Transgression Now : Charlie Blake and Steen Christian- Sen ∫ the Transgressive Posture : Peter Lemish ∫ the Rise of the Underground : Moulay Driss El Maarouf ∫

Roskilde University

Food for thought Cannibalistic translation in the Lestygonians episode of James Joyce's Ulysses Klitgård, Ida

Published in: Akademisk kvarter

Publication date: 2011

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Citation for published version (APA): Klitgård, I. (2011). Food for thought: Cannibalistic translation in the Lestygonians episode of James Joyce's Ulysses. Akademisk kvarter, 3, 290-304. http://www.akademiskkvarter.hum.aau.dk/number/vol3/Klitgaard_Food_for_Thought.pdf

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academic Transgression Now : Charlie Blake and Steen Christian- sen ∫ The Transgressive Posture : Peter Lemish ∫ The Rise of the Underground : Moulay Driss El Maarouf ∫

Aalborg Universitet Demokrati som transgression : Martin Bak Jørgensen og Óscar García Agustín ∫ Teaching against the Tide : Camille Alexander ∫ Forsøgs- og udviklingsarbejde i kvarter grundskolen som transgressiv praksis : Christian tidsskrift for humanistisk forskning Ydesen og Karen E. Andreasen ∫ ”Hvor viljen er lov og fornuften i eksil” : Johan Heinsen ∫ Dolphins Who akademiskBlow Bubbles : Catherine Lord Icons of Transgres- ∫ sion : Bent Sørensen ∫ The Star Wars Kid and the Bedroom Intruder : Jørgen Riber Christensen ∫ Trans- Volume 03 12 • 2011 gression and Taboo : Jens Kirk ∫ Flirting with the Law : Alla Ivanchikova ∫ En grænse for transgressionen? : Mikkel Jensen ∫ Does the Porn Star Blush? : Charlie Blake and Beth Johnson ∫ Transgression as Tragic Typology : Mia Rendix ∫ Religion in Scandina- vian Crime Fiction : Kim Toft Hansen ∫ Ontologisk transgression i Adaptation : Helle Thorsøe Nielsen ∫ Genre transgression in interactive works : Claus A. Foss Rosenstand ∫ Grænseoverskridende multi-pro- tagonistfortællinger • Helle Kannik Haastrup ∫ The Transgressive Literacy of the Comic Maidservant in Tobias Smollett’s Humphry Clinker : Kathleen Alves ∫ Food for thought : Ida Klitgård ∫ Body Refractions : Steen Christiansen ∫ quarter

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Aalborg Universitet kvarter akademisktidsskrift for humanistisk forskning

Akademisk kvarter Tidsskrift for humanistisk forskning Academic Quarter Journal for humanistic research Redaktører / Issue editors Charlie Blake & Steen Christiansen Ansvarshavende redaktører / Editors in chief Jørgen Riber Christensen & Kim Toft Hansen © Aalborg University / Academic Quarter 2011 Tidsskriftsdesign og layout / Journal design and layout: Kirsten Bach Larsen ISSN 1904-0008 Yderligere information / Further information: http://akademiskkvarter.hum.aau.dk/ For enkelte illustrationers vedkommende kan det have været umuligt at finde eller komme i kontakt med den retmæssige indehaver af ophavsrettighederne. Såfremt tidsskriftet på denne måde måtte have krænket ophavsretten, er det sket ufrivilligt og utilsigtet. Retmæssige krav i denne forbindelse vil selvfølgelig blive honoreret efter gældende tarif, som havde forlaget ind- hentet tilladelse i forvejen. quarter

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Transgression Now • Charlie Blake and Steen Christiansen 4 The Transgressive Posture • Peter Lemish 17 The Rise of the Underground • Moulay Driss El Maarouf 32 Demokrati som transgression • Martin Bak Jørgensen og Óscar García Agustín 49 Teaching against the Tide • Camille Alexander 66 Forsøgs- og udviklingsarbejde i grundskolen som transgressiv praksis • Christian Ydesen og Karen E. Andreasen 81 ”Hvor viljen er lov og fornuften i eksil” • Johan Heinsen 93 Dolphins Who Blow Bubbles • Catherine Lord 107 Icons of Transgression • Bent Sørensen 121 The Star Wars Kid and the Bedroom Intruder • Jørgen Riber Christensen 135 Transgression and Taboo • Jens Kirk 147 Flirting with the Law • Alla Ivanchikova 159 En grænse for transgressionen? • Mikkel Jensen 179 Does the Porn Star Blush? • Charlie Blake and Beth Johnson 194 Transgression as Tragic Typology • Mia Rendix 213 Religion in Scandinavian Crime Fiction • Kim Toft Hansen 231 Ontologisk transgression i Adaptation • Helle Thorsøe Nielsen 246 Genre transgression in interactive works • Claus A. Foss Rosenstand 258 Grænseoverskridende multi-protagonistfortællinger • Helle Kannik Haastrup 269 The Transgressive Literacy of the Comic Maidservant in Tobias Smollett’s Humphry Clinker • Kathleen Alves 281 Food for thought • Ida Klitgård 290 Body Refractions • Steen Christiansen 306

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Transgression Now Transgressing Norms in the American College Composition Classroom

Revolt – its face distorted by amorous ecstasy – tears from God his naive mask, and thus oppression collapses in the crash of time. Catastrophe is that by which a nocturnal horizon is set ablaze – it is time released from all bonds. (Bataille, 1985, p.134)

Transgression... is like a flash of lightning in the night which, from the beginning of time, gives a dense and black intensity to the night it denies, which lights up the night from the inside, from top to bottom, and yet owes to the dark the stark clarity of its manifestation its har- rowing and poised singularity. (Foucault, 1998, p.28)

To transgress, according to Michel Foucault’s reflections on Georges Bataille and sexuality from his 1963 essay ‘A Preface to Transgres- sion,’ is to cross a border, a line, a limit, or a boundary. Alterna- tively, and in a more extended and possibly occult sense, and pace some of Foucault’s intellectual contemporaries, it is to reconfigure what might otherwise be an aporia, whether sensual, erotic, textual, intellectual, emotional, ethical, political, material, metaphysical or aesthetic, and open it up for what Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari would later describe, in the two volumes of Capitalism and Schizo-

Volume 03 4 - - 5 Charlie Blake Charlie Steen Christiansen Transgression Now Transgression Volume 03 In that sense every transgression is also a con- a also is every transgression that sense In Other reference points include the charismatic in- Other reference 1 that the word ‘transgression’ in this context could be ar be context could in this ‘transgression’ that the word

- reterritori of deterritorialization and the process Importantly, , performance art globally, and and globally, art , performance actionists or the Viennese roughs, African-American music from the mid twentieth century emergence populism, brazen sonic with all their stars and roll of certain rock and self-consciously deca- intricate allusion, multiple epigones and industrial metal, or hop, electronica, hip in analogues dent at pp.76-90). These are, (Blake, 2009, gothic music and culture as concept for transgression least, some of the main coordinates is based at least in if transgression and performance. However, to be for there necessary it is of course rules, part upon breaking op- lines to be redrawn, boundaries to be crossed, to break, rules be meaning- it would without which sensations or forces posing void, happen in a not does Transgression idea. and both act as less desire metaphysical of flow some ex nihilo from nor does it emerge quasi-virtuality. or from bodies, or body a from facticity, a from emerging agon or flict him before and Foucault as containment, or confinement of space a Bataille were acutely aware. It is a conflict moreover, that may, in the right and if pursued spirit, under the right circumstances, generate a spark of novelty and thus a provide flash of vivid illu- fluence of various distaff Anglophone figures such as Oscar Wilde, Oscar as such figures Anglophone distaff various of fluence Bur Acker and William Kathy Andy Warhol, Aleister Crowley, gued as evoking, and whether in critical theory, philosophy, art art philosophy, in critical theory, gued as evoking, and whether or defy- rules breaking about not merely is culture, popular or and somewhat romantically ing conventions as has sometimes andcourse, of do, assumptions Such been assumed. reductively their have reference points and justifications. Some of theseref- Franco- well known: for instance, the broadly are points erence Sade, Charles Baude- centric and generally male legacy of D.A.F. Antonin Arthur Rimbaud, Lautréamont, Dada and Surrealism, laire, Lettrists and SituationistsArtaud, Bataille, Jean Genet, the and Foucault himself. , as deterritorialization. As is well known, deterritorializa- As , as deterritorialization. phrenia is invariably and emergence, as both process tion for these thinkers, and this is particularly reterritorialization, with the notion of paired as late Jameson to be known after Frederic so in what has come in corollary (possibly) now outdated cultural capitalism and its postmodernism. alization quarter

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kvarter akademisk 6 com- Charlie Blake Charlie Steen Christiansen Transgression Now Transgression Volume 03 as in Hegelian or post-Hege- ...what is this agent, this force which ensures communica- which ensures ...what is this agent, this force intensities, tion? Thunderbolts explode between different dark by an invisible, imperceptible preceded but they are which determines their path in advance but in precursor, p.119) as though intagliated. (Deleuze, 1994, reverse, Thus, for instance, in Deleuze’s seminal pre-Guattari study of dif- pre-Guattari Thus, for instance, in Deleuze’s seminal In this understanding of transgression as Chris Jenks has so viv- as Chris Jenks has of transgression In this understanding As with Bataille (whom Deleuze, interestingly, barely mentions mentions barely As with Bataille (whom Deleuze, interestingly, is also the mo- the moment of transgression or elsewhere), here munication: lian thought, no representation as such. Instead, and as a result of and as a result as such. Instead, lian thought, no representation is an there between velocities or modes of expression a differential multiplic- and force of flower detonating a itself: force of explosion and blossoms instantly intoity that opens up its petals and tendrils and expansion, new forms of li- new networks of communication and dis- new patterns of semiosis bidinal economy and encounter, of the light- that the image perhaps, sipation. It is for this reason, ning flash so oftenrecurs in illustrations of transgression and its and is invari- popular culture, variants in both critical thought and attached to related implicitly in the former domain anyway, ably, and iden- space, in difference images of disturbances in time and in tity, continuity and The discontinuity. lightning flash is an im- of penetration, orrupture, fissure and importantly, age, moreover, of a coupling and uncoupling of intensities - rather than – charge consistency or linkage per se. of causality, as a measure gothiccuriously the encounter we 1968, from repetition and ference cha- precursor’ of ‘dark attractors the strange of the like who, figure os both theory, presages and configures becomings byreading the as inversion or reversal, not merely trajectory of thought backwards, discussion of the role then, we discover in a Here, but as multiplicity. about is illumination the that itself for repetition in difference of mination against a canvas of darkness where before there was was there before where darkness of canvas a against mination habit, of of reaction, and action of conformity grey listless a only a no. and binarism, of a yes and convention, of dialectic of two opposed elements or is a clash there idly outlined, where is no longer any or contradictions, there whether contraries forces, moment of sublation, no aufhebung quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 7 - Charlie Blake Charlie Steen Christiansen Transgression Now Transgression could be no trans- Volume 03 is not central to their project), (Deleuze, 1988, (Deleuze, 1988, per se is not central to their project), Transgression is an action which involves limit, that nar is an action which involves limit, that Transgression row zone of a line where it displays the flash of its pas- ori- its even trajectory, entire its also perhaps but sage, in space entire its has transgression that likely is it gin; 1998, p.27) the line that it crosses.(Foucault, For Bataille, the essence of transgression is that it is in a perpetu- is For Bataille, the essence of transgression rowing’ singularity raises a number of questions about the dura- rowing’ This spatialized compression of transgression and taboo into a ‘har of transgression This spatialized compression - in Bataille: transgres force transgressive no pure is There gression. or in one way or another, sion is always in tension with prohibition as Foucault puts it: p.1) it might also be fair to claim, as Nick Land has suggested, as Nick Land has suggested, p.1) it might also be fair to claim, of trans- notion of Bataille as a ‘philosopher the retrospective that of use sparse the considering justification no or little has gression’ as Benja- 1992, p. 63). However, the term itself in his work (Land, observation, a to Land’s in response min Noys has also argued that trans- claim can be made, nonetheless, reasonable and strong tech- a as operative consistently is not, or named whether gression, nique of Bataille’s writings (Noys, 2000, p. 9), opening throughout whether critical and fictional, and it is in this sense, as well as in its sense of charge or fissure or communication, that the concept of has transgression travelled via suchfigures Foucault, Jean Ba- of late cultural conversation and others into the broader udrillard capitalism. there taboo without that in taboo, with conflict al ment of difference. But where Deleuze will take difference into into take difference Deleuze will But where ment of difference. the event as and experimentation creation, of virtuality, the realms for Bataille, of multiplicity, a univocal realm transformation within and eroticism of forces primal the with up bound is difference death, absolute expenditure and sacrifice, and in this he reveals Sade, of course, as much as to Nietzsche, (the his debt to Sade death in a lightning strike meets her whose own Justine, notably, not once, but twice). Bearing this image of the zig zag flash of - Deleuze and Guat case of the in mind (which, in transgression or as as transversality, accurately rendered tari, might be more to Spinoza, the ‘witch’s path,’ in that Deleuze puts it in relation transgression quarter

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kvarter akademisk 8 Charlie Blake Charlie Steen Christiansen Transgression Now Transgression Volume 03 are not entirely what one might what one not entirely are Eroticism Eroticism tional aspect of this ‘flash’ that remain as central to the transgressive transgressive the to central as remain that ‘flash’ this of aspect tional supposedly deliberate challenge such moments moment as the they are in which and conventions of the culture make to the norms that point, some of the examples of transgression enacted. On this in his Bataille indicates expect in terms of transgressive convention. Transgression here as here convention. Transgression transgressive expect in terms of themes to other Bataillian is, of course, intimately related elsewhere such sacrifice,as intoxication, blood,laughter, cruelty, vomit and other bodily fluids, thesacred, the impossible, anguish and death, but in terms of eroticism itself, we find that, perhaps surprisingly, indi- here The argument as transgressive. marital sex is considered in that notion of transgression, cates something central to Bataille’s - in which the taboo against non re for him marriage becomes a site is in this sense a experience is given a stage, and erotic productive conventions observed, as human violation in spite of the formal sacrifice or killing an opponent in a war might operate in a society which ostensibly objects to the killing of human beings.(Bataille, an Bataille, a personal level for 1991, pp 123-128). Thus while on with both its excess of joiussance and its undertow of post- act erotic to the fundamental dualitycoital anguish sensitizes the participants say) and discontinuity reproduction, between continuity (through or soci- (death or la petit mort), what this also signals is the cultural as this related heterogeneity and etal tension between homogeneity tension plays out not only in rituals of sacrifice and exclusion or expulsion or scapegoating as these specify the limits of the profane indus- and the mechanized also in but sacred, of the excess the and con- fascism and by extension more of, for example, trial cruelties mass murder.(Bataille, and temporary and politically driven atrocity political broader Bataille’s indicates further This 137-160). pp. 1983, initially built upon by Foucault and subsequently dema- trajectory, terialized by Jacques Derrida, (Derrida, 1978, pp. 251-277), in which a solar economy of absolute excess and expend- a general economy, economy of is opposed to the restricted and transgression iture both Bataille’s analysis becomes that It is here capitalism. modern contemporary and contentious, for as a number of commentators have noted, the form of late capitalism that characterizes the early twenty first century is very much based on notions of pointless ex- accumulation, on extrava- and excess as it is on reckless penditure and on relentless or regulation, gant waste as much as on order quarter

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kvarter akademisk 9 Charlie Blake Charlie Steen Christiansen Transgression Now Transgression Volume 03 zeit had or could have any Is there an Alternative? the anti-capi- Is there In his dreadful lassitude and objectless rage, Cobain rage, Cobain lassitude and objectless In his dreadful seemed to give wearied voice to the despondency of the whose every move generation that had come after history, it had before and sold bought tracked, anticipated, was another just was he that knew Cobain happened. even athan MTV on better runs nothing that spectacle, of piece knew that every move was a cliché against MTV; protest it is a cliché. scripted in advance, knew that even realizing p.9) 2011, (Fisher, From this perspective, the transition between an economy based this From , then it might well be argued that we have reached a reached that we have kind of geist, then it might well be argued of fatigue in a culture or transgression stage of post-transgression - If Cobain’s death marks, as Simon Reynolds and other have sug gested, the final moment in which the deliberate ‘transgressive’ hedonism as much as on the sober moral- hedonism as much as on the sober deliberate ‘transgressive’ system.capitalist the with associated been have once might that ity Joseph as such critics are there summarised, Noys has as Thus, strategy that Bataille’s analysis and transgressive Goux who claim that argue whilst others such as Baudrillard is no longer applicable, solar extrava- its in Bataillian become capitalism has effectively gance. (Noys, 2000, p.122). Plans to one based on con- Year or Five as in Fordism on production of a transition between the dis- sumption has parallels with the idea society as Foucault and the control ciplinary societies anatomized by to Foucault by Deleuze in his mapped out so persuasively in relation 1990. In this Societies” from “Postscript on Control seminal essay, eloquently elaborated in his po- later model, as Mark Fisher has so Capitalist Realism: lemical study, a radically de- formulated by always already talist movement(s) are strategically absent capitalist Other to the extent that the and centred even being an ‘alternative,’ a form of transgression notion of there has been turned into a kind of spin on that can actually transgress, accessories or as as fashion and revolution the notion of rebellion acts of ethical or political en- video game distractions rather than gagement. Thus Fisher writes of the tragic figure of Kurt Cobain of to the possibility of transgression Nirvana as marking an end point classical sense as follows: in its more quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - - 10 Charlie Blake Charlie Steen Christiansen Transgression Now Transgression Volume 03 Finally, then, and as an instrument of transformation and adap- then, and as an instrument Finally, twenty firstcentury exhaustion equivalent to the decadence ush- man. untimely image of the last in by Nietzsche’s typically ered now of late and paralysis in the eternal Indeed, such imprisonment commodity shock has become a deliquescent capitalism in which than enter challenging a form of nothing more the extreme and of idea the to challenges significant poses diversion and tainment as Accordingly, configured. historically been has it as transgression as much attention needs cur the essays in this volume indicate, - of con in a variety the use of transgression be given to to rently texts, as to its broader significance within a theoretical frame- Bearing in its evolving legacy. work and the contradictions inherent of transgression the notion around these complexities as they circle somebriefly noting worth is it mind, in post-transgressive the and in particular associated with of the characteristics that Bataille as it is discussed in this collection. Centrally for transgression implies both a taboo that the sub- Bataille, the act of transgression of and an act that is intentional in some sense. Sec- ject is aware opens the subject out to the continuity the act of transgression ondly, inten- acute in moments of erotic and discontinuity that become so on some level an open- violence, and this requires sity or extreme ex- of desire, and effect affect ing out to death as the determining transgression of act the Thirdly, ontology. personal and pression delirium of personal iden- a loss of self and a shattered requires tity in which a multiplicity of selves can emerge and reconfigure. sense of whilst it is clearly connected with the ‘ordinary’ Fourthly, moral stric- of laws, mores, as in the transgression transgression, im- the term also connotes an and so forth, structures and tures what it of powerlessness the at hints mockingly manence that trans- that whether authority, of ‘fiction’ transcendent a as positions moral or truth God, masquerading as to be is considered cendent ity – or under late capitalism, aesthetic convention. - transgres tation, and however playful or nihilistic it’s expression, to the notion of the human as a an existential challenge sion poses in a ho- creature rational and instrumental bounded, productive, that notion with one of consump- replacing mogenous culture, tion, waste and fundamental dissipation and in doing so, tracing out a line between the human, the inhuman and the spiritual, atheological divine, de- of the sexual and material ‘catastrophe’ quarter

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- 11 Charlie Blake Charlie Steen Christiansen Transgression Now Transgression Volume 03 Camille Alexander’s The Transgressive Posture The Transgressive Peter Lemish’s article Peter Lemish’s of a very sensitive field: the Israel-Arab conflict and ar Considering this trajectory of the uses (or should one rather speak trajectory of the uses (or should one Considering this The same act of reaching across social boundaries is discussed indiscussed is boundaries social across reaching of act same The signals precisely this notion of reaching across he acceptable social across this notion of reaching signals precisely boundaries graded and transfigured, endlessly and immanently, by the ecsta- the by immanently, and endlessly transfigured, and graded sy of annihilation. clus- of number a identify can we transgression, of abuses?) the of - tendency to either use transgres is a speaking, there ters. Broadly context (identifying which move practices sion in a socio-political in norms), locating transgression beyond the permissible or social cultural practices (the ways we interact with the world) and finally the norms and conventionsin aesthetic practices (moving beyond created by the fiction of authority). If we begin with what is maybe of overreaching as ways application of transgression the broadest taboos, we find that gues that only through a transgressive posture, which Lemish devel- posture, a transgressive gues that only through field be levelled. can the playing Heidegger, ops from article The Rise of the Underground Moulay Driss El Maarouf’s - of excremental to as the politics develops what he refers he where dirty-minded- through resistance ity; a way to articulate ways of ness. The music festival, in this case specificallyMorocco but con- with its carnivalesque mood becomes ceivably at work everywhere, the mu- performances not simply from a site for vulgar and profane the participants of the festival, which sicians themselves but from The same kind may then engender a community of transgression. of inclusive understanding is developed in the article Demokrati som by Martin Bak Jørgensen & Óscar García Agustín transgression position that democracy is only Ranciere’s Jacques from who argue included. Fo- are usually excluded achievable when those who are cussing specifically on Denmark’s immigration policies and how - which attempt to re groups challenged by transgressive these are In the same sphere. of the public sist neo-liberal discursive closure the place; unlikely an perhaps is what in transgression find we vein, the articles emphasize and educational practices. Two classroom first, The education. in transgression for need syl- canonical a transgressing suggests that Tide the Against Teaching zone between students a contact labus becomes a way of creating students’ learning and engage- increasing thereby and professors, focus ment in classes. Much in the same spirit but with a broader quarter

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12 Charlie Blake Charlie Steen Christiansen Transgression Now Transgression Volume 03 , Hvor viljen er lov og fornuften i eksil argues that iconic images may trans- that argues Icons of Transgression Heinsen’s article also allows us to trace a shift; a shift from the the to trace a shift; a shift from Heinsen’s article also allows us article of unity and images by challenging stereotypical normality gress of images of Charles Manson a reading wholesomeness. Through con- may turn from shows how viewers and Patty Hearst, Sørensen article Star into worshippers. Jørgen Riber Christensen’s sumers Intruder looks at how people may unex- Kid and the Bedroom Wars of a transgression pectedly become icons of the Internet, through to be is revealed Surveillance and celebrity the private sphere. at the same time that bound together with a disciplinary effect, - these moments may also have a subversive function. Other trans discussed by Jens Kirk in his article on the Internet are gressions where and Taboo, he argues that Transgression fan fiction is a genre - to pro texts in order favourite source readers’ which transgresses duce their own fiction, thereby changingreaders from consumers source the boundaries of certain time, same At the producers. to - texts must also be upheld, so that a fundamental distinction be tween fan and author may be maintained. where we see how the retelling of a historical incident – Sir Francis of a historical incident see how the retelling we where in 1578 – engages in establishingDrake executing Thomas Doughty the of community and the boundaries of historiography limits in - out The marginalized seafaring communities. connection with the challenge in this case John Cooke, becomes the means to both sider, and establish these boundaries. bound- (how are of transgression oriented readings politically more negotiated in a di- are aries established) to how these boundaries example of this is Catherine Lord, versity of cultural practices. One who in Dolphins Who Blow Bubbles shows how a documentary film in the practices it exposes and the ways may become transgressive the film forces us to engage with both cultural thresholds and ani- Bent Sørensen’s In much the same way, mal-human thresholds. discuss the history of and Christian Ydesen discuss the history Karen E. Andreasen in Denmark in their article Forsøgs- og udviklings school education the they show Here, praksis. transgressiv som grundskolen arbejde i ele- practices in the Danish of transgressive historical development - po alongside control government how revealing school, mentary them- experiments as much as educators shape these litical currents kind is of a quite different historical transgression Another selves. article found in Johan Heinsen’s quarter

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- - - 13 Charlie Blake Charlie Mia Rendix’s Steen Christiansen Transgression Now Transgression Kim Toft Hansen’s Toft Kim Volume 03 , where Rendix argues that that argues Rendix , where Typology as Tragic Transgression where Hansen argues Hansen argues Religion in Scandinavian Crime Fiction, where , where Rosenstand ar , where in Interactive Works Transgression Genre With Kirk’s argument, we also see that aesthetic practices become we also see that aesthetic Kirk’s argument, With find aWe different way of using transgression in A similar formalist interest governs Claus A. Foss Rosenstand’s similar formalist interest A part of the cultural practices where transgression plays a part. One transgression practices where part of the cultural practices is combination of cultural and aesthetic example of this article in Alla Ivanchikova’s cinema, discussed found in lesbian notions of law Ivanchikova investigates the Law, where with Flirting with flirt to invited is viewer the where heteronormative, the outside A as heteronormative. law and the law is no longer regarded the is manner, in the normative, although in a different similar interest - JensenEn grænse in his article for transgres by Mikkel broached so- transgression; of kinds different at looks which Jensen in sionen? cial or personal, finding that transgression becomes a way of self- A risk of serving as an empty act. development but also holds the and the discussion of transgression philosophically-oriented more article comes in Charlie Blake and Beth Johnson’s heteronormative - discuss ideas of post-transgres they Does the Porn Star Blush?, where sion in the of representation explicit sexual acts in film, where non- a search may point towards pornographic modes of representation for authenticity in the cinematic image. article Amer tragedy. European the kind from in differs tragedy American article that crime fiction in Scandinavia is moving towards becominga engagesand discusses hand the one on which genre, post-secular yet at the same time opens up for discussion (and with modernity, moder transgressing thereby spirituality, and religion of critique) article ican tragedy insists on a dual nature where cosmic harmony may where tragedy insists on a dual nature ican apocalyptic transgressions. through and recreated be shattered in found be can the cosmic on focus similar A concern for ontological divisions are related A nity’s own ideals. in article Ontologisk transgression found in Helle Thorsøe Nielsen’s types of Nielsen outlines a range of different Adaptation, where a range of different with the intention of uncovering transgression, Charlie case this in – fiction a of ontology the destabilizing of ways - Kafuman and Spike Jonze’s Adaptation. Going further than meta fictional transgression, Nielsen suggests several forms ofreflexive transgression. quarter

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arti- 14 Charlie Blake Charlie Helle Kannik Kannik Helle Steen Christiansen Transgression Now Transgression Volume 03 - Alves’ article The Trans Kathleen Thought is a comparative analysis the Danish transla- Food For Thought is a comparative analysis As we can see from this broad and diverse range of scholarship, and diverse this broad we can see from As One should not, of course, forget the centrality of at least three non- the centrality of at least three not, of course, forget One should intellectual modernist eagerly absorbed by the French thinkers French - to and Lewis Carroll tradition – Friedrich Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud cen- 20th in transgression of currents significant the of most not if many tury thought and culture. cle sig- tions of James Joyce’s Ulysses particularly as it pertains to the nificance of food, enhanced into a discussion of cannibalistic and cultural can- analysis shows how metaphors. Klitgaard’s religious of such a discussion. Steen Chris- nibalism inevitably becomes part Black Aronofsky’s article Body Refractions examines Darren tiansen’s Swan and the notions of character identification and bodily trans- that the digital morphing of Black Swan suggests formation, arguing cinematic image, one which can only be to the relation a different rather than representation. understood in terms of affect fatigue, the term remains of transgression despite a certain degree critically viable and if nothing else maintains an openness to other alternatives, even as they strain to find their form. gressive Literacy of the Comic Maidservant in Tobias Smollett’s Humphry Smollett’s Literacy of the Comic Maidservant in Tobias gressive us to social tensions by discussing the “servant Clinker returns are servants Smoellett’s Humphry Clinker, where in Tobias problem” to not exist as external subjects but instead as attendants in revealed Ida Klitgaard’s family. the discursive formation of the modern 1 discusses the generic reformations of complex artfilm strategies which migrate into popular film with the coming of the- multi-pro tagonist film, where the traditional narrative structures of Holly- remade. and altered are wood Notes Grænseoverskridende multi-protagonistfortællinger article Grænseoverskridende Hastrup’s gues for the genre transgression of interactive works as creating of interactive works as creating transgression gues for the genre characterized by the simulative genre, to as the what he refers - thus creat the communicator into a simulator, transformation of text. interactive any analysing for framework a ing quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 15 Charlie Blake Charlie . Translated . Translated Fred Botting & Fred Steen Christiansen Transgression Now Transgression Volume 03 . Translated by Rob- . Translated Translated by Paul Patton. Translated Capitalism & Schizophrenia. Vol. Vol. & Schizophrenia. Capitalism Capitalism & Schizophrenia. Vol. Vol. & Schizophrenia. Capitalism Visions of Excess: Selected Writings Excess: Selected Writings of Visions London & New York: Routledge, 2003. York: New & London Translated by Austryn Wainhouse. New New Austryn Wainhouse. by Translated . Translated III. Translated II & Volumes The Accursed Share: . Translated by Mary Dalwood. London: by Mary Dalwood. . Translated Eroticism Spinoza: Practical Philosophy Juliette. The Complete Justine, Philosophy in the Bedroom & The Complete Justine, Philosophy in the Bedroom Difference & Repetition. & Difference Transgression. Transgression. . Translated & edited by Allan Stoekl. Minneapolis: UAllan Stoekl. Minneapolis: & edited by 1927-1939. Translated 1985. of Minnesota Press, Zone Books, 1991. York: New by Robert Hurley. of the Dark Roll.” In The Lure italism and the Spirit of Rock and Edited by Demonology in Popular Culture. Side: Satan and Western EquinoxLondon: Christianson. Eric and Partridge Christopher Publishing Ltd, 2009. John Calder, 1962. John Calder, London: The Athlone Press, 1994. Athlone Press, London: The New Joughin. Martin by Translated . Deleuze Gilles 1972-1990: 1995. Columbia U.P., York: ert Hurley. San Francisco: City Lights Books, 1988. ert Hurley. Translated by Robert Hurley, Mark Seem & Hel- & Mark Seem by Robert Hurley, I: AntiOedpus. Translated 1984. Press, Arhlone en R. Lane. London: The Translated by Brian Massumi. London: London: by Brian Massumi. Translated Thousand Plateaus. II: A 1988. Athlone Press, The and Difference without Reserve.” In Writing gelian Routledge, 1978. Alan Bass. London: by Edited & translated by Richard Seaver & Aus- Seaver & Edited & translated by Richard Other Writings. 1965. Press, Grove York: New tryn Wainhouse. 1968. Press, Grove York: Oxford: Blackwell, 1998. Oxford: Reader. Critical A Bataille: Scott Wilson. References . Bataille, Georges Bataille, Georges. Gothic Cap Blake, Charlie. “Dark Theology: Dissident Commerce, Deleuze, Gilles. . “Sacrifices.” In “Sacrifices.” . Bataille, Georges . “Postscript on Control Societies.” In Negotiations.Deleuze, Gilles. “Postscript on Control . Deleuze, Gilles & Guattari, Felix Deleuze, Gilles. Deleuze, . Deleuze, Gilles & Guattari, Felix . “From a Restricted to a General Economy: A He- A a Restricted to a General Economy: Derrida, Jacques. “From De Sade, D.A.F. De Sade, D.A.F. No Alternative? Mark. Capitalist Realism: Is There Fisher, In Transgression.” to Preface “A Michel. Foucault, Jenks, Chris. Jenks, quarter

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kvarter akademisk 16 Charlie Blake Charlie Steen Christiansen Transgression Now Transgression Volume 03 . London: . London: Critical Introduction Bataille: A Georges The Thirst for Annihilation: Georges Bataille and Virulent Virulent and Bataille Georges Annihilation: for Thirst The London & New York: York: Nihilism (An Atheistic Essay in Religion). London & New Routledge, 1992. Pluto Press, 2000. Pluto Press, Theory and Philosophy: and Friendship.” In Angelaki II:I Creative J. Stivale. Oxford, Praxis. Edited by Felicity Colman & Charles 2006. . Nick Land, . Noys, Benjamin . “From Zig Zag to Affect, and Back: Creation, Life and Back: Creation, Affect, Zig Zag to . “From Stivale, Charles quarter

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kvarter akademisk akademiskkvarter Volume 03. Fall 2011 • on the web academic quarter

The Transgressive Posture Insights from Nano Discourse into the Ontology of Being a Transgressor

Peter Lemish is currently a faculty member appointed to the Global Media Research Center at Southern Illinois Univer- sity (Carbondale, Illinois, USA). Formerly, he was a faculty member, department chair, and academic director in various higher education institutions in Is- rael. His current research focuses on the roles of the media in social change and conflict transformation as well as civil society organizations’ media use.

A humanist living amidst economic injustice, violence, discrimina- tion, and oppression is in a situation ripe for transgression. Wheth- er hegemonic forces are advancing profits, national security, God’s word, self, or a combination of all of the above, those whose guiding vision is to realize equality and who are, therefore, deeply concerned about the fate of all others, are likely to be challenged, in- cessantly, to transgress that society’s social norms and laws. In such a situation, I contend, humanists chose to assume an ever- vigilant transgressive posture given their sense of the omnipresent necessity to resist infusions of inhumane hegemonic forces into every cell of social life. In exploring the nature of such an aptitude and how it evolves, this essay aims to advance development of a grounded theory of transgression by illuminating aspects of the ontology of transgression in everyday life. Explorations of this larger project are presented through analysis of four autobiographical nano discourse exchanges that contributed to the maturing of the author’s transgressive posture when living as an engaged humanist academic-activist in Israel-Palestine (1983-2008; n. b., this presentation deals only with the early stages of the author’s academic career there).

Volume 03 17 - - 18 Peter Lemish Peter mutuality [mūtō- to Volume 03 The Transgressive Posture The Transgressive questioning can reveal previous attempts previous negative questioning can reveal – and claimed that it involves Being-in-the Being-in-the it involves that claimed and Dasein– borders. The change agent or transgressor enters this zone The change agent or transgressor borders. , Heidegger (1927/1952) investigated ontological, Heidegger (1927/1952) investigated Being and Time In failed, or even misguided attempts at trans- minor, Second, major, authenticity - authenticity Problematizing Transgression: Transgression: Problematizing Transgression Need for an Ontology of individ- - as an act committed by an transgression The dynamics of requires social norms, beliefs, and values- laws as well as ual across and praxeol- of existence and action, ontology investigating matters existence),of nature the of understanding (an ontology From ogy. praxeology (i.e., From we can ask, what is like to be a transgressor? one per how does change), in a vision for social action grounded When linked, we can ask: What is principled transgression? form How are of the experience of performing transgression? the nature a develop- Is there transgressor? our actions linked to our Being-a- mental dimension to Being-a-transgressor? - alone but in social reality world; that is, Dasein is not experienced (i.e., social ontology; Mitsein - - Being-with-Others-in-the-world 1995; Olafson, 1998). Hence, Dasein and Mitsein evolve Dreyfus, re- establishing, including interactions, influential mutually through attempts to change Similarly, borders. transgressing specting, and of aspects derivative two involve norms social interactions between different change]. First, change occurs through rules,values, norms, opponents of and or supporters communities or laws ultimately transgressed. etc. that serve as social boundaries - including acts of transgres I submit that change efforts, However, zone lying in-be- sion, take place, in ontological terms, in a third tween social life in a manner experiences with their actions and, as a result, bor both within [sic] ‘reside’ who others from different significantly in-between, in separate, it exists is this space Figuratively, ders. to as the hyphen zone. be referred what I propose involve gression mutuality in the form of uponreflecting and ques- Mannheim, Fou- via Heidegger, situations. Indeed, tioning social cault, and we Freire, understand that reflecting on expressions of alternative relations, power social knowledge and values can reveal - arrangements, and thus can be an empowering experience. Follow ing Adorno, such to educate or impose, parochially, a sense that certain norms, values, a sense that to educate or impose, parochially, of social engineering immutable (i. e., forms beliefs, and so forth are quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - 19 knowl- Peter Lemish Peter Volume 03 The Transgressive Posture The Transgressive through which the acts of of acts the which through posture transgressive when they choose to transgress the the closed socialization when they choose to transgress presented in this paper is an excellent example of in this paper is an excellent example Nano discourse presented Thus, my general claim is that development of a grounded theory development of a grounded Thus, my general claim is that Language is knowledge-power: The case of nano discourse The link between Dasein and language is key in both the ontology Foucault’s project For example, and praxeology of transgression. of in the social processes discourse plays involved tracing the roles and and maintaining power relations legitimating, constructing, inter- (1977, 1980) that power and knowledge are He argued truths. produce subjects which through medium a is discourse and related relations. power and reflect the role of language and the potentialities of reflection on more and, reality social of nature the illuminating in edge-power a micro- be to this define I experience. transgressive the specifically, and closed socialization). Thus, transgression is a contra-induction Thus, transgression and closed socialization). under to inculcate false, ideological that exposes attempts process Such andreflection questioningstandings - cru are of social reality. into what I propose matures in what eventually cial processes a as to referred be how the matur Therefore, eventually committed. are transgression for is crucial begins and evolves into such a posture ing transgressor understanding the ontology of transgression. - of the transgres must be concerned with the nature of transgression - forc dynamics, the understand to us enable will it as experience sor transgression Indeed, act. transgressive the of potentialities and es, the interface of self-authen- is an excellent opportunity to investigate of Self attempting to ethics, and action; that is, the experience ticity, the humanist perspective (Bauman, from lead a moral life; here, of the work of 1977). Such inquiry was at the core 1973; Heidegger, who helpeda Brazilian critical social phenomenologist, Paulo Freire, of praxis: actions undertaken through us understand the nature praxis understanding and moral judgment. For example, structural demonstrates that individuals can performance of transgression ‘override’ in which they live. This may be of the social order norms and rules demon- and constructivism seen as the ultimate form of humanist strates the importance of reflection and empowerment that evolves such a process. through quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 20 Peter Lemish Peter [expla- Subjective Volume 03 The Transgressive Posture The Transgressive - a worldview or paradigm of or paradigm of weltanschauung - a worldview To demonstrate these claims, I analyze each of the following nano To thinking. Via Foucault [and Mannheim, below], nano discourse is Foucault [and Mannheim, thinking. Via The structures. macro-knowledge-power of expression reflexive a that a hermeneutic exercise exemplars is, therefore, analysis of nano reveals the reflexive ontological [Dasein] view of the world [Mit- potential of in- trove As such, nano discourse is a treasure sein]. particularin a relations for understanding power-knowledge sights evolv- an in role crucial a play can they reflection, with and, context; politically em- and that is self-revealing posture transgressive ing to demonstrate these claims inpowering. The analysis below seeks contrib- and, thereby, posture an evolving transgressive to relation theory of transgression. ute to development of a grounded Posture Transgressive Grounded Evidence of the evolves posture that transgressive Evidence in support of the claim activists’ everyday life experiences [Dasein-authenticity through social interaction, Mitsein] is presented of self - evolves through - of four nano discourse exchanges. The chronologi analyses through nature evolving the illuminates exemplars these of presentation cal though I am not advocating a linear development of this posture, - by the need for vigilance regard but rather a holistic praxis driven Two principle of human equality. ing violations of the fundamental among incidents from used to select these primary criteria were numerous nano exemplars. First, through reflection at the time knowledge-power insights into deep social structures, they provided self, and action potentialities. That is, they demonstrate that social transgressor, the empower can reflection with together exchanges assist acts. Second, they hence priming the activist for transgressive posture evolution of the transgressive the in conceptualization of and experience. cases via Karl Mannheim’s (1924) “Documentary Method of Inter nations by participants and observers of why act took place]; and, of and to deep social Documentary [links the act, as a ‘document’ communicative act, usually consisting of spontaneously-issued, act, usually consisting of spontaneously-issued, communicative - encapsu that individuals between exchanges sentence two-three late, a reflexively, are interpretations three Mannheim demonstrated that pretation”. possible for every social act: Objective [descriptive statement of where]; and when, whom, with happened, what quarter

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Peter Lemish Peter Volume 03 The Transgressive Posture The Transgressive As we see today, exiling every last one of them As we see today, he led speculation in response to my question - what he led speculation in response My first year academic appointment at an Israeliresearch uni- a satellite campus locatedversity in 1984 included teaching at the Col- Accordingly, Mountains. the Nazareth of the foot at of the area’s representative student population is strongly lege’s between class sessions in the majority Arab population. Breaks lively and informative about Israeli were faculty room College’s geographer who is still an influential, multi-govern- A society. conversant. Discussing ment insider was a leading Monday to Israeli-Arab THE CONFLICT one evening [reference Conflict], should Israel do differently? - by surveying all the actions pos- should Israel do differently? Con- The defined he as situations; war civil inter-ethnic, in sible 1948 in mistake fatal a made had Israel that concluded He flict. and since: “ and[PL: Palestinians] is the best - no - the only solution; ” until we do so, we will never succeed. interpretation that follows is my interpretation that follows is my interpretation Documentary interpretation interpretations are presented presented are interpretations Descriptive and Subjective structures]. of nano discourse [bolded]. my reconstructions [in italics] through The spe- and, more deeper social structures the incident to that relates posture. transgressive the evolving cifically, Border Framing 1. : At the time, this opinion – increasingly popular in popular in opinion – increasingly At the time, this Documentary: Israel in recent years - was rarely voiced in public. On reflection, framing’ of two im- me with a ‘border then, this statement provided the Zionist Project: continue to drive that portant primary truths First, the foundational statement in the state’s 1948 Declaration of a not is democratic” state “Jewish and a is that Israel Independence is a clear commitment to two equally weighted values, rather there democratic. then, and, Jewish foremost and first be must it priority: a solely Jewish state of Is- Second, the ideological demand to create social analyzes that lead historical and rael drives conclusions from “rational thinking [Jewish] Israelis” to accept multiple governments’ the state will continue to exist. These to assure actions taken in order undemocratic policies and actions taken explain why clearly truths by the state against Palestinians living within and beyond Israel’s quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 22 Peter Lemish Peter Volume 03 The Transgressive Posture The Transgressive a ‘state of all its citizens’ would influenced my understand- my influenced border framing Reflection on this stark this on Reflection : Transgression Born and educated in California, I first came to ing that these were the fundamental assumptions of nearly all of the fundamental assumptions of nearly all of ing that these were this concretely, the Israelis I met in everyday interactions. More statementpartici- students into inculcated truths the encapsulated pating in my courses – both Jews and Palestinians, though each While I could held diametrically opposing views of their veracity. - transgres situation, I acted in a politicized highly this ignored have university every of session first the in declared I when manner sive - course: “As in mathematical or biological discussions, inquiry con of na- ducted in an academic institution should be conducted free In doing so, I borders.” or any super-imposed tional, religious, - in-between ethnic or reli a hyphenated classroom, sought to create invited to expe- were in which Jews and Palestinians gious borders, when engaged their communities’ own boundaries rience crossing led some Jewish- in intellectual discourse. Pursuing this approach “Pal- the as me, cynically, to refer to students colleagues and Israeli estinian lecturer.” involve transgressive actions. Hence, upon reflection, this statement this reflection, upon Hence, actions. transgressive involve fundamental humanist principlewas judged to be a violation of a for example, to later a focus for resistance, became turn in this and stating this fun- parties from legislative action that forbids political damental democratic in the party platform. principle 1948 borders – such as, post-1967 annexation of East Jerusalem and annexation of East Jerusalem – such as, post-1967 1948 borders economic sanc- in occupied Palestine, use of settlement activities maintaining sub-standard Gaza, the Wall, of tions against residents living and second class citizenship for Palestinians living conditions across and accepted by Jewish-Israelis rationalized in Israel – are spectrum. political nearly the entire student in 1971 to study theIsrael as a non-Zionist, Jewish graduate and Jews to establish a bi-nation- 1930s movement of Palestinians later with my over a decade there al, democratic state. I returned studies in the United States.young family after completing doctoral in developing the democrat- interest had a strong Thus, though I of Israel-Palestine, the geographer’snature ic concise statement ‘primed’ foundations me by framing so concisely the non-humanist meant‘democratic’ of fate the Problematizing the Zionist Project. of humanist-driven demo fundamental the achieve seeking to that cratic principle that Israel become quarter

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kvarter akademisk 23 exem- nano Peter Lemish Peter Volume 03 The Transgressive Posture The Transgressive In 1993, a Palestinian sociologist and I discussed transitions in sociologist and I discussed transitions In 1993, a Palestinian our lives as engaged academics and reflected on our life-histo- each of Coincidently, to meetings in Jerusalem. ries as we drove - me for extended periods in another country us had been living living in Cana- an American living in Israel, he a Palestinian must have been hard forda. At one point he observed that “it thespontaneously: “That is which I replied, To adjust”. you to last thing I want to do”. : This exchange is paradigmatic of the knowledge- : This Transgression is as a The importance of this statement for me then, and now, 2. Having a Safe Haven Having a Safe 2. : My statement is the ultimate rejection of the Zionist Documentary: My statement is the ultimate rejection e., to establish a Jewish state in Israel] assumed to be em- [i. Project live in Israel [Jews and Palestini- braced and embodied by all who – as a state and as a culture. to normalize Jewish life ans]: Namely, all usually the Jewish immigrant, this involves For the newcomer, tasks (e. macro-nationalized manner of closed socialization; from military service) to completing compulsory g., learning Hebrew, thesongs on g., (e. Being-Zionist one’s of cell every micro-infusing names). children’s radio, power nature of nano discourse. Though never self-identifiedas a - speak was I statement this in that understood I reflection on Zionist, ing ‘truth to power’. Furthermore, in defining myself as Being-as- that I live a hyphenated existence in-between here I declared Other, the Jewish and Palestinian societies. . I was also ac- posture the transgressive declaration straight from vigilance need for omnipresent of my knowledging an awareness - and continuous praxis – including the need to act at any given mo forms of Zionist culture, ment to counteract, oppose, and transgress including the nuclei of Being, albeit unwilling, but still party to a of trans- colonialist enterprise. In terms of the ontological nature - power-knowl of potential reflective the understanding and gression edge, this spontaneous statement was the act that placed me in the praxis, this was a ‘minor’ as - hypen-zone. However, act of transgres sion emitted in a safe, non-conflict situation; that is, with a like- this from gained insight Another Palestinian. minded of process the in activists by needed are havens safe that is plar quarter

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- 24 Peter Lemish Peter Volume 03 The Transgressive Posture The Transgressive When we met to discuss this project, the new Director ques- the new Director When we met to discuss this project, - re activists educational Palestinian and Israeli few a 1990, In enabling project a conduct ceived a Ford Foundation-grant to - and Palestine reconcilia senior educators involved in Jewish tion - co-existence projects to reflect on our efforts with col- Coordinator Project As conflicts. intractable other from leagues in sponsorship and housing of the project I was able to secure - new Center Direc A the Haifa University Jewish-Arab Center. between submission andtor had been appointed in the interim ofplace in geographer Jewish [different] a grant; the receiving of literature. a Palestinian professor Arab citizens to Israel’s to refer tioned our use of ‘Palestinian’ bor- 18% of the population within the pre-1967 then about [PL con- those including studies- research that explained We ders]. of the members who are ducted by historians and sociologists form of identi- - verify that this self-referential Board Center’s reject- fication and is historical. both widespread The Director “Since and issued the following ultimatum: ed this argument change the Palestinians, you must Arabs, not they are Supported by the Ford Foun- wording or lose the project.” In- to the to comply and moved the project dation, we refused ternational Center for Peace in the Middle East. developing a transgressive posture, as occurs when participating in posture, developing a transgressive actions. group and transgressive vigils, demonstrations, 3. Resistance : This incident references Israel’s now historic strategy Documentary: This incident references to Palestinians in public discourse. any manner of reference to refuse The most famous ‘document’ supporting this claim is the statement by Prime Minister Golda Meir in an interview with The Sunday Times It is no such thing as a Palestinian people... on June 15, 1969: “There They country. their took and out them threw and came we if as is not the Zionist per accepting this term, from didn’t exist.” Obviously, spective, would legitimize Palestinian claims of historic residency spective, would legitimize Palestinian claims of historic residency documentsstate in “allowed” terms two the Instead, ethnicity. and Arab Israelis [note to references are and public discourse, until today, Christian, Moslem, – religion by identification Center’sor the name] quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 25 Peter Lemish Peter Volume 03 The Transgressive Posture The Transgressive In 1994, the International Center for Peace in the Middle East my appointment as recommended [ICPME] Board of Directors with the task of leading their efforts charged Executive Director, : This incident contributes three aspects to our un- : This incident contributes three Transgression was too serious a matter Second, the boundary set by the Director unforeseen in living meant stand a taking and resistance Third, 4. Playing for High Stakes Druze, Circassian. The irony of the second set of references is that of the second set of references The irony Circassian. Druze, - societies and states’ his non-Jewish repudiated the Zionist Project - Ameri or the them in Europe to Jews living among toric references of this incident is exemplary Furthermore, group. cas as a religious collaboration of of the Zionist ideology and the depth of penetration the claim of hence, proving this ideology; academics in reproducing enterprise, even in a research the totalizing infusion of the Zionist Arab/ discussing both Jewish and center dedicated to studying and Palestinian societies. . First, this exchange posture derstanding of an evolving transgressive as a form of jousting or even taunting, as might be viewed, arguably, enjoy- often is this admittedly, While, debate. academic in happens in academia and in public dis- able and serves to hone arguments form ofserves as a such jousting of transgression, course, in terms – of self and others – to gain a sense of “testing the waters [borders]” go.what is possible, or how far one can our solely in the domain of discourse. From to be allowed to remain of the Zionist view and transgression active resistance point of view, ultimatum would violate two since accepting the was necessary, refer of its own terms use to any people of the right [a] principles: theto investigate was of this project ence; [b] one of the primary aims - to re work, as a remedy need for asymmetrical or “uni-national” fusal by Israeli educational authorities to allow Palestinians to study institutions. in formal educational their own history and culture While this ways with the consequences of the act of transgression. of nano discourse, nature given the spontaneous may be unforeseen multiple consequences of such acts. The positive always are there leaders and partici- solidarity among project consequences were work the advancing and project, the for home new a finding pants, and educational activism. too, as acts of resistance of the project, quarter

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Peter Lemish Peter Volume 03 The Transgressive Posture The Transgressive he said, interrupting me in an abrupt manner: “I think thathe said, interrupting me in an abrupt the appoint- be in touch.” I did not receive will be all. We’ll . ment as Executive Director to support implementation of the 1993 Oslo Peace Agreement. of the 1993 Oslo Peace Agreement. to support implementation full spec- the civil society action arm of the Though ICPME was trum of social democratic parties in Israel, final confirmation lead- unofficial organization’s the of approval receiving required former Minister of ranking Labor Party member and a high er, his well- 1970s. Our meeting took place in Justice in the early activities, current my about Asked Aviv. Tel in offices appointed discussion sessions for the country’s I described my organizing first conference on torture, sponsored by various organizations workers, doctors, andof Jewish and Palestinian mental health stated briskly: “Torture? educators. The ICPME titular leader which I explained that for me that question To What torture?” in 1971 when “I walked behind the police sta- was answered late at night.” “I see,” tion near the Russian Compound Furthermore, this nano exemplar is an interesting documentary this nano exemplar is an interesting Furthermore, ing the Mandate period. The activities undertaken by the securitying the Mandate period. The activities at the time, audible to an open secret the police station were in forces Compound along Zamora anyone walking behind the Russian of admitting such in the middle of the night. The implications Street acquiescence obvious and demonstrate Jewish-Israelis’ policies are - with policies of denial of anything that imputes what multiple gov ernments have defined tobe their highest mission - willingness to state (e. g., manufac- the Jewish commit any and all actions to secure attacks on civilian popu- and possession of nuclear armaments, ture of Palestinian-Israeli hu- arrests lations in Occupied Palestine, recent man rights workers). it exposes [a] Labor Party culpability for policies because referent that many persons outside of Israel consider to be inhuman; [b] the its commitments and manner with which Israel interprets borders and [c] so-called Jewish ‘left’ parties to international agreements; committed to hu- Zionist, and then, perhaps, first and foremost are manist-democratic principles. : Situated next to the beautiful Russian Orthodox Russian Orthodox Documentary: Situated next to the beautiful western side in the newer, the walls of the Old City, outside church, dur 1920s the in British by built was station police the Jerusalem, of quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 27 Peter Lemish Peter Volume 03 The Transgressive Posture The Transgressive : This incident exemplifies four key points regarding regarding points key four exemplifies incident This : Transgression Another rich area for further investigation and conceptualiza- for further investigation Another rich area the inquiry undertaken here: First, as I recall, this incident meets the First, as I recall, here: the inquiry undertaken discourse, as it was neither planned spontaneous criterion of nano this is by Second, intentional act of transgression. nor a consciously - rep act, at least in the view of the public all accounts a transgressive of the politicians who accused organizers by the media and resented example of this is a mature of being state traitors. Third, conference evolved it as praxis, activist guiding posture transgression the less Fourth, accounts. previous in exemplified processes through in this case, as I was denied the po- positive consequences occurred signifi- in involvement for potential the had time the at which sition that we know in hindsight, ultimately failed. cant processes Discussion which trans- through posture the aspects of explored This essay of nano undertaken, in this case via analyses actions are gressive micro with potential for insights into discourse - a rich resource that have not been the focus of social knowledge-power relations overarching The 1967). Garfinkel, g., (e. time some quite for inquiry to development of a ground goal, in doing so, was to contribute ed theory of transgression. Beyond this investigation, future studies future investigation, this Beyond transgression. of theory ed investigate the might of transgression of the ontological nature other aspects of experiencing claims made in this essay by probing beyond the and experiencing transgression Being-a- transgressor playingand resistance, havens, safe framing, - here examined four for high stakes. - which transgres tion is Being in-between, in the hyphen zone, from sive actions take place. Entering this zone might be conceived of as as a “leap of faith”. If so, the experience portrayed by Kierkegaard has made the leap – in OK, once one we might ask, proverbally: laws, and so of social norms, breaking borders our case, crossing beyond forth, what is it like to experience doing so and to act from new understandings and views devel- Are border? the previous as well as, look- borders, in the zone in-between social oped there perhaps into one’s former world? Or, the border, ing back, a-cross one-time move? is not such a dramatic, performing transgression Rather, the border proves to be more porous and fluid than once undertaken. If so, what is the are imagined, and multiple crossings quarter

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kvarter akademisk 28 Peter Lemish Peter Volume 03 The Transgressive Posture The Transgressive - perspective, we could investi an ontological For example, from thesewith perspective, new rich, this from Being Investigating this enriched, praxis from investigating of praxeology, In terms nature of these experiences? If these latter versions occur, then then If these latter versions occur, of these experiences? nature and, as the transgressive process, is a very dynamic transgression and forth and gain move back as transgressors matures, posture beyond life within and of new understandings experience, what develop? former borders of Being in the hyphen zone as an experience and gate the nature to, one’s though necessarily related from, way of Being different former ‘home’. One may speculate that reflection and viewing so- avenues new with us provides perspective new this from life cial challenges, for example, in for exploration and discovery; poses and forti- resourcefulness terms of identity development; requires home from judgment and oppositional critique with dealing tude in co-inhabiting this new – and quite possibly by fellow transgressors us that provide us to seek sources territory; and, in doing so, leads with validation and support. between Being relations dynamics, should lead us to understand our geo-political drawn upon beyond in this domain and resources enrich, and drive transgressive and/or social domains that inspire, Human Rights, work of humanpraxis; such as, the Declaration of and the International Court of Justice – in the rights organizations, democratic activists in Israel. In other words, case of transgressive, with other Being in the hyphen zone may well involve relations social transgressive in involved resources and influence of spheres change efforts. dynamic view of the hyphen zone may enable us to understand the spe- More actions. transgressive of nature productive and creative Being investigating actions undertaken by transgressors cifically, - potential and pro in-between may help us understand the creative of that involve creation of hybridity as processes ductive nature new material and conceptual entities that both draw upon but are one’s ‘home’ and the Others’ than the sum of the stimuli from more socialand geo-political ones beyond sources from as, well as zone, and Being posture domains. Thus, investigating the transgressive how social change is essential for understanding in-between borders in contemporary as we see in relations develops as a global entity, the and Movement Party Tea the from movements social popular quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - - - 29 Peter Lemish Peter Volume 03 The Transgressive Posture The Transgressive - view of transgres dynamic, multi-dimensional Continuing this investigating these domains and questions, I hope this Aside from conceptualization let me acknowledge that approaching Finally, Arab Spring to global Occupy Wall Street Movement – at the timethe at – Movement Street Wall Occupy global to Spring Arab and beyond?of this writing - is an the experience of transgression that while sion, we can argue it is in returning as in the existential leap of faith, individual action, Heidegger’sto withundertaken action an also of Mitsein concept your con- physically or supporting you beyond there others who are forms of virtual and so- via mediated even globally, a far, text, from of ideas and funds. If so, wecial media, as well as, contributions ininteraction social global of role the investigating also be should the dynamics of experiencing transgression. development of a grounded essay has demonstrated that advancing investigations of a rich, varied cor requires theory of transgression acts and experiences. Such a corpus includes pus of transgressive such as, -public sphere; acts performed in the macro transgressive that attract media attention, revealing dramatic acts of resistance or – in the case of contem- as undertaken by WikiLeaks, state secrets support- passed in July 2011that porary Israel – violating legislation Divestment, Sanctions] be helders of the BDS Movement [Boycott, entities, Israel-associated by suffered damages financial for culpable - re directly Palestine. More such as Settler enterprises in Occupied per I submit that transgression here, lated to the analysis presented - in develop relevant -social encounters is extremely formed in micro such as acts performed in theory of transgression; ing a ground and general social norms. gender-sexual, religious, transgressing - autobiographical analysis re through posture of the transgressive several decades ago. Cer nano incidents from that I address quired this tainly events in Israel-Palestine have shifted dramatically from might still have an im- period when we felt that democratic forces pact against the overtly colonialist Zionist enterprise. Historically, insightful analyses of Israel during have produced other scholars (e. g., Kimmer a humanist perspective this period and since from as I began initially in this essay, ling, 2001; Pappe, 2010). However, my experiences in Israel-Palestine as well as the empirical exemplars of the totalizing selected to be illustrative of nano discourse were of social life, as well as, sites where that infuse micro-aspects forces and is acted upon in everyday matures posture the transgressive quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 30 Peter Lemish Peter Volume 03 The Transgressive Posture The Transgressive . NY: Continuum. . NY: . Trans. F. Capuzzi. NY: Harper & Row. Capuzzi. NY: F. Trans. tin Heidegger. NJ: Prentice-Hall. & Row. Harper E. Robinson. NY: Paul. Ithaca: Cornell. Bouchard. ald F. theon. . Englewood Cliffs, H. (1967). Studies of ethnomethodology. Englewood Cliffs, Garfinkel, J. Macquarrie & . Trans. M. (1927/1962). Being and Time Heidegger, of Mar M. (1977). Letter on humanism. Basic Writings Heidegger, References Routledge & Kegan as Praxis. London: Bauman, Z. (1973). Culture p. 162. . Cambridge: MIT Press, Dreyfus, H. (1995). Being-in-the-World Practice. Ed. Don- Foucault, M. (1977). Language, Counter-memory, Pan- NY: Foucault, M. (1980). Power/Knowledge. Ed. Colin Gordon. (1970). Pedagogy of the Oppressed Freire, P. Acknowledgments Dafna Lemish, Lee- Byerly, Carolyn I want to thank the reviewers, - and Robbie Lieberman for their support and insight shai Lemish, earlier versions of this manuscript. ful comments in reading social life. Such situations are not limited to Israel-Palestine, as there as there not limited to Israel-Palestine, are social life. Such situations in which humanists situations, globally, multiple contemporary are feel and systems to advance democratic cultures and those seeking such as actions taken by forces; anti-democratic compelled to resist - re opposing or global capitalist forces anti-GLBT, super-nationalist, ascountries, of residents and citizens all among equality of alization the across movement spreading Street we see in the Occupy Wall democratic initiatives by activists in China and Similarly, world. rich resources Arab countries are democratic movements in the 2011 and maturing of transgression for investigating the evolution and Conducting investigations of these and posture. the transgressive contribute not the potential to have phenomena many other such but, more theory of transgression, only to developing a grounded of activ- to understand the nature are essential if we are broadly, ism and social change. quarter

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kvarter akademisk 31 Peter Lemish Peter Volume 03 The Transgressive Posture The Transgressive Karl Mannheim: Essays in the sociology of knowledge in the sociology schauung. In Karl Mannheim: Essays Routledge & Kegan Paul. (pp. 33-83). London: . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. sein. Cambridge: Cambridge University in Israel. London: Pluto Press. Freedom . Los Angeles and Berkeley:Angeles . Los and Military in Israel State, Culture Press. University of California - Weltan of the interpretation On 1952). (1924/ Mannheim, Karl. of Ethics: Study of Mit- Heidegger &the Ground (1998). Olafson, F. Academic for Struggle – The Frame the of (2010). Out I. Pappe, The Invention and Decline of Israeliness: (2001). The Invention and Kimmerling, B. quarter

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The Rise of the Underground Moroccan Music festivals between Laughter, Drunkenness, and Excre-Mentality

Moulay Driss El Maarouf born in 1981, got his MA in Cultural Studies at the Moroccan Cultural Studies Centre, Fez, studying gender construction in advertising photography. Currently he is doing a PhD on the local and global dynamics of Moroccan music festivals at the Bayreuth International Graduate School of African Studies, Germany. He also has a penchant for fiction and poetry.

This paper treats the concept of laughter and humor in relation to music and music festivals in Morocco, against the dominant bleak background practices of violence, social injustice, poverty, and political corruption. I deal with the festival as a site of theatricality and terrain for the production of laughter, while putting emphasis on the rituals of defiance, anger, cynicism, madness which, by giving birth to complex artistic gags, help explore humor as transgression. Music festivals are seats for the materialization of the politics of excrementality which is developed to describe a type of mentality inspired by images and metaphors of excrementation, disgust, and the violence they presuppose, to create a new platform for dirty-mindedness not as mere vulgarity but as resistance. The festival spurs a carnivalesque atmosphere of celebration involving music and an audience, breaking down the separation between performers and spectators. In such an atmosphere, music pilots drunkenness and drunkenness stirs laughter. Such laughter is complex because, while drunkenness can generate it, it can otherwise be fully cognizant. Should laughter be sparkled by wine, it should also be sparkled by calculation and intent and a seriously somber desire to translate these into laughter, a mixture of sound and grimaces, that makes it all the more drunk. To laugh soberly is to cushion thinking within amusement, to paraphrase an emo-

Volume 03 32 - 33 Volume 03 Moulay Driss El Maarouf Driss El Moulay The Rise of the Underground of the The Rise The prestigious halo of the modern music festival in Morocco, Morocco, in festival music the modern of halo prestigious The Are you Laughing at me? No, just the Other that is you Are you Laughing at me? No, festival the I less powerful could Laughter can be disturbing. In the laugh- especially those in power, laugh at anything and everything, and it creates being perfectly achievable within the atmosphere ter on the mar is produced The laughter of the oppressed it. creates tion into coded body reactions, aware the worlds of laughter are the worlds of laughter are aware body reactions, tion into coded if stays, drunkenness of aspect The words. with their own replete moods. drunk-like in laughter produces that excess we consider be- for and reasons causes where ambiguity, In the midst of this hind laughter are lost and definitions of the funny are unattain- disguise, becomes aided by the general festival able, laughter, we in laughter, sinks When the festival precarious. treacherously In the least, in a festi- the reason. should stop till we have known val, laughter is the people’s way of triumphing over their terrors (Hollis, 2001). Laughter carries autocracy. gins of social insecurity and political who, when he the oppressed when it comes from weight great neither place, produced out of that it is laughs, the autocrat knows nestAlthough the festival can be a good nor by prosperity. by joy, it is not laughter should still be out of place, because for laughter, When the social reality. genuinely generated against a pleasurable autocrat fails to reasonablefind laughing a matter within the whole laughter where is of things, he thinks that if there orchestration can be almost only one subject that there laughter should be scarce, who is likely to reap and should be ridiculous for the oppressed the mass, and this subject is himself. from that much appreciation cannot the oppressor The festival weaves out a situation whereby the claims of amity and for having exploited jail the oppressed to make him subject to the festival warmth he advances through meanings the unravel to is objective my fieldworker, a As derision. music festivals, together of laughter in urban music and and effects the geo-limited terrain of power relations spectrum with the large and the mil- powerful the I more between of the festival involves - lions of Is less powerful that block the peripheries of social, eco nomic and political life. where millions of dollars are invested, reflects the image of those who make a payment to sell this image to the exterior world. For quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - 34 Volume 03 Moulay Driss El Maarouf Driss El Moulay The Rise of the Underground of the The Rise - prestig the prestige, the by terrified not is subject’ ‘festival The - in the postcolony con and prestige for majesty Mbembe the search that the the bizarre and of crudeness tains within it “elements official order tries hard to hide, but that ordinary people bring to the people 2001, p.109) While for Mbembe its attention.” (Mbembe, , in the procession in the context of presidential do it ‘unwittingly’ is calculated the come by accident. Since agency festival it does not to a num- joke is a reference agent laughs because the circulating together deliberately to convey a ber of observable quotes brought the is meant to offer prestige particular opinion. While the festival festival as a ‘ritual of confirmation’ to use Mbembe’s words, the masse’- breaks en ‘assembles calls Mbembe what dance- body in into laughter in the face of break the silence by inciting the body to elites. of confidence the and discourse official the of lies evident the (Mbembe, 2001, p128-129). be- decorations, and power stately secure who those and ious, of stat- teases all sorts of prestige at the heart presence cause their or what powerful brings the m-ass (mob-ass) I more The ures. the court of power and author bakhtin calls the substratum into should it behaves (m-ass) mass the If behave. to it asks and ity is it especially improper, and offensive as twice gestures produce intoxicating boosters. The fes- inebriated by laughter and other tival brings the socially excluded to entertain a ritual of confir mation and reaffirmation of the status of the subject and that of to comfort the status quo, to maintain master-slave, master, the designs therefore Laughter and to show loyalty. down-top roles between two antagonistic dis- for confrontation a battleground issues courses. Humour is used in the festival to discuss sombre the autocrat to won- It prompts with sorry and distrust. replete ‘no, while the response at me?’, you laughing ‘Are der nervously: the other’just is a delicate way of asking the question: which the other can now reverse other? Once thought to be the other, associated with those in the self (always the game and declare since the space of the festival, fraught by However, power) other. and colours, is almost extraordinary music, dance and laughter, is so and fantastic there fantastic, and because it is extraordinary complex- the epistemological no way to edit out the subject from ity of the festival text. quarter

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kvarter akademisk 1 - - 35 Volume 03 Moulay Driss El Maarouf Driss El Moulay The Rise of the Underground of the The Rise A Humor is the Biasse of the Mind Humor A By which, with violence, ‘tis one way inclin’d By which, with violence,

, (1987, p. vii) departs from the assump- Dundes in Cracking Jokes, (1987, p. vii) departs from Festival Doppelganger: The Interface The Interface Doppelganger: Festival Violence and between Laughter in their core festivals witnessed radical changes Music and music of beau- innocent celebrations being, marking a shift from of reason the times of demise of inno- love and the arts to celebrations in ty, love and the arts by the beauty, cence and the contamination of political of the festival as beauty fol- and the ideological. The death of the har the concepts where society, lowed of organic the failure the moussem, blind marriage feasts, the halqa, vest, the crops, for blind marriages have been festivities merchant, country dweller, dis antagonism, cynicism and control, tainted by discursive power, politi- local traumas (terror), to unsettling In fanatical reaction trust. Arab world for democracy in the cal disturbances (the bloody quest and social anomaliesAfrica in particular) in general and the North and authoritarianism social of by petrifying episodes superseded anxiety , music and music festivals have the widening of underclass and violent modes of comic jesting. given way to profane asserting that ‘no piece oftion that nothing happens in a vacuum, continues to be transmitted unless it means something- folklore articulate what if neither the speaker nor the audience can -even in the festival cameral that meaning might be.’ Humor as protest with symbolic and literal vio- pregnant comes heterogeneously music or any and through theatrical gestures lence. Either through other comic manners, the incarnation of violence characterizes the of language (musi- within a violent language birth of laughter from the social milieu or posture), cal text for instance), the body (attires and places between incongruities urban graffiti, structures, (urban of counter-violence itself signals an amount concepts). Protest either led mounted against existing modes of violence. Protests, the vio- blood, capture art or violently through peacefully through hints at a burning de- whose gesture lent mindset of the protestor that goes with it. Humor’s for change and the sense of struggle sire against,or for can operate polarity: it peculiarity lies in its elastic deny or affirm, oppress or liberate. On the one hand, it reinforces of such it facilitates the inversion pejorative images; on the other, quarter

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2 is l 36 Volume 03 Moulay Driss El Maarouf Driss El Moulay as more or less patho- as more The Rise of the Underground of the The Rise ing all this from our dis- our dis- ing all this from , 1) , sion on humor and laughter. oretical or analytical account account or analytical oretical according to Andrew J. Webber J. Webber Andrew to according (1996 logically divided between reality between reality logically divided This paper cannot as- and fantasy. all-inclusive an to present pire the Doppel and Doppelgänger the on gänger acts in the festival, but it a glimpse into some will provide Dua ‘chronischer of examples dualism) in the mu- mus’(chronic sic festival, without, of course, dis sociat cus Plate 1 Boskin calls our attention to the elasticity of humor. I should only to the elasticity of humor. Boskin calls our attention is a typi- festival in 2010, the Boulevard Plate one, taken from stereotypes. Just as it has been utilized as a weapon of insult and been utilized as a weapon of insult Just as it has stereotypes. as a device oftoo, has humor been implemented persecution, so, (Boskin, 1997, p 38) subversion and protest. is a wonderful scenery Africa to that chaos in postcolonial add humor as a through Protest instills order. against which laughter to alleviate is after all a vent for the oppressed quest for restoration ‘Music and humor of subjugation and inferiority. the sad brutalities us, remind the black’, Schechter for outlet universal more a provided hymns “protest” be considered what may the medium of ‘through with courageous double-enten- in today’s vernacular--spirituals the from of comic relief a small measure lyrics that provided dre Indeed, 1970, p. 26).’ of slavery (Schechter, and hardships cruelty sense of humor and chaos, of order postcolonial laughter (a mixture good and mischief pacification, and violence sadness, and sense and Such duality duality. the existence of some will) brings to the fore - undy the by symptomized doubles of set unmanageable an arrests and between the margin ing lines, however fuzzy and trespasable, the mass and the m-ass, oppressor, and the the oppressed the center, good. evil and humor and sufferance, theatricality and reality, the subject, whose acts represent cal example of the Doppelgänger, quarter

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kvarter akademisk 37 Volume 03 Moulay Driss El Maarouf Driss El Moulay The Rise of the Underground of the The Rise A major premise has it that Doppelgänger acts premise major A 3 The language of duality spoken in plates one and The language of duality spoken Plate 2 two summarizes the characteristic of doubletalk. Thetwo summarizes the characteristic two photos portraiture the flowing of a double dialogue system. On the one hand, the Joker wears two on top of them, two statements (sadness and, faces, face sad his on drawn Laughter is joy). imposed and color with which a tear is dotted un- in the same red der his right eye. On the other hand, the plate two First death is doubly mocked. a scene where shows at tries but gun, a into fingers her draws woman the the same time to turn her facial language into evidence of death. She is proposing for the seriousness death is a woman who dis- where a funny parody playsI will kill you, and if you or else a “be scared don’t believe me see how grim and fierce I’m” face. is subject tongue protruding, The to-be-killed guy, Andrew J. Webber outlines his Andrew J. definition ofWebber the Doppelgänger in a series of premises. - con are calls ‘double visions’, which what J.Webber center around ca- his also and Doppelgänger the of visuality the around cerned its other self as being a subject who ‘beholds pacity of self-seeing, itsby object as beheld is alternatively or object, visual as another, or visual ‘double- to J. Webber, according other self.’ This duality, objectificationconflict-ridden broad the for model the affords bind’ Dop- The festival Doppelgänger. of the subject in the example of the The colors he theatrical visuality. pelgänger (plate 1) is a master of uses put him into the center as an outstanding lookable element, an eye- He is strange because he comes into strange and familiar. the observer a sense of curiositycatching visuality that triggers in He is Doppelgänger puts forward. that the unusual character of the acti- he estrangement factor, the familiar because while he stresses the character of the Jocker, vates a sense of familiarity by enacting one more leads us to Webber’s This whose face thrives in polysemy. analogously with double of doubletalk. Doubletalk goes premise chaos by an instance of recurring vision, and it is condition marked a visual scandal, the creating merely at the level of speech. Far from on language.Doppelgänger functions doubly quarter

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38 Volume 03 Moulay Driss El Maarouf Driss El Moulay The Rise of the Underground of the The Rise - For Web lie at the heart of festival. Doppelgänger performances The Politics of Transferability in the Festival: in the The Politics of Transferability Space and the Urban Time, Body, prac- primordial for turns festal terrains into spaces Festival mass as we have seen that makestices. First, it does something to subjects of interaction and be- programs them dividable. It also downloads which, in to the logic of laughter and drunkenness, ing that adhere both time and body transferable. I use the term festival turn, render andconnections network of complex to make up for a transferability and meaning hierarchies situatedness, essence, practices that render impossible to grasp. In festival celebrations time pours backward to past (Firmat, 1986, p. 9). present and from to present future from by uploads and This is an instance of transferability that is charged in the end, shapes of time that all together, downloads of different That primordiality. pastness or modern form a situation of present laughter and itswith intermingled festival drunkenness, to say, is excesses, take the festival and its guests into a dimension between the primordial, and between the modern non-reality, and reality sub- its civility, its of gets freed civilization momentarily whereby to jects unbound to any ties of civilization. The body goes forward momentarily into a pastness while getting transferred the future the center of the body, the belly and the lower parts become where trance, loses all connec- constantly in laughter and which, delivered tion with modernity. to the finger-shaped gun yet he wears a ‘yes kill me, please, while please, me, kill ‘yes a wears he yet gun finger-shaped the to The mockingly laughing posture. peace greeting’ I’m making the and a fake-gun-will-kill-me-and-I’m-smiling I’m-sad-but-smiling of Doppelgänger in a double but chaotic act engage theatrically performance. premise, the third addresses speech. Theatricality where the Doppelgänger is ‘an inveterate performer of identity’, ber, the act of In character.’ the subject puts on shows his ‘performative performance, ‘selfhoodWebber, notifies a metaphysical given is of identity’, so much so of enactments a process to here abandoned will look like try-outs orthat the performances by the Doppelgänger of Lacanian us of role which reminds of a twofold role, ‘rehearsals’ who performs a sense of humor the festival subject Similarly, mirror. narrates, within the histrionics of doubleness, against a grim reality a two-faced selfhoods.identity as he feels it torn between quarter

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kvarter akademisk 39 Volume 03 Moulay Driss El Maarouf Driss El Moulay The Rise of the Underground of the The Rise 4 The Police power The Police, police, police, police The Police… Have gone nuts, stopping who they want Stopping who they want shamelessly Shamelessly, The police can talk to your pockets and lie with

