Towards a Co-Creative Encounter with the Book by Cameron Martin
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Gone Critical— Towards a Co-Creative Encounter with the Book by Cameron Martin Reid A thesis presented to the University of Waterloo in fulfilment of the thesis requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 2010 ©Cameron Martin Reid 2010 I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. This is a true copy of the thesis, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I understand that my thesis may be made electronically available to the public. ii Abstract This dissertation follows two interrelated lines of inquiry. The first, I formulate as follows: (1) How, historically speaking, has the discourse of literary criticism thought the book? How has it represented the book? Used the book? Put simply, what has the book become in the hands of the critic? Though, of course, answers to such questions will vary widely—especially as they intersect with related matters concerning the critic, herself, and what Henry Sussman refers to as the perceived ―task of the critic‖—it is my contention that the discourse of literary criticism remains unified by its inability to extricate itself from what I call the transcendent orientation to literature: an orientation that has both ancient and modern coordinates. In Part 1 of the dissertation, I map criticism‘s ongoing historical affair with transcendence—an affair that begins as far back as the Platonic dialogues, but that can be traced right up through the twentieth century, in and through the work of any number of critics, and many prominent schools of literary critical thought. I, then, formulate the second of my two lines of inquiry as follows: (2) How might the materialist critic, imbued by Deleuzean sensibilities, think the book anew? And, by extension, how might the materialist re- think the role or task of the critic? In Part 2, I shift the focus from the transcendent to the immanent (or immanentist) orientation; that is, from the logic of representation to what philosopher Gilles Deleuze— a prominent voice within this dissertation—labels ―the logic of sensation‖; also, from fixed essences (i.e., fixed laws, identities) to potential powers; from being to becoming; iii from the regulated and scientized practices of the institutional critic (spawning predictable results) to the ―co-creative‖ encounters of the critic-artisan (unleashing pure potentials from the book). In short, Part 2 of the dissertation explores the question of how the book opens up to its own becomings—i.e., its own difference, its own transformation. To that end, I will enter into a number of co-creative relations of my own with various works of American literature (including, Kerouac‘s On the Road, Melville‘s Moby-Dick, Whitman‘s Leaves of Grass, Stephen Crane‘s The Red Badge of Courage, and William Gass‘s On Being Blue). iv Acknowledgements I wish to thank my supervisory committee for their time, helpful suggestions, and enduring patience during the long writing process. Specifically, I would like to thank Bruce Baugh for his invaluable insights into Deleuzean philosophy and the history of ideas, as well as his keen critical eye. His tireless efforts and generous commentary have greatly improved the final product. To Kevin McGuirk, for reinvigorating this project—a project I believed long dead—and for his support and encouragement throughout the writing of this dissertation. Finally, to Andrew McMurry, I wish to extend my thanks for stepping into this process (so late in the game), and for providing a number of valuable insights on the project during the dissertation defence. He and I are kindred spirits on many of these issues; which is to say, we agree more than disagree—if he doesn‘t mind me saying that. On a personal level, I would like to thank Rachel Nash, my partner, for her singular optimism about this project, for getting me back to the written word whenever my progress would slow to a snail‘s pace, and for being my primary sounding board at every stage of this process. Put simply, this dissertation is testament to Rachel‘s love and support. v I dedicate this dissertation to the memory of my friend, Martin Whittles (1958–2009). vi Table of Contents Author's Declaration.......................................................................................................... ii Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iii Acknowledgements ..............................................................................................................v Dedication.......................................................................................................................... vi Table of Contents ............................................................................................................. vii Preamble: Mapping the Plan of Escape.............................................................................1 Introduction: The Book, and Other Machines ..................................................................5 Part 1: The "Plan[e] of Transcendence," The "Plan[e] of Organization" .............42 Chapter 1: "The Poisoned Gift of Platonism" ........................................................43 Plato's Athens .............................................................................................48 "An Ancient Quarrel" ................................................................................61 Plato's Ion--Occupying the Middle Ground ...............................................68 Transcending the Book ..............................................................................89 Chapter 2: How to Make a Dead Writer Sad .........................................................98 The Literary Organism ...............................................................................99 The "Triple Illusion" ................................................................................107 First Trajectory: Universals of Contemplation .............................................113 Towards a Structural Destiny...................................................................118 Second Trajectory: Universals of Reflection .................................................130 Authorizing the Subject of Reflection .....................................................134 The Critical Subject .................................................................................141 Third Trajectory: Universals of Communication ..........................................146 A "new Athens" .......................................................................................149 Functional Crises .....................................................................................155 Conclusion: Criticism in a Major Key .....................................................166 vii Part 2: The "Plan[e] of Immanence," The "Plan[e] of Composition" ..................168 Chapter 3: Criticism as "Enterprise of Co-Creation" ...........................................171 Disrupting the Creative/Critical Divide ...................................................172 Signs of "A Life…" .................................................................................184 Hölderlin's Bell ........................................................................................200 Conclusion: The Thought of Immanence ................................................216 Interchapter: On the Materialist Paradigm ...........................................................222 The Greening of the Plant ........................................................................223 Literary Matters .......................................................................................229 Chapter 4: Unwording the Word..........................................................................240 Demonstration 1: On Being Red, On Being White, On Being Blue ..............244 The Trouble with Color, the Trouble with Color-Words .........................275 Demonstration 2: Whitman's Color Machine ................................................290 Epilogue: Critic as Artisan .............................................................................................301 Bibliography ....................................................................................................................316 viii Preamble— Mapping the Plan of Escape “What good is commentary?” —Maurice Blanchot (The Infinite Conversation, 390) 1 I am sometimes asked about the basic claims or objectives of my dissertation—a simple enough question, I suppose, which I find oddly difficult to answer. When cornered, I might (for the benefit of my interlocutor) point to the discourse of literary criticism as my so-called ―object of study‖; alternatively, I might link my broader interests to literary theory or possibly the philosophy of literature—a sub-field of aesthetics that admittedly I have little fondness for, given the banality of its claims and concerns—while trying to remain somewhat circumspect about my actual objectives. In any case, I have often times gone to great lengths to steer clear of what, for me, has become an uncomfortable discussion. Upon reflection, I believe my reticence before this somewhat elemental question has a few obvious roots: (1) my dissertation—though not initially conceived this way—has evolved into what is sometimes referred to as (and sometimes pejoratively so) a ―theory dissertation‖—a moniker I am reluctant to invoke for it connotes impracticality,