an attorney
O University of Cape Town in 1957, graduated successively with honors degrees in English and mathematics
O Graduate school of the University of Texas at Austin
O In 1968 graduated with a PhD in English, linguistics, and Germanic languages
O Doctoral dissertation was on the early fiction of Samuel Beckett
NOBLE PRIZE IN LITERATURE
The Nobel Prize in Literature 2003 was awarded to
J. M. Coetzee "who in innumerable guises portrays
the surprising involvement of the outsider"(NoblePrize org)
COETZEES WORKS
Dusklands (1974)- first book published in South Africa in 1974.
In the Heart of the Country (1977)-won South Africa's principal literary award, the CAN Prize and
was published in Britain and the USA.
Waiting for the Barbarians (1980)- received international notice.
Life & Times of Michael K (1983)- won Britain's Booker Prize.
Disgrace (1999)- won the Booker Prize.
The Tradition of Linguistics has set up a hierarchy of binary oppositions.
Binaries have been assigned specific roles in our lexicon, and we are already “plugged into a system that has already programmed us with a set of values [which] we imaginatively believe to be our own and use to mediate our judgment on anything we perceive to have any sort of moral value” (Arakelian).
DIALECTICS CONSTITUTE THE
NOTIONS OF AUTHORITY AND INFERIORITY
Time is relative
to each person
DEPENDING
on his motion
relative to
others.
The meanings of dialectics
can be different for each
person
DEPENDING
on his/her relation to others .
Shattering Age-Old Ideas
DECONSTRUCTING / DISPLACING DIFFER/A/
NCE
Deferral- the meaning of words and signs is defined through appeal to additional words, from which they differ.
Difference -differentiates elements from one another and thus engenders binary oppositions and hierarchies that underpin meaning itself.
J. Derrida
DECONSTRUCTING / DISPLACINGThe Tradition of Linguistics has set up a hierarchy of binary oppositions and the meanings of dialectics is predetermined, BUT by displacing them, we can subvert hierarchal, reputed binaries, temper their pre-assigned meanings, and see new ideas, new meanings that have been beyond the zone of our expectations.
CHALL /A/ NGING
J.M. Coetzee
“Deconstructing binaries
and understanding how they work doesn’t eliminate them
but uncovers how they’re used as a means of gaining
power” (Eve Sedgwick).
“Concepts that have been oppressed by the dominant ones also have power, which is not visible on the surface but becomes visible once deconstructed”
(Sedgwick).
* DIALECTICS : WHO GOT THE POWER?
• 1. Narrator’s voice / silent discourse
• “Who does the writing, who seizes power by taking pen in hand? Can black experience be depicted by a white person?” (Wastberg).
VOICE/SILENCE
”I tend to resist invitations to interpret my own fiction”.
J. M. Coetzee
2. Gendered voice/ Subjectivity
Phallocentric feminine voice / audible silence
VOICE/SILENCE
“Silence is a sounding thing, to one who listens hungrily”
~Gwendolyn Bennett
• 3. Authorship
VOICE/SILENCE Nothing strengthens authority so
much as silence.Leonardo da Vinci
The wisest have the most authority.Plato
AUTHORSHIP-different accounts of the reading experience
“Men readers approximate maleness with humanity”
“Women read with immasculation”
Patricinio Schweickart
AUTHORSHIP
Reader/ Writer New Criticism- rejection of readers’ feelings and author’s intention_________________ “Readers can, do, and
should interpret texts without privileging authors’ (imagined) intentions”
~ Ian Barnard
REOCURRENCE OF THE CHARACTER
A Literary Term: Archetype- a timelesssymbol________________
Elizabeth Costello
(Lives of Animals , Slow Man,
Elizabeth Costello)
Foe, Robinson Cruso(e) ,
and Friday
(Foe)
OLD/NEW ORDER DISPLACEMENT, REPLACEMENT, AND CHANGEDisplacement and
replacement: Elizabeth Costello for Paul as the new order replaces the old in life.
FOE- Displacement of time and the past is replaced with the new.
Disgrace – Status change and displacements of power relations (professor/student, white/black)
Slow Man - change in personal life
Waiting for Barbarians – Displacement of status and life change
In the Heart of the Country- change in power, status, and in personal life
SELF
/OTH
ER
“ Self is a linguistic construct and
subjective agency is an effect of language”
Lacan
O “Coetzee uses Costello as a possible stand-in for himself, but then has Costello create other characters such as Paul Rayment … causing a fracturing of or a multidimensional representation of his identity.” Wastberg
Search for Self/Other
SEARCH FOR SELF and DESIRE FOR OTHER
Mirror Stage- J. LacanForm of totalityPerception of selfOrigins of ‘ideal ego’ - - - - - - - - - - - - - Alienation Being fractured and divided Estranged body Fragmentation of Desires-search for self
SELF-OtHER
IN :
• Slow Man• In the Heart of Country• Foe
The sense of self is only ever garnered from identifying with the images of these others (or itself in the mirror, as a kind of other)
Lacan
J.M. COETZEE
Coetzee reemphasizes the theory of relativity and through displacement shows the relativity of meaning of each signifier in the binary set.
Displacing time, different scenes, themes, retelling the past with a new look, Coetzee suggests to reconsider the meanings and values of dialectics to be able to understand the problems that have been embedded in the social epitome of our past and present and thus approach them with a new perspective, a new approach.
WORKS CITED Arakelian. Geghard. “Can we call it a popularity contest?” csunmoodle. 26 Feb. 2011 Web. 2 April 2012. Barnard, Ian. “Authorial Intent in the Composition Classroom” from Composition Forum 24 (Fall 2011). Copyright 2011. Web. 2 April 2012. Derrida, Jacques. “Difference.” Literary Theory: An Anthology. Ed Julie Rivkin, Michael Ryan 2nd ed. Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, 2004. 278- 300. “Jacques Lacan.” Encyclopedia of Philosophy: A peer-Reviewed Academic Resource. Web. 2 April 2012 “J.M. Coetzee-Bibliography.” NoblePrize.org. Web. 9 April 2012. “J.M. Coetzee Quotes.” GoodReads Author Quotes. Web. 2 April 2012. Knox, Jeremy. “The Avatar in the Mirror: A Lacanian analysis of the virtual world self.” Education e-learning. Web. 2 April 2012 “Quotes.” Brainy Quotes. Web. 4 April 2012. Schweikart. Patricinio. “ Reading Ourselves: Toward A Feminist Theory of Reading.” Lecture Notes. 13 Nov 2009. Richard Clarke. LITS3303- 11B. Web 14 Nov. 2012. Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky. “Between Men.” English literature and male homosocial desire. Web. 4 April. 2012. Wastberg, Writer Per. “Presentation Speech for 2003 Noble Prize in Literature at Stockholm.” Noble Web 2003. Web. 2 April 2012.
A SKEW
ED L
OOK A
T J.
M.
COET
ZEE’
S W
ORKS:
the Theory of Relativity
of Dialectics
Chall/a/nging
Presented by: Kristina Yegoryan
J.M.Coetzee
J. Derrida
A. Einstein