Wittgenstein and Poetry: Negotiations of the Inexpressible
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Wittgenstein and Poetry: Negotiations of the Inexpressible. M. D. Rose-Steel Wittgenstein and Poetry: Negotiations of the Inexpressible Submitted by Michael David Rose to the University of Exeter as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English September 2016. This thesis is available for Library use on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. I certify that all material in this thesis which is not my own work has been identified and that no material has previously been submitted and approved for the award of a degree by this or any other University. (Signature) …………………………………………………………… 1 Wittgenstein and Poetry: Negotiations of the Inexpressible. M. D. Rose-Steel Abstract This study performs a reading of Wittgenstein’s thought that integrates his sometimes sidelined remarks on aesthetics and belief, and emphasises consideration of language use on the level of practice. It analyses the many ways that Wittgenstein engages with the inexpressible or the limits of expression through comparison with poetry as a practice. The potential of a Wittgensteinian method of literary analysis concentrating on grammatical structures, exemplary forms of expression and quotidian meaning-making is shown by viewing several poets’ work in connection with specific forms of the inexpressible. This thesis consists of three parts. The first chapter surveys previous applications of Wittgenstein to aesthetic appreciation and analysis, and considers common interpretations of his earlier and later work. Incorporating a wide range of Wittgenstein sources allows a new reading to emerge that gives appropriate weight to his hitherto under-researched writings. This reading is tested in Chapters 2-5, in each case studying a poet or poets alongside a philosophical text or topic. Chapter 2 uses the negative theology of Pseudo-Dionysius to probe the ineffable; through Cora Diamond’s resolute reading of the Tractatus, Kei Miller’s ‘Church Women’ series and John Burnside’s intimate ineffable of ‘Parousia’, a grammatical understanding of inexpressibility emerges. Chapter 3 compares John McDowell’s minimal realism in Mind and World with Wallace Steven’s Supreme Fiction, demonstrating how Stevens’ – and Wittgenstein’s – rich conception of experience can close off a number of philosophical lacunae. Chapter 4 concentrates on the poetry of Jorie Graham, whose conception of the self is saturated with language. Parallels with Wittgenstein’s methodology are drawn, and some reminders issued to curb the excesses of postmodern accounts of subjectivity. The focus in Chapter 5 moves to the use of cartographical metaphor in Philosophical Investigations and Kei Miller’s poetry. The constraints of specific discourses on our thinking are examined, together with poetry’s potential for laying bare or reinvigorating the pictures by which we navigate. Finally, Chapter 6 discusses a selection of poetic projects completed alongside my research, to extend the reading of Wittgenstein into the area of creative practice. This thesis demonstrates Wittgenstein’s prolonged engagement with the limits of expression and with poetry, as well as the profit of a Wittgensteinian approach to poetry. 2 Wittgenstein and Poetry: Negotiations of the Inexpressible. M. D. Rose-Steel It thereby questions a number of current responses to Wittgenstein’s work, and displays its own original creative outcomes. 3 Wittgenstein and Poetry: Negotiations of the Inexpressible. M. D. Rose-Steel TABLES OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ............................................................................................... 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................... 5 FIGURES ................................................................................................... 6 ABBREVIATIONS .................................................................................... 7 INTRODUCTION...................................................................................... 8 CHAPTER ONE: WITTGENSTEIN, AESTHETICS AND PRACTICE . 16 CHAPTER TWO: INHABITING THE INEXPRESSIBLE AND THE INEFFABLE ............................................................................................ 76 CHAPTER THREE: ADHERING TO REALITY .................................. 135 CHAPTER FOUR: JORIE GRAHAM AND THE EXPRESSING SELF ............................................................................................................... 181 CHAPTER FIVE: CARTOGRAPHIC METAPHOR IN PHILOSOPHICAL INVESTIGATIONS AND THE POETRY OF KEI MILLER. ................. 215 CHAPTER SIX: POETRY PRACTICE ................................................. 239 APPENDIX A:THE WITTGENSTEIN VECTOR ................................. 252 APPENDIX B: STILL LIFE WITH PROMISES ................................. 275 REPRODUCTION PERMISSIONS ....................................................... 293 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................. 294 4 Wittgenstein and Poetry: Negotiations of the Inexpressible. M. D. Rose-Steel Acknowledgements That this doctoral project developed from a long-pondered ambition to a reality is in very large part thanks to the funding I received in the form of an AHRC grant, for which I am extremely grateful. It would also have been far poorer without the support and guidance of my supervisors, Professors Regenia Gagnier and Andy Brown. I owe them both considerable thanks for their ideas, difficult questions and generosity of time, especially given the wide-ranging nature of the research. Other scholars have been gracious in offering feedback on technical aspects of my chapters, or providing me with unpublished texts or personal advice. I would particularly like to thank Professors Bernard Harrison, Tim Knepper, Kei Miller and Michael Luntley. Many of the ideas in the thesis emerged from correspondence and discussion with others, among which the Critical Theory Reading Group and presentation and teaching opportunities in Exeter’s College of Humanities were key. Similarly, the arts projects connected with this thesis have relied on collaborations of many kinds, including funding from Bridging the Gaps and the College and Kickstarter. The artists I have worked with have been generous and inspiring, including Jaime Robles and Suzanne Steele of Exegesis, Isabel Galleymore, Sharanya Murali and Wei Hsien Wan of Spindlebox Press, and all the contributing artists of ‘Wor(l)ds in Collision’. No Ph.D. comes happily to fruition without the mental and material support of friends and family. Far too many people to name have made my time at Exeter joyful and worthwhile; several have provided proofing assistance for these chapters. I am grateful to you all. Of particular and obvious importance is Esther, who proved my best friend, muse and time-management consultant; I couldn’t ask for a better life companion and partner-in-crime. Finally, nothing at all would have been accomplished without the patient care and support of my family, to whom this thesis is dedicated, with love. 5 Wittgenstein and Poetry: Negotiations of the Inexpressible. M. D. Rose-Steel Figures Figure 1 Prayer03, Gregory Whitmore 2008...........................................................................199 Figure 2 The Wittgenstein Vector, Portrait of Wittgenstein. Jaime Robles 2012...................233 Figure 3 Wittgenstein Vector, Proposition 7. Jaime Robles 2012...........................................234 6 Wittgenstein and Poetry: Negotiations of the Inexpressible. M. D. Rose-Steel Abbreviations Wittgenstein: BT The Big Typescript CV Culture and Value LC Lectures and Conversations on Aesthetics, Psychology and Religious Belief LE Lecture on Ethics NB Notebooks OC On Certainty PG Philosophical Grammar PI Philosophical Investigations PO Philosophical Occasions RC Remarks on Colour RFGB Remarks on Frazer’s Golden Bough TLP Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus Z Zettel Other: CMZ Kei Miller: The Cartographer Tries to Map a Way to Zion CP Wallace Stevens: Collected Poems CR Stanley Cavell: The Claim of Reason DRDP Cora Diamond: The Difficulty of Reality and the Difficulty of Philosophy IAO Alex Blazer: I Am Otherwise MW John McDowell: Mind and World PDC Pseudo-Dionysius: Complete Works WL Marjorie Perloff: Wittgenstein’s Ladder 7 Wittgenstein and Poetry: Negotiations of the Inexpressible. M. D. Rose-Steel Introduction My fascination with Wittgenstein began with two inspiring teachers at the University of Warwick, Professors Michael Luntley and Tim Thornton, who introduced me to the philosophy of Wittgenstein, and in particular the astounding, to me, implications of his remarks on rule-following and private language in Philosophical Investigations. These considerations have remained part of my research and poetic practice ever since, both as aspects of my process and as explicit sources of technique and inspiration. I initially considered the possibility of devising a grammar of theology that accommodated Wittgenstein’s insights, elements of which survive in the discussion of ineffability in Chapter 2 of this thesis. As my plans for further research developed, I was often struck by how rarely and reluctantly analytic philosophy as a discipline engaged with the literature and poetry that interested me, despite the obvious applicability of Wittgenstein, in particular, to the subject. As I read more of his posthumously revealed notes and letters, the importance of poetry for his thinking became ever