Therefore in the context of festive performance, liminality, as un- performance, liminality, in the context of festive Therefore in this writ- addressing we are The concept of humor and festivity derstood by Victor Turner, can be thought can be thought in terms of festival of Turner, derstood by Victor transfers us to the (preliminal) the pre-event transferability because to the forming of liminal stage), which transfers us event (festival as starts action (mob ass) within the festival where union or the m-ass transferability to take place. Festival how permits to understand - ordi (from to another shape one bodies transferably transform from look), or how times transfers nary look to disguise back to ordinary sense, by its own chronological as we have into liminal time marked and power within the festivals shift in speedy or how hierarchies - uncharac to the festival monster, and dramatic ways to give shape by the or compartmentalization, suffused terized by demarcation the initial boundaries set by thequest for wholeness, which upsets to discipline the mass, which, in its evolvement festival organizers contain- resists and drunk, laughing into a m-ass which is bawdy, ment and classification. of the phenomenon of reversal ing is central to the acceptance (which doubleness, and dual- we can otherwise call transferability, depos- within the strictures from ism, etc) because the latters spring symbolism and of culture-bound ited by a whole (in)distinct forms specificities and obligations of the historical timeliness where they have studies so of the texts we open up, conditioning the repertoire festive on impact to and about their relation us inform These far. lyrical content show how urban music best The following behavior. In his ‘The Police’, in music festivals. describes the state of reversal - Bigg the Don uses a number of techniques in his song (ridicule, iro the and to break etc) to strip the police of their charisma, satire, ny, their expressing from citizens limits of fear that dissuade ordinary abjuration of some police practices. quarter

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6 Volume 03 Moulay Driss El Maarouf Driss El Moulay The Rise of the Underground of the The Rise 7 tobis 5 the night?’ good civilian!’ Kilometres per hour!’ Kilometres a fine’ casque trouble ble treat us well! treat Then you really need the protection of no one need the protection Then you really crashed And if your car looks like trash so scratched are They will stop you ‘t n’ say the lamps in the day?’ the lights off Or be like ‘why are in light green the through go you did ‘why Or all like a like a thief, not at Or that ‘you look more of the police? win the respect Wonna Go and buy a Mercedes Or go buy a ticket in the Give the police the chance to wear no mask Give the police the chance to wear stand Don’t violate the laws, for a safer the bend? sick or round you Are wand The police serve they with a money you lots of If a tiny car you have, they’ll cause ‘You went through the green light in speed, 70 in speed, 70 light the green went through ‘You us 50 (Dirhams)’ ‘But if you give fine’ (x4) ‘That should be you must pay no way, there’s ‘Beyond this option, ‘Either be with us or against us!’ down If the police stops you keep head attack with a frown not faulty, If you are riding a 103 motor bike then wear a If you are - you with no rub And if a big car they will salute A-1 code Or if the car is charismatic, with There’s the white in the police There’s the black in the police There’s our lives The black in the police has ruined your police well, so that they treat Oh Morocco (Chorus) (outro) quarter

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kvarter akademisk 41 Volume 03 Moulay Driss El Maarouf Driss El Moulay The Rise of the Underground of the The Rise you… junction… stoppin’ me at every you… This is the plan! Oh you policemen when I see Oh you policemen when I see This is the plan! track comes out you won’t be I hope when this be upon white, peace black and meant is evil No In the main Vulgarity is a question of intention and opportunity; In the main Vulgarity Bigg has performed this song during the Mawazine festival, and the Mawazine festival, and Bigg has performed this song during the of role, reversal Through was the audience’s double on stage. of the system (the police) and artist manages to contain the forces perplexity and impotence. Bigg corner them into a sentiment of funny ex- politics on stage, and demonstrates through brings street - oppres and of corruption amples how the police engage in practices of suspicion, and declares bars the behind police the He throws sion. is a situation sins. This of many street them culpable and responsible artist on stage weaves a discourse of criticism crisscrossed the where - and co-singing of the audience. Bigg tries to pro by the appreciation - the Moroc where injustice and inequality, ject an instance of street in the opinion of the police,can with a 103 motor bike is a sub-citizen humiliation. This with impunity and treated is many times who modes of doubleness, festive trans- song is a veritable example of the and of power in society, the laws that distrupt ferability and reversal Bigg pokes fun at the nigger. Moroccan to the voice that allocate situation where laughter in the festival, a rare police and provokes successfully through criticism against those in power can be effected the police possible. Bigg further provokes art with no repercussions his hope while expressing leaving the song during the outroduction, that the police won’t hold this song too much against him, and take revenge in the street. By saying this, he further confirms his- argu often and their decisions are above the law, ment that the police are phenomenonwhat the brief, In unlawful pronouncements. on based of upset structures should teach is that festive practices of reversal continuity the declare collapse and linearity of fixedand therefore and change meanings, of unbending expectations, declaring rapture that to humor there of paramount importance to the rites of reversal, is vulgarity, to politeness there is theatricality, there is pain, to reality excre-mentality. is and to uncontaminated mentality there - One can be vulgar when one’s intentions to be vulgar meet an op quarter

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kvarter akademisk 42 Volume 03 Moulay Driss El Maarouf Driss El Moulay The Rise of the Underground of the The Rise Robert Pattison asks the question that if we are torn between the that if we are Robert Pattison asks the question portunity. Vulgarity in the music festival takes place in the music festival takes place music in the Vulgarity portunity. musical vulgarityThe festival, awash with its own and the festival. - ref a itself in is and to, reference a makes performance, profane and It holds a mirror it is produced. era where to the mood of the erence lines, to of social of the epoch, to the crookedness out to the badness of human of the worth of life, to unscrupulousness the absurdity been art has world, post-colonial our In emotions. and relations itself, by obligation not by choice, itself ushered or probably ushered, vulgarity. and images of unprecedented into a world of the words that the and the likelihood ‘vulgar will join civilization’ sureness we not to lapse then are that ‘civilization cannot survive vulgarity’, attitude be- the ‘young rebels’’ into the fate Rome, at a time where (Pattison, 1987, p.v) The victorying ‘For God’s sake, burn it down! of the anni- no promises Pattison contends, withholds of vulgarity, in culture that of ‘reinterpretation’ the but culture’ ‘elite of hilation The visions of vulgarity a popular style (Pattison, 1987, p.vi). are and not at all apocalyptic, yet they contain a sense pre-apocalyptic, what is coming, that what is com- of bitterness, a mood clouded by Bataille, in his Death George ing is worse than what is being lived. - of/in feasting, where and Sensuality, while speaking of the ogreness ofplace the taking vulgarity heavy a imagine always can ‘we by possessing the ability to disallow the chance of a without frenzy’ that goes with the ogry‘state of exaltation’ made of the intoxication As I see it, a sense of and ecstatic(Bataille, 1962, p.112). , the erotic a state feasting, creating of decay drifts in the spectacle as an arena of cohesively vulgar imagination that can’t escape the attractions of its own social afflictions, or the underpinnings of its own creative and con- vulgar imagination is one which produces A makings. - sumes, speaks and listens, performs and applauds, sings and danc notis It it. sustain to intentions has and vulgar the recognizes it es; synonymous with dirty-mindedness, this being the consumption of - excre-mental with synonymous is It sake. vulgarity’s for vulgar the and inno- a mentality which, in its ideological framing, creates ity, its functionality and symbolism. by excrement, vates, inspired While the dirty-minded has a dirty mouth, bawdy thoughts, and - The excre-men he is uncapable of being otherwise. lewd gestures, without tal, on the other hand, enjoys a mentality for profanity, such a mentality leading to any case of behavioural standardization quarter

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kvarter akademisk 43 In rap music, com- Volume 03 Moulay Driss El Maarouf Driss El Moulay The Rise of the Underground of the The Rise ( Bigg the vulgar, this being ( Bigg the vulgar, (vulgarity) expected of them, by performing that khsoriya (vulgarity) expected of them, by performing that , it is taken for granted at some point that vulgarity is, it is taken for granted at some point resistrance The orations of politeness can not only be found in the general In other words, it should be conceded that while excre-mental that it should be conceded while excre-mental In other words, the original name for Big the Donn), who cannot be polite, because to do that is to lose his aura. behaviour of an audience during the spectacle, but is firmly estab- as a form of culture lished in the rituals of singing in Moroccan dependability on and praise of the status quo. fame and the blessing rappers, those who seek money and mercial in some singing forever, of things, of the system, eulogize the order and country, the the “white” side of of neo-patriotism, about form - they call it ‘lface zwin (the nice side). This would demand the gra through art, as in the case of Bigg lkhasar through or sameness, like being vulgar all the time, regardless of alertness to being vulgar all the time, regardless or sameness, like dirty- While selectivity. and context opportunity, and intention by and minded and performed (controlled mindedness is libidinal the body), excre-mentality is triggered first by a mental code, then of solely product being Far from by the body. performed second and physical language contaminated is excre-mentality physicality, and not the opposite.motivated by intention and purpose, as pigeonholed provisos, romantic must not be disparaged in overly and at least recognize agree, we should by the excesses of the body, social condemnations of the excre- The of brain power. the presence case be taken with a pinch of salt,mental as obscene should be at any line that ‘one man’s reknown for as Justice John Marshall Harlan’s vulgarity is another’s lyric,’ indicates the clumsiness and absurdity of managing a sober criticism of vulgarity could maintain a sharp in Vulgarity and preciseness. of objectiveness sense trenchant and musics is a product from music festivals, especially that sprawling cognitive, less of the emotive, though both of them make of the more In brief, vulgarity is meant to dis- the language of the exre-mental. in a the festival context, marked Especially that which is sacred. rupt by message, and for latter indispensable to the proposed rudimentarily be deliberate, the to has excre-mentality impact, desired the have to its regulating its consequences, agent premeditating excre-mental an extreme fit of excre-mentality isPresumably, repercussions. as critic expression, as its underlying objectives (change, sacrosanct etc). Most of the time they perform the revenge, ism, revolution, very quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 44 Volume 03 Moulay Driss El Maarouf Driss El Moulay The Rise of the Underground of the The Rise Many radios are now open for us, but these should be con- Many radios are everything goes! Radio opens a door unto Not trolled. families. I wouldn’t want my houses, with respectful of what rappers say. mother or sister or son listen to some good, with beautiful messages! I Some hip hop songs are audience they have. them, so does the great respect look at ghet- `If you `First personal change.` He replied. America, Africa, ghettos in toes in Brazil, ghettos in South people a way people an escape. Music offers music offers themselves and to express to leave the pain of their reality, It gives It gives them joy. a lot of times in a happy way. And most people them meaning. It gives them purpose. Transgression between Power and the Illusion of between Power Transgression and the M-ass between the Individual Power, singer Said Mouskir, Moroccan In 2010 I interviewed popular among when I artists. Mouskir complained quite respectfully, other in Morocco. asked him about his opinion of rappers do not blend with the and politeness, however, The call for respect of idea this discuss could I change. and vulgarity of mentality ALC 2010, at the in May, and DJ Joseph change with anthropologist teaches. Because he men- he (American Languages Center) where and change, I asked meeting he studies music tioned at a previous him about the kind of change music would promise. cious congratulation of the accomplishments of the governments, the governments, of accomplishments the of congratulation cious - agencies, fore of local violence, corruption state state politics, ignore main- the of efficiency the to as persuasion of discourse a grounding rappers find rap commercial contemp- Underground order. stream lickers, shoe infidels, rappers commercial call even could and tuous, into the(the bad side), delving look ‘l’face lkhayab’ because they over hypocracy in exchange for mate- excesses of lucrative optimism and cer employed to reveal The orations of vulgarity are rial rewards as they are wretchedness dishonesty, about corruption, tain truths standing out not by seen and discussed these young Moroccans, passive models liable to artistic categories of production, as merely social and political forces. of consumption, but linked to cultural, quarter

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kvarter akademisk 45 - - - Volume 03 Moulay Driss El Maarouf Driss El Moulay The Rise of the Underground of the The Rise - real However, music to attain freedom. (the wall) through In the Moroccan there. ity has it that the wall is always art- all the subculture context, Big the Donn together with ists I interviewed reflect a grim and miserable under - real this being music that hinges on social reality, ground the wall, which in its basic functions restrains ism to break All of them of both individuals and groups. the freedom which should other to the problem, use language to refer cor (the wall, poverty, problem The wise stay unspoken. find musicians these However, stays. like) the and ruption, the platforms available (festivals) to speak and be heard. imagination of driven by artistic Festival promulgates, transgression into positioning both artists and organizers, in a liminal space between power and the illusion of pow- and collective demon- between singular demonstration er, - between re stration, between the festival and the street, The term sistance and trance, or what I call resistrance. - and rev reality hinges on contradictory states, resistrance and transgression and peace, puppeteered erie, violence power and vulnerability, dispatch and receipt, expression, rage and elation, integrationsoberness and drunkenness, Re- and stupor. control and alienation, tension and relief, in life are looking for that.` Josef stop for a second and goand second a for stop Josef that.` for looking are life in People hip hop in Palestine right now. on, `if you look at move. They can- by a wall. They cannot surrounded are the wall. Music gives them the breaks not leave, but music chance `to fly` -here he uses hisfingers to draw quotes in but music gives them freedom. as clichéd as it is , the air- Joseph mentions how music breaks the wall, how repressed peo- the wall, how repressed Joseph mentions how music breaks - illusion of free or the to Joseph, leads to freedom, Music, according to speak Africa, with when dealing dom. I think it is necessary, and the illu- democracy and the illusion of freedom, about freedom love and the illu- and the illusion of order, order sion of democracy, concepts that of peace. These are sion of love, peace and the illusion illu- the how ponder to interesting is It shadows. their with come like its model. and act could substitute freedom sion of freedom ple transcend their reality quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - - 46 Crit . 8 Comedy,” in Comedy,” A Volume 03 Moulay Driss El Maarouf Driss El Moulay The Rise of the Underground of the The Rise sistance and trance, once mingling, piloted by rhythm and once mingling, piloted by rhythm sistance and trance, dance, take in for questioning these many incongruous and mindsets. gestures Seventeenth Century, ed. Spingarn, 2:162. ed. Spingarn, Century, of the Seventeenth ical Essays - Double Visions in German Litera in The Doppelganger: As cited 1996, 1). ( Webber, ture book The Doppelganger: his from borrowed are premises These p 3-4-5 , 1996. Double Visions in German Literature English into Arabic Moroccan the song from translated I have Motors a bike. like more that looks bike, motor tiny 103 is a very police harassment. avoid put on a casque (helmet) riders to need to in the capital, Rabat. try matriculated Bigg is vehicles are cars A1 reversed the politics of and relations power street to refer ing to the power to car has signs that times the refer many when fear, it, discourage owns to status who or of he and as such is enough it. stopping a police man from The Humorists, to Thomas. “Preface Shadwell, 2 3 4 5 6 Notes 1 Resistrance, however, is neither exterior nor interior. It is resistance It is resistance interior. is neither exterior nor Resistrance, however, it is That’s to say, below. from regulated above, and supervised from that the terrains of sublime in the sense resistance, a constructed part of a meek to wild are from transformation in youth settings - prep when it materializes through theatrical set up that materializes in applications and plans, funding, organization aration, approved takes place festive terrains ‘transgression Smith in Andrew brief. For par and around but within splurge, not in some random anarchic ticular, recognized and recongnizable forms that constrain but also and recongnizable recognized ticular, epitome of authority (minis- end up having an exterior enable’. We wallets (partners or notably assisted by different-size try of culture), of into a theatre a frame for what will grow sponsors) constructing and music. Such aided by exterior boosters, a mob, drugs, resistance, con- Smith calls ‘the paradoxes of transgression, Andrew what are normative conduct, which in ceived as a violation of norms and - expres human of norms new “follow”) not (but constitute turn forms by a community in transgression sion—recognizable quarter

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kvarter akademisk 47 Volume 03 Moulay Driss El Maarouf Driss El Moulay The Rise of the Underground of the The Rise is borrowed from French and French from is borrowed Tobis

Autobus in Moroccan Arabic. Arabic. in Moroccan Autobus speech. in daily appropriated com- Smith for his pertinent Andrew Prof. I would like to thank dis- current and insightful contribution to the ments and deep and transgression. cussion on festivals 7 8 quarter

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- 48 Volume 03 Moulay Driss El Maarouf Driss El Moulay The Rise of the Underground of the The Rise , ed. Spingarn. Oxford: Oxford Oxford , ed. Spingarn. Oxford: Carnival: Culture in Action : The Trinidad Experi- Trinidad The Action : in Culture Carnival: . New York: Humor in America. The History of Negro New York: The Doppelganger: Double Visions in German Litera- The Doppelganger: Double Visions University of California Press, University of California Press, On the Post Colony. Literature and Liminality: Festive Readings in the Hispa- and Liminality: Festive Literature The Triumph of Vulgarity: Rock Music in the Mirror of of Rock Music in the Mirror of Vulgarity: The Triumph Cracking Jokes: Studies of Sick Humor Cycles and Ste of Sick Humor Cycles and Cracking Jokes: Studies Death and Sensuality: A Study of Eroticism and the Taboo Eroticism Study of A Death and Sensuality: . Humor in American Culture Rebellious Laughter: People’s . New York: Routledge, 2004. York: . New 1st ed. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1997 Press, Syracuse University NY: 1st ed. Syracuse, New York: Oxford University Press, 1987. Press, University Oxford York: Romanticism. New 1908. Press, Clarendon University Press, 1996. Press, Clarendon . Oxford: ture Fleet Press, 1970. Fleet Press, the Seventeenth Essays of Century . Berkeley, Calif.: Ten Speed Press, 1987. Speed Press, Calif.: Ten . Berkeley, reotypes ( New York: Ballantine Books, 1962. York: ( New 37.3 (2001): 227. Papers on Language & Literature Ltd, London, 2001. ence . Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1986. NC: Duke University Press, . Durham, nic Tradition References Boskin, J., Dundes, A., Pattison, R., W.Schechter, , , A. J. Webber, Critical in Critical Comedy,” A to The Humorists, , “Preface Shadwell, T. , Firmat, G. P. , “The Other Side of Carnival: Romola and Bakhtin.”Hollis, Hilda., “The Other Side of Carnival: Romola Mbembe, A., ed, C., M. Riggio, Bataille, G., quarter

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kvarter akademisk akademiskkvarter Volume 03.Efterår 2011 • on the web academic quarter

Demokrati som transgression Civilsamfundsalternativer i indvandringspolitik

Martin Bak Jørgensen er adjunkt ved Aalborg Universitet, Institut for Kultur og globale studier. Han er tilknyttet Center for the Studies of Migration and Diversity (CoMID). Nylige udgivelser inkluderer ’Understanding the Research-Policy Nexus in Danish and Swedish Migration Policy’, 2011, 13(1) Bri- tish Journal of Politics and International Relations og ’The Institutional Dynamics of Integration Policy-Making on city level’ International Migration Review, 46(1).

Óscar García Agustín er lektor ved Aalborg Universitet, Institut for Kultur og globale studier. Hans forskningsområder omfatter diskur- steori, institutionalisering og sociale bevægelser. Gennem forskningsprojektet Talking Culture (2008-2011) har han senest beskæftiget sig med immigrations- og integrations- politikker i EU. Nylige udgivelser inkluderer bogen Di- scurso e Institucionalización (Diskurs og institutionalisering), Universidad de La Rioja, 2010.

Indledning Den globalisering, der er kendetegnende for nutidens sociale og politiske processer, udvikler sig i paradoksale retninger. På den ene side udbredes en konsensus om, at kapitalismen er det eneste system, og andre ideologier (især den socialdemokratiske) skal forny sig, ’moderniseres’ og tilpasses de nye tider. Frem for at blive mær- ket som upassende eller blive tildelt ansvaret for den nuværende finanskrise, er kapitalismen faktisk blevet styrket, og det neo-liberale hegemoni ser ud til at bestå. Både fra venstreorienterede partier, som fx engelske Labour, og fra højreorienterede partier, som Union pour un Mouvement Populaire, tales der om en mere men-

Volume 03 49 - 50 Óscar García Agustín Óscar García Martin Bak Jørgensen Martin Volume 03 Demokrati som transgression som Demokrati . På den anden side dukker nye sociale bevægelser sociale dukker nye side På den anden . 1 Vi ser denne antagonisme som en kamp mellem en tendens til at ser denne antagonisme som en kamp mellem en tendens Vi agerer civilsamfundsorganisationer at vise, hvordan mål er Vores op over hele verden, og de kæmper for en anden verden. Den så- kæmper for en anden verden. og de op over hele verden, forskelligartet dækkede en antiglobaliseringsbevægelse kaldte vifte af fra krav, skat på transnationale finansielle transaktioner til(somf.eks. (som landbrug af økologisk ATTAC) promoveringen Campesina). Via dominans, og et forsøg bevarer fastsætte en diskursiv lukning, som - bestemt argu Nærmere orden. på åbning og ændring af den sociale praksis- transgressive af udfordret bliver lukningen at vi, menterer var eksklu- dem, som tidligere dvs. praksisser som inkluderer ser, giver stemme til dem, som ikke havde nogen stemme, eller derede, der før var begrænset til bestemte og udvider den politiske sfære, teori Rancières på Jacques argumentation vores baserer Vi aktører. fra en politisk vinkel. Vi og hans bidrag til transgressionsanalyse finder hans ide om, at demokrati kunrealiseres, når de, som ikke - helt central. Trans bliver inkluderet, sfære, har del i den offentlige grænser og giver mulighed overskrider de eksisterende gression for at inkludere andre stemmer (nye subjektiviteter i konflikt med orden). den dominerende indvandringspolitik i Dan- mod den gældende konsensus omkring den sociale or som afslører praksisser, mark gennem transgressive dens kontingens og anvender lighedsprincippet til at inkludere nye dens kontingens og anvender lighedsprincippet til at inkludere subjektiviteter i den offentlige sfære. Først definerer vi en række den diskursive luk- (den nye politiske subjektivitet, nøglebegreber - ning som konsensus, dikotomien mellem politi / politik og den de Dernæst ser vi på situa- mokratiske bevægelse som transgression). begynder med en gennemgang af de seneste tionen i Danmark: Vi partierfleste de af accepteret blevet er som indvandringspolitikker, mening. Den neo-liberale støtte i den offentlige og møder generel der bygger på at er ikke kun en global økonomisk strategi, orden skærpe konkurrence, begrænse offentlige at udgifter, skabe fleksi- ble markeder og generelt deregulere statens indflydelse. Den byg- selv individet hvor at rationale, politisk underliggende et på ger egen succes og omvendt selv må tage konse- for ansvaret bærer (Rose,position socioøkonomisk marginaliseret en i stå af kvenserne 1999). Dominansen af denne rationalitet har lukket de politiske og neskelig kapitalisme, uden at dette medfører en egentlig kritik af en egentlig uden at dette medfører neskelig kapitalisme, systemet selve quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - 51 Óscar García Agustín Óscar García Martin Bak Jørgensen Martin Volume 03 Demokrati som transgression som Demokrati I takt med den voksende kompleksitet i det moderne samfund ermoderne det i med den voksende kompleksitet I takt I de seneste år er det blevet tydeligt, at der er nye sociale bevægel- I de seneste år er det blevet tydeligt, kontekst (nemlig globaliseringen), i en ny politisk som agerer ser, og som er svære at klassificere, især hvis man tager de klassiske vil fokusere Vi udgangspunkt. som bevægelser sociale teorier om som er mod- politiske aktører, af heterogene på denne fremkomst - for eksisteren som repræsentanter standsdygtige nok til at fungere økologister), anvender eller fagforeninger (som organisationer de og hviler på en spontan og decentraliseret nye teknologier kreativt (2003) harAntonio Negri og Michael Hardt struktur. organisatorisk i mod- multitude til at beskrive disse nye bevægelser begrebet brugt for biodominans, der går tværssætning til Imperiet, som er en form Ifølge Hardt (økonomiske, sociale, kulturelle). igennem alle sfærer og andre af fattige, indvandrere og Negri (2009) består denne klasse af På trods som ekskluderede. udsatte, der plejer at blive betragtet bevægelser sprog, at producere at de oplever dominans, evner de selvom dette ofte overses. De nye bevæ- og alternative levemåder, gelser er kendetegnet ved pluralisme og diversitet og består derfor og Ifølge Hardt alliancer. og af nye former for interessefælleskaber for reel muligheden giver der det netop heterogeniteten, Negri er forskelligar meget ser vi at betyder, Det demokratisk potentiale. diskursive mulighedsstrukturer og skabt en konsensus med et ibo- og skabt en konsensus diskursive mulighedsstrukturer fastsætter i høj Denne ramme ende fravær af forandingspotentiale. fælles- bestemmes, hvem der er en del af hvor det grad den orden, til denne der ikke deltager i det. Som modstykke skabet, og hvem som sø- beskriver vi kort to sociale bevægelser, diskursive lukning De fælles. det omdefinere og politik) (dvs. demokrati fremme at ger argument. teoretiske som illustrationer af vores to cases fungerer den politiske dimension Transgression: og anvende meget forskelligartede strate gå sammen tede grupper af lukkede mulighedsstrukturer. gier i forsøget på transgresion og social konsensus, der til en politisk Aktivismen bliver en respons udemokratiske praksisser og ulighed. legitimerer eksklusion nemlig en kernesag for de forskellige sociale grupper. (1993; 2000) har henledt opmærk- som Chantal Mouffe Forfattere en form for eksklu- somheden på, at en diskursiv lukning indebærer ener konsensus, da den reelt betvivle man skal at betyder, sion. Det som eksisterer den sociale antagonisme, mekanisme til at deaktivere quarter

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kvarter akademisk 52 Óscar García Agustín Óscar García Martin Bak Jørgensen Martin Volume 03 Demokrati som transgression som Demokrati ) til at referere til den implicitte lov, til den implicitte lov, police) til at referere ( 2 som udgangspunkt i stedet for at sættedemos som udgangspunkt i stedet for . 3 I denne forbindelse finder vi Jacques Rancières teoretiske tilgang teoretiske Rancières Jacques vi finder forbindelse denne I (2002) taler om opdelingen af det sensible (’le partage Rancière som definerer delen og den manglende del af de dele, som udgør som er synlige, og at der er nogle aktører, samfundet. Det forklarer, til at tale og blive hørt. Men der har ret som at der er nogle stemmer, er altid mulighed for åbning, nemlig politik (politics). Dette begreb på udformningen af det sensi- udtrykke bruddet til at er reserveret ble. Bruddet finder sted, når en del af dem, som ingen del havde, - dukker op, og hele opdelingen (dele og manglende dele) skal om defineres. at Politik den afslører, sociale orden er kontingent, og at der er en lighed mellem dem, der taler (hvilket afvises af politi i den sfære) offentlige i alle sociale forhold. Pluralisme skal derfor fastholdes og ændres til skal derfor fastholdes og ændres Pluralisme i alle sociale forhold. betegner dette som forandringen Mouffe for forskelligheder. respekt en er antagonisme ord andre Med til agonisme. fra antagonisme har en tendens til diskursive lukning, idet denne måde at undgå den når opstår, Et alternativ magt- og dominansforhold. at reproducere den hegemoniske som formår at udfordre diskurser, der artikuleres afspejle den mængde af sociale identiteter og kampe, som og orden kendetegner antagonismen. (2006a) og Negri er der hos Rancière forskel fra Hardt Til relevant. og demokrati. Denikke en modsætning mellem forskelligartethed franske filosof tager oprin- en antager Demos-begrebet konsensus. op imod demokrati et privilegium for dem, delig lighed, mens konsensus medfører kan bestemme og følgelig sfære som har adgang til den offentlige diskursive lukning som en måde at opfatter her den Vi for andre. (og eksklusion), og de demokratiske bevægelser konsensus sikre til sfære lukningen og åbne den offentlige som en måde at udfordre den diskursive at overskride denne måde Præcist aktører. andre lukning på kalder vi trangression. sociale system) det fælles (det hvordan du sensible’) for at forklare, - som betinger sociale relatio dele og steder, er opdelt, dvs. hvordan opdeling afspejler den æstetiske Denne fastsættes og fordeles. ner, påvirker, sociale former eksisterende de da politik, dimension af hvem der kan deltage og in- hvad mennesker vil opleve, og viser, og på et bestemt tidspunkt. Rancière på et bestemt sted kluderes politi anvender begrebet quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - 53 Óscar García Agustín Óscar García Martin Bak Jørgensen Martin Volume 03 Demokrati som transgression som Demokrati hed, som ikke kun handler om holdninger, interesser eller eller interesser som ikke kun handler om holdninger, hed, - re Når den sociale nye subjektivitetsformer. Politik producerer Bruddet eller afbrydelsen, som Rancière også definerer det er Sociale bevægelser afspejler konflikten mellem politi og politik enig præsentation (opdeling af det sensible) omdefineres, opstår der en der opstår omdefineres, sensible) det af (opdeling præsentation - Lighe før i politiets orden. som ikke eksisterede mangfoldighed, - spørgs til at tale) sætter om, at vi alle har ret den (dvs. princippet fællesskab. De, et der konstituerer grupper målstegn ved, hvilke kvinderne det skete for proletariatet, (som som var ekskluderede kræver nu for indvandrerne), og oprindelige folk, og som det sker Dette er muligt anerkendelse. og politisk eller kulturel dele deres or (den ekskluderende mellem politi af modsætningen grund på lighed). Universalisme viser sig atden) og politik (den oprindelige at afslører, når nye politiske subjektiviteter ekskluderende, være lige (fx lige løn mellemuniversalisme ikke dækker alle mennesker bevæge sig over til at til egen kultur eller retten kønnene, retten dvs. den bliver instituerende, grænser). En ny slags universalisme uni- 1996) eller den konkrete polemiske universalisme (Rancière og Negri 2003), hvori de, som ikke har del, for versalisme (Hardt har som dem, (mellem konflikt med (lighed) universalisme binder en del, og dem, som ikke har). det, som vi her somidentificerer Ifølge transgression. Jenks (2003) lovgiv- det at overskride grænser fastsat af regler, er transgression ning eller konventioner. Vi definerer transgression som en ind- eksklude- hidtil har været (og del ikke har som dem, trængen af følgende omstruktureringer. og de deraf i den sociale orden rede), ind- Når italienske aktivister kalder sig ’de usynlige’, irregulære handlerså indignerede’, ’de spaniere papirløse’, unge ’de vandrere har det, de ikke tidligere del (dvs. det om, at de alle kræver deres Disse nye subjtektivi- til at tale og blive inkluderet. haft) og retten teter overskrider den diskursive lukning, som afholdte dem fra at praksisser kan De transgressive rum. kunne deltage i det offentlige - nedbryde en ’le partage du sensible’, da nogle aspekter bliver syn af ændringen i den forsvinder som en konsekvens lige, og andre symbolske orden. en fremhæver konsensus. Disse grupper dermed og udfordrer u Ulighed (politi) sfære. men en strid om selve den offentlige værdier, lighed (politik). Homoseksualitet kan ikke opfat- med konfronteres ligesom vold mod tes som de individuelle seksuelle praksisser, quarter

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kvarter akademisk 54 Óscar García Agustín Óscar García Martin Bak Jørgensen Martin Volume 03 Demokrati som transgression som Demokrati Den demokratiske bevægelse er faktisk en dobbelt trans- Den demokratiske bevægelse er mod områder over grænserne, rettet gressionsbevægelse mod alle dem, som sty- af det almindelige liv og konkret kapitalistiske rigdom og også en den ubegrænsede rer til den- mod at bekræfte tilhørsforholdet bevægelse rettet alle for privatiseret, er uendeligt der sfære, ne offentlige 2006b: 84). og hvem som helst. (Rancière, Udviklingen i den danske indvandringspolitik minder om en række i 1960erne højkonjunkturen Under landes. vesteuropæiske andre i at resulterede som arbejdsmigration, landet en stigende oplevede lan- til kom udlændinge af antal signifikant stadig men begrænset et ville blive i landet, ej at arbejdsmigranterne det. Ingen forventede, og førte til Oliekrisen skabte økonomisk recession heller dem selv. det totale indvandringsstop for arbejdsmigration i 1973. Men mod forventning tog de herboende udlændinge ikke hjem men valgte at Den diskursive lukning: policy-udviklingen om policy-udviklingen Den diskursive lukning: indvandring Alt i alt indebærer transgression en udvidelse af den offentlige den offentlige en udvidelse af transgression Alt i alt indebærer sfære, til at (hvem har ret mellem privat og offentligt hvor forholdet og partikularisme (hvadtale og deltage) og mellem universalisme Fra omdefineres. mangfoldighed) inkluderes hvordan og lighed, er transgressive de analysere derfor man må synspunkt politisk et opdeling som overskrider de politiske grænser (og deres praksisser, muliggør inklusio- og dominans) reproducerer sensible, som det af på, vil vi her se Helt konkret nen af nye politiske subjektiviteter. den politiske konsensus om- udfordrer to organisationer hvordan so- kring indvandringspolitikken i Danmark og dermed fremmer cial forandring. kvinder ikke kan defineres som noget, der sker inden for hjemmets for inden sker der noget, som defineres kan ikke kvinder fire vægge. Homoseksuelle og feministiske bevægelser har været i stand til grænserneat mellemomdefinere og det detoffentlige pri- som sociale og at disse sager nu betragtes vate, og det har medført, som strids- at politik hævder, Rancière ikke blot som individuelle. at demokrati demokrati. Det betyder, er det samme som spørgsmål - som før var ekskludere dannelsen af nye subjektiviteter, medfører transgression: de. Demokrati er i denne forstand quarter

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kvarter akademisk 55 Óscar García Agustín Óscar García Martin Bak Jørgensen Martin Volume 03 Demokrati som transgression som Demokrati vi må gøre noget ved de problemer, der allerede er, før vi kanvi før er, allerede der problemer, de ved noget gøre må vi og flygtninge ind. tage nye indvandrere og arbejdsmarkedsintegration integration er først og fremmest økonomisk selvforståelse (Regeringen, 2005). ’Noget for noget’ – den ekstra indsats skal belønnes, og omvendt Dette bygger på et til sanktioner. føre skal mangel på indsats neo-liberalt økonomisk menneskesyn (Regeringen, 2004; 2010a). Dette ses fx med og promoveres. skal respekteres Kerneværdier mm. Også af integrationstests, indfødsretsprøve introduktion i forlængelse heraf seneste Ghetto-udspil kan ses regeringens (Regeringen, 2010b). 2 3 4 blive og få deres familier til landet. Sidenhen kom der større flygt- af den meget til landet, ikke mindst som konsekvens ningegrupper de facto beskyttelses- der indførte fra 1983, liberale udlændingelov end FN-konventionen fra beskyttelse bredere der rummer begrebet, inden for der meget få politiske tiltag skete mindre 1951. Ikke desto ved ad og politikken var primært kendetegnet integrationsområdet, med mangel på koordineret En stigende utilfredshed hoc løsninger. so- med fra specielt de københavnske omegnskommuner indsats politiske tiltag leder til de første reelle cialdemokratiske borgmestre I 1998 bliver den første dansketil at udvikle en integrationspolitik. af den socialdemokratisk lede- integrationslovgivning præsenteret - på en fore og indført fra 1. januar 1999. Den er baseret de regering også men indfører stilling om deltagelse og socialt medborgerskab kurs mod integration og italesætter integration ud fra en strammere vægt på de sociale aspekter. et økonomisk paradigme med mindre og dets eget ansvar og serDenne forståelse sætter fokus på individet for integration. og barrierer problemer de strukturelle på mindre (K og V) og deles af de borgerlige- Det er samtidig en forståelse, der partier (Z og DF), og der skabes en diskursiv luk- indvandrerkritiske - I 2001 overtager V og K rege ning i den forståelse af ’problemet’. i 2001 en række allerede ringsmagten støttet af DF og introducerer inte- første verdens får Danmark tiltag. indvandringspolitiske nye stramningeraf lang række en og der vedtages grationsministerium, som dels begrænser adgangen til landet og dels kommende år, de efterkommere, og indvandrere de af enkelte den til krav flere sætter forsimplet kan man sige, at den dan- er i landet. Lettere der allerede sig på fem rationaler: ske politik baserer 1 quarter

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kvarter akademisk 56 Óscar García Agustín Óscar García Martin Bak Jørgensen Martin Volume 03 Demokrati som transgression som Demokrati Universelle rettigheder bliver i stigende grad problematiseret, i stigende grad problematiseret, bliver Universelle rettigheder - strati et skaber som tiltag, flere og flere gradvist indføres der og ficeret system af personer med fulderettigheder og personer reglen, (fx starthjælp, 225 timers rettigheder begrænsede med pensionsydelser til flygtninge,retten til permanent opholdstilladelse, til familiesammenføring mm.). adgang Indvandringspolitiske spørgsmål er som i mange andre lande lande er som i mange andre Indvandringspolitiske spørgsmål Eksempelvis hedder det i Udlændingeaftalen mellem regeringen og mellem regeringen Eksempelvis hedder det i Udlændingeaftalen nye krav ifb. med opnåelse forDansk Folkeparti fra 2010, som sætter for sværere det bliver “Omvendt at: opholdstilladelse, permanent at få permanent opholdstilladelse i indvandrere dårligt integrerede betingelserne samlet set er strammet op. Nogle ind- Danmark, fordi opholdstilladel- vil formentlig aldrig kunne få permanent vandrere se i Danmark” (Regeringen, 2010a), og i Folketingets åbningstale Rasmussen at: ”Lad os tale åbentudtaler statsminister Lars Løkke ikke har fuldt grundfæste, hvor danske værdier om det: I områder, helt utilstrækkelige” (Lars Løkke vil almindelige løsninger være Folketingets Rasmussen, Åbningstale 5. oktober 2010). Dette ud- politisk i Ghetto-planen (Regeringen, 2010b). møntes senere men i Danmark er de i sjælden grad i stand til at stærkt politiserede, Andersen, 2006). valg (Goul vælgerne og dermed afgøre mobilisere Det finder den politiske opposition også ud af og op gennem svært at se forskel på den såkaldte 2000erne, bliver det stadig mere – der opstår politisk konsensus ’røde blok’ og regeringspartierne som i i såvel det politiske system (som styrker police ifølge Rancière) mulighedsstrukturer del af befolkningen, og de politiske den brede over for afvi- er ekskluderende gradvist. Det politiske rum lukkes en forståelseud fra legitimeres og restriktioner minoriteter, og gere og hvem ydelser, af offentlige modtagere af, hvem der er værdige der Eksempler ikke er er. undersøgelser vedtaget gennem finanslo- og fjerdegenerationsindvandrere tredje- skal belyse, hvad som ven, ’koster’stig- et bliver baggrund etnisk en anden At have samfundet. fællesska- fra ekskluderingsmekanisme som virker og selv sig i ma - bet. Netop gennem den diskursive lukning bliver det svært for etab og den den hegemoniske orden, at udfordre politiske aktører lerede men bakker op om ikke forandring politiske opposition ønsker reelt den vedtagne kurs, som gennem årtiet bringer flere og restrik- flere politiske og afviklingen af etablerede Mest markant er måske tioner. 5 quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - 57 Óscar García Agustín Óscar García Martin Bak Jørgensen Martin Volume 03 Demokrati som transgression som Demokrati Den meget resolutte afvisning af at ville hjælpe de irakiske asyl- de afvisning af at ville hjælpe Den meget resolutte Hvis ovenstående analyse godtages, står samfundet altså med Hvis ovenstående analyse godtages, Kirkeasyl Kirkeasyl er et netværk, som opstod i forbindelse med en planlagt Da irakerne, assiste- udvisning af 282 afviste irakiske asylansøgere. af Kirkeasyl, tog ophold i en kirke i 2009, var den og koordineret ret siden 2001-2002. Det politiske uændret debat relativt asylpolitiske flertal, som sad ved magten, var det samme, som tidligere havde afskaffet de facto flygtningebegrebet og indført et individuelt flygt- irakiske asylansøgere Kirkeasyls krav om, at de afviste ningebegreb. afvist af politikere skulle have opholdstilladelse, blev således resolut illustrerer og størstedelen af oppositionen. Dette både regering fra igen den diskursive lukning og herskende konsensus. en del af kollations- af at Danmark havde været på trods søgere, civile rettigheder som fx retten til permanent ophold eller mulighe- til permanent som fx retten civile rettigheder usikkerhed’ som skaber ’ontologisk derne for familiesammenføring, - ud Samtidig erstattes det humanitære og politisk umyndiggørelse. for Udlændingeloven eksempelvis lagde grunden gangspunkt, som med en økonomisk rationalitet i kombination i 1983 af en neo-liberal eksklu- virker diskurs, der som beskrevet kulturalistisk politisk - skaber politisk desillusion og har udemokratiske effek derende, terEn tendens af Schneider & Ingram, 1997). (som også teoretiseret lovtil- høringsfrister i forbindelse med nye sidste er fx afkortede på tag, som efterlader meget lidt ogflere tid til at svar, reelle forberede flere tiltag implementeres administrativt og går dermed uden for den politiske proces, og flere og flere afgørelser lægges ned på em- af og vurderinger afgørelser eksempelvis som bedsmandsniveau der ønsker familiesammenføring. mellem partnere, tilhørsforhold og i sidste ende potentielt Det skaber afmagt, mangel på transparens 2011a). inerti (Jørgensen, Diskursiv lukning og nogle alvorlige demokratiske udfordringer. økonomisk logik og nationale sær konsensus som følge af en global for social forandring. Ikke har lukket det politiske rum interesser desto mindre finder der transgressioner af den politiske dimension i civilsamfundet forsøger at for og nye interessefællesskaber sted, so- hegemoniske den udfordre og alternativer demokratiske mulere antagonis- samtidig nye former af social og fremhæver ciale orden me. I de følgende afsnit vil vi kort beskrive to sådanne bevægelser. quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 58 Óscar García Agustín Óscar García Martin Bak Jørgensen Martin Volume 03 Demokrati som transgression som Demokrati Kirkeasyl kan ses som både en på respons en lukning for indfly- styrkerne og invasionen af Irak, stødte mange civile danskere og civile danskere af Irak, stødte mange styrkerne og invasionen som Kirkeasyl platform for politisk mobilisering, skabte en latent og skabe en den sociale orden forsøget på at ændre kunne udnytte i om selve aktionen se Jørgensen (for mere ny politisk subjektivitet (politics) dukker op bidrag i antologien). Politik samt andre 2011b politiske etablerede for de for mobiliseringen uden et behov som ved beslutningen, at ændre ønskede da meget få politikere kanaler, fol- store af den relativt den på baggrund men samtidig rummede for at rykke ved den asylpoliti- kelige opbakning nogle potentialer en forståelse af asylpolitikken, som byg- ske diskurs og genindføre sig altså på Bevægelsen baserer gede på et humanistisk grundlag. forstået som opdelingen af af det politiske rum, en transgression blev betragtet som ikke tidligere det sensible, og inklusion for dem, mange danskere, en del af det. Der har ganske sikkert været som en aktiv ind- kritik af systemet og gøre deres som ønskede at ytre sats for at forbedre forholdene for de irakiske flygtninge uden at sig ind i politiske til at melde have den fornødne vilje eller gejst og emner, politiske sig til andre partier og samtidig skulle forholde ’træghed’ og ’handlingslam- hvad der kunne opfattes som politisk en politisk platform, der fokuserede methed’. Kirkeasyl udgjorde at lægge det muligt gjorde og den løse struktur på enkelte emner, tilhurtigt man magtede, komme det engagement i netværket, som omkostningsfri at gå ind i. handling og endeligt var den relativt kanaler og som et ud- politiske delse og forandring i de etablerede mobiliserer der platforme, demokratiske af type nyere en for tryk - løst, og som er blevet en del af det organisato men også mere bredt - riske landskab. Netværk eller platforme som Kirkeasyl er appelle der rækker ud over aktivister på af mennesker, for en gruppe rende venstrefløjen og danner et nyt interessefællesskab for meget for hvad der over, og frustration En dyb utilfredshed skellige aktører. den hegemoniske asyl- og selve opfattes som fremmedfjendskhed og på både studerende politiske diskurs, har virket mobiliserende at byde havde resurser folk, der har følt, de pensionister – generelt - ind med, om det så var tid, penge, eller fx juridiske og sundheds nøgle til at forstå Kirkeasyls tiltræknings- En faglige kompetencer. for civil ulydig- det ikke-voldelige udgangspunkt kraft har været har tider til de at vidst, har netværket i deltagere og hed. Støtter men på stået i en gråzone mellem lovlige og ulovlige aktiviteter, quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - - - 59 Óscar García Agustín Óscar García Martin Bak Jørgensen Martin Volume 03 Demokrati som transgression som Demokrati For at opsummere opstår Kirkeasyl altså i et politisk lukket rum, For at opsummere Et år efter politiets aktion har mindst 20 af irakerne, der sad i kir intet tidspunkt har der været støtte til militante eller voldelige for støtte til militante eller voldelige der været intet tidspunkt har fortid og også havde medlemmer med af at netværket mål, på trods dyg- været miljø. Som netværk har Kirkeasyl nutid i det autonome pointe, og selv under selve rydningen denne tige til at understrege gå at ikke til opfordrede der sms’er, rundsendt hurtigt Kirkeasyl fik som deltager Forståelsen af civil ulydighed, i ’kamp’ mod politiet. - op med rets ønsker ikke at gøre ne i Kirkeasyl tillægger aktionerne, det kan at en diskurs, som siger, staten som sådan men trækker på - Transgres at bryde loven for at skabe retfærdighed. i orden være mellemgrænsen overskride at måde sioneffektiv en som sig viser de eksklu- og inkludere det lovlige og ulovlige og skabe demokrati - forståelse virkede tilsyneladende stærkt appelleren Denne derede. vifte af folk. de på en bred med er tiltagende utilfredshed hvor der blandt dele af befolkningen der meget løse organisationsform, den førte politik på området. Den og de den tid man kan, og bruge gør det muligt at byde ind, hvor på en med at fokusere man har til rådighed, i kombination resurser, sag, som viser sig i stand til at påvirke den enkelt klart formuleret danner derfor en ny demokratisk platform og politiske dagsorden, var aktivt, virkede megetmodstandsform, som, i den tid netværket at de er, Fælles for denne type af netværk og professionelt. effektivt at forsvinde, når kort levetid og risikerer har en relativt som regel har lagt sig. Her adskil- den oprindelige entusiasme og engagement traditionelle politiske mere ler sådanne netværk sig fra de tungere nogle incitamenter for politisk kar som ofte rummer organisationer, over og holdbare konsoliderede og lignende og derfor er mere riere medlemmer. tid men som til gengæld har svært ved at mobilisere - Eksempelvis havde SF og Radikale begge lidt under 10.000 medlem mer i 2006 og Dansk Folkeparti 8.600. Kirkeasyl skønnes at have fået den op mod 20.000 mennesker på gaden for en kort periode. Trods aktionen hverken asylpolitik- folkelige opbakning ændrede relative udsendelse af irakerne. Politiet rømmedeom ken eller beslutningen kirken den 13. august, og siden blev størstedelen af irakerne udvist til Irak. Det skabte politisk debat og var i sig selv med til at åbne den alternativer. og formulere sociale orden af baggrund på genoptaget blev Sagerne ophold. lovligt fået ken, disse senere under opholdet i kirken, og dokumentation fremskaffet quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 60 Óscar García Agustín Óscar García Martin Bak Jørgensen Martin Volume 03 Demokrati som transgression som Demokrati Asylumhome.net var et aktivistisk initiativ, der udsprang fra udsprang der initiativ, aktivistisk et var Asylumhome.net 4 Wooloo.org er en transnational virtual platform for kunstnere. er en transnational virtual platform for kunstnere. Wooloo.org dedem en ny at give og søgte med projektet fra den sociale orden kunstverdenen kunstverdenen og virkede gennem nye sociale hvor medier, flere kunstens kritiske og demokrati- ønskede at reartikulere kunstnere opfattet som et konsumprodukt ske potentiale. Kunst blev her ikke engagement og mulighed men som en platform for demokratisk forståelse. konsensus og skabe politik i Rancières for at udfordre læn- ikke sådan som findes og form ny en taget dag i har Initiativet det er et godt eksempel på et civilsamfundsalternativ. men gere, Asylumhome.net opstod og blev sty- Det var herfra, at initiativet til Asylumhome.net var et netfora, som Productions. af Wooloo ret seek- space for asylum ”A Det tilbød havde omkring 200 brugere. flygt- politiske og asylansøgere for mødested virtuelt et altså ers”, til at ud- kunne bruge Et fælles sted som deltagerne ninge i Europa. i den events og mødes arrangere veksle oplevelser og erfaringer, følelse af med en større på tværs af grænser og virtuelle verden sikkerhed. Samtidig tilbød bevægelsen gratis juridisk assistance (ba- klage over der ville på frivillig arbejdskraft) til asylansøgere, seret Productions Wooloo opfattede afgørelser. flygtninge som eksklude re samar med vores i samarbejde satte os derfor for, subjektivitet: ”Vi bejdspartnere, at give unge flygtninge og asylansøgere en stemme en asylansøgere og flygtninge unge give at bejdspartnere, Netforaet gav afviste (Politiken, 19.06.2006). rum” offentlige i det sag og erfaringsudveksle, mulighed for at styrke deres asylansøgere Asylumhome.net social bevægelse, men enAsylumhome.net var ikke en traditionel kritik af den politiske konsen- platform for en politisk og æstetisk sus. givne opholdstilladelser kan altså ses i direkte forlængelse af Kirke- af forlængelse direkte i ses altså kan givne opholdstilladelser aktivis- ”synes det tydeligt, at Information skrev asyls aktion. Som (Information, 14-15.08.2010). virkede, mens systemet fejlede” men De tyve irakere, som fik ophold, ville højstsandsynligt være blevet ikke de genoptaget, hvis at have fået sagerne uden til Irak sendt praksisser imod myndighederne. De transgressive havde sat sig op som en ny subjektivitetsform (asylansøgere), formåede at inkludere Selv om var en del af den politiske orden. ikke tidligere (uretfærdigt) - transgres sig helt, repræsenterede politikken (police) ikke ændrede inklu- sig et mere for at forestille sionen en åbning og en mulighed og demokratisk samfund. derende quarter

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kvarter akademisk 61 Óscar García Agustín Óscar García Martin Bak Jørgensen Martin Volume 03 Demokrati som transgression som Demokrati Analysen af den danske kontekst og responsen herpå leder til Analysen af den danske kontekst og responsen Mod en konklusion at den der hævder, argument, et teoretisk I artiklen har vi fremført hvor rum, et skabt har orden sociale den af lukning diskursive luknin- udfordrer og forskelligartede interessefællesskaber nye teoretikere af forlængelse I genpraksisser. transgressive gennem har vi endvidere Negri og navnlig Rancière Hardt, som Mouffe, er en betingelse for demokrati, og at hævdet, at transgressionen - for civilsamfundsalterna rum skaber lukkede mulighedstrukturer som et eksempel den danske indvandringspolitik har brugt Vi tiver. den he- to eksempler på, hvordan på en diskursiv lukning og givet der er skabt i Danmark inden for dette gemoniske sociale orden, at se ved gennem forskellige praksisser politikområde, udfordres anvendt af henholdsvis på rationalerne og strategierne nærmere Kirkeasyl og Asylumhome.net. afsæt. teoretiske vores af forlængelse i ligger som konklusioner, flere - interesse for form nye den at eksempler, viste begge første det For der el- grupper, for forskelligartede fællesskab virker inkluderende og afviste asylansø- i berøring, som fx kunstnere lers ikke har været har været og udfaldet af initiativerne, eller transgressionen, gere, for demokratiet, idet begge cases pegede på illegitime produktivt i det at kun når antagonismen argumenterer, Vi politiske afgørelser. som en del af de poli- og bliver accepteret synliggøres politiske rum er det muligt at skabe lighed og inklu- tiske og sociale dynamikker, sion. Den diskursive lukkethed er i den danske kontekst markant. kom- det vinde at til står SF og Socialdemokraterne at af trods På og resultatet var, at en del af afgørelserne rent faktisk blev omstødt faktisk blev rent del af afgørelserne at en var, og resultatet - at pro udtalte selv, af projektet Stifteren (Information, 11.06.2010). når orden, hegemoniske den at udfordre om jektet netop handler for skabe en platform for repræsentation ulighed, og den legitimerer for atvar at give asylansøgerne en chance ”Ideén de ekskluderede: hvis at kende, så de ved det, rettigheder deres sig og lære organisere alt ikke går rigtigt til” (ibid.). Resultaterne viste netop, at i flere til- og ud over de menneskelige kon- fælde var afvisningerne forkerte, Gen- problem. demokratisk et på det peger ansøgeren for sekvenser juridisk kompetente frivillige og nem alliancen mellem kunstnere, flygtninge sker der en transgression, som peger mod demokrati og på eksklusion. at politik er arbitrært og baseret tydeliggør, quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 62 Óscar García Agustín Óscar García Martin Bak Jørgensen Martin Volume 03 Demokrati som transgression som Demokrati fattere, som deler lignende visioner om, hvordan social foran- hvordan deler lignende visioner om, som fattere, Ifølge Ed Miliband (Labour) handler det nye politiske projekt Ifølge Ed Miliband (Labour) handler det nye politiske projekt om at finde et alternativ til USAs kapitalisme, dvs. en kapita- and not the other way around”. “that works for people lisme men mener, moral i økonomien Nicolas Sarkozy savner mere not asking are “We at selve systemet skal forblive det samme: with, but what kind capitalism ourselves what we will replace of capitalism we want?” (BBC, 2010) stats- om, at politi ikke kun skal forstås som advarer Rancière apparat (og heller ikke snævert som den specifikke- organisa samfundsordenen. gælder det også tion eller institution), fordi for Denne dikotomiske tankegang kan også genkendes i andre - og kæmper for udvidelse af ret der advokerer Sociale bevægelser, Noter 1 2 3 mende folketingsvalg formulerer de intet alternativ på det indvan- de intet alternativ på det formulerer mende folketingsvalg støtter til stadighed op om konsensus. område men drerpolitiske derat 2010, november i udtalte Torning-Schmidt Helle Formanden ikke ville ske flerestramninger på udlændingeområdet med deres ny ud- stemmer begge partier for en desto mindre støtte, men ikke internationale konventioner der strider mod 2011, visninglov i juni (Information,og ubetinget er en stramning af udlændingepolitikken en eksklude- Mangel på opposition kan derfor fastholde 22.06.2011). og der er brug hvis den ikke bliver udfordret, universalisme, rende (som hvis målet er politik for de civilsamfundsmæssige alternativer, fra de nye peger transgressionen oprindelig lighed). For det andet der gør op med inerti. Debevægelser på en politisk subjektivitet, en politisk passion, som denye civilsamfundsbevægelser udtrykker - højre populistiske den for definerende været har primært år seneste Transgressionen har enfløj iboende og indvandrerkritiske partier. - revitalise være kan dermed og handlingsorienteret er der praksis, demokratiet. for rende autonomi, for øget af civilsamfundets for opretholdelsen tigheder, - ret af afvikling og nedskæring mod modstand og demokratisering ikultur demokratisk holde at for vitale og nødvendige er tigheder, ind i bringe nye emner og værdier live. Bevægelser og netværk kan latent støtte og derigennem søge at mobilisere sfære, den offentlige påvirke politiske forandringer. quarter

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kvarter akademisk 63 Óscar García Agustín Óscar García Martin Bak Jørgensen Martin Volume 03 Demokrati som transgression som Demokrati dring kan finde sted imod de etablerede sociale strukturer og po- og Negri (2003) taler om Bl.a. Hardt den diskursive lukning. over / power John Holloway (2005) om power testas / potentia; / samfund Castoriadis (1998) om institueret to do; og Cornelius - om, at politik ofte reduce Alle er enige samfund. instituerende - forståel vores og det besværliggør til politiske institutioner, res se af, hvordan social forandring kan finde sted, og alternativer kan skabes. der i dag ligger under URL Det skal nævnes, at det domæne, initiativ. med ovennævnte Asylumhome.net, intet har at gøre 4 quarter

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kvarter akademisk 64 . Aires: Buenos Kirkeasyl. Køben- Óscar García Agustín Óscar García . Cumberland: Bel Martin Bak Jørgensen Martin Volume 03 Demokrati som transgression som Demokrati , Folketingets Åbningstale 5. oktober 2010 , 27 January. [Internet]. Available from: http:// from: Available [Internet]. BBC News, 27 January. ism. June 2011]. [Accessed 13 news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8483896.stm bridge: MIT Press. Scandinavian Welfare Series 53/2006. Forlag. knap Press. Pluto Press. kom til møderne med en bisidder’”. fra Helle Thorning”. Marriages”, I – Legislative and Public Debates on Transnational Migration and Marriage. London: Charsley (ed.). Transnationalism, Routledge. (red.) m.fl. Larsen Frydendal & Mose Holbak, i havn: Frydenlund. - http://www.guardi from: Available August. [Internet]. an, 29 an.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/29/ed-miliband-labour- leadership-change [Accessed 13 June 2011]. Litteraturliste of capital- for revamp calls 2010: Sarkozy (2010) Davos News BBC - Cam Institution Castoriadis, C. (1998) The Imaginary of Society. Goul Andersen, J. (2006) ‘Immigration and the Legitimacy of the Paper Working AMID Danish Findings’, State: Some Preliminary København: Informations (2003) Imperiet. . Negri, N and Hardt, M. Hardt, M. and Negri, N. (2009) Commonwealth Holloway, J. (2005) Change the world without taking power. London: Holloway, gange”. fire strammet er ”Udlændingeloven 24.12.1999 Information der ”’Med tiden blev det jobkonsulenterne, Information 11.06.2006 blev lovligt”. Information 14-15.08.2010 ”Da ulovligt løfte imod ”Socialdemokraterne stemmer 22.06.2011 Information, . London: Routledge. Jenks, C. (2003). Transgression ”Danish Debates on Marriage Migration Jørgensen, M. B. (2011a). ” Kirkeasyl og det asylpolitiske landskab” Jørgensen, M. B. (2011b). Løkke Rasmussen L. Miliband, E. (2010) I’ll make capitalism work for people. The Guardi of the political. London: Verso. Ch. (1993) The return Mouffe, Ch. (2000) The democratic paradox. London: Verso. Mouffe, “Frygtens teater”. Politiken 19.11.2006 Rancière, J. (1996). El desacuerdo. Política y filosofía quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 65 . Sala- Óscar García Agustín Óscar García Martin Bak Jørgensen Martin Volume 03 . Madrid: Amorrortu. Demokrati som transgression som Demokrati Ediciones Nueva Visión. Ediciones Nueva manca: Centro de Arte de Salamanca. de manca: Centro http://www.scribd.com/doc/36622326/El-Uso-de-Las- from: 12 June 2011]. [Accessed Distinciones-ranciere plan. København. ti, 15. marts 2010: Nye udlændinge- og integrationspolitikken. parallelsamfund i Danmark. Cambridge University Press. University of Kansas Press. mocracy. La división de lo sensible. La división de lo sensible. Rancière, J. (2002). Estética y política (2006b). El uso de las distinciones. [Internet]. Available Available las distinciones. [Internet]. Rancière, J. (2006b). El uso de Rancière, J. (2006b). El odio a la democracia Regeringen (2004). Noget for noget. København. Regeringen (2004). Noget for noget. - integrations Regeringen (2005) En ny chance til alle – regeringens Folkepar Dansk og regeringen mellem Aftale Regeringen (2010a) regler for at få permanent opholdstilladelse og serviceeftersyn af for regler til samfundet – Et opgør medRegeringen (2010b) Ghettoen tilbage . Reframing Political Thought Rose, N. (1999). Powers of Freedom: De - for Design (1997). Policy Ingram Helen and Anne Schneider, quarter

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Teaching against the Tide Transgressing Norms in the American College Composition Classroom

Camille Alexander English professor at San Jacinto Community College and a writing instructor at the University of Houston – Clear Lake. Her work has appeared in Akademisk Kvarter (2011 & 2012), Hyphen (2011), and Transpor- tal (2011). Her areas of research are Caribbean literature, gender, postcolonial theory, composition, and rhetoric. She has presented at conferences in the U.S. and the Caribbean. She holds B.A.s in English and Psychology and an M.A. in Literature.

After observing a school of fish swim in unison, the difficulty, if not impossibility, of compelling one fish to act individually does not escape notice. Such an endeavor is pointless as fish swim in schools for protection; unity is necessary for their survival. As a result of their collective thinking, schools of fish instinctively know not to swim against the tide, working with their environment rather than against it. College and university composition instructors are expected to act collectively while in their individual classrooms, working to meet the basic course requirements identified by their de- partments. However, we are still individuals whose pedagogical approaches are influenced by our personal and professional experiences and our scholarly interests. We should be encouraged to challenge our students, not only to think critically and to actively engage with texts, but also to explore readings outside of the literary canon, which is often accused of being comprised of the works of dead Euro-American men. As instructors, we learn to “swim” against the academic tide, challenging ourselves, our students, and our pedagogies by transgressing composition text-selection norms. In this essay, I address some of the texts and topics instructors can integrate into American composition courses to present students with unique points of view. By straying from the canon and assigning a variety of texts, instructors provide students with compelling

Volume 03 66 - - 67 Camille Alexander Camille Volume 03 Teaching against the Tide against Teaching I have mentioned several “touchy” subjects that many Ameri- subjects that many I have mentioned several “touchy” is a workshop (1990, p.37) contends that the classroom McKenna and socially relevant material, drawing and holding their attention drawing and holding their material, and socially relevant the norm. of what is considered the boundaries while probing commonly-held ideas encourage students to question texts These or nationality, sexual preference, politics, religion, on race, culture, which in turn leads to theiressays observations,reflecting gender, questions, and conclusions. - these topics may lead to disagree cans tend to avoid discussing as is a valid concern—particularlyments. The possibility of contention and the consumerizationin this age of academic budget constraints should these rather sensitive subjects of higher education. However, silences or avoidance in the com- not convey the need for additional in Instead, delicate subjects should be broached position classroom. of the as, in all likelihood, they apply to one or more the classroom By opening discussions even to the instructor. students—perhaps can create norms, composition instructors on topics that transgress a contact zone, a term coined by Pratt (1991, p. 34) and defined as grapple with each and meet, clash, cultures spaces where “social of power”. often in contexts of highly asymmetrical relations other, to relevant particularly are definition (1991) Pratt’s of elements Two and con- grappling; and clashing, meeting, cultures discussion: my to both compo- I will refer of power. texts of asymmetrical relations discussion progresses. nents of Pratt’s (1991) theory as this and teachers alike work space in which students and “a creative of the intersect- their subjectivity to an externalization through This all”. us define which gender and class race, of elements ing “a politicized space in into involves transforming the classroom questioned and po- which the nexus of race, class and gender are Pratt’s (1991) con- litically activated” (McKenna 1990, p.37). Here, - “highly asymmetrical re of tention that the contact zone is an area race, class, lations of power” is critical. McKenna (1990) addresses contextual frames in which power relations which are and gender, deter typically are in the U.S. relationships Power be tested. can Although it would be mined along lines of race, class, or gender. likely to determine the or less easy to state that one aspect is more allotment of power it in American is society, still difficult to deter At any given time, one element sway. mine which one holds more shift in relationships over the other and power can take precedence quarter

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1 68 Camille Alexander Camille Volume 03 Teaching against the Tide against Teaching Logan (1998, p.55) asserts that composition teachers “need to de- asserts that composition teachers Logan (1998, p.55) the by to statistics compiled the U.S. Census (2011), According response. As a creative and exploratory space, the composition composition and exploratory space, the As a creative response. causes to examine the a forum students with can provide classroom any society. of power shifts in it is less the unspeakable”. In the classroom, vise ways to speak - academic environ her to work with instructor for an problematic dissention.to lead may that positions presenting of out opting ment, instructors Logan (1998, p.54) writes that if composition However, of welcoming instead and harmony in the classroom peace “desire or smoothing over important dissent” they “will be dancing around it both ways: that we cannot have we realize As instructors, issues”. Many of us and a peaceful classroom. a participatory classroom tide, opting for a peaceful class- choose to swim with the academic the texts of the norm, introducing many of us transgress but room, the canon by questioningOther writers, or writers who challenge sexual orienta- culture, gender, commonly-held beliefs about race, the norm texts that stray from Introducing topics. other and tion, typically raise questions about power and its negotiations. These Self and Other clashing, while try- the inevitable: to lead also texts ing to determine positions and allotment of power in their relative Because of these complex negotiations, and in society. the classroom an instructor’s the academic tide is critical. decision to swim against have changed dramati- demographics of U.S. tertiary institutions cally in the past thirty years. In 1980, the majority of college students the Black whereas White, with a population of 9,925,000 were student pop- population was 1,163,000, and the Hispanic student to ulation was 443,000. By 2008, those populations increased 14,405,000,Although White 2,481,000, and 2,227,000, respectively. Blackthat indicate statistics these enrollment, in lead still students number of female stu- is on the rise. The and Hispanic enrollment in 2008, almost 5,957,000 in 1980 to 10,321,000 dents went from doubling and with female students than males. In two million more in non-native students from been an increase has there addition, - 286,000 in 1980 to 672,000 in 2009 and English as a Second Lan guage (ESL) speakersAs in 1970 to 1,577,800 in 2006. 1,111,500 from diverse, courses universities become more and colleges American such as composition should be constantly revised to reflect the demographics. ever-changing quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - 69 Camille Alexander Camille Volume 03 Teaching against the Tide against Teaching The goal of the composition classroom is to produce not only not only is to produce The goal of the composition classroom Current student populations suggest that the composition class- composition the that suggest populations student Current engage zone in which Self and Other must become a contact room racial, gender, which they wage war for cultural, rather than one in when This objective can be reached of supremacy. or any other type typically ex- which are assign works by Other writers, instructors the texts striving for the inclusion of the canon. While cluded from issues of must also address the composition classroom of the Other, exclusion is “eurocentrism, exclusion. McKenna (1990, p.31) writes, factors that “under ethnocentrism, sexism, classism and…racism”, to teach it; what to publish where lie choices of what to teach and McKen- years later, Twenty and what not to anoint as literature”. as identifying those texts na’s (1990) observation is still relevant conten- of point a still is canon the in included being of “worthy” goals the are What still remain: The questions academy. the in tion while meet these goals of composition? and How can instructors the course’s norms? transgressing I identify an academic writeracademic writers but critical thinkers. scholarly research-based with the ability to produce as someone texts reflecting an in-depth analysis of any given topic. The term “critical thinker” is multi-definitional, but for the purpose of this essay I define it as someone with the ability to question assump information. Critical thinkers academic and tions and to interpret - broad reflecting texts include that courses in produced are writers who allow students to discuss er perspectives and by instructors text. Subjects that were with the theories posed in each and wrestle the canon excluded from avoided or works that were previously and given as classroom into the composition should be brought Inclusionary text- as their canonical predecessors. much credence readers provide selection practices in the composition classroom inclusive a more perspectives. In moving toward with broader by in- texts penned select can instructors classroom, composition ternational writers. Schaub (2003, p.94) suggests that instructors work to “internationalize our classrooms” which he defines as parameters of a particular students, within the mission “providing assignments research writing, and writing course, with reading, global vision for their writing their and that foster in them a more conception of writing”. Schaub (2003, p.94) also describes interna- - additional step of “rede as taking the tionalizing the classroom quarter

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kvarter akademisk 70 Camille Alexander Camille Volume 03 Teaching against the Tide against Teaching The composition classroom must also undergo a transformation must also undergo classroom The composition given are instructors I teach composition, At the college where the department chair’sfollowed also have I by straying advice signing…composition courses to make the international focus of of the international focus to make courses signing…composition explicit goal”. assignments an in which the Other’s than it has is allowed to articulate more voice - position re (1996, p.29) writes “that ‘subject’ in the past. Royster be given both a meaning that the subject must ally is everything”, voice her experiences. Royster safe space and an opportunity to - subject’s voice is often appropri (1996) contends that although the the Other to articulate her experi- ated, the possibility of allowing describe her experiences through ences still exists. The Other can in composition courses. The writing, which can then be included stu- two purposes: it provides inclusion of the Other writer serves articulated by that subject, whichdents with the subject’s position as to in have limited exposure is a perspective that students may exchange of or personal settings; and it allows a true classroom Other. information between the Self and - diverse, re several texts. The texts are the option of choosing from flecting the instructional styles and and perspectives of the faculty, the text-adop- in participate to encouraged are members faculty all syllabusAs a graduate student, I developed a sample tion process. by well-known authors. Whenusing an anthology of essays written upon chair, department the position, teaching first my offered was I my sample syllabus, advised me to “stick with what you reviewing know”. In keeping with the department chair’s suggestion, I adopted a newer edition of the text for my Composition I course. I found a variety of that this text is comprised of excellent essays told from perspectives and written in language that is neither so simple that students’ intellectually nor so complex that it confuses it offends it is compiled in the U.S.as text this dismiss to them. While it is easy a good balance be- provide the readings American educators, by tween the Self’s and the Other’s perspective. As I am a postcolonialist and a Carib- the text and the norm. from Afro-Caribbean, beanist specializing in gender studies, female, experi- I know from womanist, citizen, transnational, and Other, ence that the canon is often exclusive texts by writers who speak some balance, I include provide to me and of my experiences. To topics or identify- addressing other sources additional texts from quarter

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kvarter akademisk 71 Camille Alexander Camille Volume 03 Teaching against the Tide against Teaching century students, it is sometimes necessary to century students, it is sometimes st At this time, I would like to expand Schaub’s (2003) definition to definition (2003) Schaub’s expand to like would I time, this At essays including by complacency to succumbing avoid to try I ing groups that students may not have encountered. The inclusion that encountered. students may not have ing groups students with the topics, and authors provides of unfamiliar texts, contributes to of the world, which positively a panoramic view essays. critical their ability to produce For in- with a panoramic worldview. students include providing readings this involves daring to assign non-traditional structors, in the positions expressed that some students may oppose because can be a difficult their own. This considerably from the texts differ pedagogical patterns and hab- task as it is easier to slip into familiar Schaub (2003) warns its than to work against those inclinations. which is into our pedagogy, creep against allowing complacency to a mold that instructors must fight against falling into despite the expected texts.ease with which we assign the usual, opinions that challenge assumptions penned by authors expressing ques- pose who writers feminist by texts assign I relations. power of TheseOthers. women as feminism, and equality, tions about gender quite applicable in composition courses taught in the U.S. topics are attending tertiary institutions than women more are today as there men. Although it is not difficult to locate essays from the canon - American writers advocating norms, I intro penned by White, male, American norms, which question duce texts by female essayists that to find.can Forbe many femaleharder instructors—particularly in- “chick” topics. Many of is a hesitance to introduce structors—there us fear the constant barrage of objections posed by male students with students making as- In addition, we cope about the readings. Ardis sumptions about our text choices based on our appearances. a(1992, p.168) notes, “students often want to position a teacher as native informant because that’s the easiest way for them to account for a teacher’s authority vis a vis her subject matter”. For some of my texts because I am a or -authored students, I assign female-centered - woman and I am privileging my “kind”. They believe that I am ex I However, relationship. my power in the teacher-student ercising to expose my students to of my motives, which are make no secrets a fo- ideas and to provide a variety of unfamiliar writers expressing meet this To the concepts presented. in which to actively debate rum challenge with 21 select older texts, such as those by second-wave feminist writers. quarter

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kvarter akademisk 72 Camille Alexander Camille Volume 03 Teaching against the Tide against Teaching One of the greatest problems associated with introducing femi- with introducing associated problems One of the greatest I mentioned earlier that U.S. college gender demographics have nism as a topic of critical examination in the composition classroom classroom critical examination in the composition nism as a topic of and with associated with the movement is the negative connotations of texts centering as feminists. Discussions women who self-identify the new as this term has become be problematic on feminism can F- p.94) writes of feminism, “the dreaded Jamila (2002, “F-word”. to be so weighed down by negative connotations continues word is willing to voluntarily associate with it”. There that few people are nothing more detrimental to a female public figure in the U.S. than for her to claim an affiliation with feminism, especially with the conservatism and traditionalism. toward trend country’s current feminist movement of the sixties,Forty years after the second-wave feminists is still saturated with images of radical popular culture hip- as bra-burning, convention-shunning, long-haired cast who are a rather narrow is support abortion. This unanimously who pies ad- actively be must that topic a but group, heterogeneous of a view (1979) Gloria Steinem’s question this image, I assign To dressed. Life” in Your of Years Not the Best Are “The Good News Is: These and activism on college campuses feminism which she discusses believes that although the col- during the early 1970s. Steinem (1979) thinking, wom- and free rebellion lege campus is viewed as a site of article is written with age. The not decreases, en’s activism increases, college students in the U.S., for an audience of traditional, female Movement, members of the Women’s suggesting that if they are 1979). radical with age (Steinem, they will become more changed so dramatically in the past thirty years that as of 2008, in U.S. tertiary institutions women enrolled 10.3 million were there Of this popula- Census, 2011). to 8.3 million men (U.S. compared non- 35 and considered over the age of tion, 779, 000 women were part-time returning, older, traditional students because they were female students, which of non-traditional, attendees. This group may include students with families and full-time employment, has little in common with their traditional counterparts who tend to be employed and families, without students college first-time younger, often populated by an array of my courses are part time. Therefore, - female students who do not strictly conform to Steinem’s original pos- essay (1979) Steinem’s Assigning profile. audience ly-intended as a native in- to gender or my role not related es other problems quarter

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kvarter akademisk 73 Camille Alexander Camille Volume 03 Teaching against the Tide against Teaching Teaching has expanded my knowledge of student populations populations my knowledge of student has expanded Teaching to fem- an excellent introduction Steinem’s (1979) essay provides of being a feminist and the complexities Shah’s essay addresses formant. Because Steinem is no longer as well-known as she once Steinem is no longer as well-known formant. Because - There to a new audience of readers. introduced was, she must be to historical and social examinations assigning her essay leads fore, American society in feminism in current of gender and of the roles society of Steinem’s (1979) essay. American comparison to the I no longer assume that stu- As a result, and their heterogeneity. familiar with Steinem, the 1960s, or with second wave dents are discussion with a brief history offeminism and usually begin the Students bring their prior experiences to this discussion, all three. of misinformation about fem- often sharing a considerable amount it rais- Steinem’s essay is a good selection because inism. However, why the feminist movementes questions. Students want to know was important and if it is still relevant. I can only answer the first a historical perspective, and I encourage of those questions from students to debate the second. but it can be accused of lackinginism and the feminist movement, audience is White, middle class,universal appeal. Steinem’s (1979) one of the major criticisms of second waveis in college, which and few to the a tool of a privileged, Western feminism: that it is largely to one in- exposed students are As a result, exclusion of the Other. of their self- Steinem that is exclusive of feminism from terpretation wave feminists texts by third counter Steinem, I assign identities. To perspective on or a variation of feminism. Sonia a different offering Jeans and Chania Chorris” is an excellent coun- Shah’s (1995) “Tight ter to Steinem’s (1979) brand of feminism because Shah is a third American born to Indian immigrants, and some- wave feminist, an one who spent her childhood traveling between the U.S. and India. - As the child of physicians Shah is privileged, but she is also Oth Shah’s woman of color. as the daughter of immigrants and a ered India, and home country, also maintained close ties to their parents and Shah has an Indian, international, As a result, Indian culture. American worldview. often at odds, which is a situ- that are living between two cultures ation that many of my students personally experience. Shah (1995) between her conceptualization of femi- describes the differences views often lead noting that their opposing nism and her parents’, quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 74 Camille Alexander Camille Volume 03 Teaching against the Tide against Teaching After reading the text, the class engages in a conversation about After reading The racial demographics of U.S. colleges have changed in the to misunderstandings and heated discussions. These disagreements disagreements and heated discussions. These to misunderstandings girls like the other younger sister began dressing ended when her and too shirts, tight jeans, off-the-shoulder in her class, wearing feminist,a as perspective p.114) (1995, Shah’s From makeup. much up for the herself and setting herself her sister was “exploiting at the hands of and abuse” Shah suffered kinds of exploitation is shocked Shah (1995, p.117) White, middle class boys years before. by her sister’s “taboo display of flesh in full parental view” when chorris, which a trip to India wearing chania from her sister returns skirts worn underlong full and blouses midriff-baring of sets “are taken aback by her conservative par saris”. Shah (1995) is more daughter’s pleased with their younger They are ents’ response. at- two small bows except for her back is completely bare although tire learns that it is not the tightholding the blouse closed. Shah (1995) object to, but their younger jeans or the short shirts her parents daughter’s at the ex- American culture complete immersion into pense of Indian culture. - family relation and how dissimilarities impact cultural differences of children the are or immigrants are students my of Some ships. immigrants. They find Shah’s (1995) essay fascinating because it, in in the U.S. For up their experiences growing many ways, mirrors lived in the U.S. for two or more those students whose families have - unfa the detailing revelation, a is essay (1995) Shah’s generations, their miliar experiences of transnational families and broadening - Aware understanding of the international or transnational Other. - ness of the non-American Other comes at a price: students stop rec American At times, the American Others in their midst. ognizing the Americans” although her experiences in with “we Other is grouped American the traditional from may suggest that she is quite different who is White, male, and middle class. of Black and Hispan- past thirty years to include higher enrollment these two groups, from in students ic students. Despite an increase very few texts, if many college students admit that they have read by Black or any, Hispanic writers. This reflects a lack of diversity by assigning essays by Black the curriculum, which I address in andAngelou’s (1997) Hispanic authors. One such essay is Maya her autobiography I “Graduation” (Chapter 23), an excerpt from quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 75 Camille Alexander Camille Volume 03 Teaching against the Tide against Teaching Angelou and her entire graduating class are Othered by the by the Othered graduating class are entire Angelou and her the Oth- to introductions (1997) provide Angelou’s such as Essays univer and colleges American in enrolled students number The incorpo- is and constant a become has essay (1987) Anzaldúa’s - Angelou (1997) de Bird Sings. In the essay, Know Why the Caged Ameri- up in the as a Black female growing scribes her experiences can SouthAnge- is text the in event pivotal The 1940s. the during by junior high school, which is marred from lou’s (1997) graduation politician. motives of a local White the actions and questionable and at the graduation ceremony comments of a White politician textbooks, but new the local White school will receive told that are the new sports equipment. Immediately, their school will receive that although academic reminded are and their parents children concern, limits have been set for them and achievement is a great meaningless. Many essentially, their educational achievements are, of my students have some difficulty accepting limits being set for in a historical period and societyone person by another as they live fewer barriers to success than it once did. I in which race provides but that blind to prejudice, are am not suggesting that my students had, fewer personal experiences they have, or believe they have than someone twenty years their senior. with prejudice perspective ofhistorical The female. and Black, American, is who er students who may be unfamiliarthe text is often eye-opening for a historical and From history. with the U.S.’s rather complex racial Angelou’s (1997) essay is insightful, giving an personal perspective, the eyes of someone who lived them. account of past events through Angelou to the exception of a few students, the responses With find her style accessible. typically positive as readers (1997) are in the past thirty American born, has grown not sities, who are students years. This information suggests that the number of ESL If the course increased. in composition courses has likely enrolled materials can, they should reflect those language differences. As I of my students are Mexico and many teach in a state bordering Spanish-speaking, I include texts utilizing both English and Spanish Tongue”. a Wild Anzaldúa’s (1987) “How to Tame such as Gloria - Anzaldúa’s (1987) essay serves two purposes: it introduc Including Ameri- es students to Hispanic writers and it places monolingual, can-born students in a position of interpretation. because I believe that the list every semester rated into my reading quarter

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kvarter akademisk 76 Camille Alexander Camille Volume 03 Teaching against the Tide against Teaching I neither claim to know what my students’ sexual orientations are are orientations know what my students’ sexual to I neither claim inclusion of this particular text is critical given the large number of number large particular text is critical given the inclusion of this American colleges and the current students in Spanish-speaking to the According on language in education. national discourses students comprise 823,000 of Spanish-speaking U.S. Census (2011), 2006. In the U.S. students in the country as of the 17 million college political debates about constant are there Mexico, states bordering educators, and rights. Parents, bilingual education and language and forth about which languagepoliticians bandy statements back com- languages or the more should have national primacy: native class, Eng- American English. Some White, middle mon standard lish-speaking students find these debatesrepeat they irrelevant; such as the national languagecommon media and political claims of the U.S. is English although this has never been codified. By as- English I place students who are (1987) essay, Anzaldúa’s signing - language. I cre a “foreign” speakers in the position of interpreting which they must and in “Othered” ate a situation in which they are for meanings without the advantage of analyze a text, searching usu- responses The language. text’s the of knowledge prior having comfortable with the are ally vary; students who speak Spanish students who have no prior experiences with Spanish text whereas because reading to complete the Some students refuse at a loss. are Spanish terms. It does not occurthey cannot understand any of the dictionaries. translators or online free the one of use to them to counterparts, do not learn to navigate the unlike their ESL They, placed. By the end unfamiliar linguistic territory in which they are multilingual en- and essay (1987) Anzaldúa’s of our discussion on empa- have greater many English-speaking students vironments, speakers who must somehow survive in a country and thy for ESL understanding the language. a life without fully construct transform the classroom students to nor do I make a point of forcing toward leaning of trends aware I am a confessional. However, into - conservatism in the U.S. to the exclusion of the Other who is a mem bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) community. ber of the lesbian, gay, feel iso- I will state that members of the LGBT community probably lated and some heterosexuals may have difficulty accepting sexual I hesitated to introduce As a new instructor, orientation differences. all of which stemmed texts by LGBT writers for various reasons, stu- from the possible backlash I feared my own cowardice; from quarter

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kvarter akademisk 77 Camille Alexander Camille Volume 03 Teaching against the Tide against Teaching U.S. college and university students are not a monolithic group, a monolithic group, not U.S. college and university students are dents. However, as I became more comfortable in my role as an in- my role comfortable in as I became more dents. However, is a Homo- Sullivan’s (1996) “What Andrew I assigned structor, from (1996) answers the title question Sullivan sexual?” In this essay, diverges Other: someone whose sexual orientation his position as an (1996, p.13) as the subject voice Sullivan the heteronormative. from by het- overwhelmingly child, surrounded notes, “No homosexual will feel at home in his sexual and emotional world, even erosexuals, to this state- The student responses in the most tolerant of cultures”. empathy to disgust as Sullivan (1996, p.13) ob- ment vary from deceit, of rituals the learn will child homosexual “every serves, impersonation, male and fe- and appearance”. Some students, both to so outraged by Sullivan and his essay that they refuse male, are a on zero a These students choose to accept the reading. complete this essay con- believe that reading writing assignment because they their principles. The opposite end of the spec- stitutes compromising LGBT is comprised of students who support members of the trum - is prejudi that isolating this group community because they believe Other students adopt a centrist position cial and neo-segregationist. uncomfortable with homosex- in the discussion because they are ualityportion of their society’snot comfortable excluding a are but population from the benefits to which they are entitled by default. riots, twenty years after the Stonewall York’s Forty years after New Ask, Don’t Tell of the U.S. military’s Don’t institution and repeal of same-sex marriages in some and the recognition (DADT) policy, states, homosexuality is still a topic that generates some negative instructorscomposition that suggesting not am I While responses. we should take full advan- social reform, time for use instructional it is critical tage of teachable moments when they arise. Therefore, - that we encourage our students to think and to question—particu as this one. larly about a topic as socio-culturally relevant Because of the varia- are. as diverse as they and their opinions are musttions among the student population, composition instructors the of outside texts selecting by norm the transgress sometimes with intellectually stimulating presented canon. When students are likely to ac- more they are their perceptions, texts that interrogate - instruc the and students the benefit which debates, in engage tively Logan, 1998). The concept tor (McKenna, 1990; Pratt, 1991; Wilson topics — to challenge debate of allowing students to aggressively quarter

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kvarter akademisk 78 Camille Alexander Camille Volume 03 Teaching against the Tide against Teaching

I use Black to identify all people of African descent living in the U.S. African I use Black to identify all people of American African popular The use of this term instead of the more is to acknowledge that many Blacks in the U.S. may identify with another nationality. The challenge to university instructors is to combine meeting the is The challenge to university instructors Notes 1. - society’s struc ideas, and topics, their own the authors, the reading to positively contribute these same students are if — is crucial tures no longer we can As instructors, which they live. to the society in by avoiding these “touchy” subjects to step delicately around afford always cannot them at all costs. We that address topics and the texts materials for selecting instructional proclivity accept the academy’s from the canon and must find ways to incorporate canonical texts texts into our syllabi. transgressive more and newer, with exposing stu- requirements composition course’s instructional the world and ways of seeing dents to a variety of new and different meet this challenge by some- that occupy it. We the varied groups “Swimming” environment. times working against our academic Those for instructors. problematic against the academic tide can be labeled ourselves find may norm the transgress to choose who us of by our colleagues. This poses aradicals and summarily dismissed - rela professional forge and careers our build to try we as challenge we should still strive despite our reservations, tionships. However, the many experiences that all to encourage our students to explore texts have to offer. quarter

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kvarter akademisk 79 Camille Alexander Camille Volume 03 Teaching against the Tide against Teaching New York: Bantam Books, pp.169-184. Bantam Books, York: New pp.Aunt Lute Books, San Francisco : the new mestiza. Frontera: 53-64. Hypatia, [e-journal], 7 (2), pp.176- positionality in the classroom, 9 December database [Accessed JSTOR through Available 176, 2009]. Rehman, eds. Colonize this! feminist. In D. Hernández and B. Seal York: New feminism. young women of colon on today’s pp.382-394. Press, eds. Feminism and L. Worsham, position studies. In S. C. Jarrett Modern York: New studies: in other words. and composition Language Association of America, pp.45-57. nist pedagogical challenge, Pacific [e-journal], Coast Philosophy, database [Accessed 9 JSTOR through Available 25 (1/2), pp.31-38, December 2009]. database [Accessed 25 May JSTOR through: Available pp.33-40, 2011]. [e-journal], 47 (1), and Communication, College Composition July 21 [Accessed database JSTOR through: Available pp.29-40, 2011]. - Avail [e-journal], 3 (1), pp.85-98, alizing composition, Pedagogy, Muse database [Accessed 7 July 2011]. Project able through: Seal York: New the next feminist generation. ten up! voices from pp.113-119. Press, your life!, Ms., Sep. pp.64-68. Random House, pp.3-18. York: New ment about homosexuality. References sings. bird know why the caged I , 1997. Chapter 23. M. Angelou, tongue. Borderlands/La a wild G., 1987. How to tame Anzaldúa, of body: embodying of mind, presence Presence A., 1992. Ardis, a hip hop from Jamila, S., 2002. Can I get a witness? testimony com - and S.W.Logan, gender, race, enter: I where and When 1998. , gender: the femi- , 1990. Intersections of race, class and T. McKenna, [e-journal], 91, the contact zone, Profession, Arts of Pratt, M.L., 1991. J. J., 1996.When the first voiceRoyster, you hear is not your own, for internation- an argument Schaub, M., 2003. Beyond these shores: jeans and chania chorris. In B. Findlen, ed. Lis- Shah, S., 1995. Tight not the best years of are these G., 1979. The good news is: Steinem, - normal: an argu Sullivan, A., 1996. What is a homosexual? Virtually quarter

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kvarter akademisk 80 Camille Alexander Camille Volume 03 Teaching against the Tide against Teaching - at: [Accessedtion/higher_education_institutions_and_enrollment.html 12 July 2011] U.S. Census, 2011. Statistical abstract on higher education. [online] Statistical abstract U.S. Census, 2011. quarter

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kvarter akademisk akademiskkvarter Volume 03.Efterår 2011 • on the web academic quarter

Forsøgs- og udviklingsarbejde i grundskolen som transgressiv praksis

Christian Ydesen (f. 1974), ph.d., ekstern lektor ved Aalborg Univer- sitet. Har bl.a. udgivet afhandlingen ”The Rise of High-Stakes Testing in Denmark, 1920-1970” og medredigeret antologien ”Writing Post-Colonial Hi- stories of Intercultural Education”; begge udgivet på Peter Lang Verlag.

Karen E. Andreasen er ph.d og postdoc/adjunkt på Institut for Læring og Filosofi, Ålborg Universitet, og tilknyttet forsk- ningsgruppen Center for Uddannelses- og Evalu- eringsforskning samme sted. Hendes forskningsin- teresser ligger især indenfor området evaluering, læring og læreprocesser i relation til forskellige ud- dannelseskontekster, herunder også historiske perspektiver på dette.

Introduktion Med tidligere professor i eksperimentalpædagogik Kaj Spelling´s (1915-1994) ord er målet med forsøgs- og udviklingsarbejde i grundskolen, at ”fremkalde en ændring i det bestående.” (Spelling, 1969, p. 167). Med et sådant sigte om grundlæggende at udfordre og overskride en gældende praksis og dens værdier og normer, kan det i en teoretisk forståelse betegnes som en transgressiv praksis (Jenks, 2003). Eksperimenter med pædagogikker, undervisnings- og prøve- former, der har gjort op med bestemte tiders dominerende syn på undervisning, er blevet karakteriseret som udfordrende og oplevet som stærkt provokerende blandt dele af befolkningen og nogle beslutningstagere. Til tider endda i et omfang, der har ført til, at de er blevet stoppet og modarbejdet af myndighederne på forskellig vis. Men samtidig har de også i nogle tilfælde sat processer i gang og er

Volume 03 81 - - - 82 Christian Ydesen Christian Karen E. Andreasen Karen Volume 03 Forsøgs- og udviklingsarbejde i grundskolen som transgressiv praksis transgressiv som grundskolen i og udviklingsarbejde Forsøgs- Men det er væsentligt at være bevidst om, at de kulturelle prak- bevidst om, at de kulturelle at være Men det er væsentligt klassifikationssystemer, i afspejles normer og værdier Kulturelle Imidlertid har konteksten for forsøgs- og udviklingsarbejder i fol- blevet retningsgivende for udviklingen af nye pædagogiske praksis- udviklingen af nye pædagogiske for blevet retningsgivende ny kultur. ser, og nor værdier sisser er kontekstbundne. De afspejler kulturelle Prøve- og træk. sådanne til at reproducere tendens en og har mer og i den forbindelse spiller en vigtig rolle eksamenssystemerne prak- de kulturelle og reproducere bidrager både til at producere nor 2006). Imidlertid kan man tale om kultur, sisser (Bourdieu, især er som hver niveauer, på mange forskellige mer og værdier, karakter af forsøgs- transgressive af den i diskussionen relevante landes uddannelsessyste- og udviklingsarbejde: Kultur indenfor endet lærerkollegium, specifikke det i skole, enkelte den på mer, blandt kultur eksempel (for kultur faggruppers lærerteam, kelte og skolepsykologer), kultur som knyttet so- til forskellige lærere vil eller lag i samfundet etc. En transgression ciale grupperinger på ikke blot et udtryk for konfrontationer som kunne ses således og national- landegrænser af tværs på også men samfundsniveau, indenfor rammerne af den enkelte skole mellem forskellige stater, og faggrupper. sociale grupperinger i diskur eksempelvis niveauer, på mange igennem sætter sig der ser og i handlinger (Jenks, 2003, p.34). Sådanne - klassifikationssy til samspillet i i forhold stemer kan opfattes som så fundamentale kan opfattes dem at ethvert anslag mod og fællesskab, samfund attempt to alter the Jenks siger om dette: ”To en provokation. som classificatory system is to strike at the heart of the social” (Jenks eller samfundsmæssig en etableret 2003: 34). Forsøg på at ændre noget, som opfattes forhånd på allerede kan dermed praksis social der vil være forbundet med konflikter og en proces, der nødven- digvis må møde modstand. Men sådanne forsøg på at udfordre til nødvendige foran- grænser kan betragtes det, der kan føre som (Jenks, 2003). Som kulturelt fornyelser og forbedringer dringer, afhængig af den kon- være således vil transgressionen fænomen af den heri (Jenks, 2003, tekst, den udspiller sig i, og af receptionen at på- ved forskellig vis på legitimeret søges p. 8). Den kan derfor virke receptionen. en proces, sig. Den har undergået forandret keskolen gennem årene vi styring. Spørgsmålet en stigende grad af statslig der har indebåret quarter

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kvarter akademisk 83 Christian Ydesen Christian Karen E. Andreasen Karen Volume 03

. 1 Forsøgs- og udviklingsarbejde i grundskolen som transgressiv praksis transgressiv som grundskolen i og udviklingsarbejde Forsøgs- - for Experimentalpæ af Foreningen Forsøgene var vokset frem Imidlertid udgjorde foreningen et vigtigt rum for faglig udveks- for vigtigt rum et foreningen Imidlertid udgjorde – forsøgsklasser i Vanløse og på Frederiksberg Vanløse – forsøgsklasser i - pro transgressive sådanne hvad der karakteriserer stiller er derfor, - og regu træder ind og søger at styre når staten der sker, hvad cesser, vil bruge har spillet. Vi forhold politiske dem, og hvilken rolle lere i grundskolen i forsøgs- og udviklingsarbejdet træk fra udviklingen dette. diskutere for at belyse og som referenceramme Skoleforsøg i mellemkrigstiden indenfor folkeskolensNogle af de tidligste egentlige forsøgsarbejder Initiativerne til 1. Verdenskrig. rammer blev gennemført i tiden efter i folkeskolen. Fælles for aktører dette kom ikke fra staten, men fra mod en reformpædagogisk en orientering generelt forsøgene var den tra- med mod og et opbrud tænkning, hvor man søgte et oprør undervisningstænkning, med dens stærkt ram- ditionelle borgerlige mesatte pædagogik (Bernstein 1997), - stor distance mellem lærer pensum, faglig opsplitning, betoning af hierarki, ensartet og elever, i høj grad ses som et anslag Forsøgene kan klasseundervisning osv. i folkeskolens havde domineret der hidtil mod normer og værdier, gav anledning til megen debat pædagogik og undervisning. De og opfattet som stærkt provokerende og blev blandt visse grupper 1977). grænseoverskridende (Nørgaard mål var at erklærede dagogik, der blev stiftet 1914. Foreningens på pædagogi- psykologisk og pædagogisk viden baseret fremme ske eksperimenter i den danske folkeskole. Med denne dagsorden artikler og appeller at foredrag, søgte den gennem arrangerede udøve indflydelse på beslutningstagere i udformningen af den - af forenin medlemmer danske folkeskole. Eksempelvis fremsatte og et en forsøgsskole blev oprettet gen en appel om, at der snarest Appellen blev dog ikke 1920). pædagogisk laboratorium (Tybjerg hørt, hvilket var symptomatisk. Ganske ofte nåede foreningens og samtidig mødte kreds, budskab nemlig ikke ud i en bredere skolefolk, som og andre den ofte betydelig modstand fra lærere fandt det uansvarligt at bedrive eksperimenter med pædagogik og undervisning ling og inspiration, og for at etablere en fællesskabsfølelse for men- etablere og for at ling og inspiration, opstart for den senere roller afgørende som kom til at spille nesker, til at kom dette rum af skoleforsøg i Danmark. Efter 1. Verdenskrig quarter

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kvarter akademisk 84 Christian Ydesen Christian Karen E. Andreasen Karen Volume 03 . Den nye forening for pædagogisk forsøgsvirksomhed. Den nye forening Foreningen Forsøgs- og udviklingsarbejde i grundskolen som transgressiv praksis transgressiv som grundskolen i og udviklingsarbejde Forsøgs- De ti forsøgsklasser blev imidlertid pludseligt og uden varsel pludseligt og uden varsel De ti forsøgsklasser blev imidlertid er udtryk for den betydelige uenig- Begivenhederne fra Vanløse (1886- Rifbjerg Sofie reformpædagogen bl.a. grundlagde 1931 I knytte an til den internationalt forankrede reformpædagogiske reformpædagogiske forankrede internationalt den til an knytte var nem- bevægelse danske reformpædagogiske bevægelse. Den pædagogiske strømninger af internationale lig kraftigt inspireret i 1983, p. 15). Med afsæt i disse & Nørgaard, 1920´erne (Henriksen det at påvirke de danske reformpædagoger inspirationer søgte pædagogiske gennem artikler i tidsskrifter, danske skolevæsen - Et af disse eksperimen og skoleeksperimenter. konferencer kurser, 1924 til 1928. Det var især inspi- i perioden ter fandt sted i Vanløse således hvis normer og værdier af forsøgsklasser i Hamburg, reret Forsø- skolesammenhæng. i en dansk omplantet og importeret blev med traditionel dansk et stærkt brud repræsenterede gene i Vanløse derhvor transgression, en dermed og pædagogik, og undervisning - af individuel undervisning sammen blandt andet blev gjort brug 1983, p. 80). Dette skete for at sikre koblet med testning (Egeberg, undervisning videnskabelig status. forsøgene med individualiseret oftede ophedede dem i den Herved søgte man også at legitimere udformning. debat om folkeskolens fremtidige blot få dage inden den lukket i 1928 af Københavns skoledirektorat (Nørgaard, sted finde skulle evalueringsprøve planlagte 1924 siden kon- den beslutning var denne bag Hovedmanden 88). p. 1977, Ernst Kaper (1874-1940) (Hen- servative uddannelsesborgmester 1977, p. 88). Kaper var 1983, p. 13; Nørgaard riksen & Nørgaard han så i Danmark og den ledende fortaler for klasseundervisning undervisning skulle og individualiseret til, at en ny ingen grund - vinde fodfæste i København. Han havde ganske vist støttet eks ventil, som skulle lette han så det som en perimentet i 1924, fordi kritik af det eksisterende og deres fra reformpædagogerne presset 1983, p. 25). Men med den skolevæsen (Henriksen & Nørgaard, støtte fra forældrene omfattende opmærksomhed og udbredte uønskede øjne, Kapers i til, vokse at ved efterhånden forsøget var proportioner. tænkning og det dan- dansk pædagogisk hed, som karakteriserede ske skolevæsen i mellemkrigstiden og den oplevelse af opgør og Men ideerne udtryk for. som forsøgsarbejderne var provokation, fora i de følgende år. i andre fra disse blev ført videre 1981) quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 85 Christian Ydesen Christian Karen E. Andreasen Karen Volume 03 - Lollandsvejens skole. Men disse klas Forsøgs- og udviklingsarbejde i grundskolen som transgressiv praksis transgressiv som grundskolen i og udviklingsarbejde Forsøgs- På Frederiksberg fandt reformpædagogernes ønsker om skole- fandt reformpædagogernes På Frederiksberg Kø- mellemkrigstidens Forsøgsarbejdets skæbne i henholdsvis Forsøgsskolen på Emdrupborg Forsøgsskolen for Foreningen fra opfordring gamle den før år 28 gå skulle Der Experimentalpædagogik blev hørt og en forsøgsskole blev etableret men i København. Men det var ikke staten, der søsatte projektet, som nævnt, havde vedtaget derimod Københavns kommune, der, nye sko- i 1931. Ifølge den allerede forsøgsskole en etableringen af (1893-1959), varAnne Marie Nørvig reformpædagogen leinspektør, blev grundlagt som et forsøg på at styre fri af det antagonistiske antagonistiske fri af det som et forsøg på at styre blev grundlagt at arbejde med videnskabeligt Ved skoleverden. klima i den danske - skolemyndig imødegå kunne at man håbede metoder accepterede holdning til skoleforsøg. I køl- kritiske læreres hedernes og visse - de danske reformpæ fremsatte dannelse vandet på foreningens og Hartvig Frisch Rasmussen (1869-1939) med Vilhelm dagoger om etableringen af en for (1893-1950) i spidsen tilmed et forslag blev godt modtaget af Køben- søgsskole i København. Forslaget af en sådan skole. Kaper villehavns byråd, der vedtog etableringen forslagets ham at forhindre dog ikke gå med til det og det lykkedes pla- til at føre med manglende plads ved at argumentere realisering 1931). nen ud i livet (Egeberg, velvilligt klima. Skolevæse- eksperimenter imidlertid et anderledes - af progres gennemsyret havde længe været net på Frederiksberg & (Bro politisk opbakning med en bred sive pædagogiske værdier - 2008, p. 373). Så tidligt som i 1924 blev de første forsøgsklas Mohr, på Howitsvejens skole. Man ønskede på Frederiksberg ser oprettet ettilmed var Der Vanløse. for forsøgsklasserne i tilbage stå at ikke på forsøgsklasser uofficielle par at genopstå på la Cour Vejens ser blev lukket i 1928, for sidenhen Arvin Julius Georg skole, hvor den pragmatiske reformpædagog 1931). (1880-1962) var skoleinspektør (Egeberg, udtrykker to meget forskellige udviklin- benhavn og Frederiksberg og– skoleforsøg til holdning skolemyndigheders lokale hvor de ger, var en udslagsgi- praksisser - i skolevæsener dermed transgressive og værdiers også politiske magtforhold I dette kom vende faktor. kom samtidig til at modsætninger til udtryk og trangressionerne ’den til modsætning i skole’ normale ’den af definitionen til bidrage forsøgsskole’. reformpædagogiske quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - 86 Christian Ydesen Christian Karen E. Andreasen Karen Volume 03 . Nørvig havde selv iagttaget iagttaget . Nørvig havde selv 2 Forsøgs- og udviklingsarbejde i grundskolen som transgressiv praksis transgressiv som grundskolen i og udviklingsarbejde Forsøgs- Men hvorledes kunne det lykkes at realisere et brohoved for for brohoved et at realisere Men hvorledes kunne det lykkes ord andre var med praksisser transgressive Mellemkrigstidens Emdrupborg forsøgsskole faktisk til en vis grad en fortsættelse af faktisk til en vis grad en forsøgsskole Emdrupborg i Vanløse 1920’ernes forsøgsklasser forsøgene i Vanløse og hun drog nytte af de indhøstede erfaringer og hun drog forsøgene i Vanløse af at opnå status erfaringer var nødvendigheden derfra. En af disse en anden distriktsskole, der ikke var underlagt som en selvstændig forsøgsskolens videnskabelige erfaring var at sikre skole. En anden erfaring og en tredje status gennem ansættelsen af skolepsykologer Fak- forsøgsresultaterne. med kontrol ekstern utidig undgå at var indtil 1953 og ministeriel kontrol tisk lykkedes det Nørvig at undgå evaluering arbejdsmiljø uden ekstern et uforstyrret dermed sikre og elevernes faglige niveauer (Nørvig, 1955, af skolens fremskridt alternative pæda- kunne arbejdet med p. 124f.). Erfaringsmæssigt på gogikker opleves som grænseoverskridende og provokerende der kunne mindske de problemer, mange, og de nævnte betingelser kunne blive følgen af dette. - som Emdrup praksisser i den danske skoleverden, transgressive væ- vitterlig blev? Her er det først og fremmest forsøgsskole borg af mellemkrigstidens yderligt- sentligt at holde in mente, at mange arvtagere og deres reformpædagoger gående og provokerende Arvin var blevet en del af systemet. Eksempelvis var efterhånden blevet var Rifbjerg Sofie Lærerhøjskole, Danmarks for rektor blevet Anne Marie Nør og inspektør for to københavnske hjælpeskoler - forsøgsskole. Den reform vig altså inspektør for den nystartede karakteriseres pædagogiske bevægelse kunne altså ikke længere nød da også støtte fra og forsøgsskolen som en protestbevægelse poli- Desuden blæste der andre alle syv af landets lærerforeninger. tiske vinde end i mellemkrigstiden, idet socialdemokratiet og det radikale venstre udøvede betydelig indflydelse over folkeskolens bag var de ledende aktører Således alle niveauer. udvikling på i den socialde- forsøgsskole forankret etableringen af Emdrupborg mokratiske bevægelse og de havde gode forbindelser til de højeste politiske niveauer. den for er i Men det normalbillede. del af efterkrigstidens blevet en etablering og at bemærke, at der med forsøgsskolens bindelse værd myndig- af mere efterfølgende praksis skete en bevægelse i retning nogen i arvtagere Dermed kom reformpædagogernes hedskontrol. hos myndighe- frihed til transgression deres grad til at deponere quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 87 Christian Ydesen Christian Karen E. Andreasen Karen Volume 03 Forsøgs- og udviklingsarbejde i grundskolen som transgressiv praksis transgressiv som grundskolen i og udviklingsarbejde Forsøgs- I 1962 tog staten det første initiativ til oprettelsen af et statsligt til oprettelsen I 1962 tog staten det første initiativ blev med disse initi- Forsøgs- og udviklingsarbejde i folkeskolen derne, men samtidig gav myndighedernes blåstempling nye frihe- gav myndighedernes blåstempling derne, men samtidig på det følgende. nærmere Dette vil vi se der og handlemuligheder. og Statens - Forsøgsråd Institutionaliseringen Forsøgscenter Pædagogiske af forsøgs- en samfundsmæssig rammesætning Fra 1950´erne satte Første skridt sås da Undervis- og udviklingsarbejder sig igennem. i 1950 med en paragraf i folkeskoleloven blev be- ningsministeren fra folkeskoleloven (Knudsenmyndiget til i forsøgsøjemed at afvige blev tilføjet 1958-lovens forsøgsparagraf (§64), 1985, p. 20). Senere bemyndigelse til at iværksætte der gav undervisningsministeren 1958). forsøgsarbejder (Undervisningsministeriet som det kom til Statens Pædagogiske Forsøgscenter, forsøgscenter. 1964). Detsat hedde, blev åbnet i 1964 (Undervisningsministeriet den blå betænkning fra 1960, derformål var oprindelig knyttet til tænkning, der også havde af- bar præg af den reformpædagogiske og som nu i århundredet, spejlet sig i forsøgsarbejder tidligere Man ønskede at forsøghavde fundet vej ind i skolelovgivningen. i livet. Staten 1958-loven ud skulle bidrage til at føre på centret som et led i en anvendte således en egentlig forsøgsinstitution sigt var at påvirke hvor formålet på længere proces, transgressiv folkeskolens undervisning. staten havde via lovgiv- men ativer formelt set institutionaliseret, hvilke forsøg der kunne tillades at over, ningen taget kontrollen finde sted, og hvilke der ikke kunne. Som et videre skridt i den i 1969 af undervis- blev Folkeskolens Forsøgsråd oprettet retning vilkår for for ningsminister Helge Larsen for at skabe forbedrede søgsarbejdets finansiering, ledelse og udbredelse (Florander& Skov 1985, p. 55). Forsøgsrådet havde til opgave at bistå ministeriet om støtte til undervis- af ansøgninger i forbindelse med vurdering - ningsforsøg (Folkeskolens Forsøgsråd, 1985). Støtte fra rådet inde - bar konsulentbistand og i det hele taget en udpræget grad af syste matisering af forsøgsarbejderne, hvor sigtet var erfaringsudvikling i forsøgs- og og opsamling. Dette element af videnskabeliggørelse havde tilføjet, kunne bidra- derved udviklingsarbejderne, som man dem en vis status og ac- dem og samtidig give ge til at legitimere Dette må anses karakter. eventuelle transgressive cept, uanset deres quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - - - 88 På samme På samme Christian Ydesen Christian Karen E. Andreasen Karen Volume 03 Forsøgs- og udviklingsarbejde i grundskolen som transgressiv praksis transgressiv som grundskolen i og udviklingsarbejde Forsøgs- Institutionaliseringen af forsøgs- og udviklingsarbejdet i folke- af forsøgs- og udviklingsarbejdet Institutionaliseringen et fælles var det her og også tidligere Uanset forsøgenes karakter, Konkluderende bemærkninger Konkluderende Forsøgs- og udviklingsarbejde i folkeskolen har som sit formål at undervisningspraksis, og dermed eksisterende og ændre udfordre i både den ek- og overskride normer og værdier også at konfrontere for vigtig i forhold til den rolle, de ville kunne spille i mulige kultur mulige i spille kunne ville de rolle, den til forhold i vigtig for forandringer i folkeskolen. til en stigning i antallet af undervisningsfor skolen gav anledning 1980’erneaf midten I godkendt. blev ansøgninger alle ikke men søg, be- økonomiske grundet afslag ansøgningerne af 2/3 til op helt fik med92). Sammenlignet 1985, p. Grønsved & grænsninger (Glæsel hidtil fik forsøgene en helt anden status på skolerne og i det of- - der kun processer, også de transgressive hvorved rum, fentlige ne og blåstemp- Med en legitimering sig til dem, ændredes. knytte der kunne potentiale som aktiviteter, ling fra staten, var deres blevet grundlæggende og normer værdier og udfordre provokere dem, selv af staten måtte man acceptere Som legitimerede ændret. eksem- udfordre og provokere om de i høj grad stadig kunne både Også de forsøg der fandt stedpelvis internt på den enkelte skole. oplevedes af nogle som enpå Statens Pædagogiske Forsøgscenter og som forment- der gav anledning til diskussioner, provokation, lig har bidraget til at flytte Da grænser. centret blev nedlagt 2006, til de, der oprindeligt op- var det da også af partier i opposition - der ikke tilsluttede sig reformpædago rettede det. Det var partier, ar tænkning, som man hævdede stadig prægede centrets gisk bejde (Undervisningsministeriet, 2005). var underlagt sam- at de skoler og klasser der deltog generelt vilkår, . me prøvesystem som gjaldt for folkeskolen generelt sige, at de nor vil det i realiteten måde som med Vanløseforsøgene også som netop sætter sig igennem i evalueringer, mer og værdier, af forsøgsarbejderne; de blev i vurderingen samtidig blev afgørende - kriterier for forsøgsarbejdernes succes. I kraft af evalueringers ten på forståelser af pædago- praksis og smitte af dens til at konstituere gik og undervisning, har de på den måde upåagtet kunnet fungere har kunnet grundlæggende forandringer, trods der, som en faktor, nemlig i forståelsen punkter, fastholde skolens kultur på afgørende af viden og fagligt indhold. quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - - 89 Christian Ydesen Christian Karen E. Andreasen Karen Volume 03 autonomi over tid at 3 Forsøgs- og udviklingsarbejde i grundskolen som transgressiv praksis transgressiv som grundskolen i og udviklingsarbejde Forsøgs- De tidligste forsøgs- og udviklingsarbejder, fandt sted i tiden in- og udviklingsarbejder, De tidligste forsøgs- forsøgs- og udviklingsarbejder I perioden efter konteksten for Imidlertid synes de forskellige forsøgsråds sisterende sisterende pædagogiske kultur og i der miljøer, har indflydelse på præget af kom- processer Der bliver dermed tale om denne kultur. 1900-tallet, som vi og eksempler fra udviklingen i pleksitet. De træk kan belyse dele af denne kompleksitet. har valgt at inddrage, rammesætning. De var drevet en formel den staten introducerede mange tilfælde en psykologfagligaf initiativer fra personer med i blandt radikale og social- og som politisk kunne placeres baggrund ka- Når de forsøg de iværksatte havde en transgressiv demokrater. og blev betegnet som ”oprørske” eller ”rebelske” rakter og ligefrem af myndighederne, skal det sesi nogle tilfælde endda blev lukkede tænkning, og normer for pædagogisk af de værdier som et resultat - som reformpæ Den usynlige pædagogik som de repræsenterede. står som en modsætning til den autori- dagogikken repræsenterer, rammesatte pædagogik, synlige og langt stærkere mere skoles tære indtil da. som havde domineret i mid- af en formel rammesætning med introduktionen blev ændret nuer Det antal. deres i opblomstring stærk en ses 1900-tallet af ten - og res kun forbeholdt nogle få særligt privilegerede ikke længere iværksætte for forbindelser at personer med de rette sourcestærke skulle gengæld åben for alle. Til søg, men en mulighed der blev lige naturligvis kunne betyde, atstaten godkende, hvilket alt andet poten- en særligt høj grad af transgressivt de forsøg, der rummede tiale, kunne blive sorteret fra. På den anden side, kunne langt flere at eventuelle skoleforsøg nu netop opnå legitimitet, også på trods hvis modsætninger lokalt på den enkelte skole og i lokalområder, sådan blåstempling blot de kunne opnå statens godkendelse. En eller godkendelse forsynede samtidig forsøgsarbejderne med en vis igangsættelsen. Til status, som formentlig i sig selv kunne initiere eget iso- gengæld har man til tider også set, at de kunne leve deres liv på skolerne (Jensen m.fl. 1992). Uanset dettelerede må man for vente, at de har igangsat mange diskussioner lokalt, der på længere og og normer, værdier holdninger, til ændrede sigt har kunnet føre dermed flytte grænser. være blevet indskrænket – ikke mindst i kraft af at folkeskolerådet blevet indskrænket – ikke mindst i være til de tidligere rådede over eget budget i modsætning ikke længere Lærer Danmarks for rektor sidste den Med p. 58). 2005, (Skov, råd quarter

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kvarter akademisk 90 Christian Ydesen Christian Karen E. Andreasen Karen Volume 03 Forsøgs- og udviklingsarbejde i grundskolen som transgressiv praksis transgressiv som grundskolen i og udviklingsarbejde Forsøgs- Christian Hansen-Tybjergs udkast til Foreningen for eksperimental- udkast til Foreningen Christian Hansen-Tybjergs Studiesamling,pædagogiks historie, april 1946. Historisk-Pædagogisk mappe 2, sign. 203, side 8ff. Nørvigs papirer, Arkiv, Skoles Emdrupborg Københavns Stadsarkiv, Udkast til “Pædagogiske Synspunkter” (1987- udviklingsråd Folkeskolens (1969-1987), forsøgsråd Folkeskolens (2002-2006), Rådet1993), Folkeskolerådet (1993-2002), Grundskolerådet af folkeskolen (2006-) for evaluering og kvalitetsudvikling 1 2 3 højskole Tom Ploug Olsens ord, tegner der sig et billede af, at initia- tegner der sig et billede af, Olsens ord, Ploug højskole Tom de bevil- af forsøg i stigende grad blev selekteret tiver til alternative en proces (Olsen 1985, p. 81). Dette afspejler gende myndigheder grad er blevetudviklingsarbejder i stadigt stigende hvor forsøgs- og be- og derved også skiftende politiske regulering underlagt statslig Dette tingelser. har haft stor indflydelse på deres transgressive po- de har haft for at folde sig ud. tentiale og de betingelser, Noter quarter

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kvarter akademisk 91 Christian Ydesen Christian Karen E. Andreasen Karen Volume 03 Skoleudvikling – fest- – Skoleudvikling . Folkeskolens Udviklingsråd. sved, Winnie; Pedersen, Emil (red.) (red.) Emil Pedersen, Winnie; sved, lens udvikling og centraladministrationen. I: Glæsel, Bjørn; Forsøgs- og udviklingsarbejde i grundskolen som transgressiv praksis transgressiv som grundskolen i og udviklingsarbejde Forsøgs- Halsey, A. H et.al. eds.: Culture Economy Society. Oxford Uni- Oxford Society. Economy Culture eds.: et.al. H A. Halsey, versity Press. . Hans Reitzels forlag. til en teori om undervisningssystemet Historisk-topografisk Selskab for Frederiksberg. riksberg: prak- – en reformpædagogisk Vanløsedagbogen (red.), E. Nørgaard pædagogiske forlag. sis (pp. 73-85). Copenhagen: Gyldendals Skole, 4 (9), pp. 139-141. I: Glæsel, Bjørn; alle årene. Forsøgsråd – og formand gennem Skoleudvikling – fest- Pedersen, Emil (red.) Grønsved, Winnie; - skrift for Kaj Spelling 70 år. Dansk Psykologisk forlag, Køben havn, pp. 37-48 (red.) Pedersen, Emil Winnie; dring. I: Glæsel, Bjørn; Grønsved, 70 år. Dansk PsykologiskSkoleudvikling – festskrift for Kaj Spelling forlag, København, pp. 53-61 1984/85, København. 11, nr. Pedersen, Winnie; Grønsved, Bjørn; Glæsel, I: Forsøgsråd. lens . Dansk Skoleudvikling – festskrift for Kaj Spelling 70 år Emil (red.) Psykologisk forlag, København, pp. 89-95 pædagogisk praksis. Copenhagen: Gyldendals pædagogiske bibliotek. London Francis Group, En faglig pædagogisk sammenfatning af og konsekvenser. Visioner de afsluttende evalueringsrapporter sko Grøn Referencer and Invisible. In: Visible (1997): Class and pedagogies: Bernstein, Basil Bidrag (1970/2006): Reproduktionen. & Passeron, J.-C. Bourdieu, P. - kommune 1858-2008. Frede H. (2008). Frederiksberg Bro, H., & Mohr, I: S. Henriksen, & frie skoleforsøg. Egeberg, O. d. (1983). Vanløse Danmark. Den Frie Egeberg, O. d. (1931). Forsøgsarbejdets kaar i Mogens (1985): Folkeskolens Egedal Poulsen, Jørgen & Jansen, - Poul (1985) Forskning – forsøg – foran Jesper & Skov, Florander, En orientering om skoleåret Folkeskolens Forsøgsråd (1985). (1985). Konsulent i Folkesko- Glæsel, Bjørn & Grønsved, Winnie - – en reform Henriksen, S., & Nørgaard, E. (1983). Vanløsedagbogen & Key Ideas. Routledge, Taylor Jenks, Chris (2003): Transgression. Jensen, B. B. & Nielsen, M. & Steenstrup, J. E. (1992): Folkeskolen: Knudsen, Holger (1985): Forsøgs- og udviklingsarbejde – folke quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 92 Christian Ydesen Christian Karen E. Andreasen Karen Volume 03 , pp. 85-97. Forsøgs- og udviklingsarbejde i grundskolen som transgressiv praksis transgressiv som grundskolen i og udviklingsarbejde Forsøgs- skolen. af 13. maj 1964 Lov Nr.142 center for 8. – 10. skoleår. be- forsøgscenter for 8.-10. skoleår.1. lov om en statsskole som 19. tirsdag 61. Folketinget. Møde nr. handling af lovforslag L 22.11.2005 . Dansk Psykologisk forlag, Køben- 70 år. Dansk Psykologisk skrift for Kaj Spelling havn, pp. 19-24 inden for den folkeskole danske dersøgelse over reformbestræbelserne bibliotek. . Gyldendals pædagogiske i mellemkrigstiden Skoleudvikling – Pedersen, Emil (red.) Bjørn; Grønsved, Winnie; Køben forlag,- Psykologisk 70 år. Dansk Spelling festskrift for Kaj havn, pp. 77-83 Uddannelseshistorie ministerielle råd gennem 35 år. arbejdet i tre 39, pp. 43-65 ningsministeriet - for eksperimental Pæda oratorium og en Forsøgsskole.Tidsskrift gogik Undervisningsministeriet (1958): Bekendtgørelse af lov om folke- om lov af (1958): Bekendtgørelse Undervisningsministeriet Lov om statsskole som forsøgs- Undervisningsministeriet (1964): af ophævelse om Forslag til lov (2005): Undervisningsministeriet Nørgaard, du? En skolehistorisk un- Lille barn, hvis er Ellen (1977): I: Glæsel, og forsøgslærer(e). Ploug (1985): Lærerforsøg Olsen, Tom i folkeskolen – Poul (2005) Forsøgs- og udviklingsarbejde Skov, Spelling, Kaj (1969): Forsøg i folkeskolen. Uddannelse 4, Undervis af et pædagogisk Lab- C. H. (1920). Forslag om Oprettelse Tybjerg, quarter

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kvarter akademisk akademiskkvarter Volume 03.Efterår 2011 • on the web academic quarter

”Hvor viljen er lov og fornuften i eksil” Fællesskabets grænse i sørejsens fortælling, ca. 1600

Johan Heinsen (1984) er historiker fra Aalborg Universitet. Han skriver pt. på en ph.d.-afhandling om forholdet imellem skibsdækkets tale og rejseberetningens forfatterstem- me. Han har publiceret artikler om sørøverfortællin- ger, rejsende fællesskaber og historiografisk politik. Han har sin daglige gang i forskningsenheden CEPS - Cultural Encounters in Premodern Societies ved CGS, AAU.

På stranden ved Port St. Julian nord for Magellanstrædets møde med Atlanterhavet udfoldede sig den 2 juli 1578 et optrin, der i sig selv var en gentagelse henvendt imod fremtiden. Sir Francis Drake, i færd med sin jordomrejse, henrettede Thomas Doughty, en gentleman, som også havde været blandt ekspeditionens ophavsmænd. Doughty undgik hængning, for som gentleman havde han ret til en mere værdig død end den leveret af galgen, der i disse år var ulø- seligt forbundet med Englands nødstedte underklasse, som i den koloniale litteratur optræder som sværme af lediggang (Hakluyt, 1877, 160-161). Det blev i stedet skærets møde med blokken, der tog livet af Thomas Doughty. Historikere har i århundreder prøvet at forklare, hvorfor Drake slog Doughty ihjel. For den nationalistiske historiefortælling i det 19. årh. var denne begivenhed potentielt en ubehagelig plet på en mand, som denne tradition foretrak at ophøje til et emblem på na- tionens rejse imod imperiets storhed (eks. Cooley, 1830, bd. 2, 250; Vaux, 1854, xxxvii. Se desuden Heinsen, 2011). Spørgsmålet om år- sagen skygger imidlertid for en anden historie om selve det at for- tælle om sådanne demonstrationer af fællesskabets grænse som den udstilles overfor det rejsende fællesskab i lovens beherskelse af overskridelsen. Hvordan kunne sådan en historie berettes, og hvad tjente denne vidensproduktion?

Volume 03 93 . - - 1 94 Johan Heinsen Johan Volume 03 ”Hvor viljen er lov og fornuften viljen er ”Hvor i eksil” (Cooke, 1926, 157. Alle citater er egen oversættelse) (Cooke, 1926, 157. Cooke lægger ingen fingre imellem. I hans øjne er Drake intet - synlighed i re spektakulære os om, at straffens Foucault minder at sådanne om, Foucault mindet med bliver imidlertid også Vi Iblandt publikum fandtes en mand ved navn John Cooke. Han er mindre mindre end en tyran og en Konfliktenmorder. bunder i en peti- næssancens offentlige henrettelser kan forstås som led i et politisk henrettelser næssancens offentlige - at udsige sandheden om fælles en magt til ritual, der producerer henrettelse 1991, 54-56). Indtrykket af, at Doughtys skabet (Foucault, fæl- en performance, der producerede kan tænkes som med fordel tavst fællesskab, som en synlighed for øjnene af et lesskabets grænse holdt en oration. Seancen synesforstærkes af, at Drake efterfølgende hierarki i fælles- et et forsøg på at etablere på denne måde at være fælles- evnen til at artikulere skabet, hvori kun autoriteten besidder denne visuelt. Folket selv står tavst skabets sandhed og kan fremvise en sådan tænkning af loven som hvordan tilbage. Machiavelli viser, forestilling en til bundet var tiden i sandhedsmagt af distribution en enheder er bundet til tid, hvil- om en rituel tilbagevending. Politiske imod dette forfald er en begivenhed, Kuren entropi. ket medfører folket som lydige subjekter underder kan vække frygt og fastholde Fællesskabet er således af- suverænen (Machiavelli, 1975, 459-463). genfødsel, der er knyttet til autoritetens hængigt af sin regelmæssige og vise det fundament detteevne til at stå synligt foran fællesskabet eksemplariske konsekvens. bygger på samt transgressionens er ustabile. De er i sidste ende afhængige af performative ordener vidner til den sandhed ritualet det folk, som på en gang skal være Og netop undersåtter. som udfolder og samtidig skal produceres denne be- til at studere af Doughty kan bruges Drakes henrettelse - synderlige selvforstærkelse som den nedbrydes, når den ikke godta en forskydning. For her hvis perspektiv muliggør ges af tilskueren, muligheder for talen. ikke tavshed, men derimod nye er resultatet bevågenhed så godt som ukendt for histo- store denne rejses trods væsentlig, da vi rikerne. For min egen historie er han dog særdeles af det rejsende fra hans hånd har vi en sjældent kritisk fremstilling læses Doughty af henrettelsen Hvis loven. af brug dets og hierarki tavs subjektivitet, kan producere et politisk ritual, der skulle som denne begivenhed kun tænkes som fejlslagen i lyset af Cookes nar I stedet er begivenheden en lejlighed for Cooke til at fremstille rativ. politik som knyttet til en rejsens geografi ”hvor viljen er lov og for nuften i eksil” quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - - - - 95 Johan Heinsen Johan Volume 03 ”Hvor viljen er lov og fornuften viljen er ”Hvor i eksil” Det er fra denne særdeles radikale position, at Cooke beretter radikale position, at Cooke beretter Det er fra denne særdeles tesse som Drake hænger fast i og udnytter som en anledning til at hænger fast i og udnytter som en tesse som Drake over og mytteri. I en passage for både trolddom beskylde Doughty der til en af sine modstandere, bundet til masten, Doughty, lades Cooke imidlertid, af besætningen. Her viser tæsker ham for øjnene - Drakes underkomman af en var alene. Seancen får ikke Doughty at deser Cuttle til at forlade skibet. Denne ved navn Thomas derende Drakes at have udtalt, at han i stedet for at acceptere efter terer (ibid., hænder” ”kannibalernes i sig kaste vil hellere handlinger 151-153). Cooke efterfølgendereflekterer over fællesskabet og dets der står imod enhver ærlighed og kun virker ’tyranniske regering’, ikke nogen positiv universel frygt,igennem frygt (ibid.). Og dette er et sundt princip som hos Machiavelli. Frygten er i stedet der sikrer og tyranniske. Derfor er den eneste retfær knyttet til det arbitrære egen fortælleposition er im- dige handling desertionen, og Cookes plicit ækvivalent med Cuttles handling. ved St. Julian, hvor Drake ”sprøjtede alt sin gift om henrettelsen som en far fremstilles imod Doughty” (ibid., 154). Begivenheden lover dem bil- og sin besætning med hvor Drake manipulerer ce, Dette er det stik modsatte lig rigdom, hvis de følger ham videre. og tilbagevenden til fællesskabets refundering af den retfærdige holder Drake fællesskabet hen,oprindelige princip. Med sine løfter mod- deres som ytrer men der er enkelte besætningsmedlemmer, - der efter rets sympatisører, stand, f.eks. endnu en af Doughtys sagen ifølge Cooke udbryder: ”General, dette er hverken lov eller (ibid., 157). Og selve henrettelsen acceptabelt for retfærdighed” sit fundament. ude af stand til at give fællesskabet er tilsvarende Doughty er ganske vist tapper og eksemplarisk, men ophøjelsen efterfølgen- Drakes fordi mindst ikke – udebliver fællesskabet af der ikke lever op til lovger som en parodi, de oration fremstår ifølge Cooke, at han da også, ningens spektakel. Drake erklærer og selvom er vokset op uden lærdom”, som er en ”dårlig orator, præget af at fællesskabet nu skal være for, Drake argumenterer enhed, er han den første, der bryder dette princip ved at slynge oration 163-167). Den utilfredsstillende (ibid., om sig med trusler fællesska- lovens ritual ikke forener hvordan synes at fremhæve, dets sandhed, men i stedet er knyttet til en bet ved at producere omvendes det af kontingent tale. I Cookes fremstilling verden lo- udstille at til bruges og således ritual politiske performative quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - 96 Johan Heinsen Johan Volume 03 ”Hvor viljen er lov og fornuften viljen er ”Hvor i eksil” Disse radikale forestillinger er forholdsvist sjældne i de overleve- er forholdsvist Disse radikale forestillinger begivenhed spektakulære Jeg hævdede i indledningen, at denne knytteren handling, der som forstås også skal gentagelsen Men vens krav om en universel gyldighed som et skjul for partikulært for partikulært universel gyldighed som et skjul vens krav om en begær. når de skal former, der i stedet tager andre rejseberetninger, rede - og særligt de af beretnin Sådanne fortælleformer, beskrive politik. ofte skrevet på mærkatet ’historie’, er imidlertid gerne, der gør krav historier der ifølge fortællinger, op imod et uhåndgribeligt hele af tale som ’overskridelse’ ofte hæv- nes egne udgrænsninger af denne iblandt sømænd. I konteksten af dette opgør des at have cirkuleret for ækvivalent med disse marginaliserede bliver Cookes beretning tælleformer – i sin modsætning til ekspansionens officielle historiografi. Iresten af denne artikel vil jeg undersøgedenne historiografi kan begribes på hvor modstand i et sprog, og forsøget på at berette en ’sikker’ af sandhed, med den fordeling facon, som er kongruent står i kontrast til det kon- sprog der udøves af lovgerningen. Dette vi- Og Cookes narrativs tingente fællesskab som Cooke udfolder. korrigere på at dette forsøg til at illustrere kan bruges historie dere tekst blev fællesskab og dets grænse, for denne rejsens om sproget fortælling omformet. i en større med dens inkorporering omgang forstås bogstaveligt, forvar en gentagelse. Det kan i første Drakes besætning fundet en galgepå stranden ved St. Julian havde 1628, 69). Dette levn (Fletcher, bygget af en gammel fyrgransmast pegede somdirekte imod Drakesden ekspeditionfigur, synes at godt under jordomrejsen sig over – Magellan, der have modelleret i Port St. Julian og under opholdet havde overvintret 60 år tidligere et mytteri blandt sine mænd. samt afstraffet forhindret kontinuitet imellem, nutiden til fortiden. En kobling, der etablerer en falden samtid, og en ofte blev set som hvad der i renæssancen At denne be- historie, der giver eksempler på det universelt sande. - givenhed har karakter af en gentagelse peger dermed på dens posi historie er knyttet fortælling. Og denne universelle tion i en større - til eksemplet, som i Renæssancens historieforståelse var denne gen (Hampton, 1990, 1-19). Det fortidige ek- modus tagelses primære ti- og handlemåde, en som sig tilbudt måde denne på har sempel ofte som kataloger for iscenesættes dens historiske fremstillinger Magellans finder vi at funktion, denne i er Det imitationer. sådanne Magellansat usandsynligt, ikke er det og Drakes, historie gå igen i quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - 97 - frem Johan Heinsen Johan Volume 03 ”Hvor viljen er lov og fornuften viljen er ”Hvor i eksil” At fortiden her har haft en indvirkning på nutiden, og at Magel- At fortiden her har haft en indvirkning selv her i sig handling, som Imitationen af den eksemplariske Hakluyt, der ofte hyldes som den vigtigste histori- Da Richard historie i skriftlig form har fulgt Drake på rejsen. Fortællingen om Fortællingen form har fulgt Drake på rejsen. historie i skriftlig ibedriften samtidenflorerede og optrådte på engelsk blandtandet (1555). I så af Peter Martyrs Decades oversættelse Edens i Richard Richard virkning, for af have haft sin intenderede fald synes teksten af sin førnævnte oversættelse værdien i den Eden præsenterer til læseren ved dens mulighed for at bevæge teksts lagring af viden, gerninger (Eden, 1555, a1). imitation af store med Drake er ikke kun tydeligt i de gen- lans eksempel er rejst fra Drakes til Magellan i rejsebeskrivelserne tagende referencer i et ekspliciteres Forbindelsens modus af imitation jordomrejse. Fragmentets Doughtys henrettelse. tekstfragment vedrørende office- Drakes af en af underskrevet er det men ukendt, er kontekst i en brugt og har form af et vidnesbyrd John Sarocold ved navn rer at han selv under et middags- Han beretter, sammenhæng. retslig at ”vo- sagt om transgressorer, selskab i Doughtys nærvær havde dem som Magellan gjorde, klogt i at håndtere ville gøre general res et eksempel for de resterende” hvilket var at hænge dem op som 1854, 167). (Sarocold, grænse af en synlighed af fællesskabets produktionen vedrører - politiske pro en af renæssancens er øjnene af fællesskabet selv, for i høj grad muligheden for at itale- Og den formede blemstillinger. sætte fællesskabet og dets overskridelse i historiografien. Cookes adop- når dens på denne forestilling, Drake peger fortælling om undersøges. tion af samtidens historikere ker over den engelske ekspansion under Elizabeth, i 1589 udgav Navigations The Principal monumentale førsteudgaven af sin kom historien om Drake for første gang på tryk, og denne version spanier Politiske stridigheder med blive autoritativ. skulle senere lovstridigt, havde for ne, der mente, at Drakes togt havde været fra rejsen. beretninger forbud imod at trykke årsaget et royalt samling, og denne hav- før Hakluyts Dette forbud blev løftet året Drake (Fuller, trykke fortællinger om derfor fri lejlighed til at de - og redi 2007, 50-59). Hakluyts normale praksis var at renskrive men i dette særlige tilfælde valgte førstehåndsberetninger, gere skrive og form at bryde sin helt enestående til trods, tidspres han, Alt dette betød, at han ikke nåede at blive en helt ny fremstilling. quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 98 Johan Heinsen Johan Volume 03 ”Hvor viljen er lov og fornuften viljen er ”Hvor i eksil” fra 1598-1600 (Wallis, 1974, 227-228; Quinn, 1974, 227-228; 1984, 40; fra 1598-1600 (Wallis, Hakluyts omskrivning af Cookes narrativ, der fremhæver bån- der fremhæver narrativ, Hakluyts omskrivning af Cookes hvem der Hele passagen følger en præcis skabelon, der viser, færdig med fremstillingen før værket var i trykken. Derfor blev var i trykken. Derfor blev før værket med fremstillingen færdig sider efterfølgende indsat på tolv unummerede fortællingen først kan enorme værk. Dette og 644 i det allerede imellem side 643 betydning af som et udtryk for den symbolske selvfølgelig tolkes om den engel- der søgte at fortælle en forfatter, Drakes gerning for som forstås det kan også potentiale, men ske nations immanente det mate- med en konsekvens af Hakluyts utilfredshed værende efterladt ikke havde selv Drake tilgængeligt. ham var der riale, år som Hakluyt arbejdede med sin nogen journal, men i de samme omskriv- en med forsøgt sig selv muligvis Drake fortælling, har journal. Det menes, at det ning af skibspræsten Francis Fletchers udkom i 1628 under videre er denne bearbejdning, der til sidst havde næppe dette mate- bearbejdelse af Drakes nevø. Hakluyt på nogle gengæld ligner denne beretning riale tilgængeligt. Til en har været som derfor muligvis punkter Hakluyts fremstilling, i besiddelse af en ud- været inspirationskilde. I stedet har Hakluyt gave af hvoraf Cookes beretning samt flere kortere beskrivelser, andenudgave af The Principal han trykte en enkelt i sin enorme Navigations 1998, 177-178). Kelsey, af lov- denne begivenhed i særdeleshed det til Magellan, vedrører mod- står på dette punkt i direkte udøvelse, men hans fremstilling garanterer og skyld sin selv erklærer sit forlæg. Doughty til sætning på denne måde begivenhedens sandhed. Drake, der i denne ver ham imod sion holder af Doughty som en nær ven, må derfor ofre sin egen vilje, men som en nødvendighed overfor sandheden og - Efter sakramentet udfolder selve henret mulige fremfærd. rejsens ”efter at have omfavnet telsen sig som en idyllisk scene af troskab: majestæt at have taget generalen og med en bøn for dronningens afsked med sine venner lagde han i stilhed hovedet på den blok, hvor Drake hvor han endte sit liv”. En kort præcis oration følger, at fæl- prædiker ”enhed, lydighed og kærlighed” og understreger, lesskabet under Gud tager denne form. (Hakluyt, 1589) - besidder evnen til at udøve sandheden og vise fællesskabets fun for øjnene af til Gud og majestæt) principper (i båndet damentale tavse vidner til en autoritativ som fællesskabet, der fremkommer diskurs. Scenen er eksemplarisk og viser hver parts retfærdige quarter

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kvarter akademisk 99 Johan Heinsen Johan Volume 03 . Laudonnieres fortælling fra fortælling fra . Laudonnieres 2 ”Hvor viljen er lov og fornuften viljen er ”Hvor i eksil” . Da en gruppe desertører vender tilbage til tilbage til vender desertører . Da en gruppe 3 Det var muligvis tidspres, som nødvendiggjorde fortællingens som nødvendiggjorde tidspres, Det var muligvis Laudonniere straffer ikke alle desertørerne, men udpeger i ste- ikke alle desertørerne, straffer Laudonniere nægter dog at En af de skyldige Kulminationen er henrettelsen. tekst som et eksempel på dermed Laudonnieres Hakluyt bruger rolle i fællesskabet, som enten taler af sandheden eller dennes ly- eller dennes enten taler af sandheden som fællesskabet, i rolle Dette ritual i ideal form, er Machiavellis politiske dige tilhørere. forlænge den synlighed som kunne således ord og beretningens loven producerede. værk intet. det betyder i konteksten af Hakluyts kortfattethed, men selv udfolde bekendt med modellen og kunne var allerede Læseren Iblandt Hakluyts samlin- de mangler som dens knaphed medførte. ger af eksempler findes f.eks. en historie om den franske kaptajn som er at forstå som et særligt meta-eksem- Rene de Laudonniere, po- man udøver et eksemplarisk hvordan pel, der fortæller læseren, ritual igennem lovudøvelsen litisk Laudonnieres fællesskab udspiller sig en scene, der ligner Drakes fællesskab udspiller sig en scene, der ligner Drakes Laudonnieres udførligt beskrevet. men som er langt mere henrettelse af Doughty, Laudonniere problemerne. fostret har hvis skadelige tunger de, det derved grænsen for en eksistens i det gudfrygtige fæl- demarkerer sin egen tale til eksponent forlesskab og gør i samme ombæring enhver modstand udstilles somdette fællesskabs sandhed, imens er blot til nogen fælleshed. Den overskri- uden relation værende gode fra den differentierer ord ‹sande› delsen, imens Laudonnieres den slette tale. situationensbenytte at på forsøg et desperat stedet i gør og angre således til mulighed for en perspektivforskydning. Han appellerer tilskuerne: ”med tanke på at starte et mytteri blandt mine soldater, tillade at vi skal dø I vil og ligemænd, brødre han til dem: sagde afbryder ham og demon- med en sådan skam?”. Men Laudonniere ud af mun- der kan tale: ”Og da tog jeg ordet dermed, hvem strerer til den på ham og sagde, at de ikke var ligemænd med forfattere (Hakluyt, 1903-05, bd. 9, imod kongens tjeneste” oprør og rebeller af en storslået oration ef- op 47). Og igen følges henrettelsesritualet - ter antikt forbillede, hvor han fortæller fællesskabet, at det er bun det til konge og Gud. en adskillelse af forskellige typer tale langs linjerne af en autoritær 1560’ernes fejslagne franske koloniseringsforsøg i Florida roterer om i Florida roterer 1560’ernes fejslagne franske koloniseringsforsøg moti- private tale, der folks følger hans som en række desertioner, af begæret veredes quarter

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kvarter akademisk 100 Johan Heinsen Johan Volume 03 ”Hvor viljen er lov og fornuften viljen er ”Hvor i eksil” [...] som gennem læsningen af min oversættelse, du [Ra- opmærksomme på om at være vil have advaret legh red.] samt viktualier, den utilstedelige negligering i at skaffe og mytterierne, som opstod uordenerne om sikkerhed, - ubekvemmelighe blandt franskmændene, med de store Dette meta-eksempel muliggør således imitationen, imens det det imens imitationen, således muliggør meta-eksempel Dette fortæl- til Laudonnieres af Hakluyts forord Dette understreges lov, der skiller fællesskabet i to. Enten er der den tavse eksistens i to. Enten er der den der skiller fællesskabet lov, og straffen, ledet af orationen i en orden og tilskuere som tilhørere taler. hvori kun autoriteten en offentlighed, der giver fællesskabet figu- kan kun som overskridelse, rene den side, anden den på Eller, - der udøves i det politiske ri som en negation af den sandhed, rere - fæl til det rejsende lektie henvendt direkte tual. Dette er Hakluyts Magellan.Drake gentog ligesom gentagelsen - tjener den og lesskab, bliver det stof, af ordene regering Fortællingen om Laudonnieres - omfortælling af Drakes jordom som fylder manglerne i den korte ikke mindst fortælleformer, model, der forskyder andre – en rejse Cookes radikale kritik. for subjektivitet som det politiske ritual udøver udvider den sfære Bogens sider bliver på den- ved at lade det gå igen i sin fortælling. fortæl- beretningen af den politiske sfære ne måde en videreførelse for en politisk genfødsel, stårler om, og når denne bliver genstand fortællinger Laudonnieres eksemplariteten for øjnene af læserne. af sin egen teksts performativitet.viser således Hakluyts forståelse Og da rejselitteratur Hakluyt hvordan flere gange understreger, mænds tan- for at ”holde kan medbringes på rejserne med fordel sind hæve deres at samt forestillinger, værre fra beskæftigede ker denne tekstlige udstilling af gen- til mod og høje gerninger”, må fællesskab til selve det rejsende fødsel forstås som en henvendelse (Hakluyt, 1877, 166). til ling. Efter sin oprindelige engelske udgivelse i 1587 (dedikeret lange tekst i Hakluyt den relativt Ralegh) inkluderede Sir Walter medder – en handling, andenudgaven af The Principal Navigations værkets undertitel of the English Nation in mente påkalder sig ekstra om fransktekst en Hakluyt inkluderer Hvorfor opmærksomhed. kolonisering i et værk om sin egen nations immanente potentiale? et Den skal tjene som selv historiens relevans. Hakluyt forklarer eksempel blandt andet for kolonisterne selv: quarter

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kvarter akademisk 101 Johan Heinsen Johan Volume 03 ”Hvor viljen er lov og fornuften viljen er ”Hvor i eksil” Ved mange lejligheder er det højst skadeligt at undlade at mange lejligheder er det højst skadeligt at Ved sigi når disse knurren, og mumlen og straffe på reagere at lede til sandsynlighed for at vokse til et mytteri, bærer eller hvis en anset splittelse, at modsige retfærdigheden eller dygtig person går ind for dens intention. Den kloge guvernør skal afhugge denne hydras hoved i begyndelsen. (Hawkins, 1622, 223) der som deraf fulgte, hvorved de, igennem andres ulyk- hvorved de, igennem andres der som deraf fulgte, 1587, undgå det samme. (Laudonniere, at lære, kan ker, epistle dedicatory) Historiefortællingerne fremhæver således værdien af den politi- den af værdien således fremhæver Historiefortællingerne blev i midten af 1590›erne den sidste engelske Hawkins Richard Koloniseringens historie skal derfor tjene som en model for eks- en model historie skal derfor tjene som Koloniseringens og magthierarki en diskurs, skal give rejsens Den pansionen selv. da den handler om ulydighed denne diskurs er eksplicit politisk, og regering. ske tale og demonstrationen af sandheden igennem den offentlige Og disse lektier henvender sig til dem, der skulle gøre henrettelse. som den For sin eftertid blev Drakes navn, såvel gerningen efter. geografi, der var så nært forbundet med hans handlinger, da også eksemplets handlekraft. netop en påmindelse om lovens og Drakes spor igennem Magel- kaptajn under Elizabeth 1. til at følge i 1622, efter en årrække i spansk fangeskab, lanstrædet. Han skrev ekspeditioner. generations store et værk om egne bedrifter samt sin eksempel,imellem forholdet handlede om høj grad bog, der i En fremtidige til lektie en som sig henvendte og overskridelse og lov For ham var den eksemplariske straf Hawkins var realist. søfarere. altid risike- om, at straffen Han var bevidst ikke noget mål i sig selv. og dermed kunne lede til at blive opfattet som provokation rede som Cookes og Han havde givetvis hørt fortællinger uorden. mere tolket disse som forvanskninger af det mandat til bekræftelse som kontinuerligt imod Og Hawkins advarer ritualet tildelte tilhørerne. hav- Men straffen ved søfolkenes tale og dens ’imaginations’. faren netop talen. I forbindelse tid, og denne tid vedrørte de også sin rette med gennemsejlingen af Magellanstrædet, hvor han fulgte i Drakes bemærkede han: sejlrende, quarter

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kvarter akademisk . 4 102 Johan Heinsen Johan Volume 03 ”Hvor viljen er lov og fornuften viljen er ”Hvor i eksil” Alle de, som følger havet må have vore forfædres æld- forfædres vore have følger havet må som de, Alle i kon- som øjne. Forfædre, gamle disciplin sat for deres og kommandører ledere formitet og lydighed til deres Med tål- nationer. et spejl for alle andre som har været er der gjort hvad, har de lidelse og tavshed modighed, blevet dem befalet. (ibid., 220) For en samtid beskæftiget med fortællingen af loven som en gen- Hawkins, må der blandt Hakluytsflere gangerefererer værker, andet have haft fortællinger som Drakes (i Hakluyts variant) og hvor folket fortælles dets i tankerne. Fortællinger, Laudonnieres i lovudøvelsens de- og hvor talen fordeles tavsheds retfærdighed, øj- Med historien for grænse. synlige fællesskabets monstration af nene skulle den åbning Cooke så emfatisk giver stemme lukkes Det er ikke tilfældigt, at denne passage ytres i forbindelse med be- i forbindelse at denne passage ytres Det er ikke tilfældigt, hand- Drakes bundet til der var uløseligt farvand, skrivelsen af det Hawkins ikke tilstrække- handlinger som disse er ifølge Men linger. skib skal billedet på det tavse, arbejdende Også selve lige i sig selv. skali dette billede for verden, opdeling af i denne arbejde et gøre sig med og forene tavsheds værdighed deres folket selv genkende fremtidige til instruktion Hawkins ifølge er Problemet byrde. deres der tager form at folket taler i ethvert ledigt øjeblik - en tale, søfarere, Og når folket først selv taler deres af ’contradictions’ og ’murmurs’. ”at forvente af ordene: reformeres kan de ikke længere forestillinger, er [...] som at søge råd hos en gal- fornuft af almindelige mennesker er et succesfuldt møde medning” (Ibid., 219). Den eneste løsning - Hakluytske fore den dermed, hvordan fortiden. Han understreger og imitationen også indehol- imellem skriften forholdet stilling om til de talende folk på dækket: der en henvendelse direkte fødende, tavshedsproducerende eksemplaritetsmaskine var Cookes fødende, tavshedsproducerende - fortælling forbundet med den monstrøse hydra og dens indbildnin med forenelig var fortælling, som ikke en klagetale bar Denne ger. fællesskab. Når kolo- udset overfor det rejsende var ordet den rolle fortæl- at korrigere derfor forsøgte niseringens samtidige historikere de som i tilfældet Drake, var det fordi, lingerne om rejsehandlinger, - knyttet til muligheden for selve pro direkte så teksten som værende eksempel, der kunne som jektets succes. Historien måtte agere benyttes af en nutid præget af strid. Igennem imitationen af store quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - 103 Johan Heinsen Johan Volume 03 ”Hvor viljen er lov og fornuften viljen er ”Hvor i eksil” tælle om disse hændelser. Men dette mandats agens er ikke kon- ikke er agens mandats dette Men hændelser. disse om tælle tinuert med den magt, som muliggør dette talende subjekt igennem lovgerningen. Derfor kan dette subjekt også fortælle en po- lemisk historie, som på en gang er afstedkommet af, men også imod magten. Dette er hvad Judith Butler kalder ’agensens am- 1997, 15). bivalens’ (Butler, og det har været Hakluyt havde selv oversat denne beretning, denne fra sin franskemåttet stjæle har at han sågar spekuleret, 1583 til 1588 kollega Thèvet under sit ophold i Paris i årene 2009, 46-48). (Fuller, karakter i forhold af teksten er ikke mindst af praktisk Værdien Kolonisterne, der i 1607 til den engelske kolonisering af Virginia. Man fornemmer en historie, der handler om asymmetrien i kon- Ju- ved Port St. dem som Begivenheder af subjekter. stitueringen lian er konstitutive for en subjektivitet, der har mandat til at for 2 3 Noter 1 handlinger fra historien kunne denne nutid reformeres, og derfor og derfor kunne denne nutid reformeres, handlinger fra historien imi- Og en succesfuld videns karakter afgørende. var den historiske et nyt eksempel, der igen det evigtgyldige kunne sætte af tation kunne og forståeligt animere være som historie. Konfigurationen af - pro fortæller derfor om transgressionen imellem loven og forholdet En logik, somsynlighed, der skulle skabe tavshed. duktionen af en Drakes fortælling. selve ritualet og dets fremtidige både vedrører lader Julian St. ved stranden på kausalitet lovens af demonstration behovet for en kontinu- om sig derved forstå i lyset af en forestilling ritual, der forbandt en fortid aferlig genfødsel igennem et politisk for at falde nutid i konstant fare eksemplariske gerninger til en om sådannefortællinger over i sin modsætning. Og eksemplariske fællesskab. om det rejsende genfødsler præger tidens fortællinger en del af samtidens autoritati- Cookes fortælling blev således ikke performa denne den understreger fordi ve fortælling om sig selv, - forskyd en for genstand til den at gøre ved skrøbelighed ordens tive der kan fortælle Cooke en subjektivitet, ning. Dermed demonstrerer affirmativt om muligheden for at modsige ordenen. I stedet finder sådanneafskrive at på forsøg i et løbende koloniale diskurs man den som værende sproget alternative fortællinger ved at portrættere overskridelse. rene splittet imellem det sande og sandhedens quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 104 Johan Heinsen Johan Volume 03 ”Hvor viljen er lov og fornuften viljen er ”Hvor i eksil” drog imod Virginia havde med sig et sæt af instruktioner, som af instruktioner, sig et sæt med havde Virginia imod drog i af Hakluyt, der var investor er skrevet med stor sandsynlighed praktiske række en drog instruktioner Disse ekspeditionen. henviser til Laudonniere-ekspeditionen. hensyn, som eksplicit Se [Hakluyt] 1606. Magellan- sidste englænder til at gennemsejle Hawkins blev den efter i 1669. ham kunsten gjorde strædet indtil John Narborough var Drakes gerning dog ikke glemt. Nar Mellemtiden til trods og en af mænd forbandt øen med ’sand retfærdighed’, boroughs historien om genfortæller i sin rejsejournal hans underordnede fra Drake blev fundet i landska- 1699, 64). Levn Doughty (Wood, fundet levn fra Magellan. Ogbet ligesom Drakes mænd havde og exces. Dette var et om orden disse levn bandt sig til en historie selv synes at have delt denne opfat- sted for loven. Narborough han lejligheden til at tale til fællesskabet.telse. I hvert fald brugte dristige gerning direkte egen forbandt deres En oration, som havde ikke ødelagt Drakesmed Drakes heltemod. Mellemtiden til at skabe en- kunne bruges eksemplaritet, som for Narborough 43). 1711, (Narb[o]orough, hed i hans vægelsindede fællesskab 4 quarter

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kvarter akademisk Stan- 105 Johan Heinsen Johan Volume 03 ”Hvor viljen er lov og fornuften viljen er ”Hvor i eksil” The Psychic Power of Life : Theories in Subjection. Subjection. in Theories : Life of Power Psychic The 1997. ford: Stanford University Press Stanford ford: Documents Analogous Contemporary and Encompassed The World . Lon- of the World Cicumnavigation Drake’s Concerning Sir Francis s. 142-168 Press, Argonaut don: The London: Longman Guilhelmi Powell Encompassed By Sir Francis Dra- 1854. The World red. Vaux, S. W. s. 1-162 ke. London: The Hakluyt Society, son. London: Penguin Books . New York: Form, and Empire Writing, Travel red. Smethurst, P. Routledge, s. 38-52 Library Quarterly, 70(1), s. 37-60 and Son of John Wilson Press bridge: - 1969. The Jamestown Vo red. Barbour, i: P. Advice’. Trykt way of yages Under the First Charter 1606-1609. Cambridge: The Haklu- bd. 1, s. 53-54 yt Society, Bishop & Ralph Newberrie of the English nation. London: George HakluytThe London: Nation. English the of Discoveries & Traffiques Society Press 1878. The into the South Sea. I: C. R. Markham, red. in his Voyage VII, Queen Elizabeth,During the Reigns of Henry Voyages Hawkins’ s. 89-329 and James I. London: The Hakluyt Society, Referencer J. Butler, 1926. John Cooke’s Narrative. Trykt i: N. M. Penzer, red. red. Penzer, N. M. i: Trykt Cooke’s Narrative. John Cooke, J. 1926. W.and Inland Discovery. Maritime Cooley, D. 1830. The History of India. London: of West Eden, R. 1555. The Decades of the Newe Worlde Encompassed by Sir Francis Drake. I: W. 1628. The World F. Fletcher, the Pri- Foucault, M. 1991/1975. Discipline and Punish: The Birth of . I: J Kuehn og Relations Foreign M. C. 2009. Richard Hakluyt’s Fuller, Huntington the Long-Distance Voyage. M. C. 2007. Writing Fuller, Cam- . Planting Concerning Western Discourse 1877: A R. Hakluyt, by given Council’s ’Instructions [Hakluyt, R.], 1606. The London and Discoveries Hakluyt, R. 1589: The Principall Navigations, Voiages Voyages, Hakluyt, R. 1903-05/1598-1600. The Principal Navigations, History. Ithaca: Cornell University from 1990. Writing Hampton, T. Hawkins, Knight, Richard of Sir Observations 1622. The J. Hawkins, quarter

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kvarter akademisk , 63, s. 106 Johan Heinsen Johan Slagmark The Hakluyt Hand- Volume 03 ”Hvor viljen er lov og fornuften viljen er ”Hvor i eksil” The Discourses of Niccolo Machiavelli. London:Niccolo of Discourses The Sir Francis Drake and the Famous Voyage, 1577-1580. Voyage, Famous the and Drake Francis Sir 1975. . London: The Hakluyt Society . London: The Hakluyt Society, s. 223-233 . London: The Hakluyt Society, book . Lon- Voyages Collection of Original A Hacke, red. lan. I: William don: James Knapton, s. 56-100 red. Thrower, s. 33-38 Press, Berkeley: Univerisity of California and the Flybott, in the heringe of me, John Sarocold, of abourd Encompassed By Sir The World red. Vaux, S. W. i: W. others. Trykt s. 166-167 Francis Drake. London: The Hakluyt Society, 113-125 University press Yale Captaynes . Oversat af Ri- vnto Florida made by certayne French London: Thomas Dawson Hakluyt. chard Routledge veries. London: D. Brown Drake 1699. Capt. Wood’s Voyage thro’ the Streights of Magel- the Streights thro’ Voyage J. 1699. Capt. Wood’s Wood, I: N. Accounts of the Famous Voyage. Quinn, D. B. 1984. Early Dowtye Thomas by used Speeches Certayne 1854. Sarocold, J. 1974. The Pacific. I: D. B. Quinn, red. Quinn, B. D. I: Pacific. The H. 1974. Wallis, 2011. Sørejser og historiografisk politik. politik. historiografisk og Sørejser 2011. Heinsen, J. Pirate. New Haven: The Queen’s Sir Francis Drake: H. 1998: Kelsey, voyages Historie containing foure Notable de 1587. A Laudonniere, R. Machiavelli, N. and Disco- An Account of Several Late Voyages Narb[o]rough, J. 1711. W. S. W.Vaux, Encompassed By Sir Francis The World 1854. red., quarter

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kvarter akademisk akademiskkvarter Volume 03. Fall 2011 • on the web academic quarter

Dolphins Who Blow Bubbles Anthropological Machines and Native Informants

Catherine Lord (PhD) is a tenured university lecturer in the Media Studies Department at the University of Amster- dam. She specialises in ecology and media, film, literature, critical theory, and practice-based research. At present she is preparing a book on ecology and practice-based research.

Introduction: Transgressions at the Cove In Louie Psihoyos’ Oscar winning documentary The Cove (2009), the thermal black and white camera work of the opening credits fore- shadows a scene of slaughter. Disturbingly, a line of shapes appear. Their forms are being systematically hacked by a silhouette wielding an axe. Uncannily, the curves suggest a line of bodies. The build- ings and tall chimneys make it difficult to avoid the association of concentration camps. The credit sequence is macabre in its exuberance of black and white processed flesh. Gradually, the shapes begin to suggest non-human animals. The eye begins to discern the outlines of slain dolphins. These appear en masse. Much of Psihoyos’ film is driven by the passionately knowledge- able presence of ex-dolphin trainer, Richard (Ric) O’Barry who was famous for his dolphin training in the influentialFlipper series (1964- 1967). Afterwards, the show’s five star dolphins were relegated to dolphinariums. According to O’Barry, one of them - Sally - committed suicide due to the depression and stresses of captivity. As a result, O’Barry converted to hard-core activism. The documentary exposes the capture, trafficking, incognito slaying and food packag- ing of dolphins in one specific place: the fishing town of Taiji, Japan. The film claims that the village has the highest rate of dolphin

Volume 03 107 - - - 108 While 1 Catherine Lord Catherine Volume 03 Dolphins Who Blow Bubbles Who Dolphins The good ‘guys’ (women included) launch a rescue mission to mission (women included) launch a rescue The good ‘guys’ 2 The task of saving and rescuing a species in the multi-billion dol- multi-billion in the species a rescuing saving and of The task that The Cove plays argues my initial interpretation Provocatively, the documentary relates geographical, economic and scientific “facts”, “protagonist-antagonist-victim” Hollywood a deploys it plot. slaughters. Stylistically inspired by the cinematography and ‘heist by the cinematography and inspired slaughters. Stylistically sub- 2001), Psihoyos Eleven (Soderbergh, Ocean’s team’ elements of narrative. action Hollywood a of elements textually adopts - of thousands. The pro in their hundreds save dolphins, hopefully, the antagonist, or the Japanesetagonists must pit themselves against fishermen and fishery commissions. The heroic goal is to cinemati- committed against the many the whistle on the atrocities cally blow dolphin species. but one aspect of the insur lar dolphinarium business presents is the mass slaying of the dol- mountable opposition. The other phins rejected for trafficking. These are brutally harpooned ina Psihoyos and that bloody cove. It is this scene of horror and secret even if together they cannot achieve the his hit team will address, heroic the Rather, Hollywood denouement. the of narrative” “grand oper team rescue The itself. film the of making the be will triumph impass- dawn raid over rocky ates like commandoes making their rocks, floating from operation the films covertly technology HD es. designers, and acts of stealth andall thanks again to Hollywood set bravery By in the dive-gear. time of its theatrical release, the film’s the cap- apart from footnotes can announce certain achievements, limited are There of the footage and its public dissemination. ture victories: government mandarins get fired and the school children to eat dolphin meat loaded with mercury. will not be forced of Taiji The film’s epilogues suggest that arolling Schindler’s list for dolphins is a viable activist choice. an with out the “tragic triangle” plot of perpetrator-victim-rescuer de- Psihoyos aside, an In goal. ethically charged an on emphasis either “an activist or not”. One is either on the that you are clares one limited such successes may be or, however side of the liberator, binary oppositions, Despite its cruder colludes with the perpetrator. poetic, profound a range of voices within its smart, The Cove offers into the cinematic frame. strategies of bringing animals and rousing The filmdoes so by raising questions that ride exuberantly on Gior ma- established work on the “anthropological Agamben’s well gio quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 109 Catherine Lord Catherine Volume 03 (1999). From the outset, From (1999). Dolphins Who Blow Bubbles Who Dolphins - Rea Critique of Postcolonial A This one-off voice offers an echo of colonial pasts. voice offers This one-off 3 ’s anthropological machine. As Puchner un- machine. (1998) to The Open’s anthropological , any direct references to the history of colonialism incolonialism of history the to references direct any Cove, The Toward a History of the Vanishing Present Present Vanishing the of History a Toward In Diving below the film’s superficial construction of an American- To help with this reading, I will adopt two searchlights useful for I will adopt two searchlights reading, help with this To Asia or the shadow of World War II are absent. Yet the film does not does film the Yet absent. are II War World of shadow the or Asia space. a marginal it allows them rather, such voices; repress entirely policies, whaling and slaughter dolphin Japan’s on reflecting When Caribbean islands, suggests thatone interviewee, indigenous to the After all, telling it what to do. Japan is simply fed up with the West II War the World was Guadalcanal, the Caribbean islands, of one Japanese sol- American and committed by both scene of atrocities diers. she announces her aim to occupy many paradoxical positions. Hershe announces her aim to occupy in- that “(im)possible perspective” of the “native aim is discover will be to Spivak, this informant According formant” (1999, p. 9). philosophy and lit- of European well versed in the grand narratives denial but with critique. The native informant can without erature, that is sensitive to the history of colonialism. a voice offer forming the Open” (2007), it is important to trace the connect points Homo pivotal concept of the “exception” from Agamben’s between Sacer life” overlap between the idea of the “bare is a crucial derlines, there - that falls into a zone of legal exception and the animal state of hu to interrogation that refer man statelessness. Puchner cites sources like dogs treated were Abu Ghraib; prisoners at used techniques Japanese divide leads to another site: the threshold connecting and site: the threshold Japanese divide leads to another - Agamben’s counter-hu separating humans and dolphins. Giorgio ininfluential remains ) machine” (The Open manist “anthropological artists makeand ecologists, scientist practitioners, helping cultural - and unmake the cat’s cradle that binds human with nonhuman ani the machine “functions by excluding as Agamben argues, As mals. itself, that is, by ani- from human being not (yet) human an already malizing the human, by isolating the nonhuman within the human” As Martin Puchner points out in his illuminating article “Per (p. 37). , 2004). The film’s capacity to swim to capacity film’s The 2004). Animal, chine” (The Open: Man and grain of it against the can allow me to read with its dolphin “others” its American-Asian binary. illuminating the film’s colliding One currents. is Gayatri Spivak’s magisterial but difficult her in approach son: quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 110 Catherine Lord Catherine Volume Agamben’s works Agamben’s works 03 Dolphins Who Blow Bubbles Who Dolphins The human is turned into an exception which, in this into an exception which, in The human is turned and three years before The Open. years before and three 4 (1998) , the re-weaving of “exceptions” has a different goal. In has a different of “exceptions” The Cove, the re-weaving In As an aid to deconstructing this binary, Derrida’s celebrated es- this binary, As an aid to deconstructing laps can be forged between Spivak’s concept of the native informant laps can be forged I aim to read machine. By so doing, anthropological Agamben’s and contradictions as guiding me to a hybrid concept, The Cove’s creative that of the “animal/human informant”. one sequence, the tremendous “intelligence” and “self-awareness” “intelligence” and “self-awareness” tremendous one sequence, the John Potter Dr. is highlighted. Dolphin zoologist of the dolphins - More human-animal situations. to micromanage cites their ability wonderful air dolphins pursue sophisticated play by creating over, Dolphins can be ‘read’ bubbles that can be analysed semiotically. As as an animal stand-in for the native informant. and addressed lives their from discourses data and signs, provide they can such, (non) position. an “impossible” from which, to echo Spivak, emerge is to examine what conceptual over this in mind, my approach With case, is the animal already prepped for violation. prepped already case, is the animal Informants by Any Other Name Informants by the native in- from emerging Indeed, this concept of an “animal” Critique of Post- A between the lines of brewing formant is already Agamben’s Homo colonial Reason (1999), published one year after Sacer (2007, p. 25). Spivak yet capable of dismantling their precursors. Eurocentric are “mistakes”; in tradition by making purposefully creative this reads the “name for that mark of expulsion from the turn, these lead to the white, west- name of Man” (Spivak 1999, p. 6). By “Man” read - ern and male, individualist subject, or what I might term the hy The subject’s subject of western culture. per-anthropomorphised “expulsion” propels “Man” into more indefiniteanother, space. Agamben’s zones of “indeterminancy” and “exclusions” (2004, p. Splicing together the dif- available to the native informant. 37) are further Agamben and Spivak can by developed concepts fering dissolve the animal/human binary in such a way that a different model emerges. he aid. Here Am” (2002) is a great I Animal That Therefore say “The criticises the restrictions of “the” before the noun animal; the definite article which deceives with its catch-all category (2002, p. 392). plea for embracing the Indeed, Derrida even makes a rhetorical quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 111 Catherine Lord Catherine Volume 03 Dolphins Who Blow Bubbles Who Dolphins ). For Heidegger, it is humans who can see the open, offen). For Heidegger, - his political telos and, for a hu …man has now reached compels such recognition from the spectator by con- the from The Cove compels such recognition

is nothing left again, there that has become animal manity of by means societies human but the depoliticization of the unconditional unfolding of the oikonomia, or taking on (or rather, political of biological life itself as the supreme impolitical) task (p. 76). 5 As part of this approach, Agamben must meticulously follow follow meticulously must Agamben approach, this of part As lines how seventy years after Heidegger the stakes are different different stakes are the Heidegger after seventy years lines how how and reveal necting the dolphin’s abilities to blow air rings with that very ca- abilities to blow air rings with necting the dolphin’s pacity which links us to them, the namely, self-reflective skill of the without underwater mirrors, Even the mirror. in recognition scientist-divers who blow bubbles at dolphins find that the latter on dolphins blow- complement. The zoological research the return behaviour in cognitive termsing bubbles has examined their play (McCowan, Marino, Reiss, 2000). Walke, Vance, The scientific dis- to the bubble-producing refers course includes language which or excited” (2000, p.98). The lan- animals as “surprised, curious apply equally well to humans atguage of surprise and curiosity can this plane is the same on dolphins and What puts humans play. in The Agamben’s project emotional capacity for self-recognition. to that does not surrender Open is to make an indeterminate zone human see which thresholds the finding to but anthropomorphism the question of overlap. He avoids nonhuman characteristics and emotions which The Cove brings to the fore. Heidegger’s The Fundamental Concepts of Metaphysics lectures, the of concept foundational the provides Heidegger (1929-1930). ( “open” Agamben spotlights Heidegger’snot animals. Though suscepti- the divide between humans and animals, it is bility to breaching pp. 61- meet (2004, the “open” that both can of concept a through his Agamben criticises Heidegger’s62). ( 2004, p. 75) or, “error” - could “still pro machine to grasp that the anthropological failure Agamben under duce history and destiny for a people” (ibid). sheer heterogeneity of both animal and, by corollary, human/non- corollary, by and, both animal of heterogeneity sheer ” which too often in the form of “all living things human potential - broth as his fellows, his neighbours or his “man does not recognize ers”. quarter

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. - - 112 Catherine Lord Catherine Volume 03 Dolphins Who Blow Bubbles Who Dolphins - eco of aspects those to as Aristotle referred what is “Oikonomia” dedicates its visual and voice-over rhetoric to the task of rhetoric The Cove dedicates its visual and voice-over To do the work of postcolonial critique would mean exposing To nomics which structure people and resources, not the khrematisike not resources, people and which structure nomics of money begetting money. In the world of global markets, oiko- In the world of global markets, money. of money begetting nomia and khrematisike do conflate. So what Agamben tracks as turning of ani- humans into animals is the the machine turning mals into humans, ones either trafficked or protected (2004, p. zone the into fall animals bartered humans, trafficked like And 77). of “filthy” profits. traffickedrepresenting dolphins as smiling slaves. The demands to kissed by aquarium visitors leavejump hoops, be cuddled and be in constant need of medication.the dolphins with calloused mouths They are neither joy nor play. these animals discover For O’Barry, is open Their native environment turned into sweat-shop fodder. and especially sensitive to incar sonic creatures sea. Dolphins are Bertha of figuration novel’s the connecting in thorough is Spivak and colonised female subject, with the Mason as the repressed to the Agamben (2004, pp. 37-38) refers When of animality. tropes indeterminacies between human and animal life, that is, the over cerating sounds. The screaming and cheering of crowds adds yetadds crowds cheering of and screaming The sounds. cerating as pow- machine can be read the anthropological Here, stress. more of its the welfare for global, capitalist system with no care by a ered “workers.” The film enables the spectator to make an inevitable as- the plight of other humans suf- sociation between the dolphins and fering trafficking and slave labour. Psihoyos’ anthropological ma- how the dolphin so as to reveal chine enmeshes the human with - chrema dolphins within an aggressively human biopolitics controls about dirty money. are tistic context. Even hoops and bubbles between animals and the distinction how biopolitics would remove “lesser” humans to be that permits humans, a systemic removal the degraded human positioned as abused animals. In this regard, the concept of the native and the exploited human can meet around otherwise’, Spivak traces shed light on this ‘reading informant. To and (2011/1847) of the human in Jane Eyre the bestial representation the figurations between mythical beasts and oppressed humans in Puran Sahay” (1995) Pirtha, and Mahasweta Devi’s “Pterodactyl, he laps and separations which make “neither” one nor the other, of this too. Spivak’s reading life is precisely that the “bare” argues quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - 113 Catherine Lord Catherine Volume Homo ferus, but also Homo 03 Dolphins Who Blow Bubbles Who Dolphins are captured between between captured are Cove The , animal studies and ecosophy Reason, animal studies

Postcolonial A Critique of A There is more at stake here than the statelessness of the native than the statelessness at stake here is more There In Bare and Self-Aware Agamben links bare machine, In his chapter on the anthropological - life to a “state of exception” (pp. 33-38). Indeed, one of the underly and whales de- is the notion that cetaceans theses in The Cove ing Mason also locates something which is “neither” animal nor hu- something which is “neither” Mason also locates subject. which becomes the narrative’s conquered man but a thing informant as a figure of less than humanised The animality. bare life that becomes the animal-human network of indefinite- thresh cul- dominant western and indigenous itself between olds sutures no- Devi’s in transformative more becomes suturing Such tures. vella in which an underpinning narrative figure is the mythical - crea the mind, scientific western the For pterodactyl. a of presence ture might be Buta thescientific villagers anomaly. regard the di- As Spivak underlines extinction. nosaur as an omen of famine and between inter not choose novella does Devi’s 144-145), (1999, pp. which favour the mythical informant over western ob- pretations going forward “think if you are the narrator argues: As jectivism. or back…What will you finally in grow the soil, having murdered (1995, pp. substitutes the application of man-improvised in nature message is overwhelmingly per 156-157). The novella’s ecological gives the native inform- nature” to “murdered tinent. The reference an ecological informing.ant are not Spivak’s focus. Yet it is her choice of case studies that help me it is her choice of case studies Yet focus. not Spivak’s are Agam- As animal “informing”. to develop a concept of native and the humanisation of through “the non-man is produced ben argues: the enfant sauvage of the man-ape, the animal: and above all, the slave, the barbarian, and as the figures foreigner, Agamben’s Eurocentric of the animal in human form” (2004, p. 37). deconstruction on the territory of postcolonial emphases only tread barbarian, colo- Nonetheless, foreign, hallmark. that is Spivak’s is an indeterminate zone nised, ape-like or even cetacean-like, there and the colonising life between the colonised animal-human of bare of dolphins The human-animal. - their animality and their status as colonised species-beings, tram melled up in a zone of exception, beyond human justice yet entirely in its wake. bare quarter

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kvarter akademisk 114 Catherine Lord Catherine Volume 03 My concern is The Cove’s Dolphins Who Blow Bubbles Who Dolphins 6 - labyrinth of Wittgen the philosophical is not to run My aim here But a more complex matter is that of communicable intelligence. complex matter is that of communicable But a more serve exceptional treatment because of their ontological closeness because of their ontological closeness treatment exceptional serve concepts of the core confronts Agamben to our own humanness. through by analysing how each emerges life’ ‘exception’ and ‘bare is Life (1998) there Bare Power and In Homo Sacer: Sovereign the other. - fore which (1998, pp. 104-111) Ban and the Wolf” the chapter “The in The Open. The myth of thresholds shadows the animal-human but as that which is “neither man nor beast” emerged the werewolf and animal territories (1998,“dwells paradoxically” in both human usesAgamben life constitutes a liminal zone (105-106). p.105). Bare the word “threshold” to define what is “neither simple natural life life” (p. 106). In The Open, Agamben nor social life but bare lacquers is neither there Thus negatives. with indeterminacy zone of his consolation animals (torture not humans) nor the humanist confla- (give primates human rights).tion of the animal with the human ani- where place a space lacks indeterminate Agamben’s However, informantnative a of concept Spivak’s back. can speak others mal to an animal informant whichcan be a conceptual stepping stone has its own set of behavioural signs. joke about talking lions. stein’s profound figuration of dolphin otherness. This hinges on how the film’s human characters and the filmmaker’s montagerelate their different Ric O’Barry tells the concepts of mammalian “self-awareness”. who played out his television so that Sally, story of how he brought that she could O’Barry remarks own show. could watch her Flipper, co-star Susie. O’Barry is herself and tell herself apart from recognise - adamant in his philosophy that the dolphin’s capacity to be con scious and intelligent means these smaller cetaceans should be a species. globally protected that John Potter argues Dr. Appearing in one scene and voice-over, scientific evidence about dolphins’ cognitive skills contributes to only one part of our understanding. It is important to participate Potter’s Dr. Here, with the dolphins in their native environment. experience as the zoologist with the measuring stick turns into - a “visceral” experience; he can “lock eyes” with the dolphin. Pot innovatively out explains that dolphins know “how to create ter In these latter voice-over segments, their own imagination”. of Psihoyos’ film shows exquisite shots of dolphins turning over as quarter

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kvarter akademisk 115 Catherine Lord Catherine Volume 03 of Knowledge: The Bio-

Dolphins Who Blow Bubbles Who Dolphins - dissemi processes signifying of continuum a on degree degree and contingen- nated technicity, in a field of materiality, albeit specific, a but is “language” “human” which of cy, instance (p. 79). highly refined In the Derridean sense, the native/animal informant will operate Dolphin-human communication requires its own semiotics, with its own semiotics, requires Dolphin-human communication , 1992). Put plainly, animals do logical Roots of Human Understanding, 1992). Put plainly, animals are not conduct a linguistic exchange as we do. However, engaged in a “linguistic domain” and do engage in behaviours that not yet identical with “constitute the basis for a language, but….are together Derrida’s sensitivity to the sutures it (1992, p. 207). Wolf existence of a human-animal continuum of “linguistic” behaviours The lat- with important suggestion made by Naturana and Valera. between decoding the signs man- is a difference that there ter argue behaviour itself. Thus, an animal’s behaviour and the ifesting from - between the behavioural sign and the behaviour is a site of differé Derrida brings his concept into a discussion ance. In “Eating Well”, In the above passage, there is a hint of the zone which can segue is a hint of the zone In the above passage, there the native in- Agamben’s sites of indeterminacy yet welcome with Spivak, the native informant’s purview is the un- recall formant. To settling of established norms of language and epistemology. turns to the work of systems theorists at a sight of differéance. Wolfe (Tree Maturana and Franciso Valera Humbero they view themselves in mirrors, and with the audiovisual accom- and with the audiovisual in mirrors, they view themselves a dolphin blows its innovatively”, “create words paniment of the free it. One of the team’s gracefully through air bubble then swims the quality of contact talks about Cruickshank, drivers, Mandy-Rae even one where as a diver and the dolphin: it is between herself is a clear another level, there spoken….on are though “no words understanding”. In Animal of behaviour. embodied within regimes signs which are Posthuman Theory the Discourse of Species, and Rites: American Culture, examines the philosophy and semiotics adroitly (2003), Cary Wolfe on ani- He sets out Derrida’s seminal essays of animal behaviour. Derrida, explaining how paraphrases Wolfe mal-human liminality. in modes of communication between the “difference” for the latter, animals and humans is a matter of quarter

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kvarter akademisk In 7 116 namely namely Catherine Lord Catherine The Cove is the op- Volume 03 (1991, pp. 116-117).

Dolphins Who Blow Bubbles Who Dolphins which contributes to making a space for the to making a space for the which contributes Psihoyos has edited images of Cruickshank free diving with dol- free Psihoyos has edited images of Cruickshank fact, Derrida uses a curious term next to the human, that is, the that is, the a curious term next to the human, fact, Derrida uses ibid) “infra-human” ( native, human, swimming informant. - pro the human-animal group that together, phins in such a way, When she speaks about her duce a beautiful underwater ballet. “understanding” that is “withoutcommunication with them as an is is engaging with a range of physical signs. There she words” “said” occupies a zone of differé- communication, yet that which is is communication, what the dolphins are ance. Even though there to yet deferred but perhaps actually “saying” cannot be translated the arcs, the sounds, the within and Between movements. more signs and the denotationssonar clicks and songs, the behavioural an astonishing range of meanings. There and connotations emerge in “language”part show dolphins taking that shots of series a are with their on cards at squares see them pointing experiments. We Potter points out the an- Dr. vocally. noses and always responding with sign language. experiments limitations of thropomorphising dolphins should learn “signingHe emphasises that we think that lan- their from to learn were we what if But us. from language” could learn by listening to the animal informants them- guage? We to their territory of signs. selves, and surrender Conclusion: Humans Who Blow Bubbles Between Agamben’s concept of bare life, Spivak’s native informantlife, Spivak’s bare of concept Agamben’s Between of many is an emergence and Derrida’s animal of many signs, there acts of informing which can draw us humans closer to our animal others. Psihoyos’ film liberates the possibility of an animal inform- whose language can meet the humans who gently enter their ant The native one territory. serious difficulty with is There Asian slaying machine. team to rescue position of Western condescension to an indig- echo of Western an inevitable and strong to the enous practice that has existed for centuries. My response film is I disgust want at to the see slaughter. the dolphins no freed, trafficking and all dolphin killing stopped. I no longer eatfish un- , humans (1991). Its companion concepts of animals and “possibilities or all combine to make those “trace” or “iterability”, and, im- would be no language” which there necessities, without ” themselves not only human portantly “are quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - - 117 The Cove’sThe Catherine Lord Catherine Volume 03 Dolphins Who Blow Bubbles Who Dolphins As spectators, Psihoyos’ film takes us into a world of paradoxes de-hu- the entirely the territory of on Agamben meets Derrida less it sea is animals specially need farmed, their as fish. globally, needs humans privileged economically by fish of consumption The ignore cannot I intellectually, But reduced. radically be to neo-colonialist discourse. According to the film, at the IWC (Inter bought allegedly have Japanese the Convention), Whaling national for development mon- in return countries World Third votes from But this is this as prostitution. One white western critic describes ey. very econo- a participant in the accusation from a sanctimonious for much of the responsible are mies that historically and even now, needs to be a cri- There economies. World damage done to Third and an activist agenda to address tique of postcolonial economics World Japan is an odd case in point. It is not a Third these problems. killingdolphin around practices cultural its maintains but Country of unaware citizens who are and whaling. O’Barry meets Japanese Nor meat. dolphin contains fish packaged their which to degree the of counts. The they the aware mercury film allowsare such contradictions to bubble to the surface. Agamben theorises a zone of inde- which inevitably implicate us. If ar I have human, and between animal exceptions and terminacies gued for the three terms - native, animal, human – which can find humane- a as spectator The overlap. and conflict of zones own their ly-natively-cetacean being can enter the film’s spectacular zones of and blue will turn into a horrifying, thick blue. But this glorious the slaying of those dol- the camera reveals when red almost pure phins that will not be shopped to the dolphinarium. The aerial shots leave of the creatures water and the horrible dying sounds of the red Derrida does In “Eating Well”, at each of my viewings. me in tears ani- exploiting of issue the to comes it when punches his pull not of animals and DNA the contemporary carnage mals. He compares concentration camps. new experimentation to an act of producing not eliminated but victims are camps where For him, abattoirs are and experimentation, torture extensive for ever more reproduced extermination (p. 39). shocking visuality in the of Psihoyos’ manised animal. The strength film’s worst scene, horrifying in its is bloodied to simplicity, allow - the human to identify as a native informant. She/he can then psy the horrible indeter chically fuse with the animals and discover quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 118 Catherine Lord Catherine . See original Wittgen . See original Volume 03 , p. 73. Dolphins Who Blow Bubbles Who Dolphins Animal Rites ed. Anthony Kenny. ed. Anthony Kenny. Reader, The Wittgenstein Animal Rites, 2003: p. 66. See Nerenborg, 2011. The article shares a conversation reported to have takenThe article shares a conversation reported 2011. See Nerenborg, at the Oscars of 2010. Clooney and Louie Psihoyos place between George heist the by influenced Eleven , Ocean’s Psihoyos declared himself to be a fan of story-line and cinematography. plot system see McKee, a triangular For an extensive analysis of how to craft 1997. accounts first-hand from everything revealing diaries of range extensive an For Zealand soldiers Americans trophy-hunting for Japanese skulls and New of Islands, the Solomon to islanders, indigenous of women bodies the discovering Aldrich. violated to death by Japanese soldiers, see by rid- involved torturing detainees techniques Details of how interrogation ing them like dogs ferocity of dogs as well as exposing them to the can be found in Jehl and Eric Schmitt. edition of the same essay and is quoted in Cary This citation is from a different Wolf, I take my cue for this citation from For a comprehensive analysis of the Wittgenstein question, see Chapter 2, “In Wittgenstein For analysis of the a comprehensive Rites of Animal Lion” Wittgenstein’s Shadow of the stein text in

Endnotes 1 2 3 4 5 7 minacy which zone. It is one This occurs in that red between both. - which all the pre to identify with a site in invites human animals The have been extinguished. joy and creativity ceding images of a by enabled cleverly is spectator’s atrocity the with identification film which turns its anthropological machine into a corralled and it is beautiful to be- all, one reason After space. miraculous ocean hu- that in all our hugely complex hold a dolphin blowing rings, is - we too need to play and to cre literally, metaphorically and manity, humans who blow our bubble rings. ate: we are 6 quarter

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- 119 Catherine Lord Catherine Volume 03 , Volume 33, Volume Diacritics, Dolphins Who Blow Bubbles Who Dolphins The Open. The

May: A1. th . New York: Harper Collins. York: of Storytelling. New Tursiops truncates): “Bubble Ring Play of Bottlenose Dophins (Tursiops Implications for Cognition,” in Journal of Comparative Psychology, No.1, pp. 98-106. 114, Vol. World War in Asia and the Pacific, London: Corgi. in Asia War World Califor Stanford, Italian by Daniel Heller-Roazen. from lated Press. University nia: Stanford University California: Stanford Attell. Stanford, Italian by Kevin Press. Agamben’s in Giorgio Men and Number 2, Summer 2003. pp. 3-9. Spivak in Imaginary Maps ed. Gayatri Sha Gayatri Shakrovorty and London: 1995, pp. 95-197. York kravorty Spivak. New Cadava, Peter Con - Eduardo Interview with Jacques Derrida. In & Jean-Luc Nancy eds., 1991. Who Comes After the Subject? nor, London and New York: Routledge, pp 96-119. York: London and New In Critical Inquiry 28, by David Wills. French the from Translated no.2: pp. 369-418. Films, Miami Sequarium. Cowden. USA: MGM, Ivan Tors McNeil German by William from Finitude, Solitude. Translated Indiana: Indiana University Press. and Nicholas Walker. on Questioning Landed in Iraq,” New York Afghan Policies tors: , 20 Times Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles McKee, R., 1997. Story: Substance, Structure, Oxford: Blackwell, 1994. Oxford: Reader. A. ed, 1994. The Wittgenstein Kenny, L., and Reiss, D., 2000. E., Walke, McCowan, B., Marino, L., Vance, References Personal Diaries of the Second Aldrich, R. J., 2006. The Faraway War: - Life. Trans Bare Power and Homo Sacer: Sovereign Agamben, G, 1998. from Translated Agamben, G., 2004. The Open: Man and Animal. . London: SoHo Books. Jane Eyre Brönte, C, 2011/1847. Animals On De la Durantaye, L., 2003. The Suspended Substantive: by Puran Sayah, and Pirtha, Tranlated Devi, M, 1995. Pterodactyl, An Subject: or the Calculation of the 1991. Eating Well, Derrida, J., , 2002. The Animal That Therefore I am (More to Follow). I am (More That Therefore Animal Derrida, J., 2002. The and Jack by Ricou Browning Flipper. 1964-1967. (TV Series). Created M., 1995. The Fundamental Concepts of Metaphysics: World, Heidegger, - The Interroga War, Reach of D. and Schmitt, E., 2004. “The Jehl, quarter

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kvarter akademisk 120 Catherine Lord Catherine Towards a History Towards [Accessed October Volume 03 Dolphins Who Blow Bubbles Who Dolphins . 2009. [DVD]. Directed by Louise Psihoyos. Written by Written Psihoyos. . 2009. [DVD]. Directed by Louise – Did he Help Save Dolphins in the Process? Available at: http:// Available Dolphins in the Process? – Did he Help Save www.fastcompany.com/1732870/oscar-winning-cove-director- mass-mails-dvds-taiji-shuts-down-early/2011 28th]. Brothers. 193), Spring. 51, Number 1 (T Review, Vol. In The Drama ophers. pp. 21-32. Mark Monroe. USA: The Oceanic Preservation Society. The Oceanic Preservation Mark Monroe. USA: The Chicago and London: Species, and Posthumanist Theory. University of Chicago Press. Cambridge Mass., London: England: England: Cambridge Mass., London: Present. Vanishing of the University Press. Harvard Animal Rites: American Culture, the Discourse of American Culture, C., 2003. Animal Rites: Wolfe, , 2011. Oscar-Winning Director Mass-Mailed his DVDhis Mass-Mailed Director Oscar-Winning 2011. J., Nerenborg, Warner USA: Soderbergh. by Steven Eleven. 2001. Directed Ocean’s Animals, Philos- Actors, M., 2007. Performing the Open Puchner, : Reason Postcolonial Critique of Spivak, G., 1999. A The Cove quarter

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kvarter akademisk akademiskkvarter Volume 03. Fall 2011 • on the web academic quarter

Icons of Transgression Transgressing Norms in the American College Composition Classroom

Bent Sørensen teaches American literature and culture in the De- partment of Culture and Global Studies, Aalborg University, Denmark. He has published extensively on American literature and culture, for instance Poe, Kerouac and the Beats, Raymond Federman, andJonathan Lethem. Articles have appeared in The Explicator, Philament, Orbis Litterarum, Literary Research and Contemporary Critical Studies.

This article takes a look at some specific, iconic images that are meant to be particularly transgressive of normality, challenging stereotypical images of American unity and wholesomeness1. All iconic representations of actual persons (living or dead) are caught in a dichotomy between elements of normality/familiarity and elements of transgression, but what happens to the dissemination of iconic images when their transgressive qualities predominate? Manipulation of representations of celebrities or famous persons into hero- or other-images can either constitute adversarial or collaborative icon work, and furthermore this icon work can be either oppositional or hegemonic/incorporated in the capitalist sphere of production and dissemination of artifacts2. I propose to look at collaborative, yet provocative and anti-hegemonic representations of two 1960/70s icons of transgression: Charles Manson and Patty Hearst, and to analyze how these particular images simultaneously stylize and sacralize these counterculture (anti)heroes, turning the viewer of the icons from passive consumers into ardent worshippers, consumers or cultural agnostics, all according to our ideas regarding the subjects and symbols in question. Icon-work, as shown in the analyses below, is an interactive process where anyone can become a textual agent or producer, manipu-

Volume 03 121 122 ). A fully ). A 3 Bent Sørensen Bent Volume Icons of Transgression Icons 03 I propose that all iconic representation combines two modes of combines two modes of that all iconic representation I propose From the religious connotations of iconicity we as public inherit connotations of iconicity we as religious the From a to person who achieves icon status has to be recognisable A lating existing iconic texts/images, or creating new additions to the new additions texts/images, or creating lating existing iconic of a given cultural iconic representations existing bank of already of Manson and representations recent of more icon, as in the case others where iconicity cultural of field open the enter Images Hearst. their iconic elaborating and reinterpreting to may contribute freely lives of these im- this has worked to extend the status. Historically ages and figures beyond the span one might otherwise have esti- acceleration, which is particu- mated for them in an age of cultural become pertinent in the case of what might otherwise have larly time-bound and -specific icons of a dead counterculture. extremely - both stylized and sacral are the images presented representation: ‘icon’ word the of connotations the originates in duality This ized. icon or picto- of use of the term: The commercial spheres two from gram which works through simplifiedrepresentation (i.e. is styl- - embellished rep icon which works through ized), and the religious symbolic detail (i.e. is sacralized and through resentation worked-up religious icon, or a pastiche thereof as we shall see an as icon, or a pastiche thereof worked-up religious very directly tends to borrow example of (depicting Manson) later, from an old formal language developed in specific traditions of through that signifiers specific the adds always also but worship, of the icon in question and stylization identify the uniqueness transgress the old forms. of The need for icons is an expression the position of worshipper. our longing for something beyond our own subject-hood, a desire to idolize. This need is no longer fulfilled in traditional religious manifestations of the onto other ways, but has become transferred As we shall see, opposi- stars, idols. such as heroes, extraordinary, sometimes tional or anti-hegemonic worship of cultural heroes fixates on figures thatare recognisable as subtypes of the Outlaw etc.) or as Messianic specimens of bank-robbers (mass murderers, particular transgression. large number of members of a specific group, whether that is an age, race,(defined class, through belief oppositional subculture a nation, or of hegemonically inscribed consumers, etc.), a group - immediate recogni the global community: Iconicity presupposes of the safety connoted contradiction In apparent tion and familiarity. quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - 123 Bent Sørensen Bent Volume Icons of Transgression Icons 03 The activities of the consumer of icons – in both senses of the word – in both senses of the word The activities of the consumer of icons and over-familiarized Icons, especially over-commercialized of availability and commodification increased the to due Largely - to be extraordi person simultaneously has the iconic by familiarity, image. her achievements, or through his or whether through nary, or activities the person’s appearance, life, story Some element of lived by most of the familiarity of everyday life as has to transcend Ultimately, of normality. transgression us: Iconicity presupposes a represents imaged person is only achieved when the status icon ‘fame’) and echoes in the word combination of familiarity (which as ‘cool’). of norms (often figured transgression icon-work. It is convenient to sub- consumption – form what I term theby determined categories broad two into icon-work this divide and col- fan or icon-worker: adversarial intention of the consumer, icon-work I understand the laborative icon-work. By adversarial at destabilising or subverting type of intervention which is aimed the icon-worker’sthe icon’s function and meaning in contemporary oroppositional either be can work icon of type This reality. cultural as a Satanic icon is oppositional in depict Manson incorporated. To the sense that only a minority will find this an acceptable practice collaborate further (but the con- and something that invites one to - the icon work as collaborative), where vinced Satanist will still read collaboration with successful commercially as Marilyn Manson’s normalthe in incorporated fully is on feeds he icons ‘seed’ two the fans of goods and services, as his numerous capitalist circulation will be per image circus entire and followers will attest to, and his and Marilyn Monroe ceived as collaborative icon work feeding off cache of fame. Charles Manson’s pre-existing defacing e.g. by them, actively resisting into people ones, tempt them, satirizing them or otherwise tampering with them: The for Collaborativeiconoclasts. become then worshippers passive merly - icon-work, on the other hand, may take the form of homage, imita memory of the icon, etc. the tion, worship and activities to preserve or follower fan work of the ardent is often the form of activity This of of the icon’s original work. Most icon-work comprises a mixture these activities, whetherAll of efforts. and collaborative adversarial adversarial or collaborative, ultimately serve only to perpetuate the iconic person or image’s status and longevity. the last icons, the need for worship has not diminished throughout quarter

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kvarter akademisk 124 Bent Sørensen Bent Volume Icons of Transgression Icons 03 Charles Manson’s claim to fame or more appropriately put: infa- appropriately or more Charles Manson’s claim to fame Briefly put, Manson believed that an apocalyptic time was at 50 years, despite the apparent secularisation of the post WW II-era. secularisation of the post WW the apparent 50 years, despite and before, than ever icons more now are there On the contrary, many acceleration, cultural general tendency towards the despite still in the 60s and 70s are and reinvented reshaped icons formed, or Iconicity and cultural sphere. the commercial in present potent and or subcul- of immortality (at least within a cultural serves as a form tural memory), yet, historically speaking, icons are always specifi- haveIcons eras. different in things different mean and situated cally permanent, as witnessed by certain and not all icons are a history, memory after some decades. Let us icons slipping out of a culture’s turn now to an examination of how two specific icons of the 1960s In both cases, Manson prolonged. and 70s have had their life-spans an extra lease them with has provided and Hearst, popular culture on life, and specifically in the case of Manson a political dimension his icon status. has helped overdetermine Having a cult leader in the 1960s. as his activities from comes my, for a variety of crimes, includingspent much of his youth in prison auto theft and sexual assault, Manson moved to San burglaries, the in involved became he Here 1967. in release upon Francisco use, sexual ex- and a hippy life style, including drug counterculture activities involving theft andperimentation and various criminal the San on as a minor guru violence. Manson established himself by Sci- system inspired Francisco scene, espousing a philosophical an extended leader he soon created As a charismatic entology. family to the re-locating After mainly young women. of followers, Manson family settled in various the burgeoning Angeles area Los neighbourhoods, Canyon including and Topanga Pacific Palisades, contingent crashed Beach Boys member Den- Manson a large where house for an extended period of time. Manson at this nis Wilson’s business and attempt- into the music point believed he could break his songs and sign him to a connections record ed to have Wilson’s thus inscribed right are contract. Manson’s links to popular culture was further strengthened the onset of his iconic life. This link from in 1968, which led Man- of the Beatles’ White Album after the release the lyrics of the White Al- to read son (a long time fan of the group) bum, esp. the song ‘Helter Skelter’ into his philosophical system. Americans would white a race war between black and hand where quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 125 Bent Sørensen Bent Volume Icons of Transgression Icons 03 After Manson’s arrest the devotion of the family to him and his the devotion arrest After Manson’s break out, eventually leading to the annihilation of the white race, to the annihilation of the white out, eventually leading break who as an elite of Manson and his followers with the exception as the new leaders of and emerge black insurgents would ‘ride’ the such believed was detailed in songs Manson This prognosis society. as ‘Helter Skelter’ was he was convinced the whole album – in fact written specifically for him and the Family and contained specific which he When Manson’s race war, for them to follow. directions to materialise he became convinced failed termed Helter Skelter, particularly vicious andthat he needed to trigger it by committing such as the police to believe that groups bloody crimes, and leading were number of murders A behind them. the Black Panthers were off spark to orders, specific his on followers, Manson by committed of and the rest Tate of Sharon Helter Skelter – including the killing were These and other murders the members of her household. horrific and blood, in written were (slogans ritualistic look to made ‘signed’ killing method) and were multiple stabbings employed as ama- Family were crimes. The Manson as Black Panther—related having failed for the crimes, soon arrested teurs at killing and were numerous committed having also and tracks forensic their cover to lookingconstantly were police the that meant which crimes minor for members of the Family. the general public, as did Man- teachings puzzled and shocked in court with an X appeared He behaviour. son’s own bizarre his identity had been claiming that scratched into his forehead, defence own his as act to allowed not was he because out X’ed similarly the trial. The Family followed suit by during attorney his shaved during the trial, Manson Later, their foreheads. X’ing to be an enactment of declaring this head and forked his beard, “I am of by the state. He declared the demonization he felt victim two delib- These a bald head”. has the Devil always the Devil, and own body have of course been erate stigmatizations of Manson’s work done on Manson, as over the of the icon features recurrent - years he became adopted for the causes of Nazis (in a radicalisa and Satanists. In the into a Swastika) tion of the X on his forehead but as Califor penalty, the death spring of 1971 Manson received ex- on moratorium a introduced 1972) after (in February nia soon ecutions Manson’s sentence was permanently commuted to life doubt extended the no staying alive has Manson imprisonment. quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 126 Bent Sørensen Bent Volume Icons of Transgression Icons 03 ry, who was the victim of a vicious slander campaign due to his past ry, suita in Manson grinning a Here activist. War anti-Vietnam an as Senator amodelled on Kerry’s (as is Manson’s hair style) shows the snapshot of the Manson a piece of paper or a photograph (perhaps victims), and they appear to share a moment of confidence, although Kerry’s closed eyes might indicate that the image Manson My first 4 images of Manson (with oneTate of in- victim Sharon fairly serted in the sequence) show Manson’s development from fanatic and self-mutilated to wild-eyed hippy-type well-groomed apparition in later im- prophet-like madman. He ages into a rugged ages. It is the elderly Manson who fuels the imagination of icon workers that use him in a politicized discourse, as witnessed first by a right wing manipulation of Manson’s image, photo-shopped John Ker into a photo of former Democrat candidate for President, many uses to which his iconic presence can be put, as will be ap- can be put, to which his iconic presence many uses scenarios a number of political fantasy by his insertion into parent years. in recent quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 127 calling for 4 Bent Sørensen Bent Volume Icons of Transgression Icons 03 These two instances will be perceived as collaborative as collaborative These two instances will be perceived signalled as in Manson is a saint and a martyr, Here In a parallel image, this time used to satirize Kerry’s de- this time used to satirize Kerry’s In a parallel image, In this narrative Manson works for the Republicans as for the Republicans as In this narrative Manson works of the Swastika on indicated by the replacement (crudely) Elephant, substituted with a GOP is which forehead, his Bush and Condoleeza the symbol of the Republican Party. both ‘quoted’ as supporting Manson’s speedy Rice are that “questions about appointment, saying for instance management style shouldn’t be part of the con- Manson’s firmation process”. Both authors use a politically partisan view. only from party he or she does to satirize the monstrosity Manson’s in a inscribed hegemonically both are They not belong to. party political system, although not officially sanctioned for selected have I image iconic main The party. by either homage to Manson. analysis is however a true of his iconography via a representation classical religious Swastika on Manson’s forehead,the note again stigmata. We halo along with stylized form in his echoed in even more pentagrams that associate Manson with Satanism. His other andneck and face his on bloodstains the of consist stigmata the from of blood stretching the strange umbilical chord pho- The the icon. of skull into the background his back of showedI the one is the icon template for as tograph used wild- depicting Manson in a particularly previously eyed but prior to the moment, taken shortly after his arrest, purple colours black and X’ing incident. The choice of red, traditional rays (the for Manson’s halo and the background the approval by the Senate of Manson as ambassador to by the Senate of Manson as ambassador to the approval universe). the Star Trek (referencing the Klingon Empire shows him is a bit too much to take in. Note the Swastika too much to take in. Note the shows him is a bit the Kerry campaign button on and on Manson’s forehead his lapel. feater, George W. Bush, Manson’s photograph (the raw raw Bush, Manson’s photograph (the W. George feater, not air are the hair and attire and here image is the same, of type a different for used is or photo-shopped) brushed oppositional in more collaborative icon work, this time It is accompanied by an amusing text nature. quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - - - 128 Bent Sørensen Bent Volume Icons of Transgression Icons 03 5 6 Turning now to Patty Hearst, we encounter a story much inter a story much we encounter Patty Hearst, to now Turning Manson’s afterlife as an icon is thus prolonged by oppositional, as an icon is thus prolonged Manson’s afterlife was eventually hunted down by the police, and in an The SLA collaborative icon work, falling within at least three spheres (which spheres at least three collaborative icon work, falling within political, religious be): should perhaps they as not as separate are in strongest The image. his off feed all discourses andpop-culture per that course of is afterlife Manson’s into blood new of fusion popularityby Marilyn Manson whose the act of naming formed by to the original Mansonhas alerted a whole new youth generation work I have unfortunately This example of collaborate icon story. no space to detail further here. as the Manson leg- background twined in the same counterculture kid- profile high extremely an of victim the was Hearst Heiress end. militant that the armed struggle napping in 1974, at the tail end of and its anti-capi- originating in the counter-culture splinter groups America. The kidnappers, the bizarrely talist agenda was waging in carried out urban guerrilla Army, named Symbionese Liberation Their agen- American left-wing groups. by South inspired warfare inmates African-American an attempt to free da further included to con- compared US prison system which their rhetoric the from Afri- a la South oppression centration camps and apartheid regime Amer in a Black revolution saw itself as spearheading ca. The SLA snake – each headcobra a seven-headed took as its symbol ica and and creativity principle, such as unity, a Kwanzaa representing ran- of types various demanding and Hearst kidnapping After faith. som payment (in kind, to be distributed among the poor), Hearst in a bank joined the SLA willingly switched sides and apparently iconic images of Patty (now generating one of the more robbery, wielding a sub-machine gun. known as Tania) extremely violent shoot-out which resulted in a fire, most of the members escaped killed. Hearst and a few SLA members were SLA During the soon after. arrested the siege and shootout, but were - trial, Hearst again switched persona and claimed that her participa and that she had been sexually was coerced tion in the robbery of light signalling the subject’s holiness in religious icons are here here are icons the subject’s holiness in religious of light signalling - his pale skin. Tak with sharply and black) contrast turned negative colour scheme the Swastika this composition and en together with which the creator racial programme Manson’s serve to underscore condones. of the icon obviously quarter

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kvarter akademisk 129 Bent Sørensen Bent Volume Icons of Transgression Icons 03 The best known icon of The best known icon of plete with pearl necklace, which in the astonishingly recurs much later photo of her enjoying her second lease of life as carpet socialite, attending a red function in honour of Elton chang- style hair also Note John. these sequences: es through blow-dried, sprayed, styled – straight – back to long, greasy, styled. expensively and flowing Hearst is the image of her in My first images show Hearst’s startling transformation from society from transformation startling Hearst’s show images first My Che Gue- urban guerrilla (note Tania’s ingénue via revolutionary this image as an homage to the which positions most vara beret 5, 1960) to on March Alberto Korda iconic Che image of all, taken by prisoner in her profiled mug-shot. The second pair of images show com- daughter attire, a trial sketch of Hearst back in millionaire’s abused and brainwashed during her captivity by the SLA. She was during her captivity by abused and brainwashed reduced in jail, her sentence was mild stretch sentenced to a fairly - by Pres she was fully pardoned Carter and eventually by President generat- of iconic cultural texts have been number A ident Clinton. of events. ed by this sequence quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 130 Bent Sørensen Bent Volume Icons of Transgression Icons 03 This is revolutionary iconography 101, down to 101, down to iconography This is revolutionary Patty Hearst heard the burst Patty Hearst heard Of Roland’s Thompson gun and bought it… the army fatigues, the beret, the weapon and the sur the beret, the army fatigues, cleavage shown. The phallic cobraprising amount of taming, but also of Tania’s reminder a potent offers - As an iron clout. boosts her new-found revolutionary has put Patty Zevon paean to this image Warren ic of mercenaries,Hearst into the lyrics of his tall-tale well- liberation wars, upright, African post-colonial sinis- bravery, meaning Norwegian boys displaying be- engineered and CIA ter Danish power brokers, just deserts in the trayal followed by posthumous the “Roland, revenge: form of a headless ghost’s a on The song ends Headless Thompson Gunner”. didactic note: The eternal Thompson gunner the night Still wand’ring through but he still keeps up Now it’s ten years later, the fight in Lebanon, in Palestine and Berkeley In Ireland, What exactly the meaning of the closing phrase “and bought it” What exactly the meaning of the closing phrase “and bought it” buy something, of To point of debate. might be is an interesting story a into buy to also but money, for it acquire to means course exactly court case against Hearst revolved The hook, line and sinker. of the SLA, or was she this point: did she buy the rhetoric around My Syndrome? or seduced, becoming a case of Stockholm coerced take on Zevon, who has many songs about masculine exploits gone money – the shit has hit (“Send lawyers, guns and horribly wrong the fan” is a line that springs to mind), is that he is warning us all and romanticism. bravado against being taken in by revolutionary temporarilyteen who socialite protected, naïve, the is Hearst him To sentiment I would (a ardour of revolutionary the seduction for falls guess many of us can recognize). front of the SLA cobra on a bright orange background. ‘Tania’ stares stares ‘Tania’ cobra on a bright orange background. of the SLA front another – gun Thompson her fire to ready Man’, ‘the at aggressively in the background. weapon is ready quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 131 Bent Sørensen Bent Volume Icons of Transgression Icons 03 is produced many years after many years after Patty Hearst, 1975 is produced Our last icon is perhaps a reflection of the numerous ambiguities in the Hearst kidnapping. Mort Künstler’sambiguities in the Hearst kidnapping. painting depicts an angry Patty inthe events and its title date, and and wearing sunglasses, typical 70s house-wife garb, large style. Her anger her hair in a plain, hennaed, Tania-esque which however shows in her taciturn facial expression, or boredom complacency, displaying as read be also could imi- in raised fist, clenched her in And disgust. downright tation of the Black Power salute made famous world wide sprinters at the 1968 Mexico City American by the Black given appropriate, Power salute is The Black Olympics. in fact had salute but the power the SLA, of the politics the counter widely throughout more been disseminated 1975, for instance featuring by the time we reached culture Künstler’sof Hearst icon in much feminist iconography. anger at her be displaying a feminist also may therefore now her dead facial expression violation during captivity, motivation. different signaling an entirely The only thing the woman I was with & I cared about was & I cared The only thing the woman I was with at the same get her, Patty Hearst. Hoping they wouldn’t get Nixon, but not as often,they’d ever time wondering if a wonder. & never as hard For many contemporaries on the streets and squares of Berkeley and squares on the streets For many contemporaries When Hearst recanted her newfound beliefs, the disappointment beliefs, the disappointment her newfound When Hearst recanted making which were and confusion was palpable in many circles the same connection between crooked politics, unjustified war – in the Black ghettoes of LA poverty in Vietnam, and atrocities really bad Hearst and the SLA and in comparison wondering how whether anyone was ever going to not sell out when the and were, squeeze came. - turning on her capital hero, to be a revolutionary continued Tania with right of a newspaper empire family (owners ist, propagandist wing sympathies), and appeared as slogans graffiti of ‘Free Tania’ Robert Gibbons, poet, prose political places. Tirelessly many in the of killing and siege Compton the after day the writes about members: SLA quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 132 Writings in Writings Bent Sørensen Bent Volume Icons of Transgression Icons 03 We thus end with the least clear-cut example of icon work in in work icon of example clear-cut least the with end thus We icons have been shown to In conclusion, these two transgressive For reasons of space limitations I exclusively focus on the dissemination of space limitations I exclusively focus For reasons of these transgressive icons in American an iconosphere (Mieczysław is case Manson the particularly although article, this in term) Porębski’s the musical icon manipulations performed of his global in scope as are image by indie and metal artists. This framework for analysing icons is explained in the following article: and Collabo- Adversarial Icon-work: “Countercultural Bent Sørensen: rative Uses of ‘Uncle Sam’”, in Communities and Connections: Ari Helo, Renvall Institute, Helsinki, 2007 North American Studies, ed. and Path to Postmodernity: Bataille between Eroticism In ”The French Habermas neatly encapsulates Bataille’s Jürgen General Economics”, idea of the sacral which serves as my primary point of inspiration for Bataille stands in the tradition of in the preceding: the theses rendered aspects of the social the Durkheim school. He traces the heterogenous as well as of the psychic and mental life back to the sacral element that Durkheim had defined by contrasting it with the world of the profane. terms of categorization as collaborative or adversarial, oppositional adversarial, or collaborative as categorization of terms and hegemonic. Künstler may in fact live up to the signification of an having produced in his ‘Artist’) translates as name (which his to the Zeitgeist of celebratory art – an homage ambiguous work the Hearst important as the other title element, (‘1975’ being as ardour By 1975 the revolutionary name) as much as to Patty Hearst. have – all the revolutionaries has bled out of icons such as Hearst in 2001 after Soliah did (arrested become housewives as Kathleen Even the bright orange of Tania’s 25 years underground). than more as if blood (per orange has turned a murky brownish background the members) has permeated SLA haps that of the shot and burned nuance is so typical of its period wall and dried out. The resulting - post-revo Zeitgeist of the soured, that it alone perfectly signals the lutionary American 1970s. themselves best to collaborative, unincorporated icon-work, lend – with the realms commercial to enter into more and only rarely tongue-in-cheek use in popular music. exception of often ironic, tend to live on Divisive icons such as Manson and Hearst, however, value has worn off. even long after their initial shock Notes 1 2 3 quarter

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kvarter akademisk 133 Bent Sørensen Bent Volume Icons of Transgression Icons 03 Sacral objects are possessed of an auratic power which simultaneously possessed Sacral objects are entices and attracts even as it terrifies andrepulses. If stimulated, they higher level of reality. a different, and represent shocking effects release things and evade any homog- with profane incommensurable They are Critical Reader, ed. by Fred – in Bataille – A enizing mode of treatment” 1991) (Blackwell, Botting and Scott Wilson was a click through image there On the website I originally located the which opened Crowley Alistair link to a further shrine for Satanism and link is now defunct. when Manson’s image is clicked. The Reznor’s site of the Sha- uses of the musician Trent indie Transgressive Mari- he later recorded as domicile and studio where murders Tate ron this chain of icon- of portion lyn Manson, of course form a fascinating work and dissemination. 4 http://www.faux-news.com/stories/2005/04/25/ 5 6 quarter

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kvarter akademisk 134 Bent Sørensen Bent Volume Icons of Transgression Icons 03 Stoughton. Press. America, University of Chicago References – Coming Down Fast, Hodder & , 2009. Charles Manson S. Wells, – Patricia Hearst in 1970s W. Gun Got A Graebner, , 2008. Patty’s quarter

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kvarter akademisk akademiskkvarter Volume 03. Fall 2011 • on the web academic quarter

The Star Wars Kid and the Bedroom Intruder Panopticon or Subversion?

Jørgen Riber Christensen is associate professor of digital aesthetics at Aalborg University, cand.mag.et phil.: English, Art Histo- ry, Film and Media. Interests are media, media production, art, digital aeshetics, british and american literary and cultural theory.

The Star Wars Kid With its relatively brief history the Internet already has a history with its own historical personages. One of these is the herostrati- cally famous Star Wars Kid. A YouTube search of “Star Wars Kid” will bring you to the 1:47 minutes-long video and also to quite a large number of video responses and remixes based on the original video (YouTube, 1). In the video you can see the Star Wars Kid performing in front of a static camera. He is wielding a golf ball re- triever as if he was Darth Maul, and as if it was a light sabre from George Lucas’s Star Wars film, The Phantom Menace (1999). During the video his performance develops into a kind of energetic, but ungainly dance towards and away from the camera, and whenever he gets close to the camera he pauses a moment to stare aggressively into its lens. This sabre wielding dance has its culmination or rather nadir when he stumbles and nearly falls in some yellow cloth lying on the floor in the bare video studio behind him. When you are watching this video you probably experience mixed feelings. You may laugh, and then be ashamed that you did so. You may be filled with the unsympathetic feeling of Schadenfreude, and then you may feel grateful that it’s not you or one of your kids in the video and feel sorry for the Star Wars Kid.

Volume 03 135 - - 136 Volume 03 Jørgen Riber Christensen Jørgen The Star Wars Kid and the Bedroom Intruder the Bedroom Kid and Wars The Star The actual person in the video was the 14-year-old Ghyslain Raza, Ghyslain in the video was the 14-year-old The actual person Kid is doing in the video? There What is it then that the Star Wars and the This video with its recorder, five takes, the sounds from a student at the Saint-Joseph high school in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Trois-Rivières, the Saint-Joseph high school in a student at Canada. He made the film in 2002 in the school’s studio, but unfor later by It was found some time video tape there. tunately left the eventually and friends, his among was circulated it student, another a video file of it was uploaded to the April Internet 14, 2003 (Hour to have had over 900 milliondeaux, 2010). In 2006 it was estimated the number of viewings is YouTube 2006). On viewings (BBC News, of Ghyslain Raza took legal actionhigher than 22 million. The family vid- students who uploaded the against the families of the school had to that “Ghyslain lawsuit claimed it public .The eo and made his from harassment and derision today, still endures and endure, that he “will be And the public at large.” and mates high-school under psychiatric for care an indefinite amount of time” (Popkin, court. 2007). The case was settled out of is a pattern of repetitions in the video as a whole. There are five cuts between them, and betweentakes, and you may see the jump button being of the recorder some of them you even hear the sound you may his movements sounds from the real Apart from pressed. - as if it was a pro sounds effects Kid imitate also hear the Star Wars take is similar to one another. fessional movie. The action of each Basically the Star Kid Wars fights his way towards the camera camera hisAs he gets near the twirling the imagined light sabre. Un- the recording. until he stops gaze meets the lens aggressively, the derstood in this way the camera becomes the opponent from film, and this opponents is vanquished, his death symbolizedby of the camera. the switching off and metafictional, is frame the of out and in walking Kid Wars Star himself Kid reads Wars The Star it is also an intertextual project. into the universe of the Star filmsWars by his impersonation of a videothe in performance his Through Lord. Sith a or Knight Jedi a narrative, which for a moment of it he creates and the production andredefines this his imagined identity, identity is mediated in two senses: It owes its existence to the media, Lucas’ films, which - an actual media produc the hypotexts for this video, and it is are intertextualan in media the employs Kid Wars Star The itself. tion not an uncom- is which own identity, to understand his try way to quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 137 Volume 03 Jørgen Riber Christensen Jørgen The Star Wars Kid and the Bedroom Intruder the Bedroom Kid and Wars The Star Antoine Dodson and the Bedroom Intruder Antoine Dodson and the Bedroom Internet stardom Antoine Dodson’s rise to Kid Like the Star Wars both in his case it was in However, is based on invasion of privacy. In late June 2010 a house way. in an involuntary and a voluntary allegedly attempted to rape Kelly Dodson in her bedroom intruder he climbed into Alabama, where in Huntsville, in a housing project the news in an 2) brought local TV station (YouTube, A her bed. way with the anchor person initem that started in the traditional live at the scene of the reporter a studio, a map of the area, the - crime, but then unusual interviews followed. First with Kelly Dod in the here out idiot from some by attacked “I was herself: son An- her brother report and then a little later in the news project.”, toine told the interviewer that he ran to help his sister to fight off point that the item becomes noteworthy It is at this the attacker. of the genre Antoine Dodson’s personal style transgresses because is totally unim- vernacular, He uses his street news broadcasting. and his modulation and by the institution of television, pressed Antoine Dodson does not like music and dance. body language are and passionately into the but directly speak to the interviewer, camera, in this way first addressing the local television audience: obviously we have a rapist in Lincoln Park. He’s climbin in “Well, your windows, he’s snatchin your people up, tryna rape em so your hus- hide wife, and your hide kids, hide your to need y’all to speaks he then And here.” out rrbody rapin they’re cuz band, : virtual texts in every- in texts Spiritus: virtual Creator ” E.g. in his do. thing to mon texts for young has described how media day life” Ben Bachmair the me- of mimesis of life, but that not just a question people are everyday poiesis, active elements in a kind of texts become dia of their personal meaning use them to create in which young people is not the camera Yet 2000: pp. 115-116). everyday lives (Bachmair, Kid faces himself. The intertextual in which the Star Wars a mirror the video transcend the idea of the camera as a mir makes project enhancesit and performer the both. It mirrors is camera The ror. Kid, and not the Star Wars so that he becomes him intertextually, though obviously he is alsojust a Canadian high school student, indi- may camera the and performer the between conflict The that. of a clash between the imaginedcate that the video is also a sign one. identity and the real quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 138 Volume 03 Jørgen Riber Christensen Jørgen The Star Wars Kid and the Bedroom Intruder the Bedroom Kid and Wars The Star The bedroom intruder news report now went viral as it was up- news report intruder The bedroom to his unintend- Kid’s reaction have seen that The Star Wars We the intruder as he gesticulates into the camera and he bends for as he gesticulates into the camera the intruder would distance is closer than what you so that the camera ward t-shirt, you done got your of this sort: “We expect in an interview for dumb, really are You dumb. so are You all. and fingerprints left don’t have to “You into the camera: gesticulates Dodson real.” We gon gon find you. lookin for you. We come and confess. We’re find you. So you canrun and tell that, homeboy!” Dodson now - to the re is mixed the camera, and the picture looks away from whose porter, style is official and poses a strong contrast: “If you to contact the urged you are have any information on this crime Huntsville police department…” more has it that so 29.07.2011, YouTube to and loaded to Facebook birth This news video gave YouTube. than 35 million viewings on Auto-Tune Brothers’ of which The Gregory remixes, to numerous or songification version hasreached the staggering number of 3) since its (YouTube, YouTube 85 million viewings on than more most watched video at all on upload 30.07.2010, and it was the 4). in 2010 (YouTube, YouTube Antoine Dodson ac- was unhappiness; when ed Internet stardom into his because of an intrusion cidentally became globally famous sister’s advantage as he he turned the situation into his bedroom, that sold with his own websites became an Internet entrepreneur royalties the with and (Dodson), merchandise other and t-shirts Song he has bought his Intruder the Bedroom from iTunes from ’s Celebrity News by US Weekly family a new house as reported on talk shows, , 2010). Dodson has appeared section (US Weekly for Entertainment One show pilot episode and he has shot a reality in Huntsville, project the housing about his family moving from It seems that it does not make Alabama to Hollywood (TMZ, 2011). Antoine Dodson as an invasion sense after all to view the story of - rapist’s intru on the one hand, the attempted Where, of privacy. which with sion into the home was a criminal offence, Dodsons’ Antoine Dodson’s flamboyantgood provoked andreason outspo- of his privacy by the media, on the other the invasion ken anger, hand, became a welcome opportunity to rise socially and become an explana- The concept of celebrity may in itself offer a celebrity. contradiction is possible. tion why this apparent quarter

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kvarter akademisk 139 Volume 03 Jørgen Riber Christensen Jørgen The Star Wars Kid and the Bedroom Intruder the Bedroom Kid and Wars The Star Antoine Dodson is nothing but authenticity out of an Alabama an nothing but authenticity out of is Dodson Antoine Celebrity Authenticity and Dodson is famous and pri- Antoine An explanatory of why model between the a comparison in time may be found vate at the same the Holly- from known as star A celebrities. and stars of concepts wood film industry has become a star because of her abilities as by her this ability has been represented and the way an actress well audience The them. of marketing the by and themselves films may want to know in this way, constructed knowing that stars are the star better in the sense that we want to know the person be- the of study his in it puts Marshall David P. as or star, the hind ‘really’ Marilyn Monroe celebrity: “What is the modern of concept he appears in his person as the same like? Is Paul Newman ‘really’ does hand, other the on celebrity, A 17). p. 1997: (Marshall, films?” functions, which a tie to his or her professional not have so strong - construc textual by the audience as what they are, perceived are and of textualised stardom celebrity is the combination A tions. the audience of the authentic person that em- the demand from in the con- In this way authenticity is inherent bodies the stardom. includes the search and audience performance cept of celebrity, be like themselves, may which authentic person, this of signs for and in this way may be a figureof identification in a democratic world picture. to turn this authenticity into he has managed and housing project, too, as he has been using the of mediated stardom, some degree invasion of his home to mediate his private world into the public and fame. Dodson signaled world of Internet entrepreneurship authenticity in his initial appearance in the He was not in media. a fiction program, but in the news, and even there he was less staged than what one might expect because he was totally unim- contrast The gaze into the camera. his language and in his pressed one of linguistic style. is also between Dodson and the reporter Gates as the one Henry Louis style can be characterized Dodson’s Afro-American elaborate, an i.e. signifyin(g) (Gates, 1988), calls Jr. so goading and insult. Dodson with word-play, here vernacular, the camera lens and the television screen through to speak broke was to the audience, so that there address with this form of direct the simulation of unmediated and popular communication. The Kid with his young age, on the other hand, as most of us Star Wars quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 140 Volume 03 Jørgen Riber Christensen Jørgen The Star Wars Kid and the Bedroom Intruder the Bedroom Kid and Wars The Star The concept of the Panopticon as a metaphor for a disciplinary The concept of the Panopticon as a metaphor for a disciplinary Panopticon student now known globally Unfortunately for the high school - private moment of self-repre Kid, the recorded, as Wars the Star The camera, which was usedsentation was stolen and made public. when his privacy was became a surveillance camera, privately, one In Internet. the on broadcast was video the and violated, mir a to blame, as a camera was used and not sense technology is could not manage the professional functions as an intertextual functions as an intertextual the professional could not manage to authen- Knight version of a Jedi well enough; but with respect enough, As a person he was real was another problem. ticity there made. professionally not obviously was recording the video and - to repre media and the technology used Kid though the Star Yet, not as closely connected to was representation sent himself, his for authenticitywish as a demand could everyday life and reality The video was first of all intertextual, and it was also metafic- for. of the media invading the tional. In this case it was a question himself as a of the person as he represented privacy and reality - representa this of location the and film, a from character fictional The opposite was the case with tion was an empty video studio. his social and his authentic reality it was Here Antoine Dodson. life that invaded the media. between the private and the this transgression In another, ror. cultural context, the one of the public may be viewed in a wider Panopticon. Bentham’s design from back to Jeremy goes societal construction could see all the pris- the guards 1785 for a prison building where they had the feeling of but oners. They could not see the guards, and the cells being watched all the time. The building is round, bars opening through The cells are placed in its circumference. are his in- in placed is the guard where the building the center of to spection tower with a full view of each well-lit cell and its solitary inmate. This prison design permitted cheap surveillance of the believed to discipline them. Conse- were inmates, and its effects - the function of the Panopticon prison was correction quentially, principle in the Panopticon inherent power is The concept of al. of power obtaining of mode “a new Bentham: by as described in a quantity hitherto without example.” (Ben- mind, over mind quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - 141 Discipline Volume 03 Jørgen Riber Christensen Jørgen in the room prisons in the room perpetual The Star Wars Kid and the Bedroom Intruder the Bedroom Kid and Wars The Star of death, or prisons or peniten- trial, for confinement before or work-houses, or manu- correction, tiary-houses, or houses of schools. (Bentham, or mad-houses, or hospitals, or factories, 1995/1791: Letter 1) No matter how different, or even opposite the purpose: or even different, No matter how guarding the of punishing the incorrigible, whether it be that employ- suspected, the confining vicious, the reforming insane, the helpless, curing the sick, instruct- ing the idle, maintaining training the or ing the willing in any branch of industry, whether it : in a word, rising race in the path of education to the purposes of be applied One may then ask how the two viral videos discussed in this ar chitectural design, that “He who is subjected to a field of visibility, constraints of for the responsibility assumes who knows it, and - power; he makes them play spontaneously upon himself; he in he simultaneously in which scribes in himself the power relation subjection” own his of principle the becomes he roles; both plays and (Foucault, 1991/1975: pp. 202-203). Surveillance is disciplinary, This is of society. the power relations when internalized it assures the Panopticon principle. and its discipli- to the Panopticon principle, surveillance ticle relate publication of private mo- and the recording Are nary mechanism. and a cog in the wheel of disciplinary YouTube, ments, e.g. on of a these two are Like many other viral videos societal control? The viral videos tend to (Christensen, 2011). nature transgressive and structures disobey common thematic, narrative and receptive for may they metafictive, often are they Narratologically, standards. their poor aes- through their own production instance foreground It is at this point that the Panopticon principle becomes more than principle becomes more It is at this point that the Panopticon and it becomes a disciplinary mechanism. Surveillance architectural, individual be- the towards and the public, but unseen gaze directed his in Foucault Michel and of power, instrument an comes a develops Bentham’s theory into and Punish - The Birth of the Prison societal system of power and subjection to power. comprehensive for his ar Bentham’s arguments Foucault writes in continuation of tham, 1995/1791: Preface) This correctional and disciplinary prin- This correctional Preface) tham, 1995/1791: prison: extends beyond the ciple quarter

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kvarter akademisk 142 Volume 03 Jørgen Riber Christensen Jørgen The Star Wars Kid and the Bedroom Intruder the Bedroom Kid and Wars The Star When it comes to the reception of viral videos the uncertainty feltuncertainty the videos viral of reception the to comes it When of the two videos and also their audiences the characters Are thetic and technological level. Thematically, viral videos may ig- viral videos level. Thematically, thetic and technological and private, most of- between public the border or transgress nore of It is also typical forays into the intimate sphere. ten in the case of is ambiguous that their communication mode many viral videos sender. to the identity of the with regard an un- by the video is paralleled about the identity of the sender of to the video and its characters. Both the certainty of how to respond - transgres video are Intruder Kid video and the Bedroom Star Wars - its character transgress former, sive in these ways. In the case of the be- and he construction, he becomes an intertextual es his identity, old for it. In the case of the latter, haves as a child, though he is too itself trans- video but the bedroom, into a only is not the intrusion format and codes of a news program. the gresses thecommit not to warned audiences their are and disciplined, then may be found in the mixedsame undisciplined actions? The answer the audience has of the videos. One may and ambivalent reception YouTube but one may also be enjoying the videos. The be repelled, of the in the reception emotions diverse to these testify comments Kid: “i is a sample of comments about the Star Wars videos. Here seri- really guy this ”..is staff”, the swings he where part the LOVE another is less than friendly, ous...?”, and when one commentator be can comment this simple unaware, you are case ” In answers: an adverse have Cyberbullying can threat. serious a as perceived have a positive could One nice comment on peoples lives. effect like this do not. In the comments impact on someones life, where sensitivity and be aware others with greater please try to treat future And these 5). (YouTube can cause lasting damage.” that your words hes ”hahahaha lmfao(: i love this dude!!! Antoine Dodson: about people hide your yall need to hide your funny! HAHAHA sooo wife hide your kids and your husband cause they rapin everyone i’m justice/mockery at its best!”, ” HEY! Lol”, ”Vigilante out here!! Antoine the rapist 8^(” and ” My favorite gay person in history = instances 6). Though these uploaded videos are Dodson” (YouTube of surveillance, they are not simply Panoptic in their significance. moment, and and undisciplined They also celebrate the unguarded the ability to transgress they show an as the viral videos they are Panopticon and to be partially subversive. quarter

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kvarter akademisk 143 The History of Volume 03 Jørgen Riber Christensen Jørgen The Star Wars Kid and the Bedroom Intruder the Bedroom Kid and Wars The Star The Will to Knowledge (Foucault, 1990/1976: pp. The Will In the first half of half first the In Culture of Confession as both Panoptic viral videos to be understood The ability of these border of particularly the their transgressions and subversive with be viewed in the private and the public can between the intimately of his culture Michel Foucault’s concepts, namely light of another of confession as he describes it in the first volume of from argumentation the moving By Knowledge. to Will Sexuality: The surveillance and Panopti- the societal mechanisms of Foucauldian the Prison to the search con in his Discipline and Punish: The Birth of hypothesisthe Knowledge to Will in The and its discourses truth for be disciplinary and subversiveof this article that viral videos may at the same time can be tested. a historical exposition of a double, but con- 1-73) Foucault proposes During the last to sexuality. attitudes nected movement in Western been made into years sexuality on the one hand has hundred three Foucault sees the point of departure a plurality of discourses, where confession, in which carnal orof this development in the Christian given were so-called sinful nature sexual actions and behaviour of a and categorized sexuality was Later into words. turned or words perspective or as in a societal context, e.g. in a Malthusian regarded and sexuality was inscribed inconjugal sexuality – or non-conjugal, with their disciplinary measures. the power mechanisms of society Sexuality also became a rational, scientific discourse, e.g. psychoa- as perversions, could it, perhaps nalysis in its various forms where for knowledge in a search again turned into words, be interpreted, sexuality was not denied, hid- As it can be gathered, and the truth. and in the will to knowledge about it, there den away or repressed, com- were pleasure and Power pleasure. for lust intertwined a was that comes of exercising bined in a perpetual spiral: “The pleasure out, pal- a power that questions, monitors, watches, spies, searches that kin- pates, brings to light; and on the other hand, the pleasure dles at having to evade this fleepower, from it, fool it, or travesty it.” (Foucault, 1990/1976, p. 45) It is Foucault’s point that power thatstates he and way, this in another one reinforce pleasure and the ritualistic use and the religious the use of of the period since world have become “a sin- confessional, we in the modern Western man has become a gularly confessing society” and that “Western of discourses confessing animal” (Foucault, 1990/1976: p. 59). Types quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 144 Volume 03 Jørgen Riber Christensen Jørgen The Star Wars Kid and the Bedroom Intruder the Bedroom Kid and Wars The Star The genres of the two videos have migrated from respectively a respectively of the two videos have migrated from The genres Conclusion: The double nature of the confession Conclusion: the internet the on figures popular most the of two about article The Fou- Michel of two used has Dobson Antoine and Kid Star Wars concepts, the Panopticon and the confession, to cault’s theoretical of their fame, which is based on an explain the paradoxical nature of the two has shown that comparison A invasion of their privacy. degree the to regard with all after different is status celebrity their self-representation. of authenticity they signal in their often are which videos, viral into program news video and a private ofquestion discussed the article has consequently The transgressive. distribution have functioned in awhether the two videos and their The subversive. they are or whether panoptical disciplinary way, both at the same time, and the ar answer suggested is that they are - consul to satisfy this need: “interrogations, have arisen genres and - have been record narratives, letters; they tations, autobiographical and comment- into dossiers, published ed, transcribed, assembled with their will to writes (p. 63). These discourses ed on”, Foucault can truth to be authentic so that the an ambition knowledge all share with new types tempting to update this list It seems be revealed. YouTube, with Facebook and such as the Internet social media which smartphones, or with televi- often based on ubiquitous are programs. such as talk shows or reality sion genres of gument for this paradoxical answer is found in the double nature of con- of a culture instances the confession, so that both videos are of imagining fession that both discipline and celebrate the pleasure news exposing your personality in a of Knight or that you a Jedi to the popularity of the be related answer can also This program. social media in general. quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - http:// 145 - [online] Avai . Volume 03 Jørgen Riber Christensen Jørgen Dansklær 2.0, Medietid , 18.07.2011. The Star Wars Kid and the Bedroom Intruder the Bedroom Kid and Wars The Star The Will to Knowledge: The History of Sexu- of History The Knowledge: to Will The Le nouvel Observateur. 04.06.2010 , 19.7.2011. , 11.07.2011. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6187554.stm Prison, Penguin: Harmondsworth. Intertextuality and the 2000. Intertextuality and J. Smith, eds., and In Meinhof, U.H. pp. 115-131. Manchester, Press: media, Manchester University at - at http://www.cartome.org/pan Available London. [online] Verso: opticon2.htm Reklamens In Stigel, J. 2011. markedsføring og sociale medier. bevidstheden? Academi sving i man sætter hvordan æstetik. Eller ca: København. (In press) www.antoinedodsonsworld.com/ ality: 1, Penguin: Harmondsworth. ican Literary Criticism, OUP: Oxford. contre-attaque. erforeningens Forlag, Kbh. erforeningens Minneapolis. . University of Minnesota Press: ture at http://www.msnbc.msn. Available msnbc.com. 9.6.2007. [online] , 11.07.2011. com/id/20611439/ wohl: Reinbek bei Hamburg. - at http://www.tmz.com/2011/01/21/an Available [online] 21.1.2011. , 18.07.2011. toine-dodson-reality-show-bedroom-intruder-kali-hawk/ lable at http://revuedeweb.blogs.nouvelobs.com/archive/2010/06/04/ lable , 11.07.2011. le-star-wars-kid-contre-attaque.html Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Foucault, M., 1991/1975. Discipline and Punish: The Birth 1990/1976. M., Foucault, References Spiritus: virtual texts life. in everyday B., 2000. Creator Bachmair, Available Kid is top viral video. [online] BBC News, 2006. Star Wars Ed. M. Bozovic. Writings. Bentham, J., 1995/1791. The Panopticon Transgression, reklamevideoer: Virale 2011. J. Riber, Christensen, ; at http://www.allthatantoine.com/ Available Dodson. [online] Theory of African-Amer- Gates, H.L., 1988. The Signifying Monkey: A / L’Islande Kid” du “Star Wars Hourdeaux, J., 2010. Le retour - , 1997. Celebrity and Power: Fame in Contemporary Cul Marshall, P.D. Popkin, H. A.S., 2007. Survive your inevitable online humiliation. - Simanowski, R., 2008. Digitale Medien in der Erlebnisgesellschaft, Ro York. up digital, McGraw-Hill: New D., 2009. grown Tapscott, Show! Reality Own My Got -- I’ve Dodson Antoine 2011. TMZ, Kristensen, J. og J. Riber Christensen, 2009. Christensen, Riber J. og J. Kristensen, quarter

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kvarter akademisk - , 146 Volume 03 Jørgen Riber Christensen Jørgen , 18.07.2011. , 18.07.2011. , 21.07.2011. , 18.07.2011. The Star Wars Kid and the Bedroom Intruder the Bedroom Kid and Wars The Star 18.07.2011. watch?v=HPPj6viIBmU, 21.07.2011. watch?v=EzNhaLUT520 11.07.2011. watch?v=HPPj6viIBmU, watch?v=EzNhaLUT520 - at http://www.us Available [online] 16.9.2010. Home. Into New magazine.com/celebritynews/news/bed-intruder-singer-moves-fami ly-into-new-home-2010169 watch?v=hMtZfW2z9dw YouTube, 5. [online] Available at http://www.youtube.com/ Available 5. [online] YouTube, at http://www.youtube.com/ Available 6. [online] YouTube, YouTube, 1. [online] Available at http://www.youtube.com/ Available 1. [online] YouTube, at http://www.youtube.com/ Available 2. [online] YouTube, . 2010. Exclusive: “Bed Intruder” Singer Moves Family Singer Moves “Bed Intruder” . 2010. Exclusive: US Weekly at http://www.youtube.com/ Available 3. [online] YouTube, at http://www.youtube.com/rewind Available 4. [online] YouTube, quarter

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kvarter akademisk akademiskkvarter Volume 03. Fall 2011 • on the web academic quarter

Transgression and Taboo The Field of Fan Fiction

Jens Kirk is associate professor of English literature and culture at Aalborg University. Special teaching and research interests in British literature and literary culture on and off the internet. Has written articles on “The Role of Rhetoric in the Attention Economy” and “Literary Culture in the Age of the Internet” among others.

Introduction Fan fiction has been defined by Sheenagh Pugh as “[…] fiction based on a situation and characters originally created by someone else.” (2005: 9) According to this definition, fan fiction is predicated upon the crossing of clearly defined textual borders whereby the confines of a given fictional world are breached and settings, events, and characters specific to that particular universe are removed to another. To cite a couple of particularly obvious examples from the literary culture of today, Hogwarts, Harry Potter, and the struggle against Voldemort appear not only in the series of seven novels originally created by J. K. Rowling, or in the many adaptations (films, computer games, etc) that Rowling has authorised, but also in a huge number of texts written by fans and made available on, for instance, the Internet and the World Wide Web. Similarly, Gimli, Legolas, and Frodo and Bella and Edward have been removed by fans from the confines of their source texts and inserted into new ones.1 Pugh’s definition spells out that fan fiction is “based on” an already existing fictional world. Fan fiction, then, appears to be purely derivative. However, Pugh’s definition also shows or dramatises how fan fiction, in being fundamentally dependent on the boundaries it traverses, conjures up those very boundaries. That fan fiction

Volume 03 147 148 Jens Kirk Jens Volume 03 Transgression and Taboo and Transgression These forces [transgression and taboo] are never balanced and taboo] are [transgression These forces over taboo has a certain dominance because transgression move- the very In possible. taboo makes that the force as ment of transgression towards ‘infinite excess’ [Bataille’s the of fragility the reveals it as taboo the solidifies it term] As Bataille puts it, the taboo can only ‘curse glori- taboo. What is forbidden must be whatever it forbids’. ously would be or there possible, for example incest or murder, for us naturally impossible no need of the taboo. If it were or commit incest then neither possibility would murder to arise. That we do have taboos on these acts makes those Of out. rule they transgression the to secondary taboos The manner in which fan fiction is both the product and- pro in this manner is responsible for and the reason why those borders why those borders for and the reason responsible in this manner is signi- the of linearity the with do to has definition her in evoked are another. after comes necessarily thing one language In course. of fier supposedly the of inversion an of sense a with left are we But Kristina Busse and derivative Similarly, nevertheless. relationship, – “the events of canon of the concepts outline Hellekson’s Karen the universe, setting, that provide in the media source presented by the – “the events created and characters” (2006: 9) – and fanon pervasively repeated and particular fandom a in community fan throughout the fantext” – first identifiesfan fiction as derivative to supposed is it which that produces fiction fan that hints it before or character particular details “Fanon often creates originate from: at times, even though canon does not fully support it – or, readings An understanding of canon is particu- outright contradicts it. […] judged of fan texts because they are larly important for the creators canon” (9-10). Fanon only from on how well they stick to or depart of fan to canon. The writing and reading makes sense in relation originate supposedly they texts very the produce but cannot fiction of derivation con- relationship than a straightforward Rather from. we have a kind of loop comprised its copy, and sisting of a source of fanon, which bringsof is productive which a canonical source, about the original text and so on. fiction fan of effect and source the both is canon and canon of ducer Georges by outlined as taboo and transgression of logic the recalls Bataille. Benjamin Noys explains: quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 149 Jens Kirk Jens Volume 03 Transgression and Taboo and Transgression reminds us that, in its modern uses, reminds a primary impulse and secondary to the bar a primary impulse and secondary (1996) starring Robert De Niro gives De Niro Robert The Fan (1996) starring connotes transgression. According to the OED, a According fan connotes transgression. course, at the same time, transgression can only operate time, transgression course, at the same boundary of the taboo so, al- the across as a movement term], it a ‘primary impulse’ [Bataille’s though it may be In the complex dif- to the limit it crosses. too is secondary prima- is and taboo which transgression between ference swirlsecondary is undecidable and they ry and which is other in the turbulence that Bataille always each around (2000: 85) as a play of differences. regards in religious matters.” As a fanatic, a fan is out of control, or or As a fanatic, a fan is out of control, matters.” in religious driven by a passion that is somehow in violation of that which isdriven by a passion that is somehow in violation right. Even though the OED the category of fan has lost its connotation of madness, the word of particular limits and is linked to the idea of a violation remains examples representative by taboos key of transgressor a as figured of Pe- Scott’s adaptation Thus, Tony culture. main stream of recent ter Abrahams’ novel fam- his including everything sacrifices who someone as fan the us ily and his job for the sake of his favourite baseball team and who accomplishto kidnapping, and murder including nothing, at stops fan” (6), who – the “number-one Annie Wilkes his goals. Similarly, in Steven King’s author, and abuses her favourite both resuscitates winning 1987 novel Misery – turns out to be a homicidal award fan is an abbreviation of fanatic; and a fanatic is “characterized, of fanatic; and a fanatic is “characterized, fan is an abbreviation influenced, or prompted by excessive and mistaken enthusiasm, Fan fiction is fiction written by fans and fans asproducers of fan fiction are the incarnations of transgression aswell as taboo. Ety- mologically, esp. Fans: Loyal Subjects of Transgression Loyal Subjects of Fans: Transgression and taboo, then, are interdependent forces existing inexisting forces interdependent are then, taboo, and Transgression imbalance. The governing a state of permanent and undecidable of neatly separated opposites, but of two image is not of a hierarchy entities spinning around each other in mutually defining ways. is both Transgression - the transgres secondary to taboos are Conversely, riers it crosses. they can be be in place before out, but must already sions they rule each is in need of the secondary, violated. Whether as primary or to define itself as different. other in order quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 150 Jens Kirk Jens Volume 03 Transgression and Taboo and Transgression […] the fans often cast themselves not as poachers but as primary text essential elements of the loyalists, rescuing over “misused” by those who maintain copyright control even property literary Respecting materials. program the uses, these it for their own as they seek to appropriate - about their rela poachers, hesitant fans become reluctant Few fans, if any, are like their Hollywood representations, of of like their Hollywood representations, are Few fans, if any, maniac on top of everything else. But the mad and bad female fan everything else. But the mad and maniac on top of - faith is also an extremely appears to be sacred for whom no taboo disci- Annie Wilkes who constitutes the taboo. ful and loyal fan, for his respect her favourite writer out of her plines and punishes heroine. books and their eponymous – the Misery original creation human fundamental laws that govern of the Her transgressions i.e. the of a higher law, in her reverence grounded interaction are which their author has sinnedseries of Misery books, a higher law series. against by discontinuing the book in fact, span- category, course. Fans form a highly inhomogeneous and the devoted disciple. Matt Hills, for in- ning the casual admirer fan and cult fan – betweenstance, attempts a distinction between - fan relation form of affective followers and “a particular (enduring) discussions of fans tend to fa- ship” (Hills 2002: xi). But, academic Annie Wilkes – like devoted fans who are vour the latter and more of a set of basic laws. For respect – simultaneously in violation and instance, in Henry Jenkins’s early and very influential- conceptual and taboo, of transgression ization of fans, he appeals to the aspects a particu- as poaching idea of Michel de Certeau’s upon Relying too. as writers fan identifies Jenkins grain, the against reading of way lar to Jenkins, According “’poachers’ of textual meanings” (2006:40). that just the infringement and violation of poaching connotes more he claims Annie Wilkes, In a manner that recalls however. the law, the relates Jenkins loyalty. of a form is, in fact, also that poaching of moral economy Thompson’s notion concept of poaching to E. P. which denotes “[…] an informal set of consensual norms […]” (41) up against the authorities rising subscribed to by people who were peasants particularly, More in the eighteen- and nineteen-century. exist- the to appealing by be that powers against revolt their justified system allegedly had cor that the present ence of an original order to Jenkins according Similarly, rupted. quarter

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kvarter akademisk 151 Jens Kirk Jens Volume 03 Transgression and Taboo and Transgression - subscribe to the moral econo To 2 tionship to the program text, uneasy about the degree of text, uneasy about the degree tionship to the program its ma- can “legitimately” perform on manipulation they - other for “abuses” of their interpre terials, policing each a terrain pockmarked wander across tive license, as they and contradictions. (41) with confusions my of a particular fandom, then, involves both the transgression of involves both the transgression my of a particular fandom, then, of its authority. the original text and the recognition Producers: Producers: Incorporating Transgression Jenkins’ study of fans as poachers was first published in 1988 and focussed exclusively on the Star fandom Trek and the fan fiction of margins the at material printed other and fanzines in circulated the conceptu- Since then he has come to prefer culture. mainstream the notion of . He prefers culture alization of fandom as convergence convergence rather than poaching since it defines “[…] a moment of theconcept operates. The culture central to how when fans are active audience […] is now taken for granted by everyone involved enabling are New technologies the media industry. in and around - and recircu appropriate, annotate, average consumers to archive, no late media content” (1). While the notion of poaching is perhaps fans participate in the ways in which longer adequate to capture and ta- of transgression the general notions contemporary culture, - rele even more they are all the same. Perhaps still relevant boo are that at the authors and media producers If we look vant than ever. furnish the source texts in the field of fan fiction, their behaviour As inventors and orig- has become an inversion of that of their fans. producers media and authors universes, fictional specific of inators Like watered down versions of the transgressively loyal Annie Annie loyal down versions of the transgressively Like watered characterised by a kind of are to Jenkins, fans, according Wilkes, As loyalists they save their fa- ambiguous or double motivation. by misappropriations as vouriteregard they what from text source fitting it to their own ends.The notions of appropriating a textre- poaching, of legitimate manipulation that of reluctant spectfully, involve the notions of trans- Jenkins is developing in the quotation of fans arises out and hesitance and taboo. The reluctance gression speaksfans by fans of policing the Similarly, taboo. the of idea an of to which the fans of the taboo and the extent awareness of a strong themselves constitute the taboo. quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 152 Jens Kirk Jens Volume 03 Transgression and Taboo and Transgression , and give access to the audience. They measure of their par , and make public the results reactions test, monitor, - such as “Televi forums monitor Web Media producers planting trial balloons to test viewer sion without Pity,” plot twists. to controversial measuring reactions response, access to their design Game companies give the public - pro top amateur and hire tools, publicize the best results, about me- regularly grammers. […] News stories appear trying to beat themdia companies suing their consumers, back into submission. (2) Rowling’s relationship with her fans furnishes an excellent exam- with her fans furnishes Rowling’s relationship , invite their response However, while taboo admits transgression into its very constitu- while taboo admits transgression However, is maintained be- a basic sense of difference tion in this manner, tween the two. Those in control of the limits of specific fictional universes constitute the taboo. They legislate what belongs to a fictional world fictional a to belongs what legislate They taboo. the constitute the active audience means the notion of However, and what doesn’t. - for and in have begun to make room producers that authors and - Accord fact, taboo courts transgression. In corporate transgression. ing to Jenkins: ticipation. The difference between media producers and compa- between media producers ticipation. The difference fansand consumers media other, the on and, hand, one the on nies, While some formEach defines the other. is maintained in this way. between the two, the former, of collaboration may be taking place exactly because it is the transgression the latter, the taboo, provokes maintains the funda- and on rests culture Convergence different. between fans and media producers. mental difference are and author fans where culture of literary convergence ple to other writers, e.g. together yet kept distinct. In contrast brought Anne Rice’s ban on fan fiction (Pugh 2006: 13), Rowling is famous for acknowledging and welcoming fan fiction. For instance, when, to the of Potter complete surprise fiction,of shemost de- readers is books, Dumbledore, that one of the key characters in her clared she immediately added, actually “’Oh gay, my God, the fan fiction - betrays a keen aware 2008: np). Her remark eh?’” (Westcott now, writ- and fans that suggests and fiction fan Potter Harry the of ness of mov- in a process while the two are However, converging. ers are ing closer they together, are still separate and mutually defining quarter

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4 - 153 Jens Kirk Jens the launch- 3 Volume 03 Transgression and Taboo and Transgression 13 years after the first Harry Potter book was published the sto- by the response I’m still astonished and delighted every of letters hundreds ries met. […] I’m still receiving as enthusiastic and inven- week and Harry’s fans remain say to like to take this opportunity So I’d as ever. tive a more for could have asked no author you because thank wonderful, diverse and loyal readership. a position to give youI’m thrilled to say that I’m now in experience unlike An online reading something unique. story with It’s the same any other: It’s called Pottermore. most important one is you. additions. The a few crucial that the imagi- requires Just as the experience of reading work together to create reader nation of the author and – by you, the will be built – in part the story so Pottermore The digital generation will be able to enjoy a safe, reader. the Harry experience built around unique, online reading fans of where will be the place Potter books. Pottermore stories. It participate in, and rediscover age can share, any digital audio will also be the exclusive place to purchase books and, for the first time, e-books of the Harry Potter series. I’ll be joining in, too. Because I’ll be sharing addi- years about the for tional information I’ve been hoarding is open to everyone Pottermore world of Harry Potter. But a lucky few can enter early and help October. from entities. Her comment implies that she influences her fans and their and fans her influences she that implies comment Her entities. universe. Potter Harry the of originator and author the as fiction fan complete in the form of the author who exercises She is the taboo control over her fictional universe, including the sexualities of her the upon the notion of her statement relies Moreover, characters. of that uni- the borders creatively transgresses fan as someone who of diver of the convergence verse in loyal subjection. This process video fea- in a recent apparent gent and separate identities is also manner a in her fans addresses she video, the In turing Rowling. acknowledges and Jenkins’ terms of convergence that both recalls transgressors, the fans, her between difference fundamental the Rowling announces and herself, the taboo. In the video, Rowling says: ing ing of her web site for Harry Potter fan fiction called Pottermore. quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 154 Jens Kirk Jens Volume 03 Transgression and Taboo and Transgression shape the experience. Simply follow the owl. Good luck. Good follow the owl. Simply shape the experience. (Rowling 2011) In contrast to the omnipresence of the second person pronoun in of the second person pronoun In contrast to the omnipresence The verbal part of Rowling’s video announcement exemplifies her - Her video is very much a rec of her fans. of awareness high degree - confess by begins She fans”. “Harry’s of celebration a and ognition in the face of the passion, and gratitude pleasure, ing her wonder, her After casting and loyalty she has witnessed. diversity, creativity, - she re of fan response, recipient self in this manner as the grateful and fashions herself as the exited donor of an excep- verses the roles an opportunity is Pottermore tional gift to her fans, i.e. Pottermore. for fans to “share, participate in, and rediscover” her fictional uni- Rowling’s not least, herself. So far, verse with other fans and, last but rather idea of convergence recent invitation suggests that Jenkins’s correctly. fiction fan of practice the and fans describes poaching than sense make really doesn’t it fiction, fan produce to invited are fans If While the aspects of anymore. to conceptualise them as poachers and the emphasis of the side-stepped in this manner, poaching are participation, working togetherspoken discourse is on the sharing, ta- and transgression than rather author and fans of in joining and and the former conspicuously boo, the latter is particularly present the visual aspects of the video. absent from video of Rowling’s aspects the visual spoken address, Rowling’s her fans. Instead, the video com- to not a single reference contain and, secondly, alone in a room bines shots of Rowling, the author, computer generated images of her work – i.e. a Harry Potter book. The Rowling shots alternate between medium-shots and close-ups. In the medium-shots she is sitting on a leather couch in the middle and without ornamentation. It bare is relatively The room of a room. window frames,forms a semi-industrial space with brick walls, large the to cabinet filing of sort some and back the to equipment lighting - left. The mise-en-scène emphasises the traditional image of the au moreover, is, She own. her or his on works who someone as thor sitting, completely immobile, in the left hand corner of the couch. For the dura- over her right throughout. crossed Her left leg remains of the tion of the video, her left arm is placed on the left armrest couch and her right hand is positioned on her left thigh. She stays face and head whichcompletely stock-still with the exception of her quarter

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kvarter akademisk 155 Jens Kirk Jens Volume 03 Transgression and Taboo and Transgression . Subsequent CGI shots show the pages of the . Subsequent CGI shots show the . As if by magic, and certainly with - magic, and certainly by As if alive. coming , the reader, the fan, like all other objects, is produced by the the fan, like all other objects, is produced you, the reader, (00:40), a forest with giant spiders (00:44), a pair of “Harry you (00:40), a forest It is safe to say, then, that there is a certain amount of tension amount of tension is a certain then, that there It is safe to say, The video also features computer generated images of her work, The video also features source text rather than its producer. source between the visual and the verbal fashioning of the relationship between Rowling and her fans. The almost complete absence of - motion in Rowling documented by the video contradicts her con the addres and thrill. Similarly, of astonishment, delight, fessions ab- glaringly are speech her by evoked continuously seesare that ideas of convergence the the mise-en-scène. Ultimately, sent from in this contradicted in are joining participation, sharing and and left instead with a sense of fundamental difference are We manner. transgressors. the fans, her and taboo, the author, the between Rowling courts her fans, inviting them to join in, but makes sure transgression between taboo and that the fundamental difference is maintained. she uses to underline her speech. Rowling’s face, or her talking head, her speech. Rowling’s face, or she uses to underline emotion. motion is used to mimic close-ups where is the focus of the emphasises her feeling of shake of her head, for instance, slight A her have asked for” (0:20). Similarly, gratitude: “no author could to emphasise luck” is followed by a little smile concluding “good at all represented (1:34). If her fans are her fans her feelings towards to traces on Rowling’s face that register reduced they are visually, minimum, a to reduced these traces are only Not emotions. her tends to contradict herRowling’s immobility in the medium-shots and thrill. In the very grip ofconfession of astonishment, delight as unmoved. Rowling is figured emotions, strong i.e. a Harry Potter book. The images are designed to specifically of the video, of fans. In the beginning exclude the representations the Harry Potter volumes of recognisable individual pages from Rowling’s (00:00-00:30). turning as if by their own accord books are It is – all by itself – lit- text, does not need a reader. work, the source erally a page turner book Potter Harry from objects emerge concrete origami-like out the help of a reader, inscribed “Pottermore” the words its pages, for instance, a gate with - letters spell recognisable in the shapes of three trees (00:33), three ing Hat (00:53), and an owl (01:26).Potter” spectacles (00:49), the Sorting The quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 156 Jens Kirk Jens Volume 03 Transgression and Taboo and Transgression Lastly, maintaining the the maintaining Lastly, 6 experience for the reader reader experience for the 5 - between taboo and transgres of that difference The maintenance of fan fiction presupposes a hierarchy of taboo and transgression, author of her her separate identity as the author and fan. Secondly, exclusive place for guaranteeing the site as the work is important sold. are e-books and audio Potter where - allow and invite fan pro contradictions, which both resolutions, ductivity” (1992: 42. Emphases mine). Fiske is suggesting that that not only map kinds of speech acts particular texts are source out the boundaries of fictional universes but alsorequest and fa- inciting audience participation. To cilitate their violation through Conclusion: The Fan Is in the Text Is in the The Fan Conclusion: the on fans, taboo suggest that and transgression of notions The cannot the other, on producers, media and authors and hand, one and taboo. Rath- as transgression be conceptualised monolithically on a dependency of and an awareness manifest both categories er, the other. Fans violate the boundaries of their favourite fictional a of out so do they but instance, for fiction, fan creating by worlds sense of loyalty to that universe. This loyalty to specific charac- first the in fans of identity their them gives places and events, ters, who lay down producers, authors and media place. Conversely, the law and incarnate the taboo as the inventors and originators of fictional characters, events, and places, achieve their identities by for and taking into account fan practices that may making room writers have done what they set up. Few violate the very borders Rowling is doing with her new web site, of course. Instead, the just that. Texts, to do on their work majority of writers, in fact, rely in creating fictional worlds with boundaries, provoke- transgres qualify as a source To for fannish production. sion and make room to in this way according producerly to be text, in fact, a text has texts “(…) have to be open, to contain gaps, ir John Fiske. Source sion is a necessary condition for the success of the website. First of condition for the success of the sion is a necessary furnish a “safe” to all, Rowling’s promise fundamental distinction between author and fan underwrites the author and fan underwrites the fundamental distinction between of her fictional universe. In value of the collaborative expansions by her fans, the supple- contrast to the participatory endeavours Rowling is particularly im- from mentary information emanating the of borders parameters and the it increases because portant known Potter universe authoritatively quarter

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kvarter akademisk 157 Jens Kirk Jens Volume 03 Transgression and Taboo and Transgression as the , and Lord of the Rings as the Twilight Harry Potter, ). Fanfiction.net,http://www.fanfiction.net/book/# which is just one Fanfiction.net lists three three most popular books or series of books for generating fan fiction ( fan- 800,000 than more contains WWW on fictions fan for sites many of relating to those books. fics of form the in institutionalised often is policing fiction, fan of field the In on and help revise who critique, read, the “[…] so-called beta readers and style and structure, grammar, various levels, including spelling and and Hellekson 2006: 6). in character” (Busse canonicity and remaining my attention to Rowling’s an- Thanks to Steen Christiansen for calling nouncement. a response initiative is hardly It should be pointed out that Rowling’s space knowledge Potter Harry a for fans among desire unfulfilled an to In on fact, WWW. several web sites for Harry Potter fan fiction are al- fan of Potter related in existence making available thousands ready in Note examples to add to the one mentioned give just three stories. To - (http://www.harrypot Harrypotterfanfiction.com instance, for see, 1, (and best) unof- terfanfiction.com/), which styles itself as “the oldest, Fan Mugglenet net”, the on site Fanfiction Potter Harry dedicated ficial (http:// Alley and Fiction Fiction (http://fanfiction.mugglenet.com/), fictionalley.blogspot.com/). RowlingIs explicit. made never is security the of nature the Interestingly, dangers such as com- electronic from protected environment an offering Rowling a moral sanctuary where Or does her web site offer puter virus? disallowed? that, for instance, slash and adult material are will ensure in this way becomes a market place intensifies the di- That Pottermore vide between Rowling and her fans in terms of buyers and sellers and consumers and suppliers.

- transgres and taboo as manner this in texts source specific discuss of this the scope but falls outside be highly interesting, would sion however. essay, Notes 1 2 3 4 5 6 quarter

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kvarter akademisk - -

158 Jens Kirk Jens - http://review Volume 03 Transgression and Taboo and Transgression Last accessed July 28, 2011. canada.ca/essays/2008/07/01/friction-over-fan-fiction/ Fan Fiction and Fan Communities in Busse (eds.), Fan Fiction and Fan In: Hellekson and & London: McFar New Essays. Jefferson the Age of the Internet: land & Company. . Flor and Popular Media is (Editor). Adoring Audience: Fan Culture Routledge. ence, KY: University Press. York New York: . New Culture text. Glasgow: Seren. . art form legal?” In: Literary Review of Canada

References Fawcett Books. York: . New , 1995/2002. The Fan Abrahams, P. in progress.” Work Hellekson. 2006. “Introduction: Busse, K. and K. A. Lew- Fandom.” In: Lisa Fiske, J., 1992. “The Cultural Economy of . London: Routledge. Hills, M., 2002. Fan Cultures ParticipatoryJenkins, H., 2006. Fans, Bloggers, and Gamers: Exploring King, S., 1987. Misery. Signet Books. . Pluto Press. Introduction Critical A Bataille: Noys, B., 2000. Georges Fan Fiction in a Literary Con- Pugh, S., 2005. The Democratic Genre: Announces Pottermore”. “J. K. Rowling Rowling, J.K. 2011. Pictures. 1996. The Fan. TriStar (dir.). Scott, Tony Is this burgeoning Grace. 2008. “Friction over Fan Fiction: Westcott, quarter

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kvarter akademisk akademiskkvarter Volume 03. Fall 2011 • on the web academic quarter

Flirting with the Law Queer Culture beyond Transgression?

Alla Ivanchikova is Assistant Professor of World Literature at The Univer- sity of Alaska Fairbanks. Her research focuses on globali- zation and transnational approaches to contemporary literature with a particular emphasis on issues of gender, sexuality and race. I am particularly intrigued by “transitions” – transient literary formations that emerge during the times of rapid social transformations and cultural crises, which determined my interest in contemporary African and East European literatures.

We are no longer under the rule of law, but of grace. Saint Paul (Romans 6:14)

I fought the law and the law won. The Clash

Historically, queer desire has been imagined as destructive of the social order – an ultimate transgression and a quintessential crime. The figure of the queer offender has been conjured by the frequently overlapping discourses of criminology, anthropology, sexology, and most recently, psychoanalysis in both its Freudian and Lacanian versions (Hart 28). Psychological instability, latent or over criminality, and even the mark of psychosis have been linked to queer subjects’ failure to subscribe to the imperatives of compulsory heterosexuality as manifested in the Oedipus complex through which sexual difference and appropriate develop- mental goals are inscribed in the subject’s psyche. The residue of this disciplinary history through which same-sex desire has been criminalized, infantilized, and presented as corrosive of the social matrix, continues to preoccupy and titillate contemporary modes of representation.

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1 - - and and 160 Alla Ivanchikova Mulholland Drive Mulholland Flirting with the Law with the Flirting Basic Instinct (1992), Volume 03 All these examples feature psycholog- feature All these examples (2010). Single White Female (1992), Talented Mister Ripley (1999), Talented (2003), and more recently, Black Swan (2010) recently, (2003), and more (1995), Monster - of the limit – be social, moral, or a reli it a legal, Transgression At the same time, and just as frequently, the queer outlaw also the queer At the same time, and just as frequently, gious interdiction – has been the trademark of queer desire in twoin desire of queer trademark has been the – gious interdiction a homophobicas outlaw served queer the and foremost, First ways. a point of dis-identificationfantasy and thus for the general public. As a homophobic fantasy, the queer outlaw is easily decipherable the queer outlaw is easily fantasy, As a homophobic culture popular century twenty-first early and twentieth- late in as such films through Butterfly Kiss Butterfly ticipants. Queer culture has had a long-lasting affair with the no- has had a long-lasting affair ticipants. Queer culture In Foucault’s early writing, transgression tion of transgression. sexuality: every limit has to be constitutes the very essence of is concep- Transgression to be broken. is there every rule crossed, - (“Pref affirmation” “nonpositive a as romanticized) (and tualized its very de- in is productive that force ace” 36) – a destructive on the subject’s limitations. the havoc it wrecks in structiveness, work, Foucault also presented Following Canguilhem in his later and the normative, elaborating an extensive analysis of the norm - subversion, and resist and popularizing ideas of transgression, anal- comprehensive Foucault’s by Influenced normativity. to ance contem- ysis of a complex interplay between sexuality and power, the norm suspicion towards harbor profound queer theorists porary upon the acceptance predicated the vision of the social and towards Berlant, Halberstam, and Duggan of that norm. Edelman, Warner, normativity of critics prominent the most of some as be cited can – a force force disruptive who emphasize the queer as the unruly, outside of the that is, ultimately, of negation and transgression by the views expressed These theorists oppose subject’s control. Sullivan who famously suggested that Andrew writers such as should abandon after gay marriage becomes legal, gay culture political activism and settle comfortably within the limits circum to Sul- responds scribed by the law and the social norm. Warner livan’s conservative vision by contending that sexuality is neces ically unstable characters who transgress the Oedipal law through the Oedipal law through ically unstable characters who transgress unleash- and the social law through of heterosexuality their refusal an act of murder. committing ing violence and, ultimately, served as the point of self-identification for the subculture’s par Telephone Lady Gaga’s Telephone (2001), quarter

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kvarter akademisk 161 Alla Ivanchikova Flirting with the Law with the Flirting Volume 03 BBC3 series [2010]), I demonstrateI [2010]), BBC3 series The L Word – Sea- – Word [2000], The L Investigator [1999], Common Ground More importantly, queer subcultures created iconic images of iconic images of created subcultures queer importantly, More - the limit always heteronorma But is every notion of the law and sarily messy, turbulent, disrespectful of laws and antagonistic to and laws of disrespectful turbulent, messy, sarily being a cul- He also insists that limits of any sort. queer culture, no other viable and has sexuality, around that is organized ture and transgressive to embrace this disruptive ethical choice but that fact. around politically of sexuality and organize nature and literature through queer outlaws that have been disseminated Transgression of a set a limit, moral befilm. code, it or a a law, so- - narratives in motion. Most fre cial norm, is what often sets these the queer quently, outlaw figures as the disturber of heterosexual family or to normativity embodied in a heterosexual love – a threat to break queer character is forced a couple. In other scenarios, the exam- One of the obvious unfair. the law because the law itself is Ask Don’t unfair is the infamous Don’t ples of a law considered (Serving in Silence films many of topic the became which policy, Tell [1995], (2010) is one of the most recent son 5 [2008]), of which The Marine queer outlaw is seen as a hero examples. In such narratives, the - forgiv or justified either as depicted are committed crimes the and able as crimes of passion. Can we “queer”? necessarily transgression of narratives Are tive? the framework that constructsavoid conceptualizing the law within queer subjects as necessarily sexual minorities as dissidents and outlaw subjects? This is a difficult question to pose.In asking such writers,gay conservative of pitfalls the avoid to has one question, a immature, as transgressions” “queer dismiss who Sullivan, as such At the same time, this and even politically suicidal. irresponsible, coun- more as this century in crucial become to bound is discussion - tries grant gays and lesbians full rights of citizenship and as main thisIn increase. to continues minorities sexual of visibility stream argue and transgression queer narratives of recent explore I paper, - that the latest evolution of such narratives signals an attempt to re define queer subculture’s collective vision of normativity and law. cinema (The Kids are lesbian By focusing on two examples in recent [2010] and Lip Service All Right iconic image of a lesbian of the that we have witnessed an erosion outlaw as both media events attempt to negotiate their way out of In The Kids, this negotiation takes the the narrative of transgression. quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 162 Alla Ivanchikova Flirting with the Law with the Flirting Volume 03 creates a counternarrative within which the law is a counternarrative Lip Service creates Even though it was directed and produced for a wide audience, and produced Even though it was directed (2010) All Right in The Kids are “Lesbian Outlaw” The en - Right All Kids Are Cholodenko’s The July 2010, Lisa in Released joyed solid commercial success. The film features a lesbian couple, to who struggle Moore), Nic (Annette Bening) and Jules (Julianne – Joni their marriage while raising two teenage children preserve As and reviewers Laser. noted, the film strikes a pleasant balance - a plot that is recog by offering between familiarity and strangeness audience (exploring the issues of inter nizable to the mainstream form of subverting (transgressing) the narrative of transgression, transgression, of the narrative (transgressing) of subverting form while I draw examples as exclusively heteronormative. no longer viewed is the of independent cinema because this the lesbian tradition from many similari- best. It is clear to me that, despite tradition I know dis- that are gay male cinemas make two traditions ties, lesbian and should investigate whether mytinct, although overlapping. Others gay male subcultural production. applies to recent argument yet commitment, and trust) generational communication, long-term about non-traditional kinshipeducating that very same audience different have Laser instance, Joni and (Shoquist). For arrangements biological siblings as both “moms” used biological mothers but are chooses The family Cholodenko the same anonymous sperm donor. to present to the mainstream audience is not a loosely defined as- onbased are ties kinship which in unit knit tightly a but semblage blood ties. The invisible sperm donor serves as glue that cements the relations, blood continuous of knot tight one family together in is as a legitimate family audience view which helps the mainstream ties). kinship is based on blood (since heterosexual its subcultural origins: it is an away from The Kids does not break into the content over of the subcultural example of the crossing its foundation is within the lesbian In other words, mainstream. general public. It speaks and its message is adapted for a subculture - as an act of self-represen understands; the language the subculture - represen homophobic frequently with dialogue a in less it is tation, consumption (in the tations of lesbians developed for heterosexual in tune with the tradition of indie cinema) and more mainstream lesbian cinema of the last two decades on which Cholodenko draws is very confidentalso about the film’s place in The director heavily. quarter

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kvarter akademisk 163 Alla Ivanchikova Flirting with the Law with the Flirting Volume 03 - On the surface, The Kids is certainly not a narrative of transgres is sub- while openly embracing the normative, the film However, in The Kids that came under scrutiny The iconic representation the larger world: she mentioned that by depicting a lesbian family that by depicting a lesbian world: she mentioned the larger the Zeitgeist” kids, she was simply “tapping into with two teenage (Karpel). This confidence is important; it is anoutcome of boththe Rachel – Ellen Degeneres, lesbian visibility in mainstream increase Sue Cameron, Rhona United States; Sarah Waters, Maddow in the and sense of maturity – and also the subculture’s Perkins in the UK accumulated cultural wealth. states that lesbian families are Cholodenko sion. In her interview, that the families and trusts heterosexual from not that different - al of normalcy the see to and eager ready is audience mainstream In fact, the lesbian family she ternative family life on the big screen. depicts in the film is painfully “normal.” They live in a large all- and stick to conventional an SUV, American suburban home, drive two moms) being masculine of the with Nic (the more gender roles two, the of feminine more softer, the Jules, and breadwinner the The couple’s het- in the relationship. being the emotional caretaker eronormative lifestyle has not gone unnoticed and the filmre- theorists as queer by such prominent ceived some scornful reviews Not Ok!”) and Duggan (“Only the Kids Halberstam (“The Kids are Ok”). Are nodes a life of their own: they are tly iconoclastic. Iconic images have where collective desires converge and get transfixed. Iconic images frequently function as signifiers of narrative conventions – cultural shortcuts that contain a wealth of meaning. When such conventions change, these images can come under attack as signifiers of these What are conventions, and can be taken down as no longer relevant. , if any? being dismantled in The Kids the icons that are has figure outlaw The outlaw.” lesbian “a call to propose I what is gradually over the last two dec- in lesbian indie cinema solidified and transgression. of rebellion personifying the narrative ades, - of hetero the destroyer as prominently most into focus She comes is who woman a heterosexual heart of By winning the sexual love. by de- either involved with or married to a man, and ultimately, the les- relationship, their (usually stagnant, inauthentic) stroying the celebrates desire, same-sex of potency the affirms outlaw bian and corruption value of authentic life, and exposes the inherent quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 164 Alla Ivanchikova Flirting with the Law with the Flirting At the end of such of the end At 2 Volume 03 : place as transgression assigns it to its proper , Lucy, a les- High Art, follows this convention. In High Art, Lucy, The law is what, by designating its object, delivers desire its object, delivers desire The law is what, by designating attains its au- thereby Desire autonomy. to its repetitive to un- we How are tomatism in the form of transgression. when what is transgression There derstand transgression? negatively named by the – which is to say, is prohibited it- that lives through law – becomes the object of a desire (79)self in the site and place of the subject. In a transgression narrative, the key actors are Law and Desire Law and Desire the key actors are narrative, In a transgression The examples are too numerous to mention – this is a narrative numerous too The examples are narratives, the lesbian protagonist is either punished (in older (in older is either punished protagonist narratives, the lesbian transgression for her rewarded recent movies, films), or in more dialectic engaged in a complex but in fact are that appear to clash In his brilliant its shape and agency. gives desire in which the law Badiou explains the way desire, analysis of the dialectic of law and the very and through simultaneously activates desire, prohibition same gesture, repressive nature of the social norm (the Law). norm the social of nature repressive The dialectic of prohibition and desire is crucial in the structuring of in the structuring is crucial and desire The dialectic of prohibition - The object of the protago the lesbian outlaw. the plot that features overlappingset of rich by a overdetermined is (or lust) nist’s love is in a relationship, woman is heterosexual, the desired prohibitions: in class, unattainable by the differences and is often made even more of the subject aim, her achieve To race. age, or religion, ethnicity, - several obstacles (the pro (the outlaw) thus has to overcome desire in differences adultery, of the prohibition hibition of homosexuality, class, race, or age), and hasfinally, to face the man who steps in to within the entirely narrative unfolds The his relationship. defend motion,in desire sets that interdiction the is it Law; the of domain of desire. yet the law masquerades as the arch-nemesis Cholodenko’s ear convention that has had a long and rich history. lier film, bian artist, is firmly positioned both outside the norm and as the love. She is independently rich, despises of heterosexual destroyer addict. She is also a drug habitually. the rules and breaks authority, of social conven- Lucy is explicitly sexual, daring, and disrespectful tions that condemn infidelity and privilege heterosexual coupling. - change in Syd – a hetero that triggers She acts as an agent of desire quarter

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kvarter akademisk 165 Alla Ivanchikova Flirting with the Law with the Flirting Volume 03 Among the recent movies that choose to celebrate the act of trans- that choose to celebrate the act of movies Among the recent icon- as outlaw lesbian a of figure the addresses The Kids explicitly sexual woman who moves into Lucy’s building with her boyfriend moves into Lucy’s building with sexual woman who dies her feet by Lucy’s charisma. Lucy swept off James, only to be an from of overdose cocaine at the end of the film and thus ispun- relationship. of a heterosexual as the destroyer ished for her role series, it, a popular British TV prison rather than punish gression the most dramatic example. Nikki, the show’s Bad Girls, provides is an inmate sentenced to “life” in prison for lesbian protagonist, an- to continues she bars, behind Locked officer. police a murdering tagonize the Law by disobeying correction officers’ orders, inciting a full-blown prison riot. Thedissent among prisoners, and leading film insists on Nikki’s symbolic innocence by clarifying that her the policeman had tried to rape crime was one of self-defense as Nikki’s girlfriend. The law and its representatives – police officers, correction officers, politicians, and bureaucrats – are thus coded as no matter how while Nikki’s transgression, corrupt, bad, unfair, the by captured gets heart Nikki’s Predictably, justified. is gruesome, her prison wing governor Helenmost unattainable object of all – woman en- law-abiding (and law-enforcing) Stewart, a heterosexual gaged to be married. By multiplying the obstacles, the film intensifies the flow of desire leaving the spectators cheering and when Nikki, Helen with sleeping by law the breaks fiancé, her leaves Stewart success Nikki’s prison. of out lover inmate her get to hard fights then and the un- with Nikki’s release is spectacular: the storyline ends multiple trans- Nikki’s London. of streets in the couple kissing likely The law is there celebrated, and rewarded. vindicated, are gressions love is Heterosexual the law itself is corrupt. because broken be to theon obstacle an constitutes it well, because, destroyed be to also love.gay of path same the of lines the along unfolds film The it. deconstruct to only ic the outlaw: the quiet life of a narrative convention that produced by the stranger who enters their suburban couple gets disrupted lives – first as a friend, then as a threat. the However, film reverses is now a lesbian cou- in a clever twist: the suburban couple the roles – is now a man. Paul – of love ple and the outsider – the destroyer – is of both children sperm donor and the biological father the the “moms’” teenage son who de- into the family by Laser, brought - cides to track his biological father down as part of his teenage rebel quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 166 Alla Ivanchikova Flirting with the Law with the Flirting Volume 03 Q = negation (heteronormativity). However, there is nothing scandalous or retrograde about this or retrograde is nothing scandalous there However, that Ju- like to stress would I objections, forthcoming dispel To lion against his parents. Paul is coded as a stereotypically butch les- is coded as a stereotypically Paul lion against his parents. the subcultural, but not decipherable by references bian (through (Ivanchikova). acts as an agent of desire viewers) and mainstream - the social norm that prohib Paul disregards Like the lesbian outlaw, of the with Jules. Because the role enters an affair its adultery and queer that roleoutlaw played in– such the a protagonist significant - – is now played by a heterosex the making of lesbian indie cinema - and retro (transgressive) ual man, the plot appears both scandalous the lesbian audi- to to heterosexuality) grade (in its ostensible return Not Ok!”). “The Kids are ence (see, for instance, Halberstam, is not maintains that queerness plot. Contemporary queer theory of of a function that works as a disruption an identity – it is more it express can we fashion, quasi-Lacanian a In heteronormativity. as a formula: a function of disruption The Kids made obvious that if queerness is can perform this function un- within a narrative, a straight person While the lesbian outlaw narrative can der the right circumstances. of the Law (heterosexual be described as Q (lesbian) = negation - by a hetero marriage), in The Kids the act of queering is performed male) = nega- as: Q (heterosexual sexual man and can be described tion of the Law (lesbian marriage). “queer at- a as presented is attraction to Paul sexual intense les’ to drawn Jules is romance. to a heterosexual opposed traction” as - Paul because of his queer qualities: his almost boyish rebellious for conventions, and his overt unapologetic ness, his disregard Paul describes himself as someone college dropout, A sexuality. His lifestyle is an example who is unable to deal with authority. un- “life “queer temporality” – as what Halberstam describes of inheritance, and child rear scripted by the conventions of family, and Place, 2). Jules is not attracted to his straight ing” (In a Queer Time with relationship a heterosexuality of promise the and masculinity when, in a phone Her attraction to Paul evaporates a man offers. family “normal” a to create the desire he confesses conversation, Jules of comical relief, In a moment with Jules and the children. - exclaims: “I’m gay!” and hangs up the phone. Paul’s nascent het quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 167 Alla Ivanchikova Flirting with the Law with the Flirting Volume 03 By making a heterosexual man fill therole of the iconic queer on blood ties, which in the especially the one based The family, writing, nar to women’s As Cholodny demonstrated in regard - serve to reaf status) stability, (for a family, desires eronormative firm (or perhapsrevive) Jules’ queer identity and also push Jules back into her marriage. narra- existing the complicated and problematized film the outlaw, and thus nature, constructed exposed this role’s tive convention, opened it up for redefinition. The figure of the al- homewrecker, though alluring at first, is no longer seen as heroic. Deemed an in- condemned. The Paul is expelled, and his transgression terloper, nev- survives infidelity, Jules’ by core its to shaken although family, out- The again. ok be to seem things and restored, is trust ertheless, is no longer celebrated. The whose sex appeal is recognized, law, of a narrative convention isiconic image that served as a shortcut evoked only to be unseated. - has been coded as strictly hetero tradition of lesbian indie cinema fam- lesbian the rewrites film The thing. a such longer no is sexual, and domesticity. routine, sentimentality, normalcy, the site of as ily it is designed to survive the attack. Not immune to transgression, The film tries to work out a newrelationship with the norm – it normative but tests its limits, does not completely embrace the alternative and the capacity to accommodate pliability, plasticity, sexuality and kinship. society the in reified power of relations embody conventions rative as a spinster who narrative in which a lesbian is featured A at large. - challenging hetero of negativity endlessly functions as the force sexual lifestyle, loveless marriages and - corre stifling domesticity, status of lesbians and gay men as outside thesocial the sponds to destined to be Unable to have families of their own, they are law. fami- of heterosexual – destroyers the – either demonic or heroic change, the conventions within the subcul- As power relations lies. When gays and lesbi- bound to change as well. tural tradition are the norm, the norm itself has to no longer excluded from ans are accommodate new life- to show plasticity and change in order redefine the narrative styles. toCholodenko’s film makes an effort of transgression by mocking it, flipping it on its head, and thus but also makes obvi- and versatility, nature exposes its constructed ous its limitations. quarter

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kvarter akademisk 168 Alla Ivanchikova Flirting with the Law with the Flirting Volume 03 The appeal of the new series is that it is driven by characters rath- characters by driven is it that is series new the of appeal The Like Paul in The Kids, Frankie is a citation. Glamorized by the Flirting with the Law: Lip Service (2010) Law: Flirting with the BBC3 Channel, Lip Service Commissioned by – the firstseason of a more an even better, Braun – provides by Harriet miniseries created with the changing relationship the subculture’s vivid example of UK in the Fall of 2010 and disseminated in the normative. Broadcast became one of fans via youtube, the show quickly worldwide by its discussed events of the year. the most successful and most widely entertaining funny, gritty, a is and Glasgow in place takes Service Lip of young lesbian lives of a group British drama that focuses on the states subcultural authenticity (she women. Harriet Braun claims of lesbian sexu- an authentic representation that she wants to create conventions, seeks to mainstream ality), and rather than adapting of Lip Service drew The reviewers to universalize subcultural styles. in the United States; series produced Word comparison with The L in a num- American prototype its the show departs from however, ber of ways. - main characters of the show strug er than by a political agenda. The started, trying to get their careers gle with a variety of issues, such as or starting a surviving a breakup, negotiating friendship and love, with is being One matter that they do not struggle new relationship. as a political issue and is gay – homosexuality is never addressed The central storyline followssimply a fact of life for these characters. her life back together after havingCat (Laura Fraser) who tries to get (Ruta Gedmintas) – an by her ex-girlfriend Frankie her heart broken Just as Cat seems to have angst-driven charismatic photographer. emotionally to start dating again, Frankie comes enough recovered back into her life to pursue her once more. of Shane (an cinematic apparatus, Frankie is visually reminiscent the resembles ) and structurally Word The L iconic character from convention- for disregard and defiance, Promiscuity, figure. outlaw - al morality and manners situate Frankie neatly within the parame a Although not narrative. by the transgression ters demarcated to the criminal world, criminal herself, Frankie maintains proximity typical of the outlaw figure. For instance, she spends the entire se- her that out find to only past her of secret the uncover to trying ries which long lost biological mother had been implicated in a murder, is a lead her to abandon Frankie, and that her biological brother quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - - - 169 Alla Ivanchikova Flirting with the Law with the Flirting Volume 03 - shock. … I re to Sam has been a complete “[t]he reaction - I didn’t real and ally did think it was quite a minor role to Sam that has been.” (This would be a reaction ize there is Me – At Home). It seems that by making Frankie a central character, writer Har writer a central character, It seems that by making Frankie Sam figures as a harbinger of an emergent plot in structure which Sam Mur prerogative. the law is no longer seen as a heterosexual drug dealer. Frankie’s world is oversaturated with connotative with connotative Frankie’s world is oversaturated dealer. drug with a thief, helps cover – she has an affair markers of transgression gets ar and almost suicide, commits almost overdose, up a drug of the as “the destroyer in. She also functions for breaking rested during the two relationships to jeopardize couple” as she manages course of the show. success of the trans- the proven riet Braun expected to capitalize on narrative in queer cinema. She warned Ruta Gedmintas gression destinedshe was that Frankie) plays who actress (the heterosexual (Gedmintas). It also show aired to become a lesbian icon after the citation.via icon an create to attempted Braun that argued be can beauty “cannot assert itself saveAfter all, as Roland Barthes put it, - the crea clichés employed in in a form of a citation” (33). However, detected and criticized liber tion of Frankie’s character have been audience. and by the show’s target ally by almost every reviewer audience is intriguing because itFrankie’s lack of rapport with the the show’s visual glamori- seems to have been unexpected. Despite Cat’s new date, preferred zation of Frankie, the audience strongly inlesbian (a Peace Heather Actress Peace). (Heather Murray Sam who plays Sam was instantly catapulted into fame as she life) real icon. Peace found this posi- found herself becoming a major lesbian with the idea, highly contradictory and struggled tion of stardom bewould anyone think don’t I gay, was Ruta (“If denial initial from - paying me any attention at all” [Cass-Maran]) to eventual recogni tion and astonishment: ray is a police aofficer, D.S. (detective sergeant), whoreally loves Although never literally embodies the law. her job and represents, psycho- in uniform, D.S. Sam Murray conveys an aura of authority, of- police lesbian openly An confidence. calm and maturity, logical what by stand to able be to seems she peers, her by respected ficer, quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 170 Alla Ivanchikova Flirting with the Law with the Flirting Volume 03 Becky: Cat’s on a blind date with the cop. Becky: Cat’s on a blind date with have thought cop was Cat’s thing. Frankie: Wouldn’t going to be is hardly she is a gay cop. She Becky: Well, some bat-wielding thug, is she? gay it makes it right on, does Frankie: So what, if you are it? (Frankie storms out.) The question of whether Sam is indeed a “thug” or “right on” is indeed is question of whether Sam The have been and its representatives vital because of the way the law coded in lesbian cinema. The police station (Sam’s work- previously Cat’s (and the viewer’s) as a space where place) is featured - precon redefined. and out teased are enforcement law about notions ceived Instead of figuring as a site of homophobia and oppression, it is is invited to, liter as a queer space in which the viewer presented is right while having the law on her side. Cat meets Sam through Sam through the law on her side. Cat meets is right while having Nervous Cat an online dating site, and their first date isa disaster. about stereotypes fool out of herself by spouting makes a complete says: she things, other Among date. first their during officers police who homophobes power-hungry police are “Most people think I don’t think obviously up suspects. Well, get their kicks beating not like that.” The show thus consciously that, and clearly you are the police and ideas about stereotypical deploys and interrogates tryand cop” “the as Sam to refer frequently characters The law. the law enforcement: to work out their own attitudes to qual- iconic an acquired has that scene the In law. the with flirt ally, a when she becomes police station into Sam’s Cat is brought ity, heartlessly by “power- victim of mugging. Expecting to be treated hungry homophobes” and “bat-wielding thugs,” Cat is defensive the police sta- Sam comes to her rescue, as and nervous. However, of lesbian de- site fascinating a and inscribed as reoriented is tion During sire. a snappy exchange in which flirtation- and interroga andlaw the of lure the Cat succumbs to indistinguishable, are tion of theme the to returns film The date. second a on out her asks Sam the police station as a queer space by featuring a steamy lesbian lesbian Sam’s Importantly, 3). (Episode office Sam’s in scene sex Cat to her introduces she identity is not an issue in her career; advice from co-workers as her “other half” and seeks relationship her friends – male police officers at the station.relationship Their quarter

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Alla Ivanchikova Flirting with the Law with the Flirting flirts with the law, Volume 03 ” business started every- Lip Service Lip Service, the Law intensifies desire (positively) through- se So when this whole “ I really hoped people would like Sam as much as I did people would like Sam as much as I did hoped I really also very lucky I think we were when I was writing her. us away in her auditionto have Heather Peace, who blew and has given such a fantastic performance. That said I that Sam think it was impossible for anyone to predict A”) would become a bit of a dykon! (“Q & one assumed Frankie’s Ruta Gedmintas would be the one assumed Frankie’s Ruta Gedmintas would be the She was the “Shane” of the lesbothrob. show’s resident (yes, yes – I know she’s not Shane). She did all the group In Harriet Braun was not creator It is intriguing that the show’s Yet the audience’s response to Sam verged on collective hysteria. to Sam verged the audience’s response Yet Sam became Despite being a supporting rather than a lead character, reviews and fans. The fol- by both the most widely discussed figure of how the character is representative a review lowing excerpt from the author of Snarker, Dorothy within the subculture. was perceived writes: Guide to Popular Culture, Gay Gal’s a blog titled A isdoes not achieve its ap- – it thus neither illicit nor surreptitious transgression. peal through duction rather than defining it negatively through interdiction. fam- with the law (military, argued lesbian cinema While preceding government), Lip Service ily institution, police, ry the law as well. this plot line was going to be successful. In an inter whether sure a in the “Extras” section of the DVD, she expresses view released cheering for Cat and Frankie. Shehope that the audience would be they will also be I don’t know, then adds rather shyly: but “maybe, how she expected whether asked and Sam.” When Cat for rooting who played her) would become,popular Sam (and Heather Peace Braun says: sexualizes it, and invites the viewer to imagine a new relationship to imagine a new relationship sexualizes it, and invites the viewer with the normative through the figure of Sam and Cat’srelation- to follow Cat who notship with Sam. The audience is encouraged only butflirts then with goes the on law, a date with the law(so to ponders whether she should mar and speak), has sex with the law, quarter

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kvarter akademisk 172 Alla Ivanchikova Flirting with the Law with the Flirting Volume 03 moody looking through her hair and randy dropping of her hair and randy dropping moody looking through thing She was the bad girl. But a funny her skinny jeans. swoon- way to fandom, everyone started happened on the we still love us some girl instead. Sure, ing over the good a to Sam Murray Sergeant Detective up Frankie. But bring , of, “Ooooooh hear a chorus of gay ladies and you’ll group hot cop is hot – and ridiculously so. Yes, the hot cop.” DS Sam…hotter than The L Word cast, hotter than the surface of cast, hotter than the Word DS Sam…hotter than The L toasted pitta bread the sun, hotter than the inside of a DS Murry *swoon* If Cat chooses Frankie over amazing-perfect Sam, I am boycotting the show She is literally the perfect gf. Sam is so f***ing swoon-worthy. Also, show should start with her naked every Frankie sizing up DSSam, gurl you plz you got nothing on Sam! (Quoted by Hal) Snarker’s the critiques and notices she as representative entry is of the “bad girl” (Frankie) while convention involved in the creation of the “good novelty and welcoming the energizing recognizing other socialand Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, age of plot. In the girl” time and make to the show in real can respond media, fan cultures the From by other viewers. on the way it is perceived impact a real to iconize Frankie refused outset, it became clear that the audience apparatus. Instead, the fanswho was glamorized by the cinematic in making Sam’s image icon- engaged their own cultural apparatus and Facebook messages, collages and fan vide- Twitter ic (through os, fan fiction and cultural commentary). Here is an example of a time: fans commenting on the show in real with board Twitter • • • • • not that viewers are to the series revealed The audience’s response their own desire historically naïve or innocent; in fact, they suture of their collective fan- it as a focal point onto an image, producing conventions at work as narrative tasies. The audience recognized conven- these was supporting that apparatus cinematic the as well - tions (which makes a salient point that the audience is never pas - mechanisms). Spectatorship is produc by these sively constructed a potentbecomes media, social age of in the meaning, and tive of quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - 173 Alla Ivanchikova Flirting with the Law with the Flirting Volume 03 represents a turning point in narrative conventions that a turning point in narrative Lip Service represents Fear the show. of agitated the audience ending ambiguous The still Flirting with the law is risky business because the subculture co-creator of meaning. As Mayne points out, “spectators respond out, “spectators respond As Mayne points of meaning. co-creator to films in ways that may well be unauthorized, but nonetheless - by the insti other than those prescribed meaningful, in terms [are] cinema” (28).tutions of narrative of what Braun The experimental quality the law.” I call “queering trans- narrative of the as show the visible throughout was doing is - The two pro competes with the new narrative structure. gression The last quite able to resolve. vide a tension that the show was never jeopardizes she as transgression Cat’s features series the of episode as with Sam by sleeping with Frankie. Frankie’s role her relationship the references to the couple and thus as a threat the agent of desire the in iconic status to achieve an lesbian outlaw convention but fails in which the narrative structure show as it competes with the new is a lesbian couple and the law that couple she is seeking to destroy etc). as bad (homophobic, corrupt, she antagonizes is no longer seen ponderingleft is Cat as intriguing highly thus is show the of end The (the outlaw) or stay with Samwhether she should be with Frankie ac- (the law). Just as in The Kids, the outlaw’s sex appeal is explicitly is no longer celebrated. knowledged, but her transgression convention” of the “transgression demands ful that the structural the series, the audience launched would make Braun write Sam off Sam” t-shirts and accessories, turning “Team a campaign producing Brit- lesbian in Great Heather Peace into “the most famous actress ain” (Peace, BirdBox 2). Responding to the audience’s anxiety over that there promised Braun in the next season of the show, Sam’s role (“Thethe second season D.S. Murray” in of more lot would be “a illustrated that the Party”). The audiences’ response GreatLezBritain weary of the outlaw character and is actively has grown subculture reconfigur of possibility the revealed also It alternatives. for looking charac- the law through with the normative or ing the relationship ters that embody the law’s positive characteristics. con- The normative. the with relationship ambivalent an maintains might be queer difference cern that, in its encounter with the law, it seems that the old plots Yet, swallowed or co-opted is legitimate. as necessary and and transgression that code the law as corrupt positive do not have the same magical appeal they used to. Can we quarter

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kvarter akademisk The 174 exposed the Alla Ivanchikova Flirting with the Law with the Flirting Volume 03 , Bad Girls SeasonsGirls Bad (1999), Aimee and Jaguar Jaguar and Aimee (1998), (1995), High Art destabilize the opposition between opposition between destabilize the The Kids and Lip Service See, for example, Coffman’s analysis of the Papin affair. analysis of the Papin affair. See, for example, Coffman’s among many others: When Night isExamples featuring this story line include, Falling , The L Word Season 1 Between (2004), Word (2004), The L Love Woman’s A 1-3 (1999-2001), Think Straight (2007), (2004), Elena Undone (2004), I Can’t Women Two The Sea Purple (2009), Eloise (2010). Unseen (2008), World Notes 1 2 possibly work out something we can call queernormative – not incall queernormative – not we can something possibly work out the the sense of normalizing queer or making to the concessions the law be- of queering the law itself? When law but in the sense not be that unattractive. this new face of the law may comes queer, Both or queerness, exploring the “queernormative,” normativity and positioned strictly outside of thebetter queerness that is no longer be- it used to be. The relationship normative, not in the same way - complicated and pre more tween normative and queer becomes the possi- who wish to explore sents new possibilities for writers Lip Service bilities and the limits of queering the law. new a with us presented and outmoded as figure law-breaker queer a new set of so- for a new alphabet of affects iconic image, creating dissolution of a certain narrativecial conditions. This signaled the allowed we are for new stories where convention and our readiness too.to flirt with the law and enjoy it quarter

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kvarter akademisk ” 175 . Trans. . Trans. Alla Ivanchikova Flirting with the Law with the Flirting Volume 03 - Senator Film Produk

Insane Passions: Lesbianism and Psychosis in Middletown: Wesleyan University Press. University Press. Middletown: Wesleyan Materializing Democracy: Towards a Revitalized Cultural Revitalized a Democracy: Towards Materializing tion. 1999. DVD. Optimum Home Releasing. 2001. Optimum Home Releasing. 2001. tion. 1999. DVD. This Studio. 2004. Picture ITV Channel UK, 1999-2001. McManus. Shed Production. University Press. Stanford Stanford: by Ray Brassier. 2006. 2004. DVD. Odyssey. LTD. tures 2011. Jul 1, 2011 . Nov 22. Web. Service’ Season Finale.” AfterEllen DVD. and Television. Nov 15. Nov Page. Facebook Television and Film Kudos - Service Lip Jul 1, 2011. Web. Hill and Wang. egation.” and Dana D. Nelson. Durham: Russ Castronovo Politics. Eds. Duke University Press. 1995. Zone Books. York: New R. Fawcett & Robert S. Cohen. lyn Jul 1, 2011. Nov 16. Web. The Skinny. CBC. 1979. of Living. EP. Literature andLiterature Film. References . by Max Färberböck Dir. Aimee and Jaguar. . DVD. Sylvie Verheyde by (Amour de Femme). Dir. Love Woman’s A Ann and Chadwick by Maureen 1-3. Created Bad Girls, Seasons Badiou, A., 2003. Saint Paul: The Foundation of Universalism North Country Pic- by Steven Woodcock. . Dir. Women Between Two Jul 1, . Oct 19. Web. The Joel Kafetz Show Braun, H., 2010. Interview. party for the ‘Lip “The GreatLezBritain Braun, H., 2010. Interview. Film Lip Service Season 1 Extras. Kudos H., 2010. Interview. Braun, of Lip Service. with Harriet Braun, creator Braun, H., 2010 “Q&A . Trans. Richard Miller. New York: York: New Miller. Richard Barthes, R., 1974. S/Z: An Essay. Trans. Artisan, 2001. DVD. By Paul Verhoeven.1992. Basic Instinct. Dir. Citizenship and Den- a Wife: Needs Sam Berlant, L., 2002. “Uncle Bersani, L., 1987. “Is the Rectum a Grave?”October 43, 197-222. 2010. Pictures. Fox Searchlight Aronofsky. by Darren Black Swan. Dir. First Run Features, Butterfly By Michael Winterbottom. Kiss. Dir. - Caro Canguilhem, G., 1991. The Normal and the Pathological. Trans. Cass-Maran, L., 2010. “Heather Peace – the Only Gay in the City.” by Sonny Curtis. The Cost Written “I Fought the Law.” Clash. The C. E., 2006. Coffman, quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 176 Journal of Ed. Donald BullyBloggers. Alla Ivanchikova BullyBloggers. Jul Flirting with the Law with the Flirting Volume 03 The Kids Are All Right. All The Kids Are - Aggres of Mark the and Sexuality Lesbian Women: Fatal Princeton: Princeton University Press. Materializing Democracy: Towards a Revi- Democracy: Towards Materializing tics of Neoliberalism.” Nel- D. Dana and Castronovo Russ Eds. Politics. Cultural talized Press. Duke University son. Durham: ham: Duke University Press. Practice: Selected Essays and Interviews. ter-Memory, 29-52. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Bouchard. F. ado- of 17-year-old an Family Study: psychological adjustment lescents.” Pediatrics 126:1, 28-36. Jul 1, 2011. Oct 18. Web. Jul 1, 2011. 15. Web. University Press. York Jul 30. Web. Jul 1, 2011. Jul 1, 2011. Jul 30. Web. sion. ing Biology in Lesbian Kinship. Ed. Jennifer Robertson. Same-Sex - Black Reader. Oxford: and Sexualities: An Anthropological Cultures well. 116-138 film, 1998. Universal Studios. 2005. 2007. Productions. LGBT Family Studies 7: 4. . Dir. by Donna Deitch. DVD. Showtime. 2000. Donna Deitch. DVD. Showtime. by . Dir. Common Ground Poli- Homonormativity: The Sexual Duggan, L., 2002. “The New Right.” All Are the Kids Duggan, L., 2010. “ONLY . Dir. by Nicole Conn. DVD. Peccadillo Pictures. 2004. by Nicole Conn. DVD. Peccadillo Pictures. Elena Undone. Dir. Releasing. 2010. DVD. TLA by Jesus Garay. Eloise. Dir. Language, Coun- to Transgression.” Preface Foucault, M., 1977. “A Lesbi- Gartrell, N. and Bos, H., 2010. “US National Longitudinal AfterEllen. Gedmintas, R., 2010. Interview with GreatLezBritain. Jul 1, 2011. 2010. Web. Nov, Hal, “DS Murray in the Dock.” Gaelick. Alright!” Aren’t Halberstam, J., 2010. “The Kids New and Place. New York: Halberstam, J., 2005. In a Queer Time 1994. Hart, L., No Future: Queer Theory and the Death Drive. Dur L., 2004. No Future: Edelman, , 2005. Gender, Genetics, and Generation: Reformulat- Genetics, , 2005. Gender, Hayden, C. P. - Alliance Viva DVD. By Peter Jackson. 1994. . Dir. Heavenly Creatures 1998. DVD. Cholodenko. 391 Productions. by Lisa Art. Dir. High by Shamim Sarif. DVD. Enlightenment Think Straight. Dir. I Can’t Acorn Media. 2007. 1999. DVD. by Chris Oxley. Dir. Investigator. of Review Ivanchikova, A., 2011. quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - - - 177 Filmmaker: Jonas Åker Alla Ivanchikova Flirting with the Law with the Flirting Volume 03 - Representa Gender, Seduction and Theory: Readings of . Video. Dir. by Dir. – feat. Beyoncé . Video. Telephone 08, 2010. Liter Practice, and Politics of Feminist vations on the Theory, Ed. of Theory and Criticism. ary Criticism. The Norton Anthology Norton and Company. W.W. York: B. Leitch. New Vincent 2010. lund. House of Gaga Publishing Inc. Mar 8 2009. BBC3 Channel. 2010. Television. formance. - Urbana: University of Il tion, and Rhetoric. Ed. Dianne Hunter. 1989. 28-46. linois Press, 2001. Jul 1, 2011. Jul 1, 2011. Jul 1, 2011. 2011. 2009. DVD. Peccadillo Pictures. Factory. Dreams Home 1995. Sony Pictures Television. TriStar Bleckner. by Jeff Entertainment. 2006. Jul 1, 2011. Right. Jul 8. Web. 1997. bia TriStar, . Feb 27, 2011. Web. Jul 1. Web. Film. Feb 27, 2011. Magazine of Independent A Web. Nov Web. The Advocate. You.” Mother To Is Karpel, A., 2010. “This 2010. Cholodenko. Focus Features. by Lisa All Right. Dir. The Kids Are A., 2001. Dancing Kolodny, Through the Minefield: Some Obser Lady Gaga. by Ilene Chaiken. Showtime. Jan 18 2004 – Created Word. The L and Film Kudos Harriet Braun. Prod. Lip Service Season 1. Creator 2004. by Patty Jenkins. 2003. DVD. Columbia TriStar, Monster. Dir. Red Road Studio, 2010. by Ned Farr. Marine Story. Dir. A The Blue Angel, and Female Per Mayne, J., 1989. Marlene Dietrich, Pictures. DVD. Universal Lynch. by David Drive. Dir. Mulholland Nov 8, 2010. Web. The BirdBox 2. QUODtv. Interview. Peace, Heather. . Oct 19, 2010. Web. The Joel Kafetz Show Interview. Peace, Heather. Web. This is Me – At Home. Jan 21, 2011. Interview. Peace, Heather. Italian by Donatella Maiorca. . Dir. Di Mare) The Sea Purple (Viola Dir. Cammermeyer Story. Margarethe Colonel Silence: The Serving in All Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are Shoquist, L., 2010. Interview. 1992. DVD. Colum- by Barbet Schroeder. Single White Female. Dir. All Right. Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are Smith, D., 2011. quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 178 Alla Ivanchikova Flirting with the Law with the Flirting Volume 03 A Gay Gal’s Guide to Popular Culture. Guide Culture. to Popular Gay Gal’s A amount, 2002. University Press. ics of Queer Life. Cambridge: Harvard 1996. Video. Wolfe cation Corporation. 1995. DVD. 2008. Productions. Nov 8, 2010. Web. Jul 1. Nov 8, 2010. Web. Jul 1. 2008. Web. , 2011. Hot Fuzz. D., 2011. Snarker, with Normal: Sex, Politics, and the Eth- The Trouble M., 2001. Warner, - Alliance Communi by Patricia Rozema. Is Falling. Dir. When Night by Shamim Sarif. 2008. DVD. Enlightenment Unseen. Dir. The World The Atlantic. Sep My Big Fat Straight Wedding. Sullivan, A., 2011 1999. DVD. Par Anthony Minghella. By Dir. Mister Ripley. Talented quarter

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En grænse for transgressionen? Jakob Ejersbos Nordkraft

Mikkel Jensen er cand. mag. i Engelsk og Historie fra AAU og arbejder som gymnasielærer.

Med stor kritisk og populær succes står Jakob Ejersbos romandebut Nordkraft (2002) i dag 10 år efter dens første udgivelse stadig som en af de større danske succeshistorier i dansk litteratur efter årtu- sindskiftet. Romanens beskrivelse af et stofmiljø i Aalborg i starten af 1990erne introducerede mange læsere til et nyt og ukendt miljø, der samtidig udgjorde baggrunden for Ejersbos skildring af et tema om grænseudforskning- og overskridelse, der var af et mere alment tilsnit end den journalistiske miljøskildring. Igennem denne dobbelthed ses romanens måde at udtrykke den realistiske litteraturs dobbelthed på, i det den insisterer på at referere til en tekst-ekstern virkelighed samtidig med, at den indarbejder relativt subtile pointer, moraler og synsvinkler på sagerne ”som de er”. Den nævnte grænse- eller transgressionstematik bliver især por- trætteret gennem den karismatiske Steso, der er omdrejningspunk- tet for den sidste del i romanens tredelte struktur. Det, der især er interessant ved Steso, er, at man kan se en meget ambivalent skildring af hans liv og valg, der både portrætteres medfølende og ganske kritisk på samme tid. Den kritiske vinkel på Steso ses i det, at når læseren møder ham, har Steso levet i sit grænseoverskridende trip i lang tid, hvilket har gjort, at han er kommet til at køre i de samme baner igen og igen. Her mener jeg at kunne påpege, at når Stesos ellers transgressive adfærd blot får karakter af gentagelse,

Volume 03 179 - - 180 Mikkel Jensen Mikkel Volume 03 En grænse for transgressionen? for En grænse I romanens to første dele (Junkiehunde og Broen) følger vi hen- vi følger Broen) og (Junkiehunde dele første to romanens I i denne søgen går de til og fraKarakterne er således søgende og det at han repræsenterer er, Steso ved Noget af det interessante sker der det, at transgressionen ret beset ikke er transgression mere, mere, beset ikke er transgression ret sker der det, at transgressionen er at At transgressere adfærd. af tidligere men blot reproduktion overskri- blot man hvis og eller andres), grænser (egne overskride overskride græn- ikke grænse igen og igen er dette samme der den - som en ellers velre synes at fremstå Så Steso ser for en selv mere. fast i en rille. person, der er kørt flekteret As- med den lidt mislykkede pusher holdsvis Maria, der er kæreste og ger, Allan, der er vendt hjem til Aalborg efter i flere år at have og sejle for at komme på afstand af sin hjemstavns hårde ude været enten Begge bevæger sig i periferien af stofmiljøet, idet de miljø. kæreste. af en er der på grund prøver at undslippe det eller primært det tilfælles, at de forholder har generelt i romanen Karaktererne er vokset op i, og derfor søger desig meget kritisk til det miljø, de viser signødvendigvis ikke heller dog som (stofferne), andet noget som en eskapisme, ikke skildret Dette er dog de søger. det, at være til symptomer af deres karaktererne ikke reducerer i det romanen valg, barndom, men fravalg, deres fiaskoeri ogstedet skildrer suc- da han Allan slutter, øjenhøjde. Historien om ceser i en respektfuld der absolut ikke til Maja, er ved at starte et forhold omveje ad store og Marias del ender med, at gøre, vil have noget med stofmiljøet at til lånehajen Hussein. hun starter et forhold stofmiljø), som de aldrigforskellige miljøer (forstadsmiddelklasse, Allan og repræsenterer fra. Som sådan bliver i, men må søge videre Anderledes forholder Maria en kontinuerlig grænseoverskridelse. atsige, man kan og Steso, hovedperson bogens tredje sig med det for Nordkrafts det lige præcis er ham, der mest udtalt illustrerer – mødes mange I Stesos del – Begravelse hold til det transgressive. Steso, der gamle ven til afskeden med deres af bogens karakterer i 1994. De Aalborg Kirke nær ved ved Sønderholm sættes i jorden ungdom, og snakker om, hvad det tager bestik af deres samlede dengang. Aalborg de lavede i var, transgressive på flere måder. Et er at man kan tale om, at hans at han over forstået på den måde er socialt transgressiv, adfærd en og måske opfattes som er konfrontativ normer, skrider sociale ka- andre karakter af både romanens noget grænseoverskridende også et element Dertil er der læsere. romanens såvel som rakterer quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - 181 Mikkel Jensen Mikkel Volume 03 En grænse for transgressionen? for En grænse I denne forstand bliver stofferne, som Steso tager, en metafor for som Steso tager, I denne forstand bliver stofferne, af selv-transgression, idet at Steso prøver at ”udvide sin bevidst- at Steso prøver at ”udvide sin idet af selv-transgression, hed” gennem stoffer samt gennem læsning af skønlitteratur og filosofi. På eksistentialistisk vis kan man sige, at der i en selv-trans- et til det at blive. Igennem fra det at være er en bevægelse gression gerne det så som bliver det til det menneske opvækst menneskes er – har gennemgået denne proces, Folk, der af dets liv. er i resten tilbage til bliver eksistentialist, vender der mennesket, hvorimod vendes om udviklingsproces igen at blive, hvilket betyder at denne er altså først gået fra at bliveog sættes i gang igen. Dette menneske at være for siden at vende udviklingen igen fra allerede til at være at overskride at til igen at blive. Dette er det selv-transgressive: karakteriset ved må det være at blive. For at noget er, til igen være Dette der er noget det ikke er. at hvilket betyder, noget, at være og det er denne grænse for har en grænse at en væren betyder, idet er mulig at overskride – hvilket Steso så undlader, der væren, han da nævnt – ikke er transgressiv, – som selv-transgression hans overskredet har han ikke allerede som nye grænser, ikke krydser til ukendelighed. kommer således til at stå som endet grænseoverskridende, og de på at forstå Stesos valg om atforsøg i dennes indgang for læseren leve så tæt på stedet, hvor filmen risikerer at knække nært sagt når grænsen at kender lærer som helst. Det er den, der søger grænsen, og vi kan undersøge, hvad grænsen de, og så er det lige præcis dér, to hovedper Romanens andre betyder i Nordkraft. transgressionen med stofferne, periode Allan, har hver (haft) deres Maria og soner, hvilket står i kontrast til at komme ud af det, men prøver derefter overskridelse af Stesos ubetingede omfavnelse af den insisterende at omgå den så- sociale normer; han ønsker og prøver hårdnakket kaldte ”banale fase”, som er hans betegnelse for det, at man ”starter Et specielt menneske; dy- at man er noget helt særligt. med at tro, men at man til og indsigtsfuld end andre”, åndfuld og mere bere (Ejersbo, 2002: disse ”naive illusioner” sidst ender med at droppe er Steso, der helhjer at det lige præcis 396). Derfor er det interessant, går hen og dør af stof- som tet forsøger at favne det transgressive, om at ferne. Dette kunne umiddelbart ligne en morale i Nordkraft, og at den derfor ikke kan accepteres, grundlæggende hans adfærd - implicitte stillingstagen til det transgres Det er denne må gå under. her. sive, som er interessen quarter

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kvarter akademisk 182 Mikkel Jensen Mikkel Volume 03 En grænse for transgressionen? for En grænse ”Det drejer sig udelukkende om at prøve alt det man øn- sig udelukkende om at prøve ”Det drejer sker sig inden man kreperer.” ”Og hvad er det så, du mangler at prøve Steso?” spørger [Maria] med et fnis. Antonymet for transgressionen må være det konforme; det som det konforme; må være Antonymet for transgressionen Steso been konsekvent er der og selv-transgressive det transgressive I optik er der no- og over en grænse, men i denne vægelse hen mod Han prøver konstant at paradoksalt ved Steso. get grundlæggende tanke kender Denne og derigennem sig selv. udvide sin bevidsthed af de græske psykedelisk, der er dannet vi fra adjektivet/adverbiet for sind eller sjæl (psyche) og udvidelse (delos) (Escoho- begreber udvikles hans bevidsthed ikke vi- dette Men trods tado, 1999: 115). lader ikke til at er – hans syn på livet hvor den allerede end dere, sig ikke, han når ikke til nye erkendelser, udvide sig, han ændrer han søger ikke ud af miljøet. holder sig inden for grænserne og som modificerer sig selv til dette – det er Steso altså ikke fordrage formål. Og denne konformitet kan sig væk fra, og som han afviser. den livsindstilling, han har bevæget (a)social trans- kun som en for Steso fungerer Men transgressionen han menneskers idéer og den baggrund, til andre i forhold gression kommer fra. Steso opfører sig flere gange ganske konfrontatorisk og står nærmeste omgangskreds, overfor mennesker udenfor hans måske Han overskrider som sådan i opposition til disse mennesker. bliver så- men ikke sine egne, og Stesos transgression grænser deres der ligger uden for hans egen person, ledes afhængig af forhold, for hans tænkning om livet og sighvilket så bliver udgangspunktet et som kunne Denne afvisning af det konforme, have været selv. er også gået hen og udgangspunkt for Stesos udvikling, produktivt blevet hans slutstation – han er kørt fast i sin tænkning ligesom han Dette er Stesos tragedie. Han må og skal tage ud- er i sine stoffer. – hans egne grænser er rejse gangspunkt i sig selv i transgressionens at overskride. Umiddelbart interessante være der burde de grænser, - kunne dette lyde, som om at Ejersbos budskab er udpræget morali hvor karak- advokerer, – men det er det ikke, idet han ikke serende fra, hvor de selv er – altså bør gå hen – blot at de bør gå videre terer hænger unægtelig sammen med både Stofferne selv-transgression. hans liv og død, og Steso har sit eget syn på, hvad han vil med sit liv: quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 183 Mikkel Jensen Mikkel Volume 03 En grænse for transgressionen? for En grænse ”Jamen, for satan, Maria,” siger han, pludselig begejstret, Maria,” siger han, pludselig begejstret, ”Jamen, for satan, når kemikerne om 20-30-40 år, her være ”jeg skal sgu da dope, som jeg noget helt FANTASTISK kommer op med lidt vellystigt et med står Steso med.” mig muntre kan 2002: 75) forlegent grin. (Ejersbo, Som sagt kunne en overfladisk analyse af Stesos dødro- sige, at Det særegne ved Stesos syn på livet er, at det ikke handler om at ved Stesos syn på livet er, Det særegne alt det man øn- noget – men kun at ”prøve eller være blive, gøre men er med en hel masse (stoffer) sker sig”. Han vil prøve kræfter ind i andet end en strømikke i stand til at vælge at gå helhjertet sig med. Hans han kan muntre af nye bekendtskaber med stoffer, er til den Stesolid, han har sit mest bindende valg og hengivelse som han ikke kan få Tilde, øgenavn efter og til barndomskæresten Stesos forhold sammen med, hvilket illustrerer det til at fungere for det eneste konstante lader til at være Afprøvningen til sig selv. på udviklet sig på en sådan være ham, og således har hans måde at og er, han hvor er, Han sig. udvikle at med op holdt er han at måde, eksperimen- udviklet – Stesos liv, denne identitet bliver altså ikke sammedet af mere blot grundlæggende er ej, eller stoffer terende ikkevis på tragisk udvider stoffer igen. De sanseudvidende og igen blevet til hans horisont. Og som men er Stesos horisonter, længere ikke til stede i Stesos stof(mis) nævnt er det psykedeliske således forstand. På denne måde kan oprindelige, positive i ordets brug han forsøger at den transgression, man sige, at Steso sidder fast, og Steso at i kraft af Men uproduktiv. er udøve, grundlæggende at (på topersonificerer måder og husker vi: en selv-transgression so- overfor sociale normer) transgressionen transgression cialt situeret der sæt- er hans adfærd, er det sigende, at det så intenst i romanen, tes en endelig grænse for i romanen. vil det at mener, jeg men transgressive, det fordømmer manen at sige, at Ejersbo blot afviser Stesos måde at præcist mere være på, og det hænger sammen med, at der det transgressive håndtere og stof- ikke sættes lighedstegn mellem personen, transgressionen man sige at det at indtage psykofar kan ferne. Grundlæggende maka enten kan beskrives som stofbrug eller stofmisbrug. Denne eller stofmisbrug. maka enten kan beskrives som stofbrug den lader os disku- fordi at drage ift. Nordkraft, er vigtig sondring eller passiv (misbrug), er aktiv (brug) af stoffer om brugen tere har taget magten ved at stofferne er karakteriseret hvor misbruget quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 184 Mikkel Jensen Mikkel Volume 03 En grænse for transgressionen? for En grænse Det er altså hverken en romantisering eller en moralisering af eller en moralisering af Det er altså hverken en romantisering for med respekt: præsenteret Stesos valg i livet bliver læseren por den at se, at mig er for ved romanen imponerende mest Det over personen, hvorimod der ved stofbrug er et subjekt, der aktivt der ved stofbrug over personen, hvorimod - kan læse Nord vis ret at man med en mener, Jeg opsøger stoffer. det cen- til at være kommer stof(mis)brugende kraft, uden at det miljøskildring, det var den narkorelaterede trale ved Steso, selvom lader til, at Ejersbo har For det blev kendt for. bogen i en vis grad bør kategoriseres af stoffer til, om brugen åbent forhold et mere moralise- i det, at bogen ikke indeholder deciderede som misbrug en påmindelse om den uafry- – kun af stoffer ringer over brugen der ligger i Steso-Thomas’ tidlige død. Og lige præcis stelige sorg, Ejersbo distinktionen stofbrug/stofmisbrug, mht. Steso udfordrer at man må antage, at han er i det at Steso tager så mange stoffer, så entusia- stofferne han bruger fysisk afhængig samtidig med at som Steso har gennem- stisk. Dog antydes det, at den udvikling en aktiv ved, at han er gået fra at være gået dog er karakteriseret han hvor scene, en i fx ses Dette misbruger. afhængig til stofbruger slikker sine renefingre for at få det sidste våde stesolid med, efter 2002: 350). at hans piller er blevet våde (Ejersbo, afspej- hvilket synes at blive her, vi har med at gøre Stesos stofbrug, skrivestil: der udvises en journalistisk registrerende let i romanens hvor galt samtidig med, at det illustreres, sympati for karakteren, At Steso som Steso har. det kan gå med et så intenst stofforbrug, slår ham til sidst ihjel, og som jeghopper så meget i med begge ben, slutning, der trods slutningen, er det ment som en sørgelig læser valg, sørger kritik af hans og romanens usympatiske sider Stesos over hans tidlige død. Romanen udviser altså en grundlæggende ambivalens eller fravalg af moralisering over Stesos død, hvilket - man kan se i de forskellige måder hans død kan tolkes på. Det kom mer vi tilbage til. til noget sociologisk eller psykologisk Han bliver ikke reduceret eller konformitet, forstadsliv modsvar til forældregenerationens som et fuldt respekt med portrætteret valg bliver Hans vil. man om – ikke som et menneske – og vi møder Steso i hans tanker og gøren Schou også har hvilket Søren symptom på bagvedliggende årsager, ganske godt: pointeret som individer og i fuld legems- sine mange stofmisbrugere trætterer sig alkoholikere – det være misbrugere fordi imponerende, størrelse; quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 185 Mikkel Jensen Mikkel Volume 03 En grænse for transgressionen? for En grænse ”Han var sgu en god fyr,” siger Svend. ”Han var sgu en god fyr,” var altid … så led ved ”Han var sgu da også ond. Han over på Svend. trodsigt folk,” siger Michael og kigger lidt (Ejers- næsten altid ondsindet.” han var nikker: ”Ja, Lars bo, 2002: 396) Personligheden og dermed individualiteten går lige præcis ikkePersonligheden og Denne meningsudveksling understreger det individuelle i kollek- det individuelle Denne meningsudveksling understreger op i bogen, og står stærkt trukket – mange karakterer tivromanen - Dialogen understre ret. som individer kommer de hver til deres hvor stor over opfattede Steso og med hvor forskelligt folk ger, eller narkomaner – ifølge den gængse opfattelse er mennesker, der er mennesker, – ifølge den gængse opfattelse eller narkomaner samles om Når al energi til at ligne hinanden: reduceres efterhånden held har han … Men fløjten. personligheden går fix, næste på jagten til at overbevise læseren om, hvor forskelligartede de Selv er. en fier fuld af genialske inder enormt, hvis misbrug gur som ”Steso”, sine kammerater under og følges til graven af fald, indtil han bukker sidste del. (Schou, 2004: 91) i romanens fløjten, som Schou pointerer – dog har Steso alligevel tabt noget: bli- dele begge – potentiale transgressionens og venners tillid Hans Efter at have stjålet fra sine venner og mis- ver forspildt i stofferne. ham anderledes. Så selvom han tillid, kom de til at se deres brugt er det alligevel stofbrugeren stadig skiller sig ud fra mængden, er i kontakt hans omgangskreds Steso og ikke personen Thomas, ved, at han lige netop ikke bliver kaldt med, hvilket understreges men ved kæle/øgenavnet Steso. ved sit barndomsnavn Thomas, – og i denne folks grænser overskrider ofte andre Og hans adfærd nogle af sine ven- han usympatisk i fremstår asociale transgression ners minder: opførsel Steso de så ham; den grænseoverskridende bærenhed, havde, kommer endda til at stå for Lars som overlagt (ondsindet). galskab – sig endda adfærd Stesos nærmer i romanen steder Flere forståelse – og i denne karakterer i hvert fald for nogle af de andre - der eks sig til den amerikanske Beat litteratur, Nordkraft relaterer en ”stra- galskab som skildrede til i bogen, og som plicit refereres settegy up for misfits to the transgress boundaries of conformity, 2006: 1). Der er også en (Sørensen, by society’s dominant culture” anti-konformitet at finde i nogle af Nordkrafts karakterer – men quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - 186 Mikkel Jensen Mikkel Volume 03 En grænse for transgressionen? for En grænse Steso løfter Nøgen frokost op i luften. ”Prøver du at for Steso løfter Nøgen frokost den?” tælle mig, at du virkelig har læst fordi for stofkulturen, ”Ja, for fanden. Samfundet er bange gør os i stand til at gennemskue samfundets me- stofferne indsigt.” Selvom det er ningsløshed og giver os en dybere sætning, så er det samtidig det længste Store-Carstens Asger hørt har nogensinde jeg udsagn sammenhængende udtale. (Ejersbo, 2002: 75) Fortælleren Maria piller hurtigt sin kærestes udsagn ned, men især udsagn Maria piller hurtigt sin kærestes Fortælleren der ender Asger, at for læseren, set i bakspejlet virker det komisk hans egen afhængig- de afspejler med at slå sine hunde ihjel, fordi somnoget i indsigt større en ham give kan stoffer at mener hed, selvfølgelig er gamle Beat-mænd de helst. Denne lille hyldest til ikke uden betydning for bogens selvforståelse og Ejersbo kritiserer (det stoffer” af ”bevidsthedsudvidende således romantiseringen enig med Steso, når psykedeliske potentiale) og lader til at være sgu ikke samfundet er bange for dit pap- at ”Jeg tror han svarer den tendens, der kan imod tjald”. I denne forstand går romanen - som et potent symbol for det transgres til at anskue stoffer være prøver og især stofmisbrug af stofbrug sive. Denne romantisering Schou at prøvede Søren Som vi så tidligere, Ejersbo at punktere. og dennes i dens æstetiske kontekst (realismen romanen placere også i høj grad, at men jeg mener funktion & kollektivromanen), kontekst, der om- i dén kulturelle det er vigtigt at forstå Nordkraft handler skildringen af stoffer. det er ikke over for en ”dominant culture”, der underkuer dem, underkuer der culture”, ”dominant en for ikke over er det vist sig hvis levevis ikke har forældregeneration, men overfor en på. i sporene attraktiv at følge Stofferne Asger (Marias kæ- ”Junkiehunde” har pusheren I bogens første del af Jack Kerouac – On The Road to kendte Beat romaner lånt reste) sko- er en kunde, der af – Burroughs og William Naked Lunch af får dog lov til at samle støv i en vindueskarm, selvom de lelærer; at have læst dem (Ejersbo, 2002: 74 – 75). Asger gerne vil foregive Asger vir tvivler dog på, at stoffer, Steso, der er på besøg for at købe Naked Lunch: eksperimenterende kelig skulle lave læst Burroughs quarter

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kvarter akademisk 187 Mikkel Jensen Mikkel Volume 03 En grænse for transgressionen? for En grænse Meget litteratur- og musikkultur portrætterer og anser stoffer som og anser stoffer portrætterer og musikkultur Meget litteraturen både intellek- udviser I hvert fald noget af Beat-litteraturen punkt er således, om fortolkningsmæssigt Et grundlæggende psykedeliske, og stoffer bliver gerne hyldet i forbindelse med denne gerne hyldet i forbindelse med bliver stoffer psykedeliske, og måde på denne symbol indeholder stoffer egenskab. Som litterært de et brud på den ene side repræsenterer ofte en dobbeltsidighed: på den anden og en udvidelse af sindet, men med sociale normer at stivne i en passiv og til at de får brugeren for, side er der risikoen kommer kort sagt aldrig vide- – misbrugeren afhængighed sørgelig og denne ambivalens er den samme man ser hos Steso. På i livet re måde eller idealiserende denne måde er der både en fordømmende ikke at gøre sagt ønsker romanen på, men som stoffer at skildre til ved at hive fat i den reference hverken det ene eller andet. Men vi kan hvordan en indikation om, giver Nordkraft Beatlitteraturen i litteratur stofproblematikken til det at fremstille forstå dens forhold måden Beat-forfatterne tidligere – det sker så at sige i en dialog med på. det gjorde psykedeliske potentiale samtidig med, at i stoffernes tuel interesse grænseoverskridende hedonisme. I denneet element af er der også næsten altid et sam- litteratur var der igennem det transgressive - var en form for intellektuel fundskritisk element til stede; der re fleksion over det at I tage kontrast stoffer. til denne praksis står er selvfølgelig ikke gør dette – der der i Nordkraft, karaktererne så - reflek ikke er stofbrug hans selv men Steso, intelligente højt den prøver reference intertekstuelle lille denne Med længere. teret af stoffer skildring at Nordkrafts Ejersbo således at understrege, ikke tillægger dem det samme potentiale. Dette er dog ikke det narkoma- viljesløse blot skildrer at sige, at romanen som samme - netop ikke bliver reduce jo, at karaktererne ner – Schou pointerer i stand til, antyder er karaktererne Det, som stofbrug. til deres ret Og selv- fra dem selv. men bogen, kommer netop ikke fra stofferne, - uromantiseren eller hverken fordømmende skildres stofferne om betragtelige styrke og udvikling i den de, kommer karakterernes med ikke på vej dem hjælper – stofferne selv fra dem ende sidste noget som helst. er et udtryk for ham selv og hans med stofferne Stesos tilværelse vilje, der aktivt og kontinuerligt fastholder sig selv i denne position, aktiv del i hans også selv er blevet en selvstændig eller om stofferne ligger i, magt? Problemstillingen valg; er Steso underlagt stoffernes quarter

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kvarter akademisk 188 Mikkel Jensen Mikkel Volume 03 En grænse for transgressionen? for En grænse Én måde at se dette på er, at Steso her overskrider sig selv ved sig selv her overskrider at Steso dette på er, at se måde Én Stesos død Steso at pap, i ud det Nordkraft af filmatiseringen skærer sagt Som - i roma skildret tvetydigt hvor hans død er mere begår selvmord, – begår sig til dette spørgsmål forholder læseren nen. Hvordan – er bevidst eller er han uheldig med en overdosis? Steso selvmord man an- hvordan for en tolkning af bogen og for, faktisk afgørende at Stesos handlen og væren for, skuer Steso. Jeg har argumenteret og som sådan af hans adfærd er gået hen og blevet reproduktion ham men i Stesos død lader romanen set transgressiv, ikke reelt måske få noget oprejsning. ud af sit dødvande og at han således kommer at begå selvmord, - ved igen at bryde en grænse. Denne tolkning indeholder så to mu selv- afklaret og et målrettet som dette enten kan ses idet ligheder, væk flugt en som ses kan det eller bevidst, fuldt vælger han mord, bliver romanen I at leve fremover. skulle til han måske fra det liv, Steso forsigtigt forbereder hvordan ganske detaljeret det skildret sig til at tage dette fix på, hvilket får hans handling til at fremstå ganske overlagt. I begge disse scenarier står Steso igen som et i afklaret – mere handlende subjekt bevidst i og om sin adfærd mod den første mulighed vel at mærke, idet hans valg er rettet noget og ikke væk fra noget andet. Dog er det også muligt at se og som sådan er det en som en uheldig overdosis, selvmordet valg, som et afklaret det er to første scenarier de I ufrivillig død. gør at igen man kan opfatte ham som et bevidst handlende men- om stofferne skal ses som aktivt deltagende i at fastholde ham i i ham fastholde at i deltagende aktivt som ses skal stofferne om for en er et udtryk mere Steso så laver, og om det hans livsførelse, bevidst ganske han tidligere valg at tage stoffer, passiv accept af det jeg, i høj grad står som et i princippet Dette, mener har foretaget. sikkert Mere bestemme sig for. at læseren for uafgørligt spørgsmål - er en transgressi det under alle omstændigheder kan det siges, at Hans i og med at Steso ikke når videre. on, der bliver uproduktiv, – men han overtræder så grænseoverskridende være skal adfærd døde, hvil- til overskredet har allerede ikke han nogen grænse, ikke kan overhovedet ikke rette ket gør at den ”grænse” der overskrider til Dette gør Stesos ”transgression” en grænse mere. siges at være og dette har gjort overskridel- en ikke-overskridende transgression, sen meningsløs og formålsløs. quarter

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kvarter akademisk 189 Mikkel Jensen Mikkel Volume 03 En grænse for transgressionen? for En grænse I sidste ende er selv-transgressionen som Nordkraft hylder. Hvis hylder. Nordkraft som I sidste ende er selv-transgressionen en det er at er derfor, stofferne i Stesos rejse ved sørgelige Det Om det er et bevidst eller utilsigtet selvmord, så er det under under så er det eller utilsigtet selvmord, Om det er et bevidst Og hvad så? en morale ikke at presse Som mange gode bøger prøver Nordkraft en problemstilling, men illustrerer ned i halsen på dens læsere, til. Noget af betydningsdannelsen sig forholde så må læseren som som til læseren overladt ord (fx mht. Stesos død) bliver med andre - be flere er der at med og i forstand, Ecos Umberto i tekst åben en selv er med til at fylde ud læseren tydningsmæssige ”huller”, som at påtvinge således undlader Nordkraft teksten. med i samarbejde såkaldt para- en – bagsiden af bogens omslag På moraler. læseren unge, der om en gruppe er en roman tekst – står der ”Nordkraft (Ejersbo 2002: bagsiden). Således lever på begge sider af grænsen” sig til denne tematik, der at forholde eksplicit læseren opfordres bliver portrætteret gennem især de fleste afromanens karakterer, og transgressionen til stoffer, forhold Steso og hans problematiske derigennem til sig selv. kan hjælpe individet ind den socialt normbrydende transgression trans- sociale den men nok, fint Ejersbo for er det er rejse, denne på i sig, og derfor er har ikke samme kraftfulde potentiale gression eller afgø- så interessant i sidste ende ikke lige dens transgression tilhovedpersonerne alle får der transgression, sociale Den rende. er vigtig opvækstmiljøer, for dem uattraktive at søge væk fra deres lig- for dem alle – men når de har gennemført denne transgression dem, og som sådan stadig foran ger den vigtigste transgression som et forstadie for selv- i Nordkraft står den sociale transgression mest afgø- er sidst der til syvende og De grænser, transgressionen. og derfor er det disse, for individet, er dennes egne grænser, rende at overskride. – mest eksistentielle der er mest produktive metaforisk. eller fysisk findes ikke egentlig der noget, mod væk rejse neske – men mindst ulykkeligt i den tolkning, der ser selvmordet ulykkeligt ser selvmordet i den tolkning, der neske – men mindst ikke som en flugt fra sit liv. mod noget og som rettet – men der ende for Steso en meget sørgelig alle omstændigheder i den form for oprejsning vis også en sørgelig er på en paradoksal og et afklaret som at se får Steso idet at læseren første mulighed, ligger der en fortolknings- sådan bevidst handlende individ. Som mæssig nøgle i hans død. quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 190 Mikkel Jensen Mikkel Volume 03 En grænse for transgressionen? for En grænse 1 Der skal lyde en stor tak til Stephanie Erlenbach og Lærke Holm Dalsgaard, Holm og Lærke Erlenbach Stephanie til Der skal lyde en stor tak artikel bedre. hvis grundige kommentarer har gjort denne Noter 1 Og uden et mål for transgressionen bliver transgressionen træt, og bliver transgressionen for transgressionen Og uden et mål ikke kan være at transgressionen på denne måde, bogen illustrerer at eller ej) lader til at være, (intenderet Budskabet et mål i sig selv. som den have et mål hinsides grænsen, må og skal transgressionen at sige, kan man forstand den I man vil. om søger – en rettethed som selvover sig drejer som en transgression, forsvarer Nordkraft den mest positive transgression skridelsen, og i den forstand bliver til et eksistentialistisk anliggende, og det er især i mang- i romanen er kritisk overfor Steso. I len på selvoverskridelse, at Nordkraft blevet cirkulær som en hund, hans liv er Stesos ikke-transgression - sker der det, at hans transgres der jager sin egen hale og i hans død ud over kører ender i, at han sionen-for-transgressionens-skyld afslut- grænse nås således – en sørgelig kanten, og transgressionens ning af al transgression. quarter

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kvarter akademisk 191 Mikkel Jensen Mikkel Volume 03 En grænse for transgressionen? for En grænse University Press. Press. Street s. 168-69, nr. Kritik væk. blev der middelklasserealismen, og bo 90-94 2011]. 24. juli vbn.aau.dk [Tilgået Aalborg: [online] Literature. - Link: vbn.aau.dk/da/publications/the-ambiguous-valoriza tion-of-madness-in-beat-literature(16b9e1d0-bad6- 11db-934f-000ea68e967b).html Referencer Indiana Bloomington: Role of the Reader, Eco, U., 1984/1979. The Gyldendal. København: Ejersbo, J., 2002. Nordkraft, Park Rochester: Drugs, History of Brief A 1999. A., Escohotado, Danmark. Madsen, O.C., 2005. Nordkraft, ganz oben: Jakob Ejers- Schou, S., 2004. Ganz, ganz unten og ganz, of Madness in Beat Valorization Ambiguous Sørensen, B., 2006.The quarter

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kvarter akademisk akademiskkvarter Volume 03. Fall 2011 • on the web academic quarter

Does the Porn Star Blush? Performing the Real in Post-transgressive Cinema

Charlie Blake has taught Critical and Cultural Theory, Philosophy, Film, Media, Visual Culture and Literature in a number of institutions and was, until recently, head of the Department of Media, Film and Communications at Liverpool Hope Uni- versity. He has recently co-edited a double edition of Ange- laki called ‘Shadows of Cruelty: Sadism, Masochism and the Philosophical Muse,’ and a collection, Beyond Human: From Animality to Transhumanism for Continuum.

Beth Johnson is a lecturer in Film, Television and Visual Theory at Keele University, UK. She is the author of various journal publications such as Angelaki and Screen and recent book chap- ters include ‘Realism, Real Sex and the Experimental Film: Mediating New Erotics in Georges Bataille’s Story of the Eye’ in Realism and the Audiovisual Media (Palgrave Press 2009), and ‘Sex, Psychoanalysis and Sublimation in Dexter’ in Investigating Dexter (I.B.Tauris: 2010)

The power of the false is delicate, allowing itself to be re- captured by frogs and scorpions.... the elements of time require an extraordinary encounter with man in order to produce something new. (Deleuze, 1989, p.147)

At the heart of pornography is sexuality haunted by its own disappearance. (Baudrillard, 1987, p. 40)

In her seminal study of porn as genre, Hardcore: Power, Pleasure and the Frenzy of the Visible, from 1989, Linda Williams opens her chapter on filmic perversion and obscenity with a brief and prepara-

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- - - - 195 Charlie Blake Charlie Beth Johnson Volume 03 Does the PornDoes Star Blush? Last Tango in Paris, noting that it: Last Tango Marcus represents a general perception of and perspective on the a general perception represents Marcus tory digression on Andre Bazin’s theory of realism, which may be which Bazin’s theory of realism, Andre on tory digression the ‘myth of substantiation of what Bazin called understood as a telos or intuited ‘myth’ was based on a projected total cinema.’ This whose effect was to create a cinematic apparatus backwardly gener apparatus backwardly a cinematic was to create whose effect ating a progression towards ever greater verisimilitude to the real: to the real: verisimilitude ever greater towards ating a progression As a of the world. it somewhat mystically, that is, as he put the real, with (and prior to Bazin, observed had number of commentators arts such as painting and thea- important consequences for adjacent – however amor static photography), this was a ‘real’ let alone tre, its origins in the 1890s the moving phous its denotation - that from - or represen in a way that no other expressive image had promised Bazin was approach. begun to had even in history medium tational of the though, and was perfectly aware certainly no ‘naive realist,’ artifice that cinema was simultaneously capable of- and differentiat ed accordingly between filmmakers who emphasized the image it- its spatial and temporal connections and coordinates, self through or Soviet montagists, and those such as the German expressionists material immediately in its more who rather emphasized ‘reality’ so field, of depth certain a with take long a say, combining, by sense, external reality. of a projected to mimic the contours and textures Such figures suchWelles as and Orson the Italian neo-realists, for example, exemplified this mimetic tendency for Williams Bazin. in passing an observation by the historian Stephen also notes here Marcus but aptly that cinema who claimed somewhat provocatively of pornography “was waiting for all along”, was what the genre “bother been a literary pornography had always in since language 1999, p. 185) (Williams, some necessity.” in much of the criti- of sex which has tended to reappear screening its earliest negative, from on porn, whether positive or cal literature commentary on the vogue for supposedly au- recent days to more thentic sexual depiction in film, a vogue which has since the 1990s image both within and beyond so much of the moving colonized such colonization has a of course, as such. Necessarily, the genre thewith do to everything has that prehistory a is it and prehistory, coalescence of a certain and important vision of temporality with Kr notions of authenticity that began to appear in the 1970s. Tanya zywinska, for example, cites and discusses Joan Mellen’s comments on quarter

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- 196 Charlie Blake Charlie Beth Johnson Volume 03 Does the PornDoes Star Blush? century websites such as st (Roehler, 2006) or Shortbus 2006) Atomized (Roehler, nardo Bertolucci, the director, has called ‘the present of ‘the present called has the director, Bertolucci, nardo capture Mellen 1974, 79). The intention to fucking; (cited in as Joan time in the act of sex operates, the suspension of moment of authenticity cinematic pure Mellen says, as ‘a beside which every other experience in the film is deriva- of the book is the search tive’ (1974, 142). The central theme authentic experience that is masked by the affections for to route primary Sex is the life. bourgeois taboos of and 2006, p. 44) (Krzywinska, existential authenticity. ....is an open essay on the realities, emotional highs and on the realities, ....is an open essay on what Ber focuses and a sexual relationship, of lows , the latter of which we will be returning or Beautiful Agony, the latter of which we will be returning YouPorn this exploratory notion to in due course. For the moment, however, of the authentic – which is possibly not quite the same as the more of about the nature – nonetheless raises questions generalized ‘real’ it very closely with notions of cinematic which associate the real time. Leaving to one side for now the psychoanalytically extended and broadly noumenal tradition of the ‘real’ in figures such as Jacques Lacan these questions will then be centrally concerned with with philosophy and non- ontology as much as it is with technology, appearance and disap- with philosophy as much as with erotics, ‘other’than the inaccessible rather pearance post-Freudian the of of with the realm and post-Hegelian traditions, and thus crucially and Accordingly, haptic. as much as that of the scopic or the chronos in what we of the real to deal with this ontologically material core paper will begin to adapt cinema, this have called post-transgressive This idea of authenticity through sex and the depiction of sex on sex of the depiction and sex authenticity through of idea This the emphasis on the moment of cinematic time as the es- and screen – or its authenticity - is somewhat at odds with the sence of its real view of porn as a fundamentally exploitative rather traditional more of self discovery, genre than a vibrantly ontological or existentialist on the harm it may cause stress whether because of the conventional alsois it yet And actors. its to cause may it harm the or viewers its to sex in exploration of real in many ways closer to the contemporary film and on the web as an aspect of a quest for authenticity and self dark- or of a contemporary (whether of a beautiful truth discovery, as such films in especially ness), (Mitchell, 2006)) or the kinds of early 21 (Mitchell, 2006)) or the kinds of early quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - Cin- cen- st 197 Charlie Blake Charlie Beth Johnson has been so thor Volume 03 Does the PornDoes Star Blush? in connection with what in connection with Cinema Two There are, then, two items at this stage, two phrases in the subtitle then, two items at this stage, two phrases are, There tury; an interest in authenticity that takes a number of forms, but has in authenticity that takes a tury; an interest in the same of so-called reality-television parallels with the growth period, in that it will often film ostensibly ‘ordinary’ people rather theto control more give will cases, of number a in and, actors than least appear to do so) than the producer- (or at viewer/consumer, based porn of an earlier era. It is this democratization of the porn image – and especially the moving image, that that can be said to - porn to a post-trangres aura of have transformed the transgressive he calls ‘organic and crystalline narration,’ with ‘the movement im- ‘the narration,’ with and crystalline he calls ‘organic and especially image,’ and with ‘the crystal image’ age and the time to dia- this it will start of the false,’ and through with ‘the powers gram a cartography of filmic desire and sex as a dimension of the of the screen. real post transgressive if this paper that clarification.require The first is thenotion of ‘per what Gilles Deleuze writes about the real in his study of film in film of study his in real the about writes Deleuze Gilles what specifically, more ema One and cinema.’ and the second, that of ‘post-transgressive forming the real’ will We attend to the first in more detail, allowing the second to the illumination that we hope this discussion through from emerge the post- the idea of however, such attention will bring. In brief, transgressive in film sexrelates to the notion outlined in the- intro per se duction to this collection that transgression oughly commodified as to have lost its more revolutionary edge - as - edge revolutionary more its lost have to as commodified oughly Georges on early essay Foucault in his by Michel say, promoted, - to the extent that even the self- to Transgression’ Preface Bataille, ‘A associated Cinema of Transgression consciously confrontational Stark, Casandra Pfahler, Kembra Zedd, Nick as such figures with - Lunch – not to men Kern and Lydia Richard Turner, Beth B, Tommy post-Deleuzian thinker Manuel DeLanda - in the tion the prominent be incorporated into popular1970s and 1980s, can now very easily advertising with no evident sense of the shock to the or culture bourgeoisie that was initially or ‘straight’ culture or ‘establishment’ flagged up by this kind of quasi-modernist avant garde expression. the transition has been paralleled a fortiori by porn especially, With sexual imagery of all kinds and accessibility of hardcore the spread aon the web, available in theory to anyone with a phone, let alone concern with au- to an intriguing has led This tablet or computer. 21 the in production pornographic of areas certain in thenticity quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - - - 198 Charlie Blake Charlie Beth Johnson Volume 03 Does the PornDoes Star Blush? In terms of the performance of the real, then, and without getting then, and without of the real, In terms of the performance In the case of Magritte’s contradictory pipe, then, image and sive hybrid of playfulness, fetishism, empowerment and (ironically) and (ironically) fetishism, empowerment sive hybrid of playfulness, impor which in itself indicates something ontological exhaustion, tant about the reconfiguration of thereality of sex thatnew tech- commodifica pleasure, of discourses attendant their and nologies discipline have engendered. tion and consumer debates on the in metaphysically charged too deeply embroiled empiricism, positivism and theterm to materiality, and its relation noumenal, suffice it to say is thata sense there in provisional which (or its cognates in the authentic or the gen- we can consider the real - to the false (or the inauthen uine) it in relation prior to complicating or tic artificial) as we intend to do here via the thoughtof Rene Magritte, Foucault and Deleuze. In the fundamen- Jean Baudrillard, a cinematic text can be deemedtal consideration of whether or not for example, it is useful to begin opening up one particu- ‘realist,’ historicallyMagritte’s acknowledging by perspective valuable larly - representa – are actually images visual what of assertion influential – as he sug- or similitudes rather than realities tions as resemblances below the image of a in his infamous statement gests, notably, pipe beneath this image, and paradoxically, 1926, declaring from that: pipe” (This is not a pipe.) This moment of“Ceci n’est pas une tautology or contradiction or paradox has led post-Sur apparent writers realist such butas alsoFoucault morespecifically, indi- rectly, we (and here to consider and argue Deleuze and Baudrillard, for a gradual transformation over-simplify) must, of course, greatly in origins mimetic uncomfortably its from image Western the of - similitude, verisimili PlatoAristotle - via moments of iconicity, and to thence and itself, expression to - affirmation and impression tude, simulacra, simulation, sensation and economies of pure the realms The impor hyperreality notoriously termed and what Baudrillard - tance of Magritte’s image for Foucault in particular is that it indi - marked previous process historical cates the completion of a recent ly by Paul Klee’s explosion of the distinction between the previously and images, capacities and functions of words referential divergent - Kandinsky’s move beyond the geometry of rep and next by Wassily to a geometry of form and expression and resemblance resentation (Foucault, 1982, 33-35) . as the image part of yet the text is and evidently distinct, text are quarter

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kvarter akademisk 199 Charlie Blake Charlie Beth Johnson Volume 03 Does the PornDoes Star Blush? repetition, which ranges over it. Resem- repetition,

removes a dimension from real space, and real a dimension from l’oeil removes trompe Resemblance serves representation, which rules over it; which rules Resemblance serves representation, similitude serves blance predicates itself upon a model it must return to to itself upon a model it must return blance predicates as an in- the simulacrum similitude circulates and reveal; definite andreversible relation of the similar to the simi- (Foucault, 1982, 55) lar. The this accounts for its seduction. Pornography by contrast the latter it makes sex, of to the space dimension a adds – and this accounts for the absence than the real real more is not sexual vo- of seduction... Pornographic voyeurism - and its perdi yeurism, but a voyeurism of representation - tion, a dizziness born of the loss of the scene and the irrup 1990, 34-35) tion of the obscene. (Baudrillard - of simu the realm of the text, gesturing towards the image is part has puts it (although, as Martin Jay As Foucault lacra to come. in modern- study of the denigration of vision noted in his seminal this reading) challenged thought, Magritte himself continental ist 1993, p. 400 n.): (Jay, For Baudrillard, (both building upon and exceeding Foucault), the For Baudrillard, than the play and similitude is less between resemblance agon here terms As ever with Baudrillard, of seduction and pornography. have an extended set of such as ‘seduction’ and ‘pornography’ meaning into new zones ofconnotations that take their everyday - re and development a ways many in is here Seduction operation. finement of his earlier privileging of the symbolic over the semi- an emphasis on the play of otic in capitalist exchange systems; appearances to be taken seriously over the as this indicates a real which in by pornography, represented obsessive drive for the real rather as obscene becomes an excess of desire its zeal for the real than a lack as in the psychoanalytic tradition, thereby configuring , inAs he notes in Seduction itself. rather than the real the hyperreal a chapter titled ‘Stereo-Porno’: simula- between here opposition partial and tactical Baudrillard’s tion and seduction (the latter of which is also put in tension with the quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - 200 Charlie Blake Charlie Beth Johnson Volume 03 ; intimacy and expression appear to transgress the appear to transgress Does the PornDoes Star Blush? Georges Bataille’s Story Bataille’s 1999), Georges (Breillat, supposedly ‘realist’ conventions of pornography in that they show conventions of pornography supposedly ‘realist’ to articulate and point to an event in which of sex in order the real - genuine communication occurs between the ‘actors’ that has reso - an audience. Instead of being mere arousing nance beyond merely then, such texts point to a post- representations, ly transgressive of the possibility expression and post-representational transgressive sex in which in meaning or sig- to screening in relation of the real nificance is engendered by a pattern of more broadly cultural, historical, social and psychological elements connected and organised by notions of the authentic and the false, intimacy and expression. The two significant active elements are here simulacra and production) emphasises the ways in which the real ways in which the real emphasises the and production) simulacra it has inlate modernity to the extent that in has been overexposed the other Seduction, on pornographic hyperreal. itself become the through which false, the of artifice, of appearances, of play a is hand, - boundaries – its transgres across prevarications its hesitations and at the same time the real towards – gestures sive vibrational patterns could be argued it Yet, the real. as it can never be or substitute for cinema of sex, what was formerly por that in the post-transgressive of what moved into the realm nographic has in some subtle way describes as seduction by virtue of its acceptance of the Baudrillard as such and celebration of the false as at least impossibility of the real and the authentic. Thus, the possibility of the real towards a gesture explicit cinema highly of recent with the veritable proliferation whether in film itself or through other screens, commodities that aesthetic and popu- current market themselves in line with various it would appear that an aporia emerges; lar philosophies of the real, are on screen of real-sex expressions a blind-spot in which recent able to transgress hitherto pornographic classifications of porno intimacy authentic and somehow embody real/genuine/ pleasure the towards but as a gesture in the mediated event that they present, is – whether this gesture of the real than a representation rather real Such itself. and the camera between people or between a subject texts as, for example, Romance 2001) and Shortbus of the Eye (McElhinney, intimacy being essential, for whether or not the intimate is co-deter parallel life to elements of it undoubtedly has a minate with the real, to relation complicated a has course, of Expression, authentic. the especially in the as it does to the concept of representation, the real, quarter

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kvarter akademisk 201 Charlie Blake Charlie Beth Johnson Volume 03 Does the PornDoes Star Blush? An Intimate History of Hu- his An Intimate History in Zeldin Theodore to According In terms of pornographic film, and as Baudrillard has suggested, work of Deleuze as he draws upon Baruch Spinoza, but which lies as he draws upon Baruch work of Deleuze that we will of this article. It is thus to the intimate beyond the scope the to and false the to thence and real the to relation its and first, look post-transgressive. overlapping form have been three there manity, within modernity and expressions of intimacy between men and women specifically. The first form of intimacy in early modernity was concerned with cherished objects and do- places to retreat, and objects, with space demanded a second kind of intimacy Then the romantics mesticity. in which lovers could, sexual or through intercourse exchange, find form of third A level. an affective on souls of union of kind some amo- accompanying the purely intimacy noted by Zeldin is about at theoretically between lovers, which passionate charge and rous bond- for communication of form significant other no requires least that does indeed demand communication intellec- ing, with a third This is a form of intimacy between lov- tually as much as affectively. ers who share tastes in art or film or music or literature or travel as and enjoy each other’smuch as they share This is the form of bodies. specifi- most and reciprocity and attention demands that intimacy 324-326). But it is the second partnership (Zeldin, 1998, pp cally, in the and then drained of affect form of intimacy which is simulated how- does, sense second the in Sex film. pornographic conventional start ever, to move from simulation to seduction in certain films in of new allowing for the emergence the 1970s, as we will see below, akind of intimacy of both hope and exhaustion, but most certainly kind of sharing, even if it does it times stray into the contested zones and in spite of as in BDSM. Here, of perversion or consensual cruelty in certain in terms of intimacy, at least lack of affect, apparent an examples, what is often happening is that intimacy is shifting from or simulation to seduc- describes as pornography what Baudrillard tion. Here, the performance of real sex is expressed as a significant contradistinc- in expressed and moreover, communication of form to go beyond the as recourse traditional pornography, tion to more as a orgasms overt fakery of spectacular cum shots and screaming – as seduction. real the play of appearances gesturing towards this mode of seductive realism is undoubtedly significant- –repre - arous as well as the real of the actors sented in the supposed arousal quarter

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kvarter akademisk 202 Charlie Blake Charlie Beth Johnson Volume 03 In the Realm of the Sensesthe of Realm the In Does the PornDoes Star Blush? (1972), Story of O (1975), A Clockwork Orange (1971). Clockwork A despite Yet, these specific New ways of re-presenting (as well as expressing) the real of sex the real (as well as expressing) New ways of re-presenting screens screens achieving a significant aesthetic and artistic acceptance for sex which blurs the boundaries between ability to present their cinema, it is important to note that the and soft-core mainstream hard-hitting elements in these films are achieved through an equal affiliation andreference to direct cultural hard-core theory and fan- day and present What is distinct then between these works tasy. a is sex), of appropriation hard-core a cases, in (besides, film real-sex that is – a realism contemporary attempt to convey aesthetic realism naturalistic. In distinction, Story of O, for example, locates itself from (1976) and (1976) - medi are penetration of shots close-up Classically, spectators. al of taking place on of the intercourse reality to testify to the ated in order pornographic filmscreen. Simultaneously tendshowever, be- stylis or character de- with little or no focus on plot tically uncomplicated utilises conven- which has existed as a genre velopment but rather, ‘cum exhibitionism’ and ‘raw animal desire,’ tions of ‘talking dirty,’ porno conventions pre-existing to adhere and authenticate to shots’ specifically, more or, then, Sex-on-screen expectations. audience and for physical has most dominantly been shown on-screen, real-sex Due to a lack of character depthrather than psychological titillation. (consciously) one-dimensionalin conventional porno, actors appear to fuck. While the pene- up and ready obviously dressed - they are authentic in the physical sense, the conventions asso- tration is real, often ex- to the spectator are ciated with showing their pleasure over time, which become, unoriginal moans and groans via pressed so as to signify the forthcoming climax or to indicate a audible more change of position, partner or scene. inevitably bound by and understood in the context of of course, are, legal and aesthetic debates which have been utilised past theoretical, between and situate major lines of demarcation segregate to in order and ‘deprave’ and arouse to intended are that materials explicit The inten- way. a non-arousing in explicit content those that present linked to aes- or not, has long been to arouse, tion of sex on screen since and low culture concerning high thetic and moral arguments the inception of film. Certain have, screens as however, Wil- Linda the 1970s to Act’ been able, from liams notes in ‘Cinema and the Sex examples including such a stringent distinction, partially transgress Paris in Tango Last quarter

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03 Does the PornDoes Star Blush? Acting implies artifice, being precisely what one is not, to create though drawing on what one has been in order ‘act’ in a scene in which To an appearance that is credible. en- to really moments, explicit these in the action is sex is, 2001, p.22) gage in sex. (Williams, A distinction between these films and modern real-sex cinema can cinema real-sex modern and films these between distinction A Williams observation raises once again the contemporary hesita- Williams sex on real tion that exists in both the actor and the viewer where is screen concerned, and it is the from question of the flow of time of the false and the au- to the production as image and its relation thentic as well as to the flow of images in film, that this hesitation - but never prop It is a hesitation signalled by Baudrillard emerges. because he fails to deal in any sig- in part at least erly developed, pornographically the in time of image central the with way nificant the the first line as fantasy: ‘One day O’s lover takes her to a place Montsouris, Monceau – Parc – Parc before they’ve never gone sur road along a luminous They stroll there. around somewhere and is approaching Twilight forests. by dark, dangerous rounded deliberatelyAlongside this narrative which air.’ autumn is in the ‘One day…’ of fairy story telling via the opening taps into a schema in - time’ a upon ‘Once - Bunuel by echoed address opening (an Chien Andalou) and the underspecified setting, the on-screen focus couple, non-diegetic music and brilliant sunlight of a well-dressed in The scene is also shrouded points to a lack of consensual reality. mist indicating a fantasy setting. thus be drawn on two levels: thefirstly, sexrepresented in these older films is notreal. the Secondly, temporal distance between day eradicates acts/scenes in the 1970s and present transgressive some of the transgressive status of the films if they the in are instrumental considered been have films such this, Despite context. of out films today – films in whichof desire making anew real-sex process In- is not always spectacular. signals excess. This excess however to a post-trans- but pertains not to a transgression deed, excess here gressive status. Actors in the real-sex films discussed in this article – to really to go beyond transgression sex as recourse engage in real status a new the post-transgressive engage in an event which signals notes: As Linda Williams type of sex on screen. quarter

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kvarter akademisk 204 Charlie Blake Charlie Beth Johnson Volume 03 Does the PornDoes Star Blush? Henri Bergson, and it is Henri Bergson, What happens as a result of the cataclysm of the Second World of the Second World of the cataclysm What happens as a result hyperreal and the seductively false-real. One very useful way to to way useful very One false-real. seductively the and hyperreal Deleuze’s notions fully is through more illuminate this hesitation im- image and the crystalline the false, the organic of the powers of age, as he derives these ideas from his reflections on cinema and of duration, of the philosopher his reading Deleuze’s and centrally, turn. Here, will now that we these ideas to thesis has to do with the distinction he makes between provocative and the “time-image,” as what he calls the “movement image” these two concepts define and provide titles for the two cinema movement image, and in es- books themselves. In terms of the sence, Deleuze asserts that the cinema of the first fifty years,from image embodied not in move- 1895 to 1945, is dominated by the whether one is looking at ment but as movement. In other words, Carl like directors or Keaton Buster or Chaplin Charlie of films the or indeed early pornog- Fritz Lang or even early Disney, or Dreyer image is on the intervals be- the focus on the movement raphy, these intervals and actions tween actions and the ways in which viewer with the moving imagecombine to connect the brain of the This is a connection between brain of the real. as a representation which that Deleuze calls the “”sensory-motor-schema,” and screen to which we as viewers relate is, for him, the mechanism through the external world as series of images organised into a fluxion acts to guarantee our unity: a unity which, in some way or another, move- whether external or internal. The or reality, of truth sense dealsit when even reassurance this with us provides image ment is an underlying sense because there violence or atrocity, with war, time and movement. unity to its manipulation of space, of organic in form in that it tells linear It is a unity that is also predominantly a into together binds it that in organic being as well as story, a viewer that whatever its the whole. It also, for Deleuze, reminds - suggested by the movement image is the re this reality problems, - than Vol ality of what he calls (following Gottfried Leibniz more conveyed by what he the best of all possible worlds: a reality taire) narration. calls organic Auschwitz-Belsen and Hi- and its seemingly cosmic atrocities, War is undoubtedly Eu- (and Deleuze’s perspective roshima-Nagasaki, that in no way invalidates its power) - is that though here, rocentric this sense our world being “the best of all possible worlds” – even quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - 205 Charlie Blake Charlie Beth Johnson Volume 03 Does the PornDoes Star Blush? , forthcom- Spectralities, Sonic , defines for him the transition between Hamlet This idea of time being out of joint, that Deleuze (like Jacques that Deleuze (like Jacques This idea of time being out of joint, potentially - collapses. The time image emerges accordingly and in accordingly The time image emerges potentially - collapses. and thethe brain between relationship a from to this crisis response - on a linear se and actions no longer rely in which intervals screen is less in which cinema a relationship indicating the real; quence with than representation its and movement the with concerned then, we also move from the time image, With consciousness itself. is a to what he calls crystalline narration. There narration, organic that might be said about this transition, (and it is, of deal great in essence it’s about the differ course, highly challengeable), but the films of John and Ford the ence filmsbetween, of say, David between Stagecoach and Lost Highway. Of course, linear nar Lynch, narration and image still thrive in spite of the rative and organic of crystalline narratives – and sometimes in the same emergence of Lady Welles’ Orson as crystalline narratives and images. movie significant a at duality that of example perfect a possibly is Shanghai in Citizen Kane released with Welles’ historical moment. Similarly, “carried away by the undulations we are: that Deleuze notes 1941, wave , time gets out of joint, and we enter into temporal- of a great (TI 186) ity as a state of permanent crisis.” - of Marx, and for comparable though onto Derrida in his Spectres Blake’s see – ends dissonant logically from ing) borrows diegetic unified “a from transition a image; time and movement the and rational spatio-temporal coherence world conveyed through or the Jean-Luc Godard” editing” to the “jump cuts of cause-effect - Alain Resnais (Stam, 2000, 260) But eroti “elegant mismatches” of in that they are regard unusual in this cism and pornography are and of fantasy rather than reality, based on the temporal structure reels, pornographic first the since case the been has this presumably the first pornographic film images, as they coincidedpretty much with the birth of cinema itself. The time of fantasy is often one of of as certain suspense, re-visitations repetitions, loops, recursions, to increase locus or movement or sensation or image, and revisions it. Is sexual fan- intensity or possibly to draw it out or re-dramatize And is possibly both? or crystalline in this sense? Or tasy organic the gender of fantasy – of the fantasists – of the scenario - of the alone the porn star - sig- - of the pornographer let depicted orgasm Also, isnificant it here? still accurate to make this distinction if we quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 206 Charlie Blake Charlie Beth Johnson Volume 03 Does the PornDoes Star Blush? By this, we mean the ways in which new technologies havetechnologies new which in ways the mean we this, By Porn clips and movies have traditionally been understood as fan- Porn clips and movies have traditionally concerned is recall, image, we may For Deleuze, the movement examine the short reels of early cinema, of striptease in the silent early cinema, of striptease in the of reels examine the short on the of contemporary pornography movie, and the development have in common is the One thing they undoubtedly do internet? the full length movie, replaced has increasingly short clip which and similar sites. web with the rise of you-porn particularly on the and disconti- raise questions about continuities So this does indeed cinema, and in particular, nuities between early and contemporary does what he distinction really questions about whether Deleuze’s claims it does? - rather than for art or re tasies designed primarily for masturbation via scopic passion, voyeuris- alism, (historically male masturbation of the that is, than representations tic power and fetishism), rather, sex in the cinema, on rise of real best of all possible worlds. But the on the web, as well as the video and its equivalents, and increasingly not to extreme, been considered normalisation of what would have of porn, and producers directors mention the evident rise of female the power of the authenticity, all raise a number of questions about - of re the power of the false, which connect with the nature and real theparticularly and generally, more cinema fabrication in and ality the recoding through expressed logic and temporality of fantasy as - sex in cinematic time. The cru and dissemination of images of real lies with what we have called the democratization cial element here porn. of - allowed non-specialists to make their own porn movies, and in do - only some of the argu - undermined not ing so, have - to a degree but also, about the ments about exploitation in the porn industry, necessary objectification of the body in porn. movement as such, but of ef- or re-presenting not with representing fectively being movement. Images in this sense are part of the flow of life. the With time image, this flow is continued, but loses its lin- its narrative context, its spatial- temporal position and linear earity, An essential distinction between the parallel notions of or causality. is ganic and crystalline descriptions or narrations is that the organic imaginary, the and real the between play a with primarily concerned schema into a broader the crystalline absorbs this polarity whereas too to digress not going are actual. We involving the virtual and the much into the many debates about these contested and problematic quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 207 Charlie Blake Charlie Beth Johnson Volume 03 Does the PornDoes Star Blush? and the imaginary, the actual and the the actual and the and the imaginary,

- that is assumed is recog description, the real In an organic – by the it is interrupted nizable by its continuity – even if it and by the laws whichcontinuity shots which establish simultaneities and permanences: determine successions, legal, actual linkages, of localizable relations, it is a regime causal and logical connections.... - the recol the unreal, ...It is clear that this system includes A but as contrast..... and the imaginary, lection, the dream film may be entirely made up of dream- images; these their capacity for perpetual disconnection and will retain images. (Deleuze, real change which contrasts them with 1989, p. 126-127) in a circuit now combined The two modes of existence are real the where virtual, chase after each other, exchange their roles and be- exchange their roles virtual, chase after each other, come indiscernible. (Deleuze, 1989, p.127) and continues: – the regime modes of existence in the organic thus two are There on the other hand: In the crystalline regime, and the imaginary. real terms here, but on one level at least what it means is that crystalline but on one level terms here, be ever could that images the all to access virtual has narration of thought itself, including the image or un-imagined, imagined for image another merely is brain the (for brain the of image the philosophy of the concepts with associated images the Deleuze), say that of cinema or video. This is not to as much as those virtual of potentialities, or potential images,ity is like an infinite storeroom - store that for precondition the as understood it may be but rather, as image. Deleuze writes as follows: actualization room’s Leading to what Deleuze refers to as the crystal image and the as- to as the Leading to what Deleuze refers and draw- to the latter, cendancy of the powers of the false. In regard ing on the literary and philosophical writings of Friedrich Nietzsche, that crys- Deleuze argues Luis Borges, Jorges Herman Melville and fundamentally about appearances rather than are talline regimes quarter

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- 208 Charlie Blake Charlie Beth Johnson Volume 03 Does the PornDoes Star Blush? To be individuating, it distinguishes and characterizes each be individuating, it distinguishes and characterizes each To person be socializing, it manifests a social role To or communicating, either between two or more be relational To people or within an individual (the harmony between one’s char acter and the role one is playing, in Ronald Bogue’s exegesis) one is playing, in Ronald acter and the role For Deleuze, both alone and in his work with Felix Guattari, theFor Deleuze, both alone and in his realities, about faking and forging. as he puts it, The time image, about faking and forging. realities, have been converted and the real truth in which belongs to an order into artifice by a focus on time extracted and abstracted from the flow of time itself. Inother the words, time image de-chronologizes the image and the edit, and narrative itself, to emphasize instead the edit, and narrative itself, to emphasize the image and the optical and sonic dimensions of film as its essence, rather than the representation of the real. There are potential however, conflicts in than when dealing never more this vision of post-war cinema, and aleatory web-cams, or more with the rise of short clips on websites, of form warts-and-all a cases, some on provide, to attempt which whip- fucking, masturbating, bedroom my in me is ‘This realism: putting and me looking bored, ping, going down on someone, etc... websites with associated ups close the Specifically, etc’. make-up, on to the to belong more at least initially, such as Beautiful Agony appear, and of the movement image than the irrealism attempted realism the time image. But is this the case? of irreality In the first bookissue ofcould cine- be to argued on centre faciality. Image,” (which he the “Affection ma, for example, Deleuze talks of with the close up). In general, the face or associates very strongly socializes us, and like the image offaciality is what individuates and Orwell’s 1984, the face is a form (or rather, in George Big Brother ab- The cinematic close up, however, constituent) of despotic power. in brief: its conventional functions, which are, stracts the face from 1 2 3 The close-up deterritorializes the face from these functions and these functions and The close-up deterritorializes the face from allowing it to express coordinates, spatio-temporal it up from frees from momentarily abstracted feeling, pure power, pure affect, pure and discourses of power that perme- and the structures social roles and the eroticism So in terms of pornographic ate these social roles. to other forms of the image, the close-up is fundamentally different con- the more from emancipated of sexual depiction or expression, quarter

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kvarter akademisk 209 Charlie Blake Charlie Beth Johnson Volume 03 Does the PornDoes Star Blush? . Interestingly, too, the full name of the Beautiful Agony. Interestingly, dedicated to the beauty of human orgasm. This may be dedicated to the beauty of human orgasm. yet the only nu- thing you have ever seen, the most erotic people where That’s up. neck the from is contains it dity naked. truly are We begin this project by asking the question “Does the Porn by asking the question “Does the Porn begin this project We ventional demands of sex in the moving image, and can arguably and can arguably of sex in the moving image, ventional demands both depersonalize the the body, flesh on the screen, andreal-ize the ‘real’ of the the actor/consumer, affective-flow of the actual- can, for which subjects. Thus faciality here, ized harmony between - the despotic re on the one hand indicate Deleuze and Guattari, and their and corporate micro-fascisms organic gime of various as the gaze of power ( Deleuze & Guattari, 1988 , 167- precursors the close up, the porno-graphic 191), might also be able, through these from to emancipate desire close up, post-trangressive and temporali- instead with emergent despotic constraints and align it as subjectivities, with the real ties, with molecular and immanent - between re transgression a perpetual and perpetually oscillating gimes in the crystal image. question, as this is a rhetorical Star Blush?” In some ways this blushing or and fabrication than about reality article is far more flushing per se, (interesting though the ‘blush of thereal’ most that the real-imaginary if we take on board certainly is). However, dialectic is subsumed by the virtual in crystalline narration, and is fake anyway. in the crystal image, then everything especially story line that as the minimal just as fake in this sense are Orgasms clip, the clumsy acting, self- might feasibly be attached to a porn hand, other the On affect. of hyperbolization or consciousness seems the ‘democratization of pornography’ what we have called to at least to a notion of authenticity and reality to work according kind to a new the false of the powers attaches which degree, some at the very least!. These are, authenticity as affect of authenticity, the situations sex, however unreal people having real after all, real example of this as mentioned above is might be. One interesting the website site is Beautiful Agony: Facettes de la Petite Mort. This is a site dedi- people experienc- ‘real’ a collection of clips of cated to screening - erot Beautiful Agony advertises itself as a democratic, ing orgasm. ic and contemporary site quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - 210 Charlie Blake Charlie Beth Johnson Volume 03 Does the PornDoes Star Blush? http://www.beautifulagony.com/public/ Frame the shot like you see on the site - full face, no nu- site like you see on the the shot Frame Make a point of view above the nose. from preferably dity, a nearby window have good light. Daylight from you sure side, be to one it should lamp, a using you’re If best. is camera, so the light isclose to you but not too close to the your face. It will need to be a bright lamp graded across to “indoor” (all cam- and set the white balance manually ormusic any have don’t Please control). this have corders Besides, a copyright problem. the TV playing as it creates as well as the eyes, soAgony is an experience for the ears the noise down. Capture try and keep the background us see all of your idio- warm up, and the cool down. Let reality, in only interested syncrasies and rituals, but we’re or exaggerations. Let the not performances, impressions, can talk to the camera before, You on at the end. tape run as long as you need, we’ll if you like. Take during or after, edit the tape. ( main.php) While on the one hand this site holds a place of interest in that is ap- While on the one hand this site holds a place of interest rather to ‘reality’ pears dedicated to the democratization of sex and rather than than performance, Beautiful Agony also insists that they, over footage. This cer those submitting, have full editorial control Focusing on faciality, this site also explicitly demands that submit- that demands also explicitly site this faciality, on Focusing site the Poignantly, camcorder. digital a on filmed be must clips ted and unedited. footage submitted must be ‘raw’ also states that all as follows: for submission read Further instructions power and de- control’, the question of ‘real tainly problematises further issue can also be found in the site’s insistence that A mocracy. instruction This different’. takes that are ‘two all contributors submit , again calls into question the mission statement of Beautiful Agony perfor than rather reality, in ‘interest self-proclaimed its specifically mance’. While concentrating on the face rather than the genitals of performance,that suggests demand take’ ‘two the contributors, the part of are pleasure of extreme facial performances and in particular, to signify the ‘real,’ In addition, while the close up appears the real. real the edit, and specifically init theis depictionalso, ofthrough - sex, privileging the optical and the sonic over the haptic or verisi quarter

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kvarter akademisk 211 Charlie Blake Charlie Beth Johnson Negotiations 1972- Negotiations Volume 03 Does the PornDoes Star Blush? Translated by Brian Singer. Montreal: New Montreal: by Brian Singer. Translated Translated by Brian Massumi. London: The Athlone The London: Brian Massumi. by Translated Translated by Martin Joughin. New York: Columbia UP, Columbia UP, York: by Martin Joughin. New 1990. Translated 1995. Plateaus. sand 1988. Press, by Peggy Kamuf. New ning, & the New International. Translated Routledge, 1994. York: 1983. ley: U of California P, ledge, 2000. 1993. Thought. Berkeley: U of California P, French World Perspectives, 1990. World by Ding& Kuang- Nai-fei Hsing. Chen. Body Invaders: Panic Sex York: New Arthur & Marylouise Kroker. in America. Edited by Perspectives, 1987. New World 1989. Athlone Press, The linson and Robert Gelata. London: References J. Seduction. Baudrillard, militude, and in that sense falling back into a logic of fantasy whichthat sense falling back into a logic militude, and in techno- amidst the discontinuities of the of continuity acts as a force and the evo- developments in cinematic history logical and cultural to the often equally the short reel image from lution of the moving can be It is in this sense that the post-transgressive brief digital clip. age of as an acceptance in Baudrillard’s most clearly understood often now one and – who are simulation by both actors and viewers subjectively of the real the same - of authenticity as an experience and as an aspect of the power of the false in which truth expressed by time. subverted forever are reality Capitalism & Schizophrenia. Vol. II: A Thou- II: A Vol. Capitalism & Schizophrenia. Deleuze, G. and Guattari, F. of Mour- Derrida, J. Specters of Marx: The State of the Debt, the Work by James Harkness. Berke- Foucault, M. This is not a Pipe. Translated - Feminist Reading. London: Rout Challenge: A Baudrillard’s Grace, V. Century in Twentieth M. Downcast Eyes: The Denigration of Vision Jay, 2006. UP, Columbia York: New Sex and the Cinema. Krzywinska, T. Baudrillard, J. The Year 2000 Has Already Happened. Translated Happened. Translated Already 2000 Has Year J. The Baudrillard, Bogue, R. Deleuze and Cinema. London: Routledge, 2003. 2011. Berg, Oxford: Deleuze & Cinema: The Film Concepts. Colman, F. - by Hugh Tom Image. Translated The Time Two: Deleuze, G. Cinema in Societies, Control on Deleuze, G. Postscript quarter

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212 Charlie Blake Charlie Beth Johnson London: W.W. W.W. London: Vintage, 1998. Vintage, Volume 03 Does the PornDoes Star Blush? . Durham: Duke UP, 2008. Duke UP, . Durham: (Nagisa Ôshima, Japan/France, 1976) (Nagisa Ôshima, Japan/France, Power, Pleasure and the “Frenzy of the Visible”. the Visible”. of “Frenzy and the Pleasure Power, (Orson Welles, US, 1947) (Orson Welles, Screening Sex Screening Ontology. Political of Absent Centre Subject: The Ticklish The Los Angeles: U of California P, 1999. U of California P, Angeles: Los Norton & Co, 2007. 1974. Horizon Press, London: Verso, 1999. London: Verso, : The First Complete English Edition. English : The First Complete J. Ecrits Lacan, Žižek, S. Žižek, Oxford: Blackwell, 2000. Oxford: Stam, R. Film Theory: An Introduction. London: An Intimate History of Humanity. Zeldin, T. Williams, L. Cinema and the Sex Act in Cineaste, 27:1, (2001). L. Cinema and the Sex Williams, L. Williams, New York – New York Sexuality in the New Film – and their Mellen, J. Women 2011. London: Penguin, Orwell, G. 1984. : L. Hardcore Williams, Filmography Clockwork Orange (Stanley Kubrick, UK/US, 1971) A 2006) Germany, Atomized (Oskar Roehler, US, 1941) Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, US, 2003) R. McElhinney, Story of the Eye (Andrew Bataille’s Georges In the Realm of the Senses Lady of Shanghai Bertolucci, Italy/France, 1972) In Paris (Bernardo Last Tango France/US, 1997) Lost Highway (David Lynch, France, 1999) Romance (Catherine Breillat, Mitchell, US, 2006) Shortbus (John Cameron US, 1939) Stagecoach (John Ford, Germany/Canada, 1975) The Story of O (Just Jaeckin, France/West Un chien andalou (Luis Buñuel, France, 1929) quarter

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Transgression as Tragic Typology O’Neill’s Mourning Becomes Electra and Kushner’s Angels in America

Mia Rendix Assistant professor, PhD. in Comperative literature. Researches American literature with special focus on tragedy. Currently involved in a European project on copyright and digitalization, where she works on Bildung and copyright.

The English playwright and critic Howard Brenton pinpoints the scholarly discussion of tragedy and the tragic in his review of Ter- ry Eagleton’s Sweet Violence: The Idea of the Tragic from 2002: ”the doomed search for the holy grail of literary criticism, a definition of tragedy” (Guardian, 2002)1. Ever since the Greeks presented their tragedies at the annual Dionysos Festivals, the two concepts have been doomed to lead an ambigious existence: Tragedy and the tragic bear an aura of aristocracy, the sublime, the noble, the elevated. But it is also, perhaps, the most controversial and de- bated literary genre of all. Literary critics, scolars and philosophers from both sides of the ideological spectre declared the genre altmodisch and anachronistic when God was declared dead by Nietzsche et al. The conservatives talked with great sadness of the death of tragedy:

”The difference is that conservative critics believe, along with Nietzsche, that tragedy has died since we no longer believe in fate and the gods. This they lament: a proper appreciation of the darkness of human hearts has “ruin- ously yielded in our time to chance, contingency, democracy, rationality, religious disenchantment and a callow progressivism”. As Steiner puts it: “At the touch of Hume

Volume 03 213 214 endi x Mia R Volume 03 ypology ragic T as T Transgression . This article suggests that the American trag- American that the article suggests This . 2 The left usually favours an anti-tragic mode. Bakhtin, theThe left usually favours an anti-tragic in the 1960s, is against of alternative radical theatre guru ainto world the of tightening the harmonising, premature lies in the open-end- He believes truth metaphysical view. - “the pro plot expresses ed, the “carnivalesque”: a tragic (Brenton, found crime of all self-asserting individuality”. 2002, ibid.) and Voltaire the noble or hideous visitations which had visitations which had the noble or hideous Voltaire and blood cried out forAgamemnon’s since haunted the mind tawdry refuge or took altogether disappeared vengeance 2002, ibid.) of melodrama.” (Brenton, among the gaslight THE APOCALYPSE AS TRAGIC-THEOLOGICAL MODUS AND THE APOCALYPSE A TRANSGRESSIVE TERMINOLOGY MYTHOS: OF TRUTH prophets to the books of the four great ‘apocalypse’ refers The word and The Revelation, the last book of The New in The Old Testament - re is connected to the expectation of the great The word Testament. ic drama must be read and interpreted as a highly and individual and interpreted ic drama must be read tragic in two acclaimed works: original vision of tragedy and the Mourning becomes Electra (1931) by Eugene O’Neill and Angels in as a literary genre Tragedy Kushner. America (1992-1993) by Tony per se a transgressive and the tragic as ontological terminology are around typology and modus. The main perspective is centered I two-fold: First, is perspective the and apocalypse biblical the on O’Neill’s and attempt to modify traditional scholarly readings Kushner’s pessimistic. Second, I destillate an dramas as purely the destruction that transcends aesthetic vision of transgression as well as the- - structurally and culminates in a reconstruction tragedy and American the exceptional that constitutes - matically the tragic. So far, however, research traditions have not focused on the fun- on the have not focused traditions research however, So far, and definitions European-Greek the between differences damental the American dittos Contrary to this we find the radicals, the left-wing liberals, who and with the tragic genre and trouble always had their problems modus: quarter

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kvarter akademisk 215 endi x Mia R Volume 03 . 3 ypology ragic T as T Transgression And I saw a New Heaven and a New Earth: for the first passedHeaven away;and andthe there first Earth were sea. was no more The monumental The monumental culmination is another textual element that is The apocalypse is a vision, a prophecy of the end of times, where where times, of end the of prophecy a vision, a is apocalypse The before from movement and predetermined Also, an irreversible recognizable, it is the thematic dénouement. After the destruction After the destruction it is the thematic dénouement. recognizable, the tone of the text shifts significantly - I quote from the famous passage of Revelation’s chapter 21: demption, which its Greek etymology supports: “revelation”. But supports: “revelation”. etymology its Greek demption, which meaning in the Latin and much darker, another, the apocalypse has sinful. Hitherto, the Lat- the nihilation of the version: “destruction”, original the out levels it that find I but applied, most the is version in the dialectical meaning I maintain Therefore, word. ambiguity of the of the following, the main characteristics in the term. In the inherent presented. American apocalypse are restore finally and faithful the deliver sinners, the punish will God Esaia, Ezekiel, are prophets the original paradise. The four great voice and vision chosen to speak the and Daniel, who are Jeremiah divine the is apocalypse the of characteristic first the Thus, God. of unique and alone. The sa- individual, who is chosen and isolated, is the tragedy’s top priority and the primary element subject cred that drives the tragic plot. An in an apocalyptic tragedy: to now to after is always present has been contaminated by theoriginal idyllic space of Eden, which the day of doom is predicted sins of the unfaithful. Consequently, an anticipatory language as “for the day of their calamity through signifies, as the word is at hand” (Revelation, 16:10); a cloudy day, be full of darkness and confu- when the kingdom of the beast will “And the smoke of their terror: pure sion and the consequences are day or night for is no rest There torment rises for ever and ever. those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who But the degeneration the mark of his name” (ibid., 12:14). receives and horrific destruction is necessary as a purging, a ritual cleans- Emerson writes in his philosopher Ralph Waldo American ing. The chance,/Andbad “Come 1844: from Tragic” the “On essay lyrical it art and length,/Itself we teach we add to it our strength,/And o’er us to advance” (Emerson, 1844) quarter

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And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; andeyes; their from tears all away wipe shall God And I make said, Behold, And He that sat upon the throne Alpha and I am And He said unto me, It is done. And I John saw the Holy City, New Jerusalem, com- New Jerusalem, the Holy City, And I John saw saying, Behold, voice out of Heaven a great And I heard nor crying, death, neither sorrow, be no more shall there things pain: for the former be any more neither shall there away. passed are for these And He said unto me, Write: all things new. Faithful. and True are words him will give unto I the End. Omega, the Beginning and of Life freely. Water that is athirst of the fountain of the as a Bride of Heaven, prepared God out ing down from Husband. adorned for her with God is with men, and He will dwell of the Tabernacle shallHimself God and people, His be shall they and them, be with them, and be their God. - trans monumental a is apocalypse the - restored been has Cosmos - and recon meeting between destruction in a processual gression morals a dissolution of the dominating norms, values, struction, unhealthy and sinful for a (Christian) society’s and ethics, which are intention of this development. The its citizens’ correct and welfare aAs invigoration. collective action is individual and transgressive American translation becomes the fu- in the the resurrection result collec- sion of the individual salvation beyond death and the great The legitimacy and kingdom. tive and national hope of the future validity of the apocalyptic mythology is found in the paradigmatic human of clarification absolute an offers which repetition, ritual and - existence. The mythos, as the apocalypse, becomes a series of repeti tious actions that culminates in an apocalyptic scenario - a scenario that nullifies all the painful human contradictions and tribulations. authoritativeand unequivocal an articulates myth apocalyptic The the vision of cosmos. In other words, a harmonic meaning or truth, and insight, in which hu- a special sense of being apocalypse offers man beings can reach ontological clarification. But how does the of tragedy and the tragic manifest itself apocalyptic transgression by Eugene O’Neill’s Mourning as represented drama American in Kushner’s? Angels in America becomes Electra and Tony quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - 217 endi x Mia R Volume 03 ypology ragic T as T Transgression First of all, the divine individual and his/her actions are prior actions are and his/her individual First of all, the divine American apocalyptic tragedy is The second characteristic of the - a The divine individual in Angels in America is Prior Walter - the element that relent and are apocalypse American itized in the This is a fundamental difference plot forward. lessly drives the Aristotle’s famous of tragedy in Aristotelian theory between the is secondary to the all-structuring Poetics, in which the protagonist Antigone, Oedipus, Orestes, plot - for instance and all-important actions, choices and di- Medusa and Electra, whose movements, by the tragic plot. This elements decided structural lemmas are Angels in clearly not the case in Mourning becomes Electra and is American after the America. O’Neill depicts the Mannon family to Ezra returns civil war ended in 1865 and the family patriarch Brant. The son Adam her lover, his unfaithful wife, Christine, and family se- traumas, by war haunted is but he Orin also returns, The daugh- with his mother. his incestuous relationship and crets, Her entrance in the individual. divine the tragedy’s is ter Lavinia be- her from play accentuates her special status: O’Neill presents ”Lavinia comes out to in obedient worm’s eye perspective: low, p. 897), She is ”twenty-three”, the top of the steps” (O’Neill, 1988, hint of her old-age life experience.but looks ”considerably older” - a she and ”stiff angular”, and flat-chested ”thin, is Lavinia Physically, military bear square-shouldered, with a wooden, herself carries ing” (ibid.). She lives an and bitterness but ascetic life full of hatred about the family past. for the truth also of longing and searching mission of the divine individual. La- and sacred the irreversible vinia embodies both a pietistic nun and a female savior who has in- towards mission predetermined fully to a herself dedicated of the family sins and the The exorcism and truth: sight, realisation - to be saved and ultimately re herself in order hope of redeeming and defence lay- generated. Lavinia is her own judge, prosecutor This mission is also referred for redemption. wer in her holy search to ‘levin’, which means to in her name’s etymology: ‘Lavinia’ refers back to the Latin ‘enlightenment’ and ‘electricity’, and it also refers Lavinia and purge’. which means ‘to wash’ or ‘to cleanse ‘lavare’, is the apocalyptic apotheosis. dry who through stigmatized, homosexual Christ-like character, bears his and tragic irony rhetorics extravagant and wry humour, apocalyptic typical a is Prior HIV-diagnosis. his cross: symbolic quarter

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4 ypology ragic T as T Transgression HARPER: I see something else about you... HARPER: I see something PRIOR: Oh? mostthe you, of part a there’s you, inside Deep HARPER: of disease. I can see that. free inner part, entirely PRIOR: Is that... That isn’t true. of revelation. HARPER: Threshold Home. 1995, p. 40) (Kushner, another gust of music): (With ANGEL tonight you become, American Prophet Dark, American Eye that pierceth American Heart all Hot for Truth, the Knowing Mind, Vocalist, Great The True Seer-Head! Tongue-of-the-land, 1995, p. 188) (Kushner, I believe that the common man is as apt a subject for trag- for subject a apt as is man common the that believe I - enacted by roy (…) edy in its highest sense as kings were emo- similar in everyone to apply which but beings, al 1949) tional situations. (Miller, Furthermore, a revolutionary modus of action is typical of the the of typical is action of modus revolutionary a Furthermore, angered Lavinia’s is it whether - heroine/hero tragic American or it her family secrets unravelling and painful mission towards Prior’sis in- Both forgiveness. and healing of mission reluctant The crowning of Prior as a postmodern crucible of prophet and and of prophet of Prior as a postmodern crucible The crowning and melodramatic - and quiteChrist is incorporated in a bombastic ceiling: the bedroom an angel bursts through funny - scene, where Kushner’sto- movement predetermined a is parts tragedy in two American sinful corrupted, the and Prior himself of purging a wards Lavinia nation of the 1980s, the Ronald Reagan-years. Subsequently, Arthur Miller’s and Prior revitalize views on tragedy and the tragic and the Common Man”: 1949, “Tragedy in his essay from prophet and Harper Lee sees that early on in one of Priors hallu- sees that early on in one of Priors and Harper Lee prophet cinations: quarter

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219 endi x Mia R : Look up! Volume 03 ypology ragic T as T Transgression I’m afraid to wait. The dead coming between. I want a lit- I’m afraid to wait. The dead coming dead! I’ve earned it! I’vetle happiness – in spite of all the joy – of love – to makedone enough! I want a moment of simpleyou be now! Can’t it want coming. I for what’s up beauti- sin and see that love is Can’t you forget and pure? the dead and love me! me in the house of ful? (…) Take It will shame them Our love will drive the dead away! all back into death! (then with a hopeless, dead finality) use trying any more! Always the dead between! It’s no (O’Neill, 1988, p. 1052) beautiful voice) VOICE (It is an incredibly A PRIOR (Looking up, not seeing anyone): Hello? VOICE: Look up! A PRIOR: Who’s that? the way! VOICE: Prepare A PRIOR: I don’t see any... above) is a dramatic change in the lighting, from (There VOICE: Look up, Look up, A the way prepare The unique position of Lavinia and Prior, though, does not come though, does not Prior, The unique position of Lavinia and However, she is determined to wear the symbolic cross and break and break to wear the symbolic cross she is determined However, the ultimate towards family course the otherwise predetermined as well, accepts his divine Prior, tragic explosion and destruction. call, but not without suspicion and reluctance: dividuals’ holy missions structure and move the tragic plot forward. plot forward. and move the tragic structure dividuals’ holy missions - ideologi the boundaries (politically, and cross But the will to act - is not equivalent to commit emotionally) ethically, morally, cally, ting the Aristotelian monumental ‘flaw’ - the hero’s ‘hamarthia’. American tragic it is not necessarily a “weakness”. As Miller states, possibility of commit- the move closely around heroines/heros and not wrong is right ing hubris, but in the end the heroine/hero protagonists their let and Kushner in her or his choices: O’Neill centered American tragedies are The tragic in be redeemed. fact that it is the right decision that unleashes the tragic the around dénuement. by her family’s sins: without a cost - Lavinia is stigmatized quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 220 endi x Mia R Mourning becomes becomes Mourning Volume 03 ypology ragic T as T Transgression . In O’Neills trilogy this is expressed and Angels in America. In O’Neills trilogy this is expressed the infinite descent floating down in the air breath A Glory to... that it? Helooooo? PRIOR: Hello? Is (He holds himself) What the fuck...? Oh I me. Why me? Why poor me? Poor me. Poor poor don’t. I really don’t feel good right now. 1995, pp. 40-41) (Kushner, The divine prophet is the fusion of the individual and national is the fusion of the individual and national The divine prophet hope of salvation. This hope is the tragedy’s final goal, which is - plot move and irreversible a predetermined anticipated through use of an anticipatory vocabulary - mark- ment and a repeated monumental culmination. This ers and elements anticipate the American characteristic of the textual anticipation is the fourth in found be can which tragic, the and tragedy Electra of Ezra and the that mark the return the directions stage through - Adam Brant: (“The boom of a can fatal oath between Christine and harbor” (O’Neill, 1988, p. the fort that guards the non sounds from the Mannons: two external elements threaten Additionally, 926). the otherwise closely sealed Adam Brant by moving towards town’s people, whose gossip an- house of the Mannons and the of the trilogy: ”pride goeth be- ticipates the tragic development humble them in their a fall and that some day God would fore sinful pride” (ibid., p. 953). The family is described as ”queer” (ibid., p. 896) and ”they don’t want folks to guess their secrets” got skeletons in their closets Mannons (ibid., p. 897), because ”The connected are ones” (ibid.). These secrets same as others! Worse and is built on ”extensive grounds” which to the family mansion, - not reso does temple type”. But the house likened to ”the Greek the house as ”our Christine describes nate harmony and beauty. tomb” (ibid., p. 903), ”a temple of death” (ibid., p. 938) and ”a sepulchre” (ibid.) filled with ”puritan-grey ugliness” (ibid.) and and calls town’s drunk” (ibid., p. 904). Small curses “the ”hatred” ithaunted”, bein’ “this house p. 1012), (ibid., place!” durned “This and – hate in built first was it since house that in evil been ”there’s has ever since, as what’s happened there there it’s kept growin’ is the ar temple Greek (ibid., p. 1013). Even though the proved” quarter

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kvarter akademisk 221 endi x Mia R Volume 03 ypology ragic T as T Transgression But I saw something only I could see, because of my of because see, could something only I saw But I People, who are lonely, people left alone, sit talking non- talking sit alone, left people lonely, are who People, imagining... beautiful systems dying, old sense to the air, ozone the at look you When apart... spiraling orders fixed like a spaceship, it looks a the outside, from from layer, encircling aureole pale blue halo, a gentle, shimmering the earth. Thirty miles above encircling the atmosphere atom oxygen molecules, a thin layer of three our heads, photosynthesis, which explains the fussy veg- of product of darker for visible light, its rejection etable preference without. It’s a kind of rays and emanations. Danger from of the touch to the creation God, the crowning gift from angels, hands linked, make a spherical world; guardian for life itself. nesting orb, a shell of safety net, a blue-green collapsing, lies surfacing, sys- are things But everywhere, 1995, pp. 22-23) (Kushner, tems of defense giving way... plane leapt the The there. we were dreamed I HARPER: the attained the outer rim, and air, safe the tropopause, - ozone, which was ragged and torn, patches of it thread as old as cheesecloth, and that was frightening... bare astonishing ability to see such things: Anticipatory language is also dominant in Kushner’sAnticipatory language trage- epic Harper is the prophet of the apocalypse and when she leaves the of the apocalypse Harper is the prophet American paradise: one last vision of a new city she preaches chetype of architectural perfection, it is also a cold aesthetics that a cold it is also perfection, chetype of architectural symbol life and passion - the house is a dialectical does not denote death, perfection and stasis. of fulfillment and Harper Pitt prophet unstable but also truth-telling dy: The mentally drives the- Cohn Roy satan-parallel the course of the with together - Harper’sculmination. predetermined its towards plot refers name to 1) ‘Harper’ as someone who plays the harp and to the iconic visu- 2) ‘Harpyr’,alizations of angel’s with harps and which is a mighty Her last body. with an angels face and a vulture’s and dirty creature Christian mytol- which in to ‘pit’, a hole in the ground, name refers “collaps- the the destruction, predicts to hell. Harper is parallel ogy apocalypse: ing” and, in the end, transgressive quarter

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kvarter akademisk 222 endi x Mia R Volume 03 ypology ragic T as T Transgression - (palin eller en ‘genfødelse’, nemlig af verden Souls were rising, from the earth far below, souls of souls of far below, the earth rising, from Souls were these departed joined hands, claspedAnd the souls of At least I think that’s so. , som en mål, dens hvortil, som en I Åb. 21-22 beskrives frelsens der kommer som et nyt Jerusalem, ny himmel og ny jord, ned fra himlen og som livets træ og flod fra paradisets I dette nye Je- i Det nye Jerusalem. have, der genoprettes eller gudløseplage, nat sorg, død, ingen er der rusalem fra livets træ og frugt af Her lever de frelste mennesker. vand fra livets flod, og her lever de sammen med Jahve og Jesus. Her er tilstanden før syndefaldet åbenbart gen- tales og derfor kan der i Det Nye Testamente oprettet, (apokatastisis om denne tilstand som en ‘genoprettelse’ ApG 3, 21) genesia, Matt 19, 28) (Bilde, 2001, p. 226) the way Mother and Orin not going Don’t be afraid. I’m none left And there’s went. That’s escaping punishment. to punish me. I’m the last Mannon. I’ve got to punish a worse act of with the dead is myself! Living alone here famine, from who had perished, from the dead, of people from war, plague, and they floated up, like skydivers in wheeling and spining. limbs all akimbo, reverse, net of souls, and the a web, a great ankles and formed of oxygen molecules, of the stuff three-atom souls were them, and was repaired. ozone, and the outer rim absorbed a kind of is there In this world, Nothing’s lost forever. behind, Longing for what we’ve left painful progress. ahead. and dreaming 1995, pp. 291-292) (Kushner, Lavinia survives as the only one in the family. Symbolically, she Symbolically, Lavinia survives as the only one in the family. isolates herself in the house as an analogy to Jesus Christ, whose body is taken to the cave - only to be resurrected: All these text elements lead towards the transgressive praxis: The praxis: the transgressive All these text elements lead towards the regeneration followed by which are and purging, destruction and The New Jerusalem: quarter

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5 ypology ragic T as T Transgression Time the consoler, Time the rich carrier of all changes, the rich carrier of all changes, Time the consoler, Time dries the freshest tears by obtruding new figures, new ear. our on voices our eye, new on roads, new costumes, As the west wind lifts up again the heads of the wheat and combs bent down and lodged in the storm, which were out the matted and dishevelled grass as it lay in night as a drying wind so we let in Time locks on the ground, into the seed field of thoughts which are dark and wet and elastic- to them temper restores and low bent. Time to crip- the blow that threatened How fast we forget ity. will not sit still; the - faculties will do some ple us. Nature twine, and the what; new hopes spring, new affections is whole again. (Emerson, 1844) broken justice than death or prison! I’ll never go out or see any- never death or prison! I’ll than justice shutters nailed closed so that one! I’ll have the - no sun and in. I’ll live alone with the dead, light can ever get them hound me, until the curse and let keep their secrets, last Mannon is let die! (with a strange is paid out and the know I ) self-torture of over the years gloating of cruel smile time! It takes the Man- they will see to it I live for a long go You born! (…) nons to punish themselves for being And tell now and close the shutters and nail them tight. Hannah to throw out all the flowers. (…) the – and then portico turns and stands and for a while, stiff eyes. the sunlight with frozen staring into shouldered, square the pulls and the door of the right the window at Seth leans out a word of shutters closed with a decisive bang. As if this were on her heel and marches command, Lavinia pivots sharply door behind her. (O’Neill,woodenly into the house, closing the 1988, pp. 1053-1054) Prior Walter makes his closing speech in front of the cleansing of the cleansing in front makes his closing speech Prior Walter Angel of Bethesda Fountain and he is elevated to the salavation’s tragedy American and the tragic move towards The life”. “more process, the timely culmination of the apocalyptic-transgressive which Ralph Emerson Waldo defines in characteristically apocalyptic rhetorics: quarter

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6 Volume 03 ypology ragic T as T Transgression There is a misconception of tragedy with which I have of tragedy with which I have is a misconception There and in many conversa- after review, in review been struck alike. It is the idea that trag- tions with writers and readers Even the dictionaryedy is of necessity allied to pessimism. a than that it means about the word says nothing more is so This impression story with a sad or unhappy ending. firmlyfixed that I almost hesitate to claim that intruth than does optimism in its author tragedy implies more and that its comedy, finalresult ought to be- thereinforce ment of the onlooker’s brightest opinion of the human to say that in essence the tragic if it is true animal. (...) For, upon claiming his whole due as a personali- is intent hero - must be total and without reserva and if this struggle ty, indestructible the demonstrates automatically it then tion, (...) The possibility of will of man to achieve his humanity. 1949) (Miller, in tragedy. victory must be there Hegel’s favorite tragedy is Antigone by Sophocles. In his famous AMERICAN TRAGEDY AND THE TRAGIC AS A AND THE AMERICAN TRAGEDY THE PROCESSUAL-SOTERIOLOGICAL MEETING BETWEEN AND THE VERTICAL HORIZONTAL of production the on reflections normative and descriptive Through and the emo- tragedy as formal structure Aristotle treats aesthetics the idea of the tragic is of his key term “catharsis”. But tional effect col- Aristotle. Instead, we must turn to his European to of no interest and Friedrich Nietzsche, Kierkegaard Hegel, Søren leagues, G.W.F. as the most influential philosophers of the tragic as aphilosophi- cal-ontological concept. Common to these otherwise very different essence of the tragic. collision as the thinkers is the transgressive unfolds as a collision the Hegelian idea of the tragic interpretation Despite the fact that Arthur Miller writes his thoughts on tragedy on thoughts writes his Miller Arthur that Despite the fact and the tragic much later than Emerson, it is possible to find par regeneration: on and Emerson’s reflections allels between his As described earlier, the apocalypse culminates in a monumen- a in culminates apocalypse the earlier, described As investigates this culmination as tal subversion. The next chapter American which separates the American feature, another special origins. its European tragedy from quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 225 Angels inAngels endi x Mia R Volume 03 ypology ragic T as T Transgression O’Neill transports his divine individual and savior Lavinia Man- O’Neill transports his divine individual in repeated is vision apocalyptic and transgressive This between two legal and equal rights, which in the denial of the oth- the of denial the in which rights, equal and legal two between to the tragic into evils. The only solution er position is transformed harmony - cosmic to restore fall in order collision is the heroine’s and the spirit is betrayed is that night, where the Hegelian tragic of heaven. a subject, the famous depopulation transformed into terms: religious of a collision, but in more too, writes Kierkegaard, of original sin and the Augustinian predetermination Between the uses Antigone as also will. Kierkegaard Pelegian antithesis of free calls for Kierkegaard thus, and with another aim, but analysis, his Tragiske” the “sande Accordingly, a “Middelvei” between the two. between guilty action and inno- is articulated as a middle course collision is to Nietzsche, the tragic according Lastly, cent suffering. Apollinian and the ecstatic, life-giving plastic between the chilly, his theory of tragedy Nietzsche Dionysian. Via and transgressive on society of solely relying criticizes and accuses the contemporary rationality and ignoring the Dionysian aspects of life. and reason discussions of the tragic focus on the As shown, the European opposition- an is which final, or terminal as collision transgressive American version. to the al modus compared non to the necessary but non-final collision: Because of the family the symbolic and monu- towards irreversibly sins Lavinia moves be the cave she will resurrect, in Like Jesus mental transgression. La- Thus, Jerusalem. New the into wander and salvation for ready and power relations the family’s tradition of vertical vinia breaks vi- motivated horizontally the reach to able is she and sin, original sion of the new Eden. savior, America. Kushner’s stigmatized victim and reluctant martyr, that life” to “more a full dedication towards moves Prior Walter, Instead, more of sin and corruption. marks the necessary purging needed. are America empathy in more democracy and more love, it is not Conclusively, the typical European finality that character American vision of tragedy and the tragic. Instead, the izes the and exchange between destruction a dialectic process texts offer culmination is processual The three-step and the reconstruction. basically a fulfillment of before, This now trilogy and of after. tex- the of to the idea can be compared elements tual-transgressive Christian soteriology: quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - 226 endi x Mia R Volume 03 hvortil og hvorle- henviser til dentil henviser hvortil ypology ragic T as T Transgression (...) den erkendelse, der opstår af en stærk og lidelsesfuld oplevelse. Men det er ikke en hvilken som helst form for erkendelse. Det er den der skaber stærk sanseoplevelse, skaber nydelse. Gennem sit oplevelse, som lidelsesfulde . Frelsens hvorfra refererer til den aktuelle, negativt til den aktuelle, negativt hvorfra refererer des. Frelsens oplever som den pågældende gruppe bestemte situation, det udtryk for som eller gudsforladthed for udtryk som Frelsens herredømme. ondes (den) negative tilstand og tileskatologiske ophævelse af denne af et utopisk samfund, et messiansk rige, en oprettelsen sted, dvs. det en himmel, et Paradis eller fornyet jord, retfær definition per dermed og vilje guddommelig hvor hvorledes betegner dighed hersker uindskrænket. Frelsens tilstand overvindesden eller de måder hvorpå den første til guddomme- refereres og erstattes med den sidste. Der især i form af sendelse af en fra himmelen lige indgreb, form af og i - og/eller frelserskikkelse udgået åbenbarer udvirket fjernelse af de gudfjendtlige en guddommeligt (Bilde, 2001, p. 216) magter. - som bestemte reli Soteriologi betegner de forestillinger, hvorfra, gør sig om frelsens giøse grupper THE DIDACTIC INTENTION OF AMERICAN TRAGEDY TRAGEDY AMERICAN THE DIDACTIC INTENTION OF THE AND THE TRAGIC: POSTHUMOUS EXPRESSION OF AND ONTOLOGICAL REALIZATION MORALITY American dramatists come most closely to adopt- the This is where Aristotelian key terminology of catharsis. The term refers ing the - to the pity and fear that must be invoked in the audience and, ulti The Danish scholar this pity and fear cleanses and purges. mately, Aristotle’s typology of catharsis: defines Maj Skibstrup part. The final chapter of the article will analyze the final difference of tragedy and the tragic: between the two continents’ expressions of the key term catharsis. The interpretation The words processual-organic must be accentuated, in that the must be accentuated, in that the processual-organic The words A modus of the apocalypse is a mythological process: transgressive that separates irreversibility and repetitious ritual predetermination counter its European-Greek American idea of the tragic from the quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - 227 death - for - for death endi x Mia R before before Volume 03 ypology ragic T as T Transgression ganisme’, skaber tragedien erkendelse af den indre og og tragedien erkendelse af den indre ganisme’, skaber handlinger – i de agerendes sandsynlige sammenhæng følelse af frygt og medliden- dermed publikums og renser af, at det kunne ske for oplevelse rensede hed’. Det er den menneskers handlin- enhver – af det almene i de konkrete og nydelsesfulde fø- ger – der både skaber den afklarede publikum. (Skibstrup,lelse af frygt og medlidenhed hos 2004, p. 167) fuldkomne dramatiske forløb, hvor alle dele har en funk- forløb, hvor alle dele har en fuldkomne dramatiske ligesom i ‘en enkelt levende or til enheden tion i forhold - Euro the between difference final the that is argument main The stricted or reduced to the psychological, philosophical or ontolo- stricted or reduced - to a religi American cleansing must conform gical aspect. The fulfillment a towards America take will that catharsis ous-ideologic an enormous fear Naturally, of a New Jerusalem. of the prophecy this trans- movement toward and anxiety will arise during the culmination, but the fear is always seconda- gressive-apocalyptic This longing is in the prophecy. ry to the longing for and belief American tragedy and and dénouement of the the raison d’être the tragic. American typology and modus can be located in and pean-Greek - The tragic rea of the tragedy: intention the morality and didactic happens heroine/hero the of or insight lization The Europeans believe in a general and collective experience ba- The Europeans the minor status of human which stems from sed on that fear, - to the gods - the vertical rela beings in the universe as compared Americans tend By contrast, the tion between gods and humans. between God horizontal and dialectic relation to believe in a more is not re American purging The and his divinely chosen people. instance: Oedipus realizes his tragic mistakes before he dies. Ac- he dies. before his tragic mistakes instance: Oedipus realizes the of Aristotelian aesthetics, the painful suffering to the cording following cleansing of the audience does not and heroine/hero How after the death of the protagonist. sense if it is placed make the morality of the else can the state and its citizens learn from Aristotelian tragedy the tragedy? By watching and learning from the audience is confirmed - through pity and fear - in their dedi- and is tragedy European-Greek the thus and state, the to cation must be edifying and didactic. quarter

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kvarter akademisk 228 endi x Mia R Volume 03 ypology ragic T as T Transgression the physical or symbolic death of the heroine/hero. The moralThe heroine/hero. the of death symbolic or physical the Currently, there is two works, to my knowledge, that attempt is two works, to my knowledge, that attempt there Currently, Stud- American tragedy: The Closed Frontier: to discuss a distinct Simonsons and P. 1970 by Harold from in American Tragedy ies 1974 by Dan Vogel. from Masks of American Tragedy The Three the critic, and he compares is a literary and cultural Simonson ‘frontier’ Jackon Turner’s - Ameri idea of Frederic to a concept of Simonson exemplifies his otherwise in- However, tragedy. can cation.news#article_continue In toto: The America dramatists’ take on tragedy and the tragic is take on tragedy and the tragic America dramatists’ In toto: The

- http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2002/sep/21/higheredu fundamental different. In the American vision the didactics appearAmerican vision In the fundamental different. after Lavi- Despite resurrection. the in unfolds tragedy the of intention denial of repeated Prior Walter’s and of revenge nia’s angry dreams tragicThe in doubt: never are readers/audience the his chosenness, the towards controlled are audience the of the response plot and The didactics salvation. collision and the regenerative transgressive - collective regene this individual and through can only be reached American use of to the this is closely related Additionally, ration. commit tragedies the of heroine/hero Greek The ‘flaw’. hamarthia, and ‘nemesis‘ the causal chain of reactions, hubris and and releases wrong. and sinful as defined naturally is hamarthia Aristotelian the and ethical denunciation and The consequence is simple: moral the gods, the other characters incondemnation of the sinner(s) by Americans it to the the audience. But according and from the play, - and right decisions that catapult them into the prede is their correct - The pro destruction: movement towards termined and irreversible of the tragic isAmerican idea the cessual-soteriological collision of unleashed from the confirmation of the American nation,people and more is a potentially greater there and cosmos. Subsequently, and despair caused by the thought of omnipotent pain, suffering universe. of the entire the potential atomization and destruction splintering andAmerican tragedy shows the possibility of both The apocalyptic the transgressive harmony through cosmic recreating tragedy and the tragic. 2 NOTES 1 quarter

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kvarter akademisk - berg: berg: 229 riks endi x Mia R Volume 03 ypology ragic T as T Transgression ”. The Idea of the Tragic Sweet Violenc: sity Press. Gyldendal. in Enten-Eller. Press. http://vccslitonline.cc.va.us/tragedy/milleressay.htm Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2002/sep/21/ Available highereducation.news#article_continue ry. Princeton University Press. at: http://www.emersoncentral.com/tragic.htm Available Anis ton’s Classical Library. Classical Library. Frede og tilblivelse indtil år 110. mens forudsætninger teresting analysis on novels by Mark Twain and Nathaniel West. West. Nathaniel and Twain Mark by novels on analysis teresting a not as as a theme, tragedy of talks Simonson Additionally, arguing specifically is Vogel form. theatrical or literary specific drama discourse, but he American distinct that tragedy is a Novels, genres: literary three the on thesis his excemplifies also drama and poetry. http://vccslitonline.cc.va.us/tragedy/milleressay.htm http://www.emersoncentral.com/tragic.htm http://vccslitonline.cc.va.us/tragedy/milleressay.htm http://www.emersoncentral.com/tragic.htm , 1988. ”Det antike Tragiske’ Kierkegaard, S., Reflex1988. i”Det detantike Moderne” Tragiske’ Kierkegaard, S., 1994. Frygt og Bæven. Gyldendal. . The Johns Hopkins University Vision M., 1973. The Tragic Krieger, Angels in America. , 1992-1993. T. Kushner, The Gotham Library. Tragedy. Definition of Mandel, O., 1961. A at: Available Man”. the common and A., 1993. ”Tragedy Miller, dem Geiste der Musik. , 1872. Die Geburt der Tragödieaus Nietzsche, F. Blackwell. The Idea of the Tragic. , 2003. Sweet Violence: Eagleton, T. and Histo- Eliade, M., 1991. The Myth of the eternal Return, or Cosmos Emerson, R.W., 1844. ”On the Tragic”. , 1987. Phänomelogie des Geistes. Reclam. Hegel, G.W.F. Princeton Univer Kaufmann, W. and Philosophy. , 1968. Tragedy , 2002. ”Freedom in Chaos: Review of Terry Eagle- in Chaos: Review of Terry Brenton, H., 2002. ”Freedom 6 References by Haliwell, S. Loeb Greek from Aristotle, 1995. Poetics. Translated - bliver til: en undersøgelse af kristendom , 2001. En religion Bilde, P. 3 4 5 quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 230 endi x Mia R Volume 03 ypology ragic T as T Transgression - struktur som Apokalypsen dag: mod rejse nats Lang . Louisiana StateLouisiana . Tragedy American of Masks Three The . Victor Gallantx. . Victor Literature Book.. Premier Fawcett A America. 1921-1931. Library of afhandling. Syddansk Universitet. positionel modus til de europæiske . Ph.d.-afhandling. definitioner Universitet. Aarhus University Press. yond. Oxford Inc. dy. Hotl, Reinhart and Winston, Københavns Universitet. . Magister princip, poetisk strategi og demokratiseringsproces erende University Press. New Heaven, New Earth: The visionary Experience inNew Heaven, New Oates, J.C., 1976. . Forms in Literature Tragic The Edge of Impossibility: Oates, J.C., 1972. Complete Plays becomes Electra” in O’Neill, E., 1988. ”Mourning 2004. M., Rendix, Tragedie og det tragiske i amerikansk drama som op- og det tragiske i amerikansk drama Rendix, M., 2009. Tragedie and Be - Theatre Greek and the Tragic: 1998. Tragedy M.S. (ed.), Silk, - Studies in American Trage , 1970. The Closed Frontier: Simonson, H.P. . Ph.d.-afhandling. gennem lidelsen Skibstrup, M., 2004. At lære . Faber & Faber. G., 1961. The Death of Tragedy Steiner, en Grèce ancienne. Paris. Mythe et Tragédie , 1986. J-P. Vernant, Mythe et société en Grèce ancienne. Paris. , 1974. J-P. Vernant, 1974. D., Vogel, quarter

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kvarter akademisk akademiskkvarter Volume 03. Fall 2011 • on the web academic quarter

Religion in Scandinavian Crime Fiction

Kim Toft Hansen is Teaching Assistant Professor at Aalborg Univer- sity. Hansen has in connection with the research programme Crime Fiction and Crime Journalism in Scandinavia published widely about crime fiction. His book “Mord og metafysik” (Murder and Met- aphysics) (2012) discusses a tendency within fiction to discuss the absolute, the divine, and the supernatural.

Crime fiction has generally been associated with empirical investigation and rational analysis. The genre is often historically linked to modern society, secular mind-frames and natural and realistic explanations of events (Hansen, 2012). Nevertheless, it is possible to identify a link to appearances transgressing this epistemological boundary of the genre. In addition, contemporary Scandinavian crime fiction is showing a significant interest in aspects of human existence transcending empirical and rational realism. Recent genre developments build a bridge into questions about spirituality. What I intend to do here is, firstly, to develop a theoretical framework for this discussion where I consider theories of transgression and religion. Secondly, I wish to run through five relatively popular examples of Scandinavian crime fiction to show how this genre trend works. Lastly, I will connect this with what has been dubbed mediatized religion and a more general, philosophical explanation of why we see this development: The project of modernity is, as a result of cultural changes, at the moment transgressing its own epistemological boundaries opening up into what has been called the post-secular. Methodologically, as it may appear, I wish to give a cultural explanation of a growing tendency in recent Scandina- vian crime fiction. More precisely, I wish to connect this genre de-

Volume 03 231 - - - min 232 formation, Kim Toft Hansen Toft Kim Volume 03 Religion in Scandinavian Crime Fiction in Scandinavian Religion has had as its basichad as its hard secularization has As it may appear throughout my argument, I see a connection my argument, As it may appear throughout premise that reason in the end will outdo religion (Kosmin, 2007, p. (Kosmin, 2007, in the end will outdo religion that reason premise their continues Chris Jenks, “jealously patrol 3). “The two orders”, the contamination of one by the other own boundaries to prevent and thus the perpetually revivified of structure interdictions or ta velopment with the concept of transgression and a philosophical the concept of transgression velopment with framing of religion. religion and Transgression - explicates how a “com (2003) Chris Jenks In his book Transgression of belief, namely the recognition of all religious mon characteristic things, all of classification a presupposes profane, the and sacred the domains” (Jenks, 2003, p. into two opposing actual and imaginary, focusphilosophical of modernity’s a result all means, by is, This 29). from stemming empirical the and rational the of combination a on not are realms two “The 2008). (Schanz, Enlightenment of theories distinct, profoundly “they are alternatives”, Jenks then underlines, and insulated by antagonism ranked in terms of power and dignity, The on-going skirmish betweenand hostility” (Jenks, 2003, p. 29). metaphysics is, then, the most basic ver and religious modern realism A. Kos of the sociologist Barry In the words sion of this hostility. it and remove soft secularism has attempted to privatize religion while public sphere the from (Jenks, 2003, p. 29). Neverthe boos serves to keep things apart” modernity’s philosophical realism less, this clear boundary between a trans metaphysics has been undergoing and religious from onebut is then again almost anticipated by Jenks: “Transition not and it requires to the other is not wholly precluded, realm modernity movement but metamorphosis” (ibid.). In other words, on off to be able rub need to transform in order eachand religion says phi- and the religious, realism The boundary between other. into a sig- has been transgressed losophers of the post-secular, nificant type of modernity that now again leavesroom for the modern, – been affecting spiritual. This has – as we shall see here return I contemporary Scandinavian crime fiction as well. Lastly, to the concept of the post-secular. philos- between metaphysics as a philosophical practice, religious This is not at all supernatural elements. and aspirations from ophy, find a to attempt an is it but same, the are spheres these that say to quarter

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kvarter akademisk 233 Kim Toft Hansen Toft Kim Volume 03 Religion in Scandinavian Crime Fiction in Scandinavian Religion . 1 This ends my brief theoretical and philosophical framing. I now and philosophical This ends my brief theoretical framework that deals with various transgressions of the rational rational of the deals with various transgressions framework that All an interface. that still have ways in different and the empirical the supernatural – ap- and – metaphysics, religion, spheres three pear in Scandinavian crime fiction (Hansen, 2012), though in my Metaphysics is in this framing religion. I only deal with paper here a philosophical reflexivepractice that deals with absolute- precon formalized, is a much more religion ditions for existence, whereas as well as in both dogmatic doctrines practice that results liturgical of life. The supernatural is, a transposed and informal framing - transgres of epistemological superstitious treatment then, a more can, then, lead to what sions. Incidents of diverse transgressions or metaphysical experience (Schanz, 1999, p. has been called religious philosophy still attempt to 25), while metaphysics and religious Meta- limits of valid arguments. discuss these experiences within explanations, most supernatural refute physics would probably beyond sensations show an aspiration towards but both spheres Religion would then appear rational and empirical explanations. in the middle of these sensibilities: “Religion deals somewhere mechanisms”,social and of interpretation with cultural strategies They sociologists of religion. writes I.S. Gilhus and L. Mikaelsson, introduce the specificallyreligious with areference to “transem- wouldwhich senses” the transgressing beings i.e. powers, pirical induce the appearance of idealbe for instance gods. These powers and practices that come out “perfect and deeply interpretations meaningful” (1998, p. 19) turn to specific analyses ofreligion in Scandinavian crime fiction which hopefully makes this dense philosophy appear in clarity. There are various ways that religion may appear in crime fiction. on the one a subversive critique of religion are The two extremes other. the on discourse religious apologetic affirmative an and hand This generally means that crime fiction may claim to do away with In con- to modernity. which is basically in line with its link religion trast, crime fiction does as well attempt to ratifyreligious thought many However, which is a rather unusual expansion of the genre. not particularly attracted to are narratives of crime and religion neither harsh criticism nor sermonizing divinity – several narratives modern rationality is in the middle whereby placed somewhere are in dialogue with spiritual reflections. My five examples, then, rep- quarter

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kvarter akademisk 234 Kim Toft Hansen Toft Kim Kvinder der iret Volume 03 Religion in Scandinavian Crime Fiction in Scandinavian Religion Män som hatar kvinnor]: “This is no mad Men who hate woman [ This subversive critique of religion also appears in Stieg Larssons This subversive critique of religion resent various media – i.e. radio drama, TV-fiction, film, and litera- various media – resent i.e. radio drama, TV-fiction, the divine towards modes different – while they also show ture to affirmative divinity. subversive criticism from Critique of religion My first example is a radio drama by the DanishTomas dramatist [ God Reproving His Women Lagerman Lundme. Gud] tesætter (2009) is a story about the police officer Thomas who un- investigation The woman. young a of murder the investigates to“tries it, phrases drama the as that, sect female Christian covers a women have escaped the sect – one men”. Two liberate women from the fundamentalist in- to prove of them is a journalist who is trying divinetentions approval. of the sect that justifies its actions through – as the title indicates – aThis means that the journalist becomes is in line with God. Thomas, the investigator, woman who reproves that the sect consists of “daft he claims her position and, endingly, M. Cusack In an article Carole idiots enchanting the truth”. religious explains religion in crime fiction as “pictured as ‘Other’ to main- these the authors do not seek to understand [where] society stream challenge to the norms of society”communities, but use them as a God is by Reproving sect in Women (Cusack, 2005, p. 159). Lundmes then, a good This is, all means ‘Other’ Danish society. to mainstream religion. example of subversive critique of (Larsson, 2005). This novel applies at The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo first – through five quotationsfrom Leviticus, the third bookof These Testament. Old on the a gender critical perspective Moses – would be treated drastic doctrines about how women quotes are they work in analogy the Law of Moses, and should they break study of men’s vio- a Swedish with four quotes in the novel from Stieg Larsson’s novel diverges lence against women. However, by letting Lisbeth Salander com- this critical angle on religion from to the original Swedish ment on the matter – with a clear reference title serial killer who has misread the Bible. It is only a usual fool who the Bible. It serial killer who has misread - hates women” (Larsson, 2005: 369). Nevertheless, the quotes sug gestively smoulder on a more symbolic and transfigured level. - novels which I re three of the This leads to a speculative reading turn to later. quarter

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kvarter akademisk ] - 235 Livvagterne Kim Toft Hansen Toft Kim Volume 03 Religion in Scandinavian Crime Fiction in Scandinavian Religion . Investigating a possible terror attack in attack in . Investigating a possible terror under the same roof represent three differ three represent main characters in The Protectors The three turning to Before my radio- and TV-examples. These two were Abrahamic reconciliation [ The Protectors – the Danish TV-series My next example (2008) – is somewhat more complex. Several episodes of the series complex. Several episodes of more (2008) – is somewhat that is either and terror extremism motivated deal with religiously firstAt service. intelligence Danish the by prevented or experienced this means that the series is very affirmative towards the increased make you think that the seriesauthority of the police, which should Though this is the subversive role. places the criminal parties in the not describe the this does extremism case dealing with very hardline overall intension of the series. One is Muslim, one is Jewish, and one is ent monotheistic religions. faithsworld major three represents series not only Christian. But the The religious between the three. – it attempts also reconciliation into moves agents the of one that fact the by underlined is cease-fire he uncovers an old mosaic of where Church a closed Christian Free religions three all in figure grounding a is Abraham Abraham. father This model of atone- Abrahamic religions. called collectively that are the series is again touched upon close to the end- ment throughout a the job of the agents is to protect ing of the second season. Here, Abraham. This charac- of Sister Catholic nun who goes by the name Pedersen by an actual Danish nun – Kirsten Stoffregen ter is inspired which Abrahamic religions, atonement between the – who preaches At some point in the series the three goes for the character as well. which together Church agents actually end up staying in the Free can religions that the three symbolically and idiomatically implies stay Denmark, the Christian agent shows the mosaic to a Muslim woman bears a double and says: “Abraham came along”. This expression Abraham both came with the house and with all three meaning: faiths. They all have the same point of origin. to connect these devel- possible my literary examples it is already is”, he “Transgression opments to Jenks’ theory of transgression. writes, “a deeply reflexive act of denial and affirmation” (Jenks, to the as well a reference is 2003: 2). This means that to transgress new such transgression and through the boundary, transgressed, the transgression gained. Basically, insight, new epistemologies are transgression: generic a historically, appears it as is, fiction crime in quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 236 Kim Toft Hansen Toft Kim Volume 03 Religion in Scandinavian Crime Fiction in Scandinavian Religion . One interesting example of this is the article “The example of this is the article . One interesting 2 Appropriation of popular fiction turning to my socio-philosophical explanations I delve before Now, expansion of I detect a similar literary examples where into three genre interest. The first example is areturn to the Millennium tril- shows a discussed, Stieg Larsson As already ogy by Stieg Larsson. in the first novel of ofreligion the sein the role subversive interest segregations enough, though, Danish church ries. Interestingly in- continuation of their religious claim evidence for an immediate terest within crime fiction in general and Larsson’s novels in par Genres are normally enhanced and changed by fusing otherwise changed by fusing and enhanced normally are Genres 1999). How- into the existing formula (Altman, abnormal elements sensitive serves as an extremely Jenks, “transgression writes ever, of any socialcompass and scope, direction the vector in assessing that genres 2). This goes as well for popular theory” (Jenks, 2003: ”Genres developments: cultural sensitive towards extremely are culturally and historically determined based on socially, hence, are, simply contracts between sendercodes, conventions, traditions or the two associat- 1993, p. 171). Relating (Bondebjerg, and receiver” becomes both a cul- a transgression and genre, culture ed spheres, tural and a generic transgression, which is reflected into a popular is words, Jenks’ in transgression, a That fiction. crime as such genre caught in the middle of denial and affirmation is then avery good seem to be taking The Protectors example of the middle course that critique and spiritual apologetics. between religious - very concerned with the relation are Journalists and priests ticular. ship between crime fiction and Christianity and I have in fact been invited to theological symposiums dealing with ‘crime fiction as to this the biblical narrative of our time’. I do generally not profess Christian framing of but the I genre, find in an the interest fact that - actually try to claim motivation for the ge Christian segregations neric expansion perfect victim” by the theologians Pernille and Eyolf Østrem – the perfect victim” by the theologians Pernille and Eyolf Østrem rather surprising subtitle of the article translates as “The figure of Jesus in Stieg Larsson’s trilogy about Lisbeth Salander”. The first Lisbeth Salander is “On Good Friday sentence of the article reads: reference of frame This 9). p. 2009, (Østrem, media” the by crucified of entices the authors to locate a wide range of symbolic readings Biblical appearances in the novels. Hence, for a moment I now give quarter

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kvarter akademisk - , 237 Kim Toft Hansen Toft Kim Evil Fingers Evil Volume 03 Religion in Scandinavian Crime Fiction in Scandinavian Religion . “Just to make sure: Lisbeth Salander is not Jesus. She Lisbeth Salander is not Jesus. She “Just to make sure: who has been disabled by Palmgren guardian her cures sinners and the ex- with She happily socialize a stroke. ‘lesbian SM-band’ the whether it is cluded or the socially on the island Grenada, the poor George omnis- is She in the hacker-republic. incompatible nerds as long as she and omnipresent cient (autistic), almighty, has invisible powers has an internet connection, and she oblit- to beat up bikers or uses she – which when needed the And she rises from / erate those who step on her. dead and hence definitively consolidates her similarity with Jesus.” (ibid., p. 14f) still a few missing are “Despite all these parallels there to the Christian doctrine about the trin- According pieces. ity Jesus was God in human incarnation: both God and Holy Ghost as God and the man at once, inseparable from is not Jesus / Lisbeth Salander well as his human nature. man. / She is God and true Christ, the son of God, true things things, unusual doing being human true a just In continuation of the above they write: “This media crucifixion These considerations do – as it may appear – come quite close to quite close do – as it may appear – come considerations These and similarity of the nar of the relationship an over-interpretation resembles how the Pharisees and the scribes used the actual actionsactual the used scribes the and Pharisees how the resembles that would help Jesus to distort an image of him and statements of p.themselves” (ibid., of in favor him convict and incarcerate them between Lisbeth to the confrontation they refer Additionally, 10). encounter of the devil and Jesusand her father as “a mythological the authors do thaw thein the dessert” (ibid., p. 12). Nevertheless, between Lisbeth and Jesus in an at- almost one-to-one relationship the trilogy between differences tempt to show both likenesses and – and I quote their analy- and the narratives of the New Testament goes: sis in length to show how the argument the differences. underline be why the authors may which ratives continue the quote: And I here the floor to the authors in order to show how they attempt to claim to attempt they how show to order in authors the to floor the trilogy validity in the a religious quarter

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not 238 attempt this Kim Toft Hansen Toft Kim Volume 03 Religion in Scandinavian Crime Fiction in Scandinavian Religion De ensamma] (2010). Barbarotti is a interesting that theologians actually very interesting - re limits of human capabilities, things close to the outer for – this omnipotence is common questing omnipotence Salanders put it another way: / To God and the author. them as excessive that we must think of performance is so pure literary fiction or as an expression of something su- (ibid.)pernatural, divine.” I return to the relationship between media and religion later. Now, Now, later. between media and religion to the relationship I return I turn to my second literary example: Håkan Nesser’s novels about Nesser’sthe investigator Gunnar Barbarotti. series consists of four Dog [Människa utan hund ] Man Without from running books so far, The Lonely [ (2006) to the recent em- and rational in belief firm a with character detective complex pirical investigative methods, but on the side he is trying to prove point a complicated the existence of God. He employs or disprove God, one point… God, Hence, they continue to locate parallels: “The journalist Dag Sven- Hence, they continue to locate parallels: the St. John the Babtist” (ibid., p. 17). “In the trilogy, sson resembles played by the Romans in the gospels” (ibid.). police occupy the role about that the Salander-trilogy, “Mikael Blomkvist is the Peter of does note that Mikael though we may even – no doubt” is there Jesus. The authors of the articlelet down Lisbeth as Peter lets down underline that Salander’s to is very hard forgiveness do, however, needs an Jesus would say that the smallest offence locate: “Where can says that the smallest offence equal grace as the biggest, Lisbeth endThe 23). p. (ibid., biggest” the as hard as punished be must and she nails Nest (2007) where scene in The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s her murderous half-brother to the floor leaving him to the vindic- logic in eye-for-an-eye a retributive tive bikers instead expresses As far of turning the other cheek. contrast with the Christian ethics to determine whether or not the parallels as I can see it is very hard as are obvious as the authors claim them to be. I find their analysis the trilogy and the gospels, in a way too determined to cross-read but I find it reading. This does not in itself tell us a lot about crime fiction in how about lot a tells it but particular, in Larsson Stieg or general crime fiction is appropriated by the church in order to gain a voice by way of a popular media phenomenon. quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - 239 . Here, . Here, 3 Kim Toft Hansen Toft Kim Volume 03 The Last Good Man ] (2007) En helt annan historia] Religion in Scandinavian Crime Fiction in Scandinavian Religion This experience being personal proof is important in this relation. is important in this relation. This experience being personal proof Killer God? My final example A.J. is Kazinski’s novel system where he asks God for help in personal matters. he asks God system where If he helps God is a certain amount of points, but if out God gets Barbarotti this the system. Basically, subtracts points from unable to help he with a religious methods combines investigative theology empirical interest. When we meet Barbarotti in the first novel God is ahead by an insignificant amount of points, but throughout the novels that himself has, though, promised God gets ahead. Barbarotti his investigations, but in the sec- he would not ask God for help in Story [ Completely Different ond novel A ends up ask- case – Barbarotti – during a particularly complicated Lonely, novel The fourth the it! In get to seems And for help. God ing novelthen, God is up by 20 points. In this Barbarotti is confronted he dying be may wife his by personal and severe problems while sys- point his ends This God. to talking and experiencing up ends signifiestem –and, yetby withnow, some narrative uncertainties for himself. Meet- the existence of God has proven – that Barbarotti transgression by all means an epistemological ing God is, here, for the policeman. have “I community: religious specific a of member not is Barbarotti And is a God. in my view there faith”, he says. “which means that in to him. But I don’t think that I’m religious that I have a relation 2010, p. 453). Consequently, (Nesser, sense of the word” the regular spir a towards openness still shows but he church, to never goes he , itual mode of living. In the midst of the investigation in The Lonely who has left the Swedish state meets a lapsed preacher Barbarotti save his faith. to This guy talks about a God that in order church the pulpit, but from who is not contacted does not live in churches, his deinstitution- in his life. By underlining anyhow God is present this mode of recognizes alized faith, our investigator Barbarotti - faith as well. He chooses an individualistic spirituality and repre – “a religio-cultur Christopher Partridge sents – with a phrase from subjective form of a more toward ‘religion’ organized al shift from ‘spirituality’” (Partridge, 2008: 108). a Danish investigator and a Danish physicist are caught up in a mys- a Danish investigator and a Danish physicist are the world around deaths peculiar number of larger tery about a quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - - - 240 Kim Toft Hansen Toft Kim Volume 03 Religion in Scandinavian Crime Fiction in Scandinavian Religion By the end of the novel the empirically minded couple – under By the end of the novel the empirically These ex- This ends my analytical illustrations of my argument. where there seems to be no clues at all. At least not until they stum- At least all. seems to be no clues at there where 36 good men on are describing that there the Jewish myth ble across Apocalypse, the would reach we all disappear if they though Earth, enter the story appear to be dying. When we and these good men men left – and one, an Italian as it appears, only two good are, there then, seem to point to- clues, Various shortly after. policeman, dies own investigator who then turns out to be no other that our wards seems to be athe last good man – and the guy doing all the killing God himself. mysterious supernatural being, maybe world ordinary sees their physicist – the fact that one is a lined by explanation of existence. in favor of a supernatural crumble picture the normal nar of and a transgression This is basically a reversion rative development of crime fiction where the supernatural may a natural explanation has beenappear but only in transition until as Tzvetan Todorov is read”, found: “as soon as the crime novel have incidents no supernatural writes, “it leaves no doubt that 1989, p. 49). In The Last Good Man the natu- taken place” (Todorov, explanasupernatural a until transition in fact in is explanation ral actually ends up having a near tion has been found. The physicist negotiateda for spokesman a becomes she experience and death “the opposition between reli version of science and spirituality: hyped” (Kazinski, 2010,gion and science”, she says, “is powerfully “I’m not particularly religious. p. 240). The investigator later states: this”. The physicist then is a natural explanation for For me there just don’t un- have found a natural explanation. We We says: “Yes. derstand it yet. This is the way all new discoveries begin” (ibid., p. ends up being the 356). The supernatural account, in this way, “natural” explanation in the novel. In itself, as meeting God in Nesser’s of the with a transgression novel, this deals theoretically boundary between – as I will show underneath – a disenchanted of post-secularity. culture modernity and the re-enchanted corpus of a much larger though, but a pivotal excerpt amples were, In titles. a few quite in reflected tendency this find will You texts. of religion, spirit- in this culturalvarious interest ways authors reflect Dahl,Arne as such authors are supernatural – these the and uality, The- Johan Egeland, Tom Mortensen, Henning Gunnar Staalesen, Axel Peter Høeg, and Åsa Sigurðardottir, orin, Camilla Läckberg, quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 241 Kim Toft Hansen Toft Kim Volume 03 . Gilhus and Mikaelsson Religion in Scandinavian Crime Fiction in Scandinavian Religion modernity. The Danish philosopher Danish The modernity. Generally, this increased focus on religion and spirituality in and spirituality in focus on religion this increased Generally, ized through the concept of mediatization ized through Bolvig (see Hansen, 2012). They are respectively very different in very different respectively 2012). They are Bolvig (see Hansen, they underline a these themes, but collectively how they deal with spirituality. in modern conspicuous interest and the post-secular Mediatized religion me- what has been called with this is through One way of dealing media play avarious kind shows that of a Research . diatized religion in shaping the way we think. This is character very important role (2005) talk about a flourishing interest in newreligiosity on the In- the calls he with what deals Partridge (2008) ternet. Christopher occultural significance of Stig information Hjarvard technology. development en- in a book about mediatization, calls this (2008), he for me since is particularly interesting chanted media. Hjarvard Firstly, fiction. genre popular and deals with both media and religion and of dealings with religion shows a massive increase his research the past decade. Secondly, the supernatural in the media throughout people about their choice of genre he has interviewed a number of subjects” religious spiritual or about “magic, read to they were if almost 28% would choose crime 2008: 199). Surprisingly, (Hjarvard, fiction or thrillers, which – compared with the fact that only 6% would choose horror fiction – shows that the assumed connection between modernity and crime fiction is not entirely upheld by the themselves. readers Gen- fiction. genre popular on off rub to seems media Scandinavian or fantasy – are horror dealing with the supernatural – such as res exceptionally popular at the moment, while - crime fiction increas divine the supernatural, the irrational, The field. this operates ingly gen- the – fiction crime in attention more and more attract to seems an otherwise noted boundary between ra- appears to transgress re for general reason One much more tionality and supernaturality. this cultural and generic development may be what has been called self-constrained or post-secular between mo- relationship Schanz (2008) deals with the Hans-Jørgen think- modernity and modern his view in and dernity and religion, to answer all questions, that it seems unable ing has come to realize questions for instance about grief, happiness, death, existence, good inability to its And because modern thinking has realized evil. and quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - - - 242 Kim Toft Hansen Toft Kim Volume 03 post-secularism (Sigurd Religion in Scandinavian Crime Fiction in Scandinavian Religion post- alone signifies that a transgression of the In other words, what I locate in Schanz’ philosophy signifies the signifies philosophy Schanz’ in locate I what words, other In it background socio-philosophical this and analyses these With provide provide sufficient solutions to these difficult questions, modernity then modernity Being self-constrained, self-constrained. becomes thinking. and spiritual Though, it back into religious transgresses is, nevertheless, still religion in an appropriate reflexive distance in spirituality com- interest This renewed applied by modernity. called been has criticism reflexive with bined is a society that blends an aware post-secular society A son, 2009). reflexive towards inclination an with spirituality of questions of ness critique. The prefix secular has been going has, as well, come to on. Post-secularism the public from been removed has far from religion that realize an interest shows is why this philosophical trend which sphere, in reflexive spirituality rather that institutionalizedreligion or by way of a cri- Habermas has – Even Jürgen secularism. hard that secular citizens may tique of the post-secular – underlined contributions”, though he is still religious “learn something from secularization of society (Haber maintaining the stanza of a political term the coined himself Habermas Allegedly, 10). p. 2006, mas, post-secular society (Habermas, 2001). same middle course as found in contemporary crime fiction such and the novels by Nesser and Kazinski. as especially The Protectors This means that if crime fiction is, at first, connected to modernity, must the genre becomes self-constrained, secondly, and modernity, But as we have and spirituality. religion as well open up towards seen in my examples Scandinavian from crime fiction,genre the – it does not alone apply an apologetic and dogmatic religiosity of a parameter be in the middle often places itself somewhere exam- The spirituality. affirmative and critique subversive tween Lund Lagerman Tomas from religion of critique subversive of ples with this type of in line alone more me and Stieg Larsson are of post-secular spir In many ways, the new mode modern reason. par in way precise and obvious an in reflected however, is, ituality ticularly Nesser’s negotiations with God: novels about Barbarotti’s to be dis- God is not just a customary fact – spirituality is there especially The Protectors in cussed, but it is as well very present and Kazinski’s The Last Good Man. as post-secular development seems suitable to discuss this genre quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 243 crime fiction is Kim Toft Hansen Toft Kim Volume 03 Annual Meeting, Society for the Ad- Society for Meeting, Annual st Religion in Scandinavian Crime Fiction in Scandinavian Religion

All quotes from titles in my list of references bearing a translation in titles in my list of references All quotes from Otherwise I quote the original brackets have been translated by me. depth discussion of similarities version. See Hansen, 2012, for an in and supernaturality between metaphysics, religion, and differences between Christi- of the relationship See Hansen, 2012, for a discussion num- a by forward put been has assertion This fiction. crime and anity Spencer e.g. Kracauer (1971), Stephen Knight (1980), ber of scholars, Eriksen (1989). Berg (1989), and Trond A.J. Kazinski is a pseudonym for the film director and Anders writer Rønnow Klarlund and the writer Jacob Weinreich. crime fiction that on the one hand deals with rational and empirical inves- empirical and rational with deals hand one the on that fiction crime of in questions interest a renewed tigative methods, but combines this with . the spirit and modern religion Lars Stieg conference the at presented paper a of version edited an is This Notes 1 2 3 crime A. Mc- term, I draw heavily on John fiction. In coining this concept post-secular Clures with “the break which describes fiction not lead in post- this “does However, of the real”. secular versions of a well-mapped, to the triumphant reappearance secular narrative narra- cosmos, as it often does in conventional religious familiar, God”not but appear, “Gods McClure. writes of conversion,” tives post-secular conclusion, In 4). p 2007, (McClure, A 2011. 18-20, Los Angeles, May son and Scandinavian Crime Fiction, the 101 shorter version was presented vancement of Scandinavian Study, Chicago, IL, April 28-30, 2011 (Hansen, Chicago, IL, April 28-30, 2011 vancement of Scandinavian Study, 2011). quarter

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kvarter akademisk - ed The The Wo 244 The Re-en- , Institute for Kim Toft Hansen Toft Kim Volume 03 The Girl Who Kick [The Girl Who Murder and metaphysics],Murder Religion in Scandinavian Crime Fiction in Scandinavian Religion - ], Forlaget Samfundslitteratur: Fre , 14:1, pp. 1-25. Mord og metafysik [ og Mord - (TV-se Radio Danmarks 2008-2010. ], Protectors The Annual Meeting, Society for the Advancement Annual Meeting, Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian st Aalborg Aalborg Universitetsforlag: Aalborg. at Paper fiction”. crime post-secular of theory a Towards – 101 chantment of Culture – New Religiousity in Modern Societies], Uni- of Culture chantment versitetsforlaget: Oslo. Frankfurt am Main. an Journal of Philosophy ligion as ‘Other’ M Cusack (et al.) Fiction”. Carole in Detective Sydney. Press: , RLA (ed.): The Buddha of suburbia the Modern], Universitetsforlaget: Oslo. i moderne samfunn [ – Nyreligiøsitet refortrylling rens deriksberg. Ariela Keysar (ed.). Secularism and & A. Kosmin ism”. Barry Secularity – Contemporary International Perspectives Col- Trinity the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture, lege: Hartford. ], Månpocket: Stockholm. on Tattoo Study, Chicago. of Politics, – Mediatization of Media World og leg [A religion sprog, and Play Language, Religion, the Hornet’s Nest], Månpocket: Stockholm. the Hornet’s Copenhagen. ries): men Reproving God], Danmarks Radio (radio drama): Copen- Reproving men hagen. , 2011. ”Crime fiction and, religion mediatized2011. Hansen, Kim Toft . Suhrkamp Verlag: . Suhrkamp Verlag: Habermas, Jürgen, 2001. Glauben und Wissen - Europe Sphere”. Habermas, Jürgen, 2006. “Religion in the Public References London. , BFI Publishing: Film/Genre Altman, Rick, 1999. Re- Non-mainstream Black: and “Scarlet 2005. M., Carole Cusack, [Nietzsche and Berg, 1989. Nietzsche og det moderne Trond Eriksen, Mikaelsson, 2005/1998. Kultu- Gilhus, Ingvild Sælid & Lisbeth , 2012. Toft Kim Hansen, Kosmin, Barry A., 2007. “Contemporary Secularity and Secular - kvinnor [The Girl with the Drag hatar som Stieg, 2005. Män Larsson, sprängdes Stieg, 2007. Luftslottet som Larsson, En verden af medier – Medialiseringen af politik, Hjarvard, Stig, 2008. En verden af [ Livvagterne Gud [ Lagermand, 2009. Kvinder der irettesætter Lundme, Tomas quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - 245 The DaThe Modernity and Modernity and Kim Toft Hansen Toft Kim ], Literature Fantastic Volume 03 The Lonely], Albert Bonniers Religion in Scandinavian Crime Fiction in Scandinavian Religion Selvfølgeligheder – Aspekter ved moderni- ved Aspekter Selvfølgeligheder – [ litteratur fantastiske Den Det postsekuläre tillståndet – Religion, moderni- Religion, – tillståndet postsekuläre Det Matters of Course – Aspects of Modernity and Met- Matters of Course – Aspects of Modernity , Indiana in Crime Fiction and Ideology , 1980. Form The Post-secular Condition – Religion, Modernity, Poli- The Post-secular Condition – Religion, Modernity, litikens Forlag: Copenhagen. Bloomington. University Press: am Main. Frankfurt , Suhrkamp Verlag: phischer Traktat Ath Press: Georgia of University The Morrison, and Pynchon of ens. Bonniers Förlag: Stockholm. bert Förlag: Stockholm. Albert Bonniers Story], Förlag: Stockholm. , Code”. Northern Lights – Film and Media Studies Yearbook Vinci vol. 6. ], Aarhus Religion], Aarhus Aarhus. Universitetsforlag: tet og metafysik [ Aarhus. aphysics], Forlaget Modtryk: tet, politik [ Göteborg. tics], Glänta Produktion: Carbondale cal Crime Novel, Southern Illinois University Press: and Edwardsville. Klim: Aarhus. ], Po- , 2010. Den sidste gode mand [The Last Good Man A.J. Kazinski, Stephen Knight, philoso – Ein Roman Der Detektiv 1979/1971. Siegfried, Kracauer, in the Age McClure, John A., 2007. Partial Faiths – Postsecular Fiction Dog], Al- Håkan, 2006. Människa utan hund [Man Without Nesser, Different Completely Håkan, 2008: En helt annan historia [A Nesser, Håkan, 2010. De ensamma [ Nesser, , Routledge: London. Jenks, Chris, 2003: Transgression of significance occultural “The 2008. Christopher, Partridge, 1999. Hans-Jørgen, Schanz, , 2009. Ola, Sigurdson, [ Schanz, Hans-Jørgen, 2008. Modernitet og religion Spencer, William David, 1989. Mysterium and Mystery – The Cleri- William Spencer, 1989: Tzvetan, Todorov, quarter

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kvarter akademisk akademiskkvarter Volume 03.Efterår 2011 • on the web academic quarter

Ontologisk transgression i Adaptation Om filmen, fiktionen, teksten og tilværelsen

Helle Thorsøe Nielsen (f. 1977), ph.d.-stipendiat ved Kultur og Globale Studier på Aalborg Universitet. Cand. Mag. i dansk. Medredaktør af formidlingstidsskriftet Kulturkapel- let. Arbejder på et ph.d.-projekt om globale og transnationale diskurser i dansk film med særligt fokus på æstetiske manifestationer af kulturel identitet. Pri- mære interesseområder er film, kulturanalyse, fikti- onsontologi og –æstetik.

Om at være en virkelig kliché… ”Do I have an original thought in my head? […] Life is short. I need to make the most of it. Today is the first day of the rest of my life. I’m a walking kliché”. Med disse ord starter Adaptation (2002). I filmen følger vi fire personer og deres forhold til livet og skriv- ning. Hovedpersonen er Charlie Kaufman, der bor sammen med sin tvillingebror Donald Kaufman – begge manuskriptforfattere. Filmen handler om Charlies skriveblokade i forbindelse med adap- tationen af forfatteren Susan Orleans bog The Orchid Thief (1998) til film. Præcis som Charlie ikke kan komme ud af sin skriveblokade, formår han heller ikke at forandre og leve sit liv. Donald derimod beslutter spontant at arbejde på et manuskript, får succes og en smuk kæreste. The Orchid Thief handler om Susan Orleans møde med orkidetyv og –avler John Laroche. Susan hungrer efter at forandre sit liv og føle ægte brændende passion for noget. Hun for- mår også kun at skrive om livet. Laroche derimod er et dybt pas- sioneret menneske, hvis begivenhedsrige liv gøres til materiale for både en bog og en film. Via voice-over hører vi helt i begyndelsen af Adaptation Kauf- mans indre monolog, hvor han slår fast, at han er en omvandrende kliché – uddrag citeret ovenfor. Klichéen tematiseres således eksplicit, men som figur løber den deslige på ironisk og selvironisk vis

Volume 03 246 die- 247 er helt diegetisk ni- metafiktion Helle Thorsøe Nielsen Thorsøe Helle Volume 03 Ontologisk transgression i Adaptation transgression Ontologisk tekst og kontekst. Ligeledes bringes er interessant, fordi vi her både møder fordi er interessant, (1999), i form af et besøg på settetpå besøg af et John Malkovich (1999), i form Being bruges denne kliché altså selvparodisk og humoristisk denne kliché altså selvparodisk bruges porale og kausale system, der potentielt er tilgængeligt for, og potentielt er tilgængeligt for, der porale og kausale system, Ved at indsætte sig selv som hovedperson i sit manuskript til entil manuskript sit i hovedperson som selv sig indsætte at Ved Den indledende sekvens i filmen byder også på en intertekstuel via praksisser transgressive filmens belyse følgende det i vil Jeg Adaptation tererne er i stand til at opfatte; altså det implicerede rumlige, rumlige, implicerede er i stand til at opfatte; altså det tererne tem forankret i, en given person i en film. Det ikke-diegetiske niveau er det, der kun er henvendt til publikum, som fx kapiteloverskrif- ter og underlægningsmusik (Branigan, 1992, s. 35). Hertil kan så kontekst, kommunikative filmens er som ekstra-diegetisk, et føjes der står i dialektisk relation til filmen. En tekst består altså af Metafiktionelle transgressionsformer En fiktionsfilm består af en lang række Ed- tekstuelle niveauer. og et ikke- Branigan skelner mellem et diegetisk ward veau. Diegesen er det, der sker i filmens tid ogrum, som karak gennem hele filmen. Et eksempel er senere i ovennævnte voice- harHvorfor to fall in love”. ”I need lyder fra Charlie hvor det over, i en han er hovedpersonen Fordi for at blive forelsket? han brug lidt sig han viser passende ganske Og naturligvis. Hollywood-film senere netop at være forelsket i Amelia. En Hollywood-film- inde en slags. Og her altid en kærlighedshistorie af holder så godt som i eksplicit af filmen selv. – og det reflekteres Kauf- Charlie fiktive i den klichéen fremhæve at ved og fiktionsfilm fraher allerede Kaufman empiriske den slår monolog indre mans metafiktionel modus an.starten af filmen en stærk og bevidst til reference sce- selve og niveauskredet af tekst og kontekst gennem mediering Og filmen. i tema gennemgående et som banen på filmsettet fra nen og aspekter – intertekstualitet, (re)mediering disse af filmen. centrale for resten meta- selvrefleksive over arbejdstypologi en af implementeringen fiktionelle transgressionsformer. under optagelserne til filmen, som Kaufman ligeledes har skrevet manuskriptet til. Sekvensen virkelighedens instruktør og skuespiller John Malkovich og fiktio- Kaufman i form af skuespilleren nens manuskriptforfatter Charlie den ontologiske grænse mellemNicholas Cage. Hermed kollapser fiktion og virkelighed, mellem quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 248 - Hetero indike- . 1 Helle Thorsøe Nielsen Thorsøe Helle Volume 03 , Intertekstuel transgression Ontologisk transgression i Adaptation transgression Ontologisk indikerer, at filmen er bevidst om om bevidst er filmen at indikerer, er en bred kategori, der dækker ener en bred . Ove Christensen inddeler endvidere tekster ud fra deres virkelig- tekster ud fra deres inddeler endvidere Ove Christensen Jeg vil foreslå følgende former for intentionelle selvrefleksive Intertekstuel transgression iden- forstås en form for tværverdslig en parasitær digression Ved Æstetiske transgressioner sætter fiktionens konstruktion i fokus Pragmatiske transgressioner , og verden i forhold til teksten kan betegnes kan betegnes til teksten i forhold , og verden gese og ikke-diegese kontekst eller ekstra-diegese - til det ekstra-diegeti stræben i forhold deres hedsaspiration, altså her med tre i Dorfman, 2004). Han arbejder ske niveau (Christensen (fiktions- grad 2. (faktatekster), grad 1. af assertive aspiration: typer tekster) og 3. grad (selvrefleksive tekster). Disse tre kategorier af i vidt omfang i vor tids mangetekster kan overlappe, hvilket sker Selvrefleksivehybridtekster. elementer i tekster har med en trans- fra diegesen til det ikke-diegetiske og/eller det bevægelse gressiv transgression Betegnelsen ekstra-diegetiske niveau at gøre. således, at fiktionens illusoriskerer niveau overskrides i en intenti- onel bevægelse. tekster: fiktionelle i metafiktionsformer En (1998) inde på dette forhold. cosmica. Fiction and Possible Worlds på én gang til diegesen og refererer er konkret parasitær transgression 1998, s. 18) (Doležel, og den ekstra-diegetiske omverden - Pragmatisk transgres , Æstetisk transgression, Parasitær transgression . sion og endelig Ideologisk transgression citat over diskret fra direkte hver form for intertekstuel reference af alle stil- og modustraditioner til indskrivning i genre-, allusion sig også orientere kan dermed slags. Intertekstuelle digressioner - både det diegetiske, det ikke-diegetiske og det ekstra-diege mod tiske niveau i en tekst. titet mellem en fiktiv og virkelig person, fx Napoleon, et geografisk i er Doležel Lubomir lign. eller begivenhed historisk en sted, via en så ekspliciteret brug ataf æstetikken fiktionelle virkemidler, ikke blot etablerer et fiktivt univers, men gør opmærksom på sin er de altså på én gang både medvirkende Oftest egen konstruktion. til at skabe en films illusoriske ogrefleksive niveau. De går fra det fiktive univers som diegese til konstruktionen af diegesen. Under denne kategori hører eksempelvis mise-en-abyme-figuren og sær sin egen kommunikationssituation, og de retter sig mod den eks- den mod sig retter de og kommunikationssituation, egen sin ligt iøjnefaldende stiltræk af enhver slags. quarter

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kvarter akademisk 249 Helle Thorsøe Nielsen Thorsøe Helle Volume 03 : ”Imaging digressions

sig eksplicit til Orleans bogOrleans eksplicit til sig imaging Ontologisk transgression i Adaptation transgression Ontologisk De fem kategorier er først og fremmest tænkt som et praktisk tænkt som et praktisk De fem kategorier er først og fremmest er ligesom de parasitære inspireret af inspireret er ligesom de parasitære Ideologiske transgressioner digressions digressions are embedded in the fiction text but express opinions - The semantics of these digres (beliefs) about the actual world. […] they claim validity in the actualsions is determined by the fact that world” (Doležel, 1998, s. 27). Ideologiske er transgressioner kende- ogholdning, med ladet er De abstraktion. af grad vis en ved tegnet sig mod og kræver validitet er altså ideologiske. De både orienterer - Derud omverden. i det diegetiske univers og den ekstra-diegetiske rækkevidde, eller mindre have større over kan disse digressioner gruppe, menneske, en mindre idet de kan have fokus på et enkelt til hele Menneskehe- forhold mennesker eller gruppe over en større eller mere Ligeledes kan de være den med stort M og hele verden. og magtpåliggende ment – altså intensiteten kan alvorligt mindre til en teksts holder ofte nøgler ideologiske digressioner De variere. ning og evt. budskab. non-rigidt arbejdsredskab til brug ved analyse af fiktionelle film- overlap- Kategorierne er ikke hinanden uafhængige, men tekster. til Adaptation I forhold per tværtimod betydeligt i visse henseender. - giver det god mening at begynde med de intertekstuelle transgres blot- en for centrale helt og filmen i dominerende er de fordi sioner, lægning af filmens tematik. Intertekstuelle transgressioner Adaptation forholder Først og fremmest - Thief, som den er en adaptation og en om-/videredigt Orchid The til Referencen adaptationsprocessen. ning af. Filmen tematiserer Thief er både til det diegetiske, det ikke-diegetiske og det The Orchid spor, er med hele det ene narrative niveau. Vægten ekstra-diegetiske det diegetiske niveau, og lagt på hvor vi følger Orlean og Laroche indholdssiden af Orleans bog. Imidlertid er der lagt lige så meget te- vægt på det ekstra-diegetiske niveau, idet Orleans forfatterrolle privatliv via fx den pa- ligesom hendes (frit opdigtede) matiseres rodiske sekvens med Orlean, hendes mand og deres sofistikerede - det ikke-die eller diegetiske enten det fra tra-diegetiske verden af brug titelblade, særlig Eksempler kan være getiske niveau. direkte mindre eller mere og musik heterodiegetisk voice-over, seerhenvendelser. Doležel, som anvender betegnelsen quarter

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kvarter akademisk 250 Helle Thorsøe Nielsen Thorsøe Helle Volume 03 fremstår fremstår altså dobbelt i fil- Ontologisk transgression i Adaptation transgression Ontologisk The Orchid Thief Orchid The er, at adaptationer kan være kreative nyfortolkninger og kreative at adaptationer kan være er, En anden eksplicit reference er til manuskript-guru Robert McKee,Robert til manuskript-guru er reference anden eksplicit En I filmen går Charlie til adaptationsopgaven fast besluttet på at mod Orienteringen men, idet bogens stil og struktur både hyldes og problematiseres. både hyldes og problematiseres. men, idet bogens stil og struktur til holdning filmens gennemskue og fastholde at svært det gør Det den sig anerkendende eller parodierende Orleans bog. Forholder bogen bruger at den først og fremmest til hendes værk? Mit bud er, - seriøst og virkelig forhol tager bogen end den som materiale mere der sig til den. En holdning, der imidlertid kommer klart til udtryk i filmen, og satirisk budskab, der står i skærende Et udviklinger af værker. der kontrast til det gængse Hollywoods mangfoldige adaptationer, for kunstneriske eller frem primært er underlagt kommercielle ambitioner. kreative tilhænger af. Da Do- Donald er inkarneret som Charlies tvillingbror for at hjælpe Charlie ud af sin tiltagende York nald bringes til New han, at han føler Charlie skriveblokade, pointerer og invaliderende opdager bil- har overset noget – og det tør nok siges! De to brødre går og herefter hjemmeside, leder af en nøgen Orlean på Laroche’s og det grønne eufo- forhold det pludselig stærkt. De opdager deres med kulminerer hele af orkideerne. Det stof, de udvinder riserende dem alle fire ude i sumpen, hvor Orlean insisterer på at slå Charlie og intellektuelle New Yorker venner drages ind i filmens diegetiske og Yorker intellektuelle New atniveau. tekstensEn græn- af filmens pointer synes netop at være, Biogra- teksten. i ind virkeligheden og virkeligheden, i ud flyder ser deliriskei dette fiktion til kontinuerligt gøres personer og facts fiske diegetiske de tre hvorved grænsen mellem potpourri fra Kaufman, ud. niveauer flyder finder han som stil, og fortælling originale Orleans mod tro være Under samtalen med Valerie smuk, indsigtsfuld og bevægende. og han stuff”, Yorker sprawling New kalder han det for ”great, plot- ”kunstigt være at for frem eksistere” filmen ”lade vil han ytrer, Imidlertid blomster”. om ”bare film en lave at ønsker Han dreven”. citerer ind i en skriveblokade af rang, og i sin frustration han render Thief til agent: sin fra en boganmeldelse af The Orchid han senere - digres Orlean so book, a fill to him of enough nearly not ””There’s unites blah. “No narrative really ses in long passages”. Blah, blah, I can’t structure Book Review. Times York these passages”. ”New shit”. Yorker this. It’s that sprawling New quarter

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kvarter akademisk 251 jo en lang række afrække lang en jo Helle Thorsøe Nielsen Thorsøe Helle Volume 03 Adaptation Ontologisk transgression i Adaptation transgression Ontologisk

er den fiktionelle manuskriptforfatter Charlie Kaufman, Charlie manuskriptforfatter fiktionelle den er Filmen slutter med Kaufmans voice-over, mens vi ser ham i sin bil efter Filmen slutter med Kaufmans voice-over, Referencen til McKee er, præcis som filmens forhold til Orleans bog, Adaptation Parasitære transgressioner Parasitære I ihjel, så han ikke afslører hendes hemmelighed. Charlie lærer den lærer hendes hemmelighed. Charlie afslører ihjel, så han ikke og ikke, hvad der hvad man elsker, man er, life lesson”, at ”profound af en krokodille, bringes en deus ex machina i form elsker en, og der En deus Laroche. op, og på et øjeblik dræber der pludselig dukker advarer kraftigste det som McKee på en ingrediens, er ex machina vidner Ligeledes er vi i denne afslutningssekvens mod at anvende. død. Således føl- i Donalds til skyderier og en biljagt, der resulterer originalitetom) (ønsket fra manuskriptet af altså udviklingen vi ger kliché. til formelagtig plotdreven hende. HanAmelia, hvor han har fortalt hende, han elsker en frokost med er fyldt af håb for både sin egen personlige fremtid og for sit filmmanu- idet voice-overen, som McKee over, skript, som han atter tager magten er bevidst om sit brud med McKee her, får det sidste ord. Kaufman afskyr, would not approve. […] McKee voice-over, idet han siger: ”Shit that’s it feel right”. Oh, who cares what McKee thinks, er rettetheden klart imod McKee ogsvær at blive klog på. På den ene side den plotdrevne og formelagtige film, som han repræsenterer for Charlie. ved at bruge udtrykket modelfly. Charlie udtrykker dette kort og præcis og manuskript Charlies følger Imidlertid anvendes voice-over og inkorporeres en om end der McKees principper, og efterleves i Adaptation. Selv- deus ex machina. McKee både parodieres over sit manuskript tilbage, såom Charlie afslutningsvist tager kontrollen har det jo bevæget sig fremad takket være Donald og McKee. Derfor er også kommentaren om, hvem, der bekymrer sig om, hvad McKee mener, - paradoksal. I Adaptation er der tale om både parodi af McKee og selvpa afanvendelse regulær om tale er der ligesom hans ideer, af brugen rodi over En tilsvarende dobbeltpositionering ses også i en række af hans principper. filmens parasitære transgressioner. der har en pendant i virkelighedens manuskriptforfatter Charlie har en pendant i virkelighedens der Kaufman, en parasitær Den transgression. fiktionelle Kaufman te- - at han skriver sig selv ind i sit manuskript, og dette frem matiserer, og selvopslugthed i den stilles som et tegn på håbløs narcissisme da situationen går stil. Det ses af Charlies ansigtsudtryk, helt store - narcis solipsistisk, selv sig også direkte kalder han og for ham, op quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - 252 Helle Thorsøe Nielsen Thorsøe Helle Volume 03 Ontologisk transgression i Adaptation transgression Ontologisk med en term hentet fra Patrizia Waugh, og han nævner yderli- med en term hentet fra Patrizia Waugh, Udover Charlie Kaufman kan folkene i sekvensen med scenen med Kaufman kan folkene i sekvensen Charlie Udover Et finurligt aspekt irelation hertil er den falske parasitære trans- sistisk og selvopslugt. Imidlertid gør den empiriske Kaufman rent rent Kaufman empiriske den gør Imidlertid selvopslugt. og sistisk samme i Adapatation, faktisk præcis det som hans fiktionelle- pen særdeles er –parodien og Selvironien desperation. i gør filmen i dant tvetydig. tydelig, men også på settet - af Being John Malkovichnævnes. Endvi til optagelserne Susan Or mellem virkelighedens empiriske vi forholdet har dere lean og John Laroche og fiktionens. Og slutteligt kan jeg nævne forbindelsen mellem fiktionens og virkelighedens Robert Mckee, Alle disse er eksempler på åben- Thomas og Charles Darwin. Valerie ater, Det interessante identiteter. lyse og intentionelle tværverdslige I stedet er der tale om et 1:1-forhold. der selvsagt ikke er tale om frie fortolkninger de empiriske Jonze og Kaufmans og udlægnin- både er Der fiktion. til denne af overførsel og virkeligheden af ger - digres i de parasitære realisme en tilstræbt dokumentarisme og der sioner, klart at signalerer, forbindelsen mellem fiktionen og verden i en vis udstrækning er biografisk. Der er dog ingen tvivl om, at fremstillingen af de fiktionelle personer både er farvet af ideologiske holdninger såvel den empiriske Kaufmans subjektive skabe et stykke til at frihed i forhold som digteriske og kreative seerværdig fiktion. Filmen placerer sig på den måde et ikke nær mere defineret stedmellem virkelighed og fiktion, og den leger grænse mellem de to. konstant på kanten af den hårfine gression som den fiktionelle Charlies tvillingebror Donald udgør. Den fiktionelle karakter Donald Kaufman er nævnt i kredits til filmen – in loving memory of Donald Kaufman – og han påfigurerer det udgivne manuskript – Kaufman & Kaufman, 2002. Endvidere trods Award Academy til en Oscar og en blev han både nomineret og aldrig det faktum, at den empiriske Charlie Kaufman ikke har, - Kaufman og Wiki (IMDB opslag: Donald har haft, en tvillingebror betegner ham paper aut- pedia opslag: Donald Kaufman). Sørensen hor Jonze klart har villet at hverken Charlie Kaufman eller Spike gere, indrømme, at den fiktionelle Donald Kaufman aldrig har haft en pendant i form af en Donald Kaufman i den empiriske virkelighed ned- 65). Herved s. 2005, Christensen, Riber & Nicholas i (Sørensen og diegetiske indre filmens på grænser ontologiske blot ikke brydes idet ikke-diegetiske niveau. Her går grænsenedbrydningen helt ud quarter

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kvarter akademisk på 253 The Orchid Thief Orchid The er orkideen, som Helle Thorsøe Nielsen Thorsøe Helle Volume 03 Ontologisk transgression i Adaptation transgression Ontologisk byder på en lang række iøjnefaldende æstetiske trans- byder på en lang række iøjnefaldende En anden æstetisk transgression, der skal omtales, er brugen af omtales, er brugen der skal En anden æstetisk transgression, Gennem filmens første store del har historien i subtil vis, det forhold, at alle tekster er åbne størrelser, der lever vi- at alle tekster er åbne størrelser, subtil vis, det forhold, æste- for form anden En udgivet. er filmen eller bogen at efter, dere Den voice-over. af brugen til sig relaterer filmen i transgression tisk niveauer og skif- de diegetiske er et virkemiddel til at tydeliggøre En anden funktion voice- til hinanden. tene imellem dem i forhold over’en spiller i filmen er sletret og at pege på filmen som en kon- anvendes så eksplicit og hyppigt i filmen, at Virkemidlet struktion. mærke til det, hvorved nærmest ikke kan undgå at lægge seeren uvilkårligt over konstruktionen illusionen brydes og refleksionen træder i stedet. symbol i Adaptation Det gennemgående symboler. gror og fæstnet er den parasit, idet en halvt om halvt er det første for og luften. Det er på en anden plante, men får sin næring fra regnen præcis som Kaufmans film gror ud ad Orleans bog,Orleans bog af vis snylter på Laroche mens Orlean selv på parasitær liv, Laroche’s idet Laroche og hans passion. Filmen udtrykker selv dette forhold, Adaptation og niveauer diegetiske filmens i skred betydelige er Der gressioner. for opmærksomhed ligeledes sig påkalder vidensdistributionen i den set er det interessante Strukturelt blot at nævne to områder. henseende, at seeren gennem den flerstrengede komplekse- narra frem for over filmens struktur bringes til tive at struktur reflektere den og forstå den – fordi automatisk og selvfølgeligt at acceptere fremhæ- ligner de Hollywood-films. Jeg fleste andre vil endvidere former for æstetisk transgression. andre ve tre mel- men idet forholdet afsluttet som og færdig, fremstillet været nutid, bringes ind i Kaufmans adapterende lem Orlean og Laroche Adaptation Hermed tematiserer bliver historien med ét helt åben. det ekstra-diegetiske niveau. fiktionaliseres,Virkeligheden idet fiktionen tages for pålydende i virkeligheden. Donald findes ikke i en og efterfølgen- han krediteres det, trods fysisk empirisk version reel de nomineres, og sågar lever videre udenfor filmens umiddelbare Et bemærkelses- af hans egen hjemmeside i Cyberspace. i form rum værdigt fænomen – Hvor verden almindeligvis gøres til fiktion, så i tilfældet med Donald her (næsten) til virkelighed. fiktionen gøres Æstetiske transgressioner quarter

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kvarter akademisk 254 at fremstille at fremstille Helle Thorsøe Nielsen Thorsøe Helle Volume 03 Ontologisk transgression i Adaptation transgression Ontologisk ”Do you know why I like plants? ’Cause they’re ’Cause they’re ”Do you know why I like plants? Laroche: It means process. Adaptation is a profound so mutable. out how to thrive in the world” you figure they have no it’s easier for plants, I mean, Orlean: ”Well sense. they just move on in whatever know, You memory. - run like just shameful almost is it adapting person the To ning away” Det samme gælder for Oruborus-symbolet. Kaufman omtaler Kaufman omtaler Det samme gælder for Oruborus-symbolet. De diegetiske niveauer spejler hinanden, ligesom natur, tekst tekst De diegetiske niveauer spejler hinanden, ligesom natur, Orkidesymbolet bevirker, at de tre dimensioner – natur, tekst og dimensioner – natur, at de tre Orkidesymbolet bevirker, fil- i hinanden med forbindelse i bringes og belyser – menneskeliv og tydelig, ekspliciteret symbol er så af orkideen som men Brugen af symbolet. at filmen peger på sin egen brug tatovering da Donald fortæller om sin kærestes Oruborus-figuren, af en slange, der bider sig selv i halen. Slangen er en mytisk figur selvom den kun eksplicit optræder i den om- og kaldet Oruborus, - grund filmens på symbol et som tjene at den synes så sekvens, talte Charlies selvopslugthed og narcissisme. og på læggende struktur Charlie kan ikke se forbi sit eget liv i sin adaptation af The Orchid meget i sit manuskript. derfor sig selvutrolig Thief, og han investerer på kan man sige om den empiriske Kaufman, at han Tilsvarende sig selv som ganske og aldeles selvop- vis fremstiller selvparodisk slugt og navlepilende, idet han vælger med Adaptation på et tidspunkt siger til Orlean, at hun er ligesom alle andre, der vil alle andre, til Orlean, at hun er ligesom på et tidspunkt siger at orkideen er, ham. Et andet karakteristikum ved suge livet ud af Symbolikken til sine omgivelser. adaptere villig til at den er utrolig Analogien mellem over tekst til menneskeliv. går altså fra natur tyde- fremgår menneskeverdenen og adaptation i planteverdenen mellem Orlean og Laroche: ligt af følgende replikudveksling sin egen kreative adaptationsproces af Orleans bog til film, hvilket også reflekteres selvbevidst i filmen, hvor den fiktionelle Kaufman I’ve written myself into my script”. siger ”I’m insane, I’m Oruborus, og menneskeliv gør det gennem orkideen som symbol og temati- seringen af adaptationsbegrebet. Ligeledes gør Oruborus-figuren denne selv- virkemidler opmærksom på sammen med de andre og opslugelse, der spejling, og ikke mindst på den selvfordybelse i spejlingen. Symbolerne står hermed som den ultimative ligger quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 255 Helle Thorsøe Nielsen Thorsøe Helle Volume 03 henleder seerens op- henleder seerens Adaptation. De to brødres film- Ontologisk transgression i Adaptation transgression Ontologisk Being John Malkovich Imidlertid beskæftiger filmen sig også med sig selv som kom- bekendtskab med en sort skærm og I titelsekvensen stifter seeren Endelig kan filmens tematisering af medier ogremediering ses mærksomhed på pragmatiske aspekter af filmskabning, idet den og bringer afsender sætter fokus på karakter, filmens konstruerede selvrefleksive tematiseringaf den struktur og de der temaer, ud- . gør filmteksten Adaptation transgressioner. hvilket ses af dens pragmatiske munikativ tekst, Pragmatiske transgressioner Sekvensen på settet til tekst og afsender/modtager i hu.siden i kommunikationen mellem kliché. hvori han omtaler sig selv som en Kaufmans voice-over, pointering af modtagersiden i Dette kan ses som en formmæssig holdes hen i en form for sus- kommunikationssituationen. Seeren og den hvilket befin- rum, pense omkring, hvem stemmen tilhører, at fokus er tjener selvfølgelig det formål, der sig i. Titelsekvensen men samtidig holder den seeren 100 % på Kaufmans voice-over, over see- ironiseren selvbevidst en er at den sige, kan man hen, og som modtager. set – passive og afventende rolle – pragmatisk rens er de små eksempler på pragmatiske digressioner tydelige Andre moder optræder titelblade med person-, tids- og stedsangivelser, Titelbladene er udtryk for filmensmentvis bevidsthedi filmen.om medkunne følge skal seeren hvor kommunikationssituation, dens i dette. i handlingsforløbet og springene Filmen byder på utallige billed- som pragmatiske transgressioner. af forskellig art visuelt sættes i fokus. Jeg hvor medier indstillinger, skri- Charlies websider, og telefoner computere, nævne flæng i kan bilradio og hans lydbånd vemaskine og hans diktafon, Laroches med Darwins Kaufmans skrifter, avis med fotografiet af Cornelia, Thief med hans eksemplar af The Orchid fotografiet af Orlean. I det hele taget optræder bøger hyppigt i billedet. Endvidere findes der utallige referencer til filmmediet i manuskripter er interessante i den sammenhæng, fordi de – fx sam- fx – de fordi sammenhæng, den i interessante er manuskripter det vigtige men med lydbåndet af Darwins skrifter – tematiserer af og kon- gør brug at medierne gensidigt aspekt ved remediering, de mange prag- tinuerligt opsluger hinanden. Samlet set pointerer mediebundne er filmtekster at selvbevidst, transgressioner matiske og indgår i kommunikationssituationer. quarter

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kvarter akademisk 256 Helle Thorsøe Nielsen Thorsøe Helle Volume 03 Ontologisk transgression i Adaptation transgression Ontologisk er løst inspireret og udsprunget af parasitær transgression er først og fremmest en underholdende, legende og legende en underholdende, er først og fremmest låner liv fra virkeligheden, som Millers tekst låner liv fra en Betegnelsen Hillis Millers essay “The Critic as Host” (1986), hvori han skriver: ”Is a citation an alien parasite within the body of the main text, or is the interpretive text the parasite which surrounds and strangles the citation in which is its host? […] Or can host and parasite live happily together, the domicile of the same text, feeding each other or sharing the food?” Adams, 1986, s. 452). Dolezels rigid såvel som non rigid de- (Miller i signators anden tekst gennem citering, og virkeligheden ændres ligeledes gennem denne proces. Alle fiktionelle fremstillinger af Napoleon er med til at personlighed. historiske den på syn ikke-fiktionelle det forme og ændre Overordnet set Overordnet tematiserer filmen – med fokus påden kreative Adaptation Noter 1 Ideologiske transgressioner Robert er der adskillige: knyttet til fx Af ideologiske transgressioner Yorks intellektuelleMcKee, miljø, Hollywoods filmindustri, New imidlertid præg af tvety- Alle bærer og Charlie selv. Orlean Susan - ikke en ord Intentionaliteten er med andre dighed og ambivalens. sin legende hint ideologiske standpunkt. Gennem tydigt dette eller brug af ogkliché-figuren sin konstante og glider parodi selvparodi og placerer af på alle former for kritik, eller mindre Kaufman mere ingenmandsland. og selvironisk sig midt i et ironisk proces fra bog til film – dialogenmellem medier og den kreative hertil på en i relation hertil. Filmen insisterer i relation skriftproces medieudtryk og virkeligheds- menneskelige mellemkomst mellem historier og mellem formidling af indhold, mellem tekst og verden, og Kaufmans fortolkende, af Orleans Det fremgår mellem medier. Således er vi ideologisk set roller. formidlende og selvinvesterende eller simulacrum som ren anskuelse af verden langt fra Baudrillards anskuelse de Saussures for så vidt fra Julia Kristevas og Ferdinand system. og selvrefererende som et nærmest selvkørende af sproget selvrefleksiv film, der gennem en række forskellige strategier og og sin medialitet. Filmen virkemidler viser sin egen konstruktion det i det og herunder tilblivelsesproces sin kreative tematiserer 21-ende i århundrede stigende grad intrikate forhold mellem fiktion og virkelighed, tekst og verden. quarter

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- 257 Helle Thorsøe Nielsen Thorsøe Helle Volume 03 Ontologisk transgression i Adaptation transgression Ontologisk , Rout- Film, and Comprehension Narrative [Acces www.imdb.com/name/nm0442134 , Vintage: UK. Thief, Vintage: . 1998. The Orchid [Accessed 17 July 2006]. Available at: www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Kaufman Available versity Press: USA. versity Press: 2006]. August sed 14 Hern Books: London,Scripts, Nick – Adaptation, NHB Shooting UK. INC: , Regan Books/Harper Publishers ciples of Screenwriting USA. New York, ledge: London & New York, UK & USA. York, New ledge: London & London, UK. and Baltimore The Johns Hopkins University Press: Universitetsforlag: Aalborg tives, Media and Cultural Studies 3, DK. Aalborg, at: line] Available Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Opslag: Donald Kaufman. [online] encyclopedia. the free Wikipedia, Referencer Critical Theory Since Adams, H., ed., 1986. 1965, Florida State - Uni , 1992. Edward Branigan, Donald, 2002. The Shooting ScriptKaufman, Charlie & Kaufman, - Style, and the Prin McKee, Robert, 1997. Story – Substance, Structure, Orlean, Susan , Worlds Fiction and Possible , 1998. Heterocosmica. Lubomir Doležel, – Perspec- Practice Media, Theory, Dorfman, Ben, ed. 2004. Culture, Opslag: Donald Kaufman. [on- IMDB (Internet Movie Data Base). quarter

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Genre transgression in interactive works Transgressing Norms in the American College Composition Classroom

Claus A. Foss Rosenstand is Associate Professor in Digital Media at the De- partment of Communication and Psychology, Aal- borg University. His background is Master in Com- munication, Information Science and Psychology. His research specific includes innovation, project management, digital organizations, and pedagogy – and theoretic, methodic, technic, and organiza- tional aspects of digital media systems in general.

Method The area of interest is genre transgression in interactive works. So far, this area of interest has been framed by the literature of Brenda Laurel (1991), Janet Murray (1997), Marie-Laure Ryan (2001), and Esben Aarseth (1997, 2005), whose important and well argued key premise is that the user is a participator of interactive works. Due to an apparent lack of scientific publication taking this key premise further into a genre discussion in more recent years, this article agrees with the above premise1. However, in order to add a new perspective on interactive works, a new multidisciplinary framing is suggested; a disciplinary transgression between human computer interaction, scientific simulation theory, software system architecture, and basic genre theory. The theoretical framing with academic disciplines independent of the area of interest involves lengthy explanations that go far beyond the scope of this article. Therefore, the different disciplines are introduced briefly in order to clarify the core points with regard to the area of interest and research question: What characterizes genre transgression in interactive works? The work method of the article is to reintroduce an old established framing of basic genres (didactic, epic, and dramatic). Peter

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- - - - nd per rd 259 Volume 03 Claus A. Foss Rosenstand A. Foss Claus person. rd person is termed the commu st Genre transgression in interactive works interactive in transgression Genre person is termed situated user role, and the 3 person is termed situated user role, nd person, the “somebody” who imagines something the 2 person, the “somebody” who imagines st Naturally, Larsen’s primary focus was on the production of TV was on the production primary focus Larsen’s Naturally, As it will be argued, the simulative genre can be understood as can be understood simulative genre the As it will be argued, The dramatic, the epic and basic genres: Larsen focuses on three When defining the basic three Larsen genres, is systematic in his as a teacher, presented the communicator is In the didactic genre, In order to include a user perspective, and to bridge the gap to In order nicator, the 2 nicator, Peter Harms Larsen is a former teacher at the education depart- Peter Harms Larsen is a former Company DR. In the ment of the Danish National Broadcasting in the following presented late nineties, he developed the theory (Larsen, 1990). of TV con- his perspective on the production content. However, tent reflects a rather broad view where “somebody creates some Harms Larsen’s (1990) framing is selected, briefly presented, and and presented, briefly selected, is framing (1990) Larsen’s Harms interactive worksof including the purpose to according reframed pp. 101-108). (Rosenstand, 2002, dra- as a didactic, epic, and in the same framework a basic genre in interactive works is discussed transgression Genre matic genre. conclusion. and exemplified, followed by a and dramatic epic, Didactic, Genre framework I: by author) (Larsen, 1990, p. 91). thing for somebody” (translated something who creates” the didactic, and he terms the “somebody 1 the son is termed communicated. As it will be argued, the situated the situated As it will be argued, son is termed communicated. between the communica is a function of the relationship user role tor and the communicated. However, work about the communicator and the situated user role. p. 1990, (Larsen, communicated the defining in systematic less is he 92-95). In the following, as many as possible of Larsen’s terms are author the by contribution a are however, fields, “empty” The used. of this article. In some cases, Larsen uses at least two terms for the one term is chosen for one same notion. For the sake of accuracy, notion in the following. mentioned, and the user is situ- is the matter the communicated the di- belongs to instance, for article, This role. learner a in ated dactic genre. person, and “what is put forward” the 3 person, and “what is put forward” human computer interaction, the 1 human computer interaction, the quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 260 Situated user role* Learner* Listener Spectator Volume 03 Claus A. Foss Rosenstand A. Foss Claus Genre transgression in interactive works interactive in transgression Genre Matter mentioned The told The modelled* The communicated* In the epic genre, the communicator is presented as a narrator, as a narrator, is presented the communicator In the epic genre, the into dissolved is communicator the genre, dramatic the In by Larsen. framework inspired 1 summarizes the genre Table A simulator consists of a model of a bounded part of reality. The simulator consists of a model of a bounded part of reality. A The communicator* Teacher Narrator Model* the communicated is the told, and the user is situated in a listener is the told, and the user is situated the communicated Ander duckling”, by Hans Christian The fairy tale “The Ugly role. when epic genre, serves as an example of the sen (Andersen, 1843), the story is told. the Larsen’s solution to this is not to specify dramatic construction. How- of the dramatic genre. communicator and the communicated inspired by scientificever, simulation theory (elaborated later), the as dissolved into a model and the com- communicator is presented out, the userAs Larsen points municated is what is being modelled. For in- of spectator. is situated in the role of the dramatic genre is an ex- as a play in a theatre stance, “The Ugly Duckling” staged in a The communicator is presented ample of the dramatic genre. scenography. and actors of consists that model a as form dissolved and is modelled by a director, which The communicated is the play, of spectator. the user is situated in the role by the author of this article. are The terms marked with asterisk (*) : framework, Table Larsen’s where the blanks (*) are filled in by the author of this article Before characterizing the simulative genre, the core theory of sci- the core characterizing the simulative genre, Before entific simulator systems is presented. this Moreover, is related of computer systems and its related to the general architecture components. model can be influenced from the outside (input), and it willreact in (output) in a way that is similar to the way it is expected to react the model, which is the (Rosenstand, 2002). This means that reality Simulator and system architecture quarter

Didactic Genre Epic Dramatic

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kvarter akademisk 261 Volume 03 Claus A. Foss Rosenstand A. Foss Claus Genre transgression in interactive works interactive in transgression Genre Combining the core components of a components of a Combining the core through through the interface to influence the model (input), as well as the facilities that the model can use to update the interface an output perspective, the (output). From the state of the model, interface represents an input perspective, the state and from of the model is a function of the interactivity performed by the user. computer system with scientific simu- 1: Simu- in Figure lation theory results lator. A formal A definition ofa simulator is given by Rasmussen and The focus is on simulators where the external influence is- pro as three of a computer system can be understood The architecture core of a simulator, is dynamic, and the state of the simulator can is dynamic, and the state of of a simulator, core change due to external Ainfluences. model of a simulator might the dynamics ofto internal dynamics – for instance also change due events in an steps in time are special case, where time, which is a p. 3). (Rasmussen et al., 1995, “event driven simulation” of Simulation”: Notes “Elements of Theory their Lecture in Barret - mecha representational engine. It is a simulator is an emergence “A that capacity to generate relations nism that is distinguished by its encoded.” (Rasmussen et al., 1995, p. 14) not explicitly are should be framed within vided by a user; this means simulation Human Computer Interaction (HCI). In the field of HCI, the input where a simulator is termed interactivity, and output to and from abil- potential media’s a of measure a “... as defined is interactivity form the and/or content the on influence an exert user the let to ity (Jensen, 1998, p. 201). of the mediated communication” et and functions (Mathiassen system components: model, interface, is a dynamic model ofal., 1998, pp. 13-14). The model component to a simula- of the computer system; with regard area the problem ainto put is that reality of part bounded the is area problem the tor, connects the computer system tomodel. The interface component interface devices. Other techni- different through its surroundings this tech- also; however, cal systems can be part of the surroundings - nical issue is beyond the scope of this article. The functions com the facilities that can be used by the surroundings ponents represent quarter

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Figure : Simulator Figure

kvarter akademisk 262 Volume 03 Claus A. Foss Rosenstand A. Foss Claus Genre transgression in interactive works interactive in transgression Genre It is important that the output of a narrative simulator is similar to the output of a narrative simulator It is important that - narra a communicating is simulator narrative a conclude, To After characterizing the communicator as a simulator in interactiveAfter characterizing the communicator the and to characterize the communicated the next step is works, is done simply framework. This within the genre situated user role interaction perspective (HCI) to by adding the human computer 2: The simulated. in Figure 1: Simulator resulting Figure : The simulated Figure Genre framework II: Didactic, epic, dramatic, and simulative dramatic, epic, Didactic, Genre framework II: In a broader perspective, with regard to an interactive work, an an interactive work, an to with regard perspective, In a broader to reality refer model of a simulator can both event driven dynamic – world the – real and to fiction (Rosenstand, 2002). When applying get what we term a narrative simulator. perspective, we this broader component); in the narrative universe (the model what is expectable have to be similar to what is ex- but the output does not necessarily pected beforehand. In first person shooter games, such as Doom expectable to (2009), it is Damnation (1993), Half-Life (1998), and to where and not know when user does but the a monster; meet expecta- the and expected the Actually, beforehand. monsters meet narrative in a suspense to build narrative in order differ ble must This simulator. is significant compared to simulators in general, reality. model is built on a constructed the where to Larsen’s framework according tive of an interactive work, and communicator The is the communicator. 1) the simulator Table (cf. is dissolved into a simulator. quarter

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kvarter akademisk 263 developed by 2 Learner* Listener Spectator Participant Situated user role* Volume 03 Claus A. Foss Rosenstand A. Foss Claus Genre transgression in interactive works interactive in transgression Genre Matters mentioned The told The modelled* The simulated The communicated* Smulator Teacher Narrator Model* The communicator* Genre transgression occurs in interactive works: Take for instance occurs in interactive works: Take transgression Genre In Figure 2, the usage situation is marked with a dotted square square situation is marked with a dotted usage 2, the In Figure between simulator and the simulated leads to an ex- The relation Genre transgression in interactive works between basic transgression As mentioned in the abstract, genre a new phenomenon. For (didactic, epic and dramatic) is not genres voiceo- epic an with movies dramatic in common quite is it instance, But as stated ver – beginning and ending with the didactic credits. in transgression What characterizes genre question: in the research interactive works? - an e-learning system with interactive video, such as video sequenc sequences.video other to leading choices by interactive followed es An example of such an interactive video is SWIM2 It is a precondition of the simulative genre that the usage situation, genre of the simulative It is a precondition to the didactic, epic, compared to the simulative genre in relation that allow the user to involves circumstances and dramatic genre, interact with the system. A user using a simulator constitutes a user experience, where the a user experience, where constitutes using a simulator user A is the communicat- The simulated simulator is the communicator. partici- a in situated is user the – participator a is user the and ed; (cf. Method). pant user role ofis dotted to show that the boundaries corners. It with rounded not distinct and usually cannot be controlled the usage situation are by the simulator. theof addition the with 1), Table (cf. framework genre the of tension genre. simulative The 2: Table in presented is This genre. simulative : Simulative genre Table Aalborg University Library, where the user participates as a group the user participates as a group where University Library, Aalborg quarter

Simulative Genre Didactic Epic Dramatic

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kvarter akademisk 264 Volume 03 Claus A. Foss Rosenstand A. Foss Claus Genre transgression in interactive works interactive in transgression Genre The didactic genre as a learner of the purpose of SWIM2. as a learner of the purpose The didactic genre as a listener to a voice over about the characters The epic genre of the study group. to the whole as a spectator to an introduction The dramatic genre study group. the study group. as a participator of The simulative genre The interactive video SWIM2 is clearly a narrative simulator andThe interactive video SWIM2 is clearly Picture : The three members of the study group in SWIM2 apart from in SWIM2 apart from group of the study members three : The Picture the user as the fourth participant of gen- is a meaningful transgression a user perspective, there From fourthe through gently taken is SWIM2 of user The SWIM2. in res formats as follows: basic genre 1. 2. 3. 4. member of a study group at Aalborg University (Rosenstand et al., University Aalborg at group member of a study in selecting in- about making interactive choices 2004). The plot is the members of among based on discussions formation strategies at using the the better you are is that The premise the study group. phases of to the different according correctly, library’s resources the examination. Theget at mark will you the higher work, project interactive choices, by three is video sequences followed structure leads to a new video sequence and so on. a choice where the narrative simulator However, belongs to the simulative genre. the narrative that establishes by a long introduction is preceded modelled. This is done with videosituation – the communicated is - or struc with plot, premise, without the possibility of interactivity the user is situ- where situation it is a dramatic genre, In this ture. - it is possible to get a short intro Furthermore, ated as a spectator. long dramatic the members, before duction to each of the group a where genre, belong to the epic These introductions introduction. an expla- is there Moreover, with pictures. supported voice-over is fits the didactic genre. nation of how to use SWIM2, which quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 265 Volume 03 Claus A. Foss Rosenstand A. Foss Claus * * * Genre transgression in interactive works interactive in transgression Genre From a practical perspective, it means that genre transgression transgression that genre a practical perspective, it means From Sometimes the genre transgression is intervened by e.g. a didac- is intervened by transgression Sometimes the genre phenomenon. is as mentioned not a new transgression Genre as evolution is a distinct quality of the simulative genre This genre Conclusion in interactive works? The transgression So what characterizes genre participant to learner, shifts from situated user role A answer is: between a shift in the relationship including listener or spectator, isthe communicator and the communicated – that is all! The “that it all” is actually the important point in the conclusion, because on a par with the genre is a basic means that the simulative genre didactic, epic, and dramatic basic genres. in interactive works in the same man- can be used and understood ner as in linear works such as films. - transgres format drawing on genre hybrid genre SWIM is clearly a included. The same are formats genre all four basic sion, where interactive works such is also often seen in other progression genre - “introduc epic an play”, to “how didactic a include that games as Further “play”. simulative the then and “start”, dramatic a tion”, com- quite is level each of end the at scene” “outro dramatic a more, awith ending game, the of end the at “end” epic an like just mon, didactic “list of credits”. on the joy-pad all the while press tic explanation of which button to running. the simulative interactive work is asmanner same the in framed genre, simulative the is new is What be- – as a relationship genre the didactic, the epic, and the dramatic the situated userand communicated, the the communicator, tween role. Hence, the simulative genre reflects a genre evolution, not a to the other basic added is genre simulative The revolution. genre a user perspec- in this article. When viewed from presented genres with the other seamlessly can transgress tive, the simulative genre - or radically changing their re formats, without destroying genre spective frameworks. gen- simulative the of concept the because article, this in defined is it of the didactic, the a reframing does not presuppose consequently re formats. epic, and the dramatic genre quarter

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kvarter akademisk 266 Volume 03 Claus A. Foss Rosenstand A. Foss Claus Genre transgression in interactive works interactive in transgression Genre This is done without radically changing the respective frame- radically changing the respective This is done without When searching for “genre(s)” and “interactive”/”interactivities” the and “genre(s)” for When searching about the are articles. However none of them is 45 peer reviewed result e.g. about are – most of the results the basic genres across transgression E-learning, games, and interactive music as genres. is 9 peer the result and “transgression” for “genre(s)” When searching about interactivity. articles, however none of them are reviewed is 27 peer and “participator” the result for “genre(s)” When searching about interactivity. articles, however none of them are reviewed All the abstracts (“descriptions” in databases) have been studied, and (Ci- interest possible of being as identified were articles 81 the of 3 only they did not arlini et. al, 2009; Marian et al., 2008; Segel, 2010). However, question, research area, the problem knowledge regarding provide framing, contribution, or method of this article. in too many for “participator” and “interactivity” results Searching articles), because the term “participa- (+ 200 peer-review results search ways, and most articles in this search tor” is used in many different to medical studies. seem to be related Information Module 2: Web-based SWIM2: Stream Notes 1 2 Acknowledgements University Library Aalborg Thanks to Lotte Stehouwer Øgaard, process. effective and iterative flexible, a through proof English for feedback. for constructive And thanks to anonymous reviewer Using a multidisciplinary transgression, including the perspectives transgression, Using a multidisciplinary soft- theory, simulation scientific interaction, computer human of simulative the theory, and basic genre system architecture, ware the epic, and the to the didactic, regard has been framed with genre dramatic genres. Hence, the the dramatic genres. works of the didactic, the epic, and as opposed to a evolution is an example of genre simulative genre of how conventional a reframing that presupposes revolution genre trans- it was concluded that seamless understood. Finally, are genres intact when the remained to another, one basic genre from gression, was added to the didactic, the epic, and the dra- simulative genre frameworks. matic genre quarter

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- th www. 267 . edition; 6 nd Volume 03 Claus A. Foss Rosenstand A. Foss Claus Genre transgression in interactive works interactive in transgression Genre Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. Johns Hopkins Baltimore: ACM Transactions on Multi- and Challenges. In ACM Transactions tunities, Progress, media Computing, Communications, and Applications (TOMCCAP), p.1-39, ACM Vol.4(4), Press. The Free Yourk: tive in Cyberspace. New oriented analyze and analyse og design [Object Objekt orienteret design], Forlaget Marko printning, Odense as application domains. In eling interactive storytelling genres p.347-381, Vol.35(3), Systems, Information Intelligent Journal of Springer lished by Codemasters published by Sierra Studios Syncopy Legendary Pictures, Pictures, 12, No. 1 Review; Vol. Nordic and Communication Studies. In Amanda Forlaget Viborg: of expression]. dison-Wesley J., Sussner, Leurdijk, A. Zsombori, V., T., Lindsted, I., Wright, Myrestam, U., Hall, N. (2008). Interactive TV Narratives: Oppor (first published inelectronicbookreview.com 2004, edited in 2005) og Eventyr Samlede – Andersen H.C. (1998). (Ed.) Dal Estrid Reitzles Forlag; 2 Historier [Collected works]. Hans References Literature. Aarseth, E. (1997). Cybertext on Ergodic Perspectives book review Electronic Trouble. Aarseth, E. (2005). Genre (1997). Hamlet on the Holodeck: The Future of Narra- J. (1997). Hamlet on the Holodeck: The Future Marray, (1998). Stage J. A., P. Nielsen A., Munk-Madsen L., Mathiassen, Ciarlini, A., Casanova, M. A., Furtado, A. L., Veloso, P. A. S. Mod- P. A. L., Veloso, Ciarlini, A., Casanova, M. A., Furtado, by Blue Omega Entertainment, pub- Damnation (2009). Created Software published by ID by ID Software, Doom (1993). Created Corporation, Gearbox Software, by Valve Half-Life (1998). Created Bros. by Warner C., produced by Nolan, Inception (2010). Directed in Media a New Concept (1998). Interactivity’ Tracking Jensen, J. F. [Faction as means (1990). Faktion som udtryksmiddel H. Larsen, P. Ad- Reading, MA: Laurel, Brenda (1991). Computers as Theatre, M., D., Tuomola, Kegel, I., Williams, Maureen, T., Marian, U. F., (1843). Den grimme ælling [The ugly duckling]. InAndersen, H. C. (1843). Den grimme ælling [The quarter

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kvarter akademisk 268 Volume 03 Claus A. Foss Rosenstand A. Foss Claus Genre transgression in interactive works interactive in transgression Genre tion. To appear in ECAL 95, Lecture Notes in Coputer Science, Notes Lecture 95, ECAL appear in tion. To Fe National Laboratory and Santa Alamos Los Spriger Verlag; Institute systems]. Samfundslitteratur of narrative multimedia [Creation Biblioteksstyrelsen 2003 [Annual Library Book].Copenhagen: [Library Government Agency] Studies 1, no. 1 of Narrative in Digital Media”, Game computerand visualization on In IEEE transactions Data. with IEEE Computer Society p.1139-48, graphics, Vol.16(6), (1995). C. S. Elements of a Theory of Simula- of a Theory of Elements Barret (1995). C. S. S. Rasmussen, mulitmediesystemer af narrative Rosenstand, C. (2002). Kreation Rosenstand, C., Rosenstand M. (2004). SWIM. In Biblioteksårbogen – the Case (2001). Beyond Myth and Metaphor Marie-Laure Ryan, Stories Telling J. (2010). Narrative Visualazation: Segel, E., Heer, quarter

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Grænseoverskridende multi-protagonistfortællinger Fra kunstfilm til Hollywood

Helle Kannik Haastrup er lektor i medievidenskab ved Roskilde Universitet. Hun forsker i filmæstetik og mediekultur, tværme- dialitet, digitale fortællinger og ny europæisk film. Hun har senest publiceret ”Genkendelsens Glæde – intertekstualitet på film” (2010) og artiklen ”Fra den røde løber til web 2.0” (Kosmorama, 2010).

Her skal det handle om den såkaldte multi-protagonistfilm der, som navnet antyder, bryder med den klassiske Hollywood-for- tællings skildring af den individuelle og målrettede protagonist. Formålet i denne artikel er for det første at indkredse, hvordan man kan karakterisere den nye kunstfilm med en kombination af Bordwells teorier om narration (1985, 2002) og Kovács’ filmhisto- riske perspektiv på kunstfilmen (2007). Dernæst karakteriseres den nye kunstfilms tre grundlæggende fortællestrategier som i høj grad ’spiller sammen’ med genrefilmen: De tre strategier kan karakteriseres som den mentale film, skillevejsfilmen og multi- protagonistfilmen. I definitionen af multi-protagonistfilmen tages udgangspunkt i Azconas definition (2010) og derefter fokuseres på, hvordan multi-protagonistfilmen ikke bare er et eksempel på den nye kunstfilm – den er også en filmtype som har sit afsæt i den klassiske Hollywoodfilm. I den sidste del af artiklen anskue- liggøres hvordan multi-protagonistfilmen har et ben i hver lejr: På den ene side tilhører den kunstfilmen som betoner kompleksitet og på den anden side kan den også integreres i genrefilmen. På den måde bliver multi-protagonistfilmen et godt eksempel på, hvordan en fortællestrategi både kan bryde genre-grænser og bruges på tværs af fin- og populærkultur, men som vi skal se, med flere forskellige formål.

Volume 03 269 - - 270 Das Kabi- Double In- Volume Helle Kannik Haastrup Helle 03 Grænseoverskridende multi-protagonistfortællinger Grænseoverskridende (1920) til1940erne med film noir’ens stilbevid- Genrefortolkninger kan eksempelvis også ses i den europæiske ses i den europæiske kan eksempelvis også Genrefortolkninger Kunstfilmen og genrefilm og Kunstfilmen kunst- som en del af den nyere Man kan se multi-protagonistfilmen filmtradition – en tradition hvor skellet mellem og genrefilm kunst- karakte- skal man Hvis sammen. flyde kan mål varierende i film for at kunst- kan man argumentere så kunstfilmen som genre, risere filmen kombinerer forskellige filmiske traditioner og det omfatter både den europæiske kunstfilms strategier og den amerikanske gensidige inspiration er et mønster, Denne frugtbare genretradition. kan kalde, de nye kunstfilm.man kan følge op til i dag i, det man forskellig på karakteristika kunstfilmens inkorporerer Genrefilm måde op igennem filmhistorien;fra horror-klassikeren Caligari nett des Dr. ste brug af lys og skygge og flashback narrativer som i peger kunstfilmhistorie sin I (1941). demnity (1944) og Citizen Kane art cinema, 1950-1980 (2007) Modernism: European Kovacs i Screening også på, at det derfor giver mening at betragte kunstfilmen som en historisk filmpraksis. Kunstfilmen bliver derfor for Kovács et er mener han modernitetserfaring, den fordi kapitel, overstået på spil i filmene fra 1960erne og 1970erne, ikke er aktuel mere (Kovacs 2007). Men når man ser på, hvordan aktuelle kunstfilm i at bevare for det konstruktive så vil jeg argumentere fortæller, - filmhistori fastlåste for frem genre, og fortællestrategier på fokus få øje på, bliver det muligt at måde På den ske kategoriseringer. de hvordan klassiske kunstfilmelementer stadig finder anvendel- karakteristik af de narrationsnorBordwells man samler se. Hvis mer som karakterisere kunstfilmen, har man som udgangspunkt Det er forskellige genrer. med kan kombineres som en prototype, har overlevet, de kommertydeligt, at disse strategier ikke bare i - høj grad til udtryk og bliver fornyet. Det sker både i den euro asia- og sydamerikansk i også (men film amerikanske og pæiske tisk film). I den nye kunstfilm er der derfor ikke tale omradi et men det er en udvidet anvendelse af på traditionen, kalt brud kunstfilmens fortællestrategier som kombineres med elementer fra genrefilmen. nybølge med film iTruffaut af 1960erne, både den Godard nye og amerikanske film med Arthur Penn og Robert Altman i 1970erne Hay- Todd Coenbrødrene, med 1990erne i film uafhængige den og rækkeen 1995 har Siden Jonze. og Spike Tarrantino Quentin nes, quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - - 271 Narration inNarration The Sixth SenseThe Sixth Volume Helle Kannik Haastrup Helle 03 (1998), Sliding Doors Grænseoverskridende multi-protagonistfortællinger Grænseoverskridende (2001), Sky Vanilla BlackDonnie Darko (2001), Inception (2010), Fight Club (1999), Det er denne højere grad af ligeværdighed for den objektive og for den grad af ligeværdighed Det er denne højere film balanceret på grænsen mellem kunstfilm og mainstreamfilm Laby - som f.eks. Eternal SunshinePan’s Spotless Mind (2004), of the (2006), rinth som prototype Kunstfilm blive fleste de kan Her kunstfilm? en på prototypen er film Hvilken à Marienbad (1961) er helt dernière Alain Renais’ L’année enige om, at central. I sin historiske definition ser Bordwell kunstfilmen som et Med an med den klassiske Hollywoods normer for narration. brud så er ord, det med kunstfilm, atdre den europæiske filmen al for i narration’ ’Art-cinema kapitlet I moderne. bliver vor the Fiction Film (1985) definerer Bordwell kunstfilmen ved at den protagoni for Udgangspunktet Hollywoodnormen. med bryder kalder for en ’grænsesituation’. sten er ofte det, som Bordwell står overfor en eksistentiel når protagonisten Grænsesituationen er, hændelser til os gennem voice- forudgående krise. Ofte præsenteres kunstfilm i konvention velkendt en er som flashback ved eller over (1957). Smulltronstället f.eks. i Bergmans er karakteristisk og derfor bruger den subjektive virkelighed, som kunstfilmen forskellige typer af mentale processer (Branigan 1984): Her er dagdrømme og fantasier. hallucinationer, drømme, minder, som f.eks. i Polanski’s Repulsion problemer fokus på karakterens af karakte- som projektioner konstrueres (1965), hvor omgivelserne mel- skiften en med ofte opererer Kunstfilmen tilstand. mentale rens for på den måde at og den subjektive realitet, lem en objektiv realitet virkelighed. Hollywoods og den indre både den ydre kunne skildre af fortæl- tilstede, i stedet dyrkes brugen er ikke længere redundans lermæssige informations ’huller’, som ikke nødvendigvis bliver fyldt ud 1985: (Bordwell 206) og mange af filmene har en åben slut- på den ideelle Hollywood- ning. Den åbne slutning er et klart brud og hvor kausal-logisk, motiveret fortælling som er struktureret ethvert set-up har pay-off. Protagonisten i kunstfilmen har ofte manglende kommunikationsformåen eller psykologiske problemer, og her er forklaringen overfor omverdenen føler sig fremmedgjort på kunstfilmens interesse for at udforske de mentale processer: Ka- (1999), på forskellige vis be- (2010), der alle Swan (2010) og Shutter Island og kunstfilmstrategier. af genrer væger sig på tværs quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - film- 272 Groundhog Groundhog Przypadek (1981), Volume Helle Kannik Haastrup Helle 03 Ghosts of Girlfriends Past Ghosts of Grænseoverskridende multi-protagonistfortællinger Grænseoverskridende (2009) og senest og (2009) again 17 (1993) og Harold Ramis’ (1993) og Harold Smoking/non-smoking Man kan overordnet tale om at den nye kunstfilm somMan bevægerkan overordnet Day (1993), mens det i den nye kunstfilm primært Peter Howitt’s Lola Rennt (1998) er ’gennem- Tykwer’s Sliding Doors (1998) og Tom spilninger’ af potentielle scenarier/forskellige muligheder oplevet der er så påpeger, også Bordwell Som person. fiktive samme den af ikke tydelig ’skiltning’ undervejs i fortællingen, så vi som tilskuere men bliver udfordret, mark: Fabulakonstruktionen er på herrens den er ikke umuliggjort. Den anden skillevejsfortælling er den så (2009). ’Hvad nu hvis?’-fortællingerne og glimt-fortællingerne har har og glimt-fortællingerne (2009). ’Hvad nu hvis?’-fortællingerne kalder for ’the benytter det som Bordwell De ikke åbne slutninger. I ’hvad sidste af plotlinjerne er den der gælder. – den effect’ recency kaldte glimt-fortælling (Haastrup 2006). Glimt-fortællingen er som kaldte glimt-fortælling (Haastrup man hvor kommer på, som protagonisten en erkendelsesrejse regel kan se ’i et glimt’, hvad konsekvenserne af ens handlinger bliver. Forklaringen af dette ’glimt’ , som i flere tilfælde udgør størstepar ten af filmen, er et fantastisk element. I de nye kunstfilm populære The Family Man i melodramaet er der en stærk genrefundering (2000), 13 go- Want komedie What Women (2000), den romantiske (2003), 30 on ing Resnais Skillevejsfortællingen Den første filmtype er skillevejsfilmen består af to slags fortæl- af defineret som fortællingen, hvis?’ nu ’hvad især er Det linger. Bordwell’Hvad ’glimt’-fortællingen. kan kalde det man og (2002) nu hvis’-fortællingen er filmiske gennemspilninger af forskellige Centrale eksempler er Kieslowskis muligheder. raktererne har i kunstfilmenraktererne ikke nødvendigvis ka- de samme klare raktertræk, motiver og mål som i den klassiske film. Hvis Hol- kunst hen mod målet så slentrer løber lywoodprotagonisten Det 1985). til sted (Bordwell fra sted stille og roligt protagonisten i højere som prioriteres eller dannelsesprocessen er selve udviklings grad end den målrettede søgen. Kunstfilmen vil derfor ofte have et allegorisk eller abstrakt niveau. samler sig i tre og det brede, sig på grænsen mellem det smalle markante filmtyper som har det tilfælles at detager elementer fra De twist: genremæssigt et den giver og kunstfilm prototypiske den er skillevejsfortællingen, den mentale fortælling og multi- typer tre protagonistfilmen. quarter

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- Black Black 273 The Others Volume Helle Kannik Haastrup Helle 03 Pans Labyrinth, Pans A Beautiful Mind, Beautiful A Grænseoverskridende multi-protagonistfortællinger Grænseoverskridende Vanilla Sky, Vanilla The Sixth Sense (1999) Almenábars Alejandro og . Erindringens niveauer og udslettelse iscene- Swan og Shutter Island. Erindringens niveauer og udslettelse eller den manglende hu- sættes i Eternal Sunshine in a Spotless Mind de mentalekommelse i Memento (2000) som bliver fatal. Fælles for at den kausal-logiske strukturfilm løsnes er, og de fortællemæssige lag de objektive og de subjektive huller er permanente. Ligesom og for til- overlapper eller smelter sammen, både for protagonisten men- kunstfilmens med kombineres genre en at er, Pointen skueren. psykologiske tilstand tale udforskning. I plottet er det karakterernes handling. for karakterernes frem som prioriteres (2001) er eksempler på spøgelsesgenren der på en elegant måde ud- (2001) er eksempler på spøgelsesgenren nytter ’huller’ erken- manglende i plottet. Det er protagonisternes På forskellige måder er afgørende. delse af egen tilstand, som er det Det kan være bliver afklaret: der kausal-logiske brister som ikke virkelighed iog den objektive subjektive af den sammenglidningen Darko, Donnie Multiprotagonistfilmen – en prototype Den tredje type er multi-protagonistfilmen: Man kan- grundlæg gende forstå multi-protagonistfilmen som film der sætter forskel- for det entydige perspektiv og den mono- frem ligheden i centrum, I multi-protagonistfilme- (Azcona: 32-33). litiske verdensopfattelse opfattelser og personlighe- forskellige vilkår, ne har karaktererne Azcona der og er udgangspunktet for fortællingen. Maria del Mare indkredser multi-protagonistfilmen som prototype (Azcona 2010: 32-38): Hun karakteriserer multi-protagonistfilmen med fokus på typiske temaer narrativ og struktur, - stilfigurer: Multi-protagonist nu hvis’-fortællingen bliver vi klogere på protagonistens potentiale, på protagonistens bliver vi klogere nu hvis’-fortællingen fordi vi bliver præsenteret for flere flere muligheder, I fremtider. fan og mental en glimt-fortællingen betones erkendelsen gennem vi følger. som tastisk erkendelsesrejse, Den mentale fortælling Den mentale film omfatter fortællinger der har selve skiftet mellem - som omdrejnings subjektive og objektive virkelighedsniveauer punkt for handlingen. I den typiske genrefilm vil overgangen mel- eller ønsketænkningen blivelem virkelighed og drøm, erindringen men i disse f.eks. med en overtoning eller en voice-over, markeret Shya- Night M. Både skift. markant et nødvendigvis ikke der er film malans quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - - - ne 274 (1984). Volume Helle Kannik Haastrup Helle 03 (1999) eller det er en fa- (1991) eller de kan fortæl Night on Earth (1991) eller de kan Grænseoverskridende multi-protagonistfortællinger Grænseoverskridende , hvor narkotikahandlens magtstrukturerer og de politi- , hvor narkotikahandlens magtstrukturerer Traffic I multi-protagonistfilmen er der fokus på karakteren frem for I den visuelle stil er det typisk at der benyttes virkemidler som I den visuelle stil er det typisk at der benyttes virkemidler som film har typisk et bredt udvalgaf karakterer som er involvereti uafhæn- helt og disse tråde kan være forskellige handlingstråde være kan Handlingstrådene hinanden. kan krydse gige eller de fortalt og historier Det kan være måder: forbundne på forskellige det fra den så- vi kender efter den anden, som afsluttet den ene f.eks. antologifilm kaldte de forskellige handlinger les samtidig, hvor der klippes mellem undervejs som f.eks. Short Cuts. Den sidste form er langt den mest udbredte. kan tilskrives til- karaktererne handlingen. Forbindelsen mellem f.eks. i Magnolia skæbne som fældighed, Hannah and her Sisters f.eks. Hannah som eller en vennekreds milie Forbindelsen mellem de forskellige protagonister skabes f.eks. skabes f.eks. protagonister Forbindelsen mellem de forskellige vi alle er hvordan af samtidighed og at understrege, ved brug i The Way forbundne som f.eks. i Crash. Her påpeger Bordwell 2006: 98 + 103) også i sin karakteristik It (Bordwell Hollywood Tells sam komplekse de forstås kan man at multiprotagonist-film, af menhænge som en logik: f.eks. sommerfugleeffekten og den po- sommerfugleeffekten menhænge som en logik: f.eks. sommerfuglef- Hvor separation’. of degrees ’six pulærkulturelle af at en tilsyneladende uskyldig fekten kommer til udtryk i form med sig i en tragedie og ulykke kan føre gave i en verdensdel at of separation’ påpeger, anden (som i Babel). Hvor ’six degrees ondt. Et godt eksempel på dette vi alle er forbundne på godt og er Fo- konsekvenser. og individuelle ske studehandler får konkrete kus er i påmulti-protagonistfilmen parallelisme, for frem kausa- af forskellige men og netop tilstedeværelsen litet og fremdrift sketyper, livsopfattelser og sociale og kulturelle baggrunde er ka- baggrunde og sociale og kulturelle livsopfattelser sketyper, rakteristisk. forstærker paralleller og forskelle (Azcona: 38). Overblik over for Angeles i af Los med oversigtsbilleder f.eks. etableres tællingen nuanser i Fyra Sverige landsdele i forskellige af de eller Cuts Short måde en effektiv på av brunt. En mini-montage er også typisk, fordi situationer (Azcona: 43- handlinger og modstiller karakterernes af præ- brugen . Helt central er også Day f.eks. i Valentines 44) som i som f.eks. som tidsbillede musik der ofte bruges komponeret blev myrdet den dag i 1968, hvor Robert Kennedy Bobby der foregår quarter

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kvarter akademisk ------go ta 275 Grand Ho Volume Helle Kannik Haastrup Helle 03 betyder den ’omvendte’ Alejandro González Iñár González Alejandro (1999), Darren Aranof- Darren (1999), Magnolia Grænseoverskridende multi-protagonistfortællinger Grænseoverskridende (2004), Oslo Hawaii, (1978) og de se- Nashville (1975), The Wedding - ofte til at sætte ram benytte Love Actually. Voice-over Fyra nuanser av brunt Fyra nuanser av brunt Alfredsons (2000), Tomas Traffic mens struktur at den også er inspireret af tv-serier genrer (2001). Yngre instruktører instruktører Yngre (2001). Short Cuts (1993) og Gosford Park (2004), Steven (2000), Paul Haggis’ Crash (2004), Steven Requiem for a Dream Den komplekse multi-protagonistfilm Den komplekse multiprotagonistfortælling har i et filmhistorisk Gouldings Edmund filmklassikeren i rødder perspektiv nere har også fundet multiprotagonistfilmen en oplagt narrativ stra- Andersons P.T. i f.eks. som tegi skys Soderbergs Poppes Erik (2004), - romanti det tematiske som i den understrege eller musikken kan julefilm ske af tilfældet med tre som er en tematisering ledningen til Magnolia også med til forståelsen af multi-pro Det hører fortællinger. nistfil jo filmen at er forskel afgørende den hvor men sæbeoperaen, som ofte der medvirker filmen I udtrækning. serielle den har ikke man publikum i biografen. som kan trække stjerner, ge store tel (1932), men indenfor den nye kunstfilm er det særligt Robert Altmans film f.eks. men som f.eks. i He’s just not that into you og til at understrege He’s just not that into you og til men som f.eks. i f.eks. i ind som imellem protagonisterne kontraster og paralleller 21 Grams og Babel ud- ritus 21Grams (2003) og Babel (2006). Både bytte at ved handlingstråde mange multi-protagonistfilmens fordre Det bevirker i begge præsentation. om på plottets kronologiske film, at man undervejs må korrigere de slutninger man drager karakte- opfatter man hvordan for, betydning en både får det og og for den tematiske pointe. I Babel rerne sonkarakteristikken kompleks og kommer derved også til at for om den og livskriser individuelle om både fortælle historier manglende indsigt af afstand og/eller bundenhed som på trods er så vigtig. kronologi f.eks. at forskelligheden bliver sat i perspektiv, fordi fordi sat i perspektiv, f.eks. at forskelligheden bliver kronologi hin- i indsigt og kommunikation gensidig at åbenbart bliver det andens livssituation er Kunstfilmens afgørende. udgangspunkt i en grænsesituation udfoldes til fulde i disse film – alle perso- nerne befinder sig i situationer hvor katastrofen indtræffer og - den måde gør multi-protagonistfortællin På liv. deres ændrer per og fabuladannelsen både kunstfilm nye den indenfor gerne quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - - - Towe Grand 276 Volume Helle Kannik Haastrup Helle 03 og fantasy-trilogien I-VI og fantasy-trilogien Star Wars Grænseoverskridende multi-protagonistfortællinger Grænseoverskridende The Day after Tomorrow Independence Day (1996), The Day after Tomorrow Både science-fiction filmene Katastrofefilmen som multi-protagonistfilm Katastrofefilmen havde sin første storhedstid i 1970erne med Den populære multi-protagonistfilm Den populære kærlighed – katastrofer og også benytte genrefilm regulære hvordan Når man undersøger, strategi, er detmulti-protagonistfilmens ikke den eksistentielle kri- men noget som er afsæt for fortællingen, se eller grænsesituationen - år taget multipro har i de senere Hollywood-genrer helt andet. To komedie og kata- den romantiske tagonistfortællingen til sig: Det er måde: deres hver på diversiteten bruger de men strofefilmen, og man taler end- Hotel ur-film er som nævnt multi-protagonistens karakte- man skal karakterisere da om ’grand hotel’- modellen, når i f.eks. katastrofefilmen. relation indbyrdes rernes i 2005)) (1972 (remake ring Inferno (1974) og The Poseidon Adventure i en bestemt lokalitet og det erog her har fortællingen netop afsæt som er i relationer indbyrdes af mennesker og deres den gruppe hjul renæssance fåetfokus. år enI har de katastrofefilmen senere special-effekter. computergenererede af velfungerende pet på vej et af mennesker som gruppe en om Nu handler det ikke længere nu handler det om mennesker place- sted bliver ramt af katastrofen, på for Det giver et globalt perspektiv verdensdele. i forskellige ret at favorit-topos: multi-protagonistfilmens understreger og tællingen - hvem der bliver ramt og katastro tilfældet står centralt. Ingen ved, af en menneskelig som uundgåelig, ikke som et resultat fen skildres kata- en række succesfulde fejl. Roland Emmerich har instrueret strofefilm f.eks. som (2004) og 2012 (2009) I disse film- bruges multi-protagonistfortællin - frem og alle os ramme kan ulykken hvordan demonstrere, at til gen Det under pres. reagerer forskellige mennesketyper viser hvordan i Independence Day og konse- angreb gælder både rumvæsnernes og after Tomorrow kvenserne af den globale opvarmning i The Day end apokalypsen i 2012. intet mindre Lord of the Rings er også eksempler på multi-protagonistfilm, selv om de har heltefigurer som træderlidt mere frem end de øvrige. i Anakin (Darth Vader) Henholdsvis Luke Skywalker og hans far Aragorn i Lord of the Rings. Den populære og og Frodo Star Wars multi-protagonistfilm har en synlig helt i sci-fi og fantasy genrer quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 277 Volume Helle Kannik Haastrup Helle 03 Grænseoverskridende multi-protagonistfortællinger Grænseoverskridende For det andet giver denne diversitet i repræsentationen også mu- For det andet giver denne diversitet i repræsentationen til, hvem det er i forhold suspense kan der skabes For det tredje nes episke I fortællinger. disse film errelationerne og magtbalan- psy- ikke er det men vigtighed, stor af karaktererne mellem cen der som og eksistentielle grænsesituationer kologiske portrætter i samme grad men det er ikke centralt dvæles ved. De forekommer, som plottets fremdrift. multi-protagonistfilm Den romantiske komedie som Den romantiske multi-protagonistfilm gør op med den typiskero- der her er mulighed for at vise et langt mantiske komedie, fordi be- Traditionelt billede af kærlighed og parforhold. nuanceret mere formel: dreng komedie som en forudsigelig tragtes den romantisk møder pige, komplikationer opstår og dreng og pige finder allige- komedier som When Harry Met vel sammen til sidst. I romantiske Got M@il (1998) fun- You’ve Sally (1989), Sleepless in Seattle (1993) og som en selvbe- intertekstuelle genrereferencer karakterernes gerer og historie. I den forudsigelighed af genrens vidst tydeliggørelse ermulti-protagonistfilm romantiske detmuligt at fortæl- nuancere centrale punkter: For det første brydes koncentratio- lingen på tre for og dermed inkluderes nen om den enkelte kærlighedsrelation skellige måder at finde sammen, at elske hinanden eller at få et Day der i høj grad Det er tilfældet i Valentines at fungere. til forhold både mellem kærlighedsforhold etablerede på allerede fokuserer homosek- og heteroseksuelle gamle, unge og veninder, og venner og børnebørn. suelle, mor og barn, bedsteforældre - lighed for delvist at bryde med en anden konvention i den roman - tiske komedie nemlig slutningen. Slutningen i en multiprotagonist fra er eksempel Et lykkelig. være at udelukkende ikke behøver film er et The Movie (2008), hvor Carries ’happy end’ Sex and the City. - frieri med en blå Manolo Blahnik-sko som forlovelsesring med hil veninden Samanthas lykkelige slutning er atAskepot, mens sen til igen. så hun kan blive sig selv forlade sin kæreste, Det sker f.eks. i og hvem der ikke gør. får hinanden til sidst som og tre i krise er to ægteskaber (2009), hvor You into just not that He’s singlepiger ikke kan finde en partner og til sidst, nårregnskabet én skilsmisse, to op, ender det med ét lykkeligt ægteskab, gøres piger nu med partner og en enkelt som gerne vil forblive single. understreger hvilket løsninger, mulige flere er der ord, andre Med quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 278 eller på som- Volume Helle Kannik Haastrup Helle 03 Sliding Doors eller Family Man og overfor Babel og Fyra nuanser av brunt overfor Grænseoverskridende multi-protagonistfortællinger Grænseoverskridende - komedie som f.eks. Valenti 2012 og den romantiske Den grænseoverskridende multi-protagonistfilm er en funktio- lighed og livsstil, og i katastrofefilmen står helten ikke helt alene, det globale perspektiv forsvinder under ham, ligesom når jorden dramatisk. I den klassiske kunst- mere katastrofen tjener til at gøre stil- der verden moderne en i fortabt individ kriseramte det er film kunstfilm nye den I til. op leve kan ikke han eller hun som krav, ler og særligt i multi-protagonistfilmen er det ikke bare den enkeltes relationer som gen- individers skæbne oghistorie, deres men flere . I den populære diversitetsfortælling er det en pointe at nes Day. I den populære mulighed for at øget skabe spænding og give tilskueren nuancere, engagere sig i de Ifiktive de karakterer. komplekse fortællinger er på godt og og relationerne sammenhængen det formålet at viser ondt, f.eks. med fokus på tilfældigheden som i Crash som i Babel. merfugleffekten – på den menne- som giver nuancer og perspektiv nel prototype skelige eksistens i kunstfilmog i populærfortællinger om kærlig- hed og I katastrofer. den populære multi-protagonistfilm bliver diagnose af kær differentieret komedie en (mere) den romantiske ikke mindst multi-protagonistfilmen. Multi-protagonistfilmen kan Og betragtes som en prototype. Azcona påpeger, som med fordel, mellem den komplekse multi- her giver det giver mening at skelne protagonistfilm som f.eks. - katastrofe med eksemplificeret diversitetsfortælling populære den film som f.eks. Konklusion: Komplekse film og diversitetsfortællinger Komplekse Konklusion: Den nye kunstfilm har mange ansigter og er primært filmfortæl- grænsesituationer og livskri- linger om den menneskelige identitet, ser og består af tre forskellige typer: Den mentale film som f.eks. Inception, skillevejsfilm som f.eks. at multi-protagonistfilmen også kan bidrage til at nuancere- genre Den romantiskefilmens multi-protagonistfilm fortællestruktur. på den som genre en nødvendig fornyelse for en kan også ses som - tra gældende normer, som repræsenterer en side er en nutidsgenre plot. I den og på den anden side et forudsigeligt ditioner og ritualer have og blæse sige at så man kan multi-protagonistfilm romantiske det er muligt at skabe spænding om udfaldet mel i munden, fordi på grund af flere kærlighedsrelationer og samtidig have både en lykkelig og en ulykkelig slutning. quarter

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kvarter akademisk 279 Volume Helle Kannik Haastrup Helle 03 Grænseoverskridende multi-protagonistfortællinger Grænseoverskridende sidigt bliver belyst gennem kontraster eller paralleller. Flerheden Flerheden gennem kontraster eller paralleller. sidigt bliver belyst til forhold i både element fornyende og centralt er et af karakterer den klassiske kunstfilm og i til forhold populærfilmen. Den græn- seoverskridende sommulti-protagonistfilm, eksempel på den nye kunstfilm, er grundlæggende en filmtype som afviser entydighed til fordel for flere perspektiver og bliver dermed også fortaler for sammen. tingene hænger én forklaring på, hvordan end mere quarter

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kvarter akademisk 1950- 280 , Issue 97, Vol. 31, , Issue 97, Vol. Volume Helle Kannik Haastrup Helle 03 . Mouton: New York. . Mouton: New . Wiley-Blackwell: Wiley-Blackwell: Film. The Multi-Protagnist Grænseoverskridende multi-protagonistfortællinger Grænseoverskridende London. & York. New No. 1. Berkeley. fornia Press: tion and Subjectivity in Classical Film Film and Media in European Narratives and Engaging Characters” Copenhagen. Press: Museum Tusculanum . Culture Chicago. of Chicago Press: The University 1980. Referencer 2010. Azcona, M. D., Film Narration in the Fiction. Routledge: LondonBordwell, D., 1985. SubStance in Bordwell, D., 2002. ”Film Futures” . University of Cali- It Tells Hollywood Bordwell, D., 2006. The Way Narra- Theory of in the Cinema: A View of Branigan, E., 1984. Point Art Film: Challenging Haastrup, H. K., 2006. ”Popular European , Art Cinema Modernism. European Kovács, A. B., 2007. Screening quarter

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kvarter akademisk akademiskkvarter Volume 03. Fall 2011 • on the web academic quarter

The Transgressive Literacy of the Comic Maidservant in Tobias Smollett’s Humphry Clinker

Kathleen Alves Kathleen Tamayo Alves is an assistant professor of English at the City University of New York. She is writing a book on representations of servant literacy in eighteenth-century British novels.

Following the eighteenth-century narrative tradition of linguis- tically comic servants like Henry Fielding’s Mrs. Slipslop, Tobias Smollett engages with the possibilities of social ascension the literate servant represents in his servant characters’ inadvertent punning. Smollett considers the literate servant, who can blur distinc- tions between ranks, as an unfavorable product of the increasingly commercially saturated culture of eighteenth-century Britain. The servant who can read and write is an emerging phenomenon of modernity, an actively political subject that must be sup- pressed to conserve distinction and social order. Considering the ethos of conservatism and polite sensibility towards the end of the period, I suggest that the novel’s comic representation of servant literacy operates as an ideological mechanism that reinforces distinction. Humphry Clinker’s epistolary narrative comprises a range of voices in Squire Matthew Bramble’s family sharing their own experiences in the family expedition through England and Scotland. Winifred Jenkins’ entries have long been considered (along with her mistress, Matt’s sister, Tabitha Bramble) to be the major comic relief in the novel, prone to folk expressions and mangling words that result in puns and double entendres (Lewis, 2006).

Volume 03 281 - 282 Kathleen Alves Kathleen Humphry Clinker Volume 03 Tobias Smollett’s Smollett’s Tobias The Transgressive Literacy of the Comic Maidservant in Maidservant of the Comic Literacy The Transgressive The maidservant’s unwitting punning operates as the mecha- unwitting punning operates The maidservant’s commu objects to the use of punning in de Saussure Ferdinand nism that conveys the obscene joke at her expense framed with- the obscene joke at her expense nism that conveys sound and “Good puns” contain the play of in her poor literacy. yielding meanings that within the text, themselves keeping sense, 1999). Smollett’s (Bates, word to the additional but relevant are - associations that suggests exist regard play with sounds strongly but the servant’s written language chal- less of the sense of words, to fellow Writing polysemy. lenges the neatness of such playful orthographic confuses the proper maidservant Mary Jones, Win for comical substitutes. “County of Killo- arrangements of words way” becomes “cunty of Killoway” (51). The jest of the poor lit- - and poses no prob eracy of the servant conveys itself clearly here only and well as emerges meaning third A recognition. of lems in makes sense within the social context of the “servant problem” intractable, and promiscuous the eighteenth century: disobedient, their employers. loyal to their purse than to more servants who were of servant on the problem frequently wrote Social commentators and of illegitimate children seeing the proliferation promiscuity, disease tied specifically to the ungovernable sexuality of venereal located the signification of “county,” servant women. Therefore, the pudendum, place of the female body, in a sexually charged sex. The servant female of characteristic to the communal gestures of only in the distorted orthography suggestion can be discerned The bad spelling disturbs the servant’s limited skills in literacy. the neatness of the “good pun.” nication since the practice ambiguates meaning and disturbs the neat system of communication by which meaning is conveyed human society depends on In his view, speaker to listener. from this system to make us intelligible and understood (1983). The pun in an “anarchist” confusion and impedes understanding, creates lan- written Win’s order. linguistic of stability the challenging guagebeing of presumption fun at her own pokes inadvertently the for a metaphor as stands it also sense, literate, but in a rough groups. other social from of an alternate literacy emerging threat can clearly understand the reader speaks no gibberish here; Win - both her and Smollett’s meaning in the punning. Even in shock servant literacy to her promotes urgently ingly bad writing, Win fellow servants: quarter

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283 Kathleen Alves Kathleen Humphry Clinker Volume 03 Tobias Smollett’s Smollett’s Tobias The Transgressive Literacy of the Comic Maidservant in Maidservant of the Comic Literacy The Transgressive …and vriting and of all love, you will mind your I pray it made me Molly, craving your pardon, your spilling; for scrabble, which was delivered your last suet to disseyffer but – O! voman! voman! if thou had’st by the hind at Bath we scullers have, of what pleasure the least consumption hand, and the crabbidst buck off when we can cunster at the primmer without lucking the ethnitch vords spell (124). Within Within the narrative’s official linguistic norms, the disruptive A proud servant “sculler,” Win places importance in intuitive lit- Win servant “sculler,” proud A eracy servants. But the substitution of “sculler” for for her fellow of seriousness inhabited in the word, “scholar” collapses the degree kitchen maid by linking themocking the very concept of a learned Though visually comical in its labor. with lower-class malapropism flagrant errors, the presence of servant writing in the novel ac- traditional more within of such a literacy the existence knowledges letters.Matt’s and Lydia’s Jery’s, in found communication of forms its from that seems out of control This kind of writing, a language dominant forms of writ- more muscles its way into unintelligibility, is not just bad writing that is funny to the literate eye: ing. The effect Erroneous the pun is located. in the bad writing where it is precisely compat- meanings structurally spelling in the punning makes these ible and available to the reader. Inbodies. sexual lower-class with up ties language Win’s of power be can discourse maid’s the of representation Smollett’s this way, fellow let- characterized as carnivalesque juxtaposed with Win’s The ter to the language of sensibility. writers’ general adherence maid’sbody, that call attention to the pen scribbles unsavory words dis- The acceptability. social of violation a as language her marking like all discursive formations, operates by rules course of sensibility, to of exclusion, and the puns in her language, only recognizable Smollett others, averts the power her literacy seems to promise. a through channels the unconscious drives of sex and aggression only makes this languagecharacter whose subaltern condition not the author must In other words, urgent. permissible, but perhaps writer’sclass lower the depict dis- and erroneous be to language in the face of major tasteful to insist on the importance of difference - cultural change that working-class literacy poses. But, as a “trans quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 284 Kathleen Alves Kathleen Humphry Clinker Volume 03 Tobias Smollett’s Smollett’s Tobias Win reports to her fellow maid- her to reports Win The Transgressive Literacy of the Comic Maidservant in Maidservant of the Comic Literacy The Transgressive Humphry Clinker, Humphry Clinker, Smollett’s use of the pun for the servant’s language achieves a language achieves the servant’s the pun for of use Smollett’s an their own punning creates Second, servants’ obliviousness to gressive” language, Win’s letters act as a challenge to the existing letters act as a challenge language, Win’s gressive” since her writing of writing in the novel, especially forms dominant the notwithstanding understand her, we can still is still coherent: and mechanics. in syntax flagrant errors of his culture First, given the aesthetic and social number of things: Alderson punning. be should servants that “realistic” seems it time, that this practice of rhetoric notes in his discussion of anti-punning enjoyed by the elite had descended to the lower or wit previously eighteenth-century contem- ders, much to the chagrin of many of to the plebeian appropriation critical response porariesA (1996). in which the “migration humor, aristocratic emulation is Libertine zig-zag but a dia- describes not a random disorder of lower-stratum the ‘mad tricks’ and drinking lectic of emulation and expropriation: - an economy of repre through circulate and rogue rituals of whore aris- excess) to rakish (simulating plebeian disorder sentation from the abject with a lofty contempttocratic condescension (simulating felt wits Higher-ranking 225). p. (Turner, humanity” common for aesthetic space with their pun- that those below them violated their to main- a discourse that attempted produced ning, and in return, tain social difference. Be- entry. barring servants from elitist space of the “inside joke,” the novel’s middling skill set in literacy, cause servants have a crude andpuns Both writing. servant in malapropisms expected readers but only of words, depend on phonic interpretations malapropisms meanings. In different the the discerning eye and ear could recover another entry in servant Mary Jones that her gastrointestinal discomfort from a “piss discomfort from servant Mary Jones that her gastrointestinal - of cold cuddling tart” with the other servants was palliated by Tabi she dishes on Lydia’s tha’s “viol of assings” (341). Later in the letter, impending match with her gentleman but calls it “all suppository” (341). Considering the cultural context of these orthographic errors ofcompany the keeps Win fully. more much comedy the develops but have nothing to like “parsons of distinkson” servants who dress - eat other than dessert, exactly the kind of “Ridiculous” person Hen ry Fielding detested, a person who valued material and superficial trappings to survival – the ostentatious “low” person (“Preface”). but has witch elm sown in her pet- Lord” in the She puts her “trust quarter

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kvarter akademisk 285 Kathleen Alves Kathleen Humphry Clinker Volume 03 Tobias Smollett’s Smollett’s Tobias The Transgressive Literacy of the Comic Maidservant in Maidservant of the Comic Literacy The Transgressive Third, writers can impose punster humor on the servants for ide- writers Third, In response Smollett’s readers. Punning servants surprised few of Fourth, this allows writers to still touch on coarse subjects in oth- ticoat to ward off evil, marking her back to her lower-class place marking her back to her lower-class evil, off ticoat to ward with a superstitious practice specifically tied torural culture.Win of freely of the family” but gossips the secrets “scorns…to exclose com- evoking a common scandalous amour with an actor, Lydia’s here, appreciated Several levels of comedy can be plaint of servants. the joke. discerning audience, those in on but only with the ological effect. Servants are, after all, ignorant and unrefined – at very to be least, these writers make them out so. Joseph Andrews’ and her Christian name is sug- own Fanny Goodwill could not read and beautiful good, As 1996). (Rawson, gestive of the pudendum - novel, her name and illiteracy re kind as Fielding paints her in the that she belongs in the lower ranks of life. minds the reader - the period pro the lower orders, to the popularity of punning with a Alexander Pope, though duced a body of antipunning rhetoric. punster himself, describes punning as “a contagion that first crept to their Footmen, and in- descended in amongst the First Quality, Alexander Ault, 1935, p. 270). in fused itself into their Ladies” (cited in Maryland, laments the shift ofHamilton, a Scottish emigré living “the only society: of the dregs to reign I’s in James elite punsters about in to be found scattered of [“elite” punning] are remains Ale-houses, Bethlehem Hospital, and Bawdy houses, Chop houses, of boys, water men, porters, in the precincts among the black Guard p.1990, Micklus, in (cited Grubstreet…” of Garrets the Wapping, access the pun, a mode ignorant can easily 227-228). The lower-class of wit not specifically exclusive for the social and intellectual elite. - Punning, thus, invites “social topsy-turveydom” for social com Antipunning rhetoric mentators in the early part of the century. level to maintain educa- social interaction at the public regulates Considering eight- (Alderson, 1996). tional and polite hierarchies eenth-century regard of the pun, its ideology in confirming and class lines is palpable. crossing social and aesthetic erwise “high” works of art without broaching the end of the cen- towards especially In polite society, decorum. - tury when sensitivity to tawdry subjects was becoming an identify height- ing ethos, the pun’s capacity to verbally frame crudeness ened its appeal. Men of wit could allude to base subjectes without quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 286 Kathleen Alves Kathleen Humphry Clinker Volume 03 Tobias Smollett’s Smollett’s Tobias The Transgressive Literacy of the Comic Maidservant in Maidservant of the Comic Literacy The Transgressive Following Bourdieu’s (1977) claim that polysemy only exists in (1977) claim that Following Bourdieu’s male and female, garners consider both The servant’s posterior, violating linguistic decorum. This play on words refined “low” being “civi- of linguistic framing, a sign of This practice comedy. later part of the century (Bates, in the relevant lized,” became more the obscure observes that the more Freud 1999). Unsurprisingly, “in” on the of those who were the circle exclusive joke, the more in its tempered decreases joke’s transparency joke. Though the gender and class barriers. opacity reinforces form, its increasing deliberate exploitation of poly- academic spaces and that puns are meanings of the puns may be accessible the sexually charged semy, especially those familiar with the to a select community of readers, witness the serv- of servants and sex. These readers mottled culture the danger of counter her own language. To through ant’s exposure her discursive mobility through for social potential the servant’s - ren Smollett performs a linguistic act of sexual aggression, power, serv- for campaign written her in exemplified ridiculous her dering by viewed reading Smollett’s very own Critical Review ant literacy. to society that as an epidemic, an immediate threat the lower orders Brewer, and Bermingham in cited (Donahue, be quelled to needed conservatism, his skews towards 1995). Though Smollett’s politics and servant reading jokes betray an ambivalent attitude towards admits an implied sexual The joke’s deployment servant sexuality. Hamilton (cited in Mick- