Of Offal, Corpses, and Others: an Examination of Self, Subjectivity, and Authenticity in Two Works by Alexandra David-Neel
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Of Offal, Corpses, and Others: An Examination of Self, Subjectivity, and Authenticity in Two Works by Alexandra David-Neel by Robert William Jones II A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of The Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton, Florida May 2010 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank the members of my thesis committee – Dr. Berlatsky, Dr. Buckton, and Dr. Youngberg – for their wisdom and patience throughout the development of this thesis. I would also like to express my gratitude to Symantha Jones for her unparalleled patience and encouragement in all of my academic endeavors. iii ABSTRACT Author: Robert William Jones II Title: Of Offal, Corpses, and Others: An Examination of Self, Subjectivity, and Authenticity in Two Works by Alexandra David- Neel Institution: Florida Atlantic University Thesis Advisor: Dr. Eric L. Berlatsky Degree: Master of Arts Year: 2010 This thesis examines two works (My Journey to Lhasa and Magic and Mystery in Tibet) by Alexandra David-Neel. These works subvert the self/other dichotomies both necessary to and critiqued by postcolonial theory. Central to this study is an examination of a claim by His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama that David-Neel creates an “authentic” picture of Tibet. In order to do this the first chapter establishes a working definition of authenticity based on both Western philosophy and Vajrayana Buddhism. This project argues that the advanced meditation techniques practiced by Alexandra David-Neel allow her to access a transcendent self that is able to overcome the self/other dichotomy. It also discusses the ways in which abjection and limit experiences enhance this breakdown. Finally, this thesis examines the roles that gender and a near absence of female Tibetan iv voice play in complicating the problems of self, subjectivity, and authenticity within these texts. v OF OFFAL, CORPSES, AND OTHERS: AN EXAMINATION OF SELF, SUBJECTIVITY AND AUTHENTICITY IN TWO WORKS BY ALEXANDRA DAVID-NEEL I. CLARIFYING AUTHENTICITY: AN UNHOLY MARRIAGE OF EAST AND WEST…………………………………………………………………………………...1 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………….. 1 Jean-Paul Sartre………………………………………………………………………... 3 Maurice Merleau-Ponty………………………………………………………………... 9 Michel Foucault………………………………………………………………………. 12 Application…………………………………………………………………………….16 A Note on Mimicry…………………………………………………………………… 19 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………. 21 II. SKELETONS OF THE “OTHER”: POST-COLONIALISM AND NARRATOLOGY……………………………………………………………………. 22 The Orientalist View………………………………………………………………….. 27 Narratology and the Breakdown of Subject/Object Distinctions……………………...37 Enter the Abject………………………………………………………………………. 40 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………. 48 III. AN EXPLORATION OF VOICE IN THE WORK OF ALEXANDRA DAVID- vi NEEL…………………………………………………………………………………. 49 The Feminine Discourse Community………………………………………………… 55 Male Dominated Discourse Community……………………………………………... 62 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………. 67 IV. CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………………69 Notes…………………………………………………………………………………...74 Works Cited……………………………………………………………………………76 vii I. CLARIFYING AUTHENTICITY: AN UNHOLY MARRIAGE OF EAST AND WEST Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet, Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment Seat; But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth, When two strong men stand face to face, tho’ they come from the ends of the earth! Rudyard Kipling Introduction In describing Alexandra David-Neel’s work His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama states, “ Its great merit is that it conveys the authentic flavor of Tibet as she found it” (Gyatso i). What then is meant by “authenticity”? As a western woman writing about Tibet, could Alexandra David-Neel portray an accurate and authentic picture of the land and it’s people? It is possible that the concept of authenticity can be defined and used in two different ways. The first is a conventional approach to authenticity that is based on how “true” the rendering of Tibet and Tibetans is in the text. The second is less conventional and involves a person’s authenticity of self or an authenticity of their true nature. As this thesis will show, it maybe possible that an author who is in touch with this second form of authenticity can use this insight to more accurately portray “others.” Being philosophically authentic allows Alexandra David-Neel to break down the self/ other dichotomy and produce an authentic picture of the Tibetan people even though on the surface they are still considered “others”. The idea of this type of philosophical authenticity is one that has occupied thinkers from both the East and the West. After several millennia and volumes of literature on the subject, it is not surprising that there are many points of agreement as to what, philosophically, authenticity is and how to 1 achieve it. If, for the purposes of this study, we define ‘authenticity’ as the construction of a ‘transcendent’ self that is capable of overcoming self/other binaries, we can then see that in the places where David-Neel comes closest to realizing this notion of authenticity, she also comes closest to breaking down her Western biases, and creating an ‘authentic’ Tibet in a more conventional sense. When Kipling wrote those now famous words in the epigraph he was giving voice to the imperialist view that Western and Eastern cultures could not coexist on an equal plane while simultaneously subverting the idea that there might be an essential difference between the two cultures. Kipling reinforces the binary of West and East in the first two lines by claiming, “ never the twain shall meet” and using Judeo-Christian imagery to not only point out the futility in bringing them together but to reinforce the dominance of Christian cultures throughout the world. The biblical imagery also serves to ally the West with the almighty. If this quatrain were a couplet then the imperialist message would stand unchallenged. However, the final two lines indicate that through the pain and strife of battle these lines are blurred, if not erased. Hence, although Kipling acknowledges the idea that separation from the other is needed to ensure imperialist hegemony, yet he seems to understand that on another level, symbolized by a battlefield, there is no essential difference. The achievement of a transcendent or philosophically “authentic” self that can then create an authentic picture of a foreign culture can prove so vexing as to be thought impossible. However, by defining authenticity in two different ways (conventional and transcendent) we can begin to reconcile this complex problem. 2 Authenticity cannot be viewed as a single quantifiable thing. Rather, it is necessary to understand that authenticity is often defined in two ways. The first way is more conventional and seeks to explain how true an author is to her experience or how accurately they portray said experience. The other authenticity hinges on an authenticity of self or in a Buddhist sense Bodhicitta. Further one of the main issues at work is how an authenticity of self can lead an author to create an authentic portrait of an “other” or a foreign culture. David-Neel undertook specific tantric practices designed to swiftly cut through ingrained patterns of dualistic thinking. The fruits of her practice manifest in the text through breakdowns in the subject/object, self/other dichotomies. These breakdowns arise from places of tension in the text generally created by either a great deal of fear or disgust. Jean-Paul Sartre Western philosophy, especially over the last hundred years, has been keenly interested in the ideas of selfhood, subjectivity, and authenticity. In an effort to clarify one of the maxims of existentialist thought, Jean-Paul Sartre stated “What do we mean here by ‘existence precedes essence’? We mean that man first exists: he materializes in the world, encounters himself, and only afterward defines himself” (Existentialism is Humanism 22). In this statement Sartre encapsulates his philosophy and also (perhaps unwittingly) sets it in a parallel with Tibetan Buddhist philosophical tenets surrounding primordial (or authentic) nature and the role of ego clinging in the process of identifying a “self.” The primordial nature of all sentient beings is the same—Buddha nature. In The Wish-Granting Prayer1 of Kuntu Zangpo the narrative is two-fold, first the prayer establishes Kuntu Zangpo as the primordial Buddha2 and second to illustrate the way in 3 which the rest of us ended up in samsara3 and show how the fallacies of dualistic thinking and ego binds beings to samsaric existence (Dowman 111-118). The prayer lays out the idea that first we all existed as perfectly enlightened Buddhas and that a “sudden fainting away” led to “innate ignorance and conceptual ignorance (selecting, structuring, and labeling) [which] implies dualistic cognition” (120-121). Our innate nature combined with our karmic obscurations may be seen as analogous to the “essence” Sartre speaks of. Essence, a term Sartre borrowed from Hegel, is loosely defined as man’s past and, since there is no pre ordained human nature, Sartre claims that each person makes her own essence as she lives (Being and Nothingness 802). This is paired with “existence,” the “concrete, individual being here and now” (802). In Buddhism, human beings (actually, all sentient beings) have two modes of existence—the relative and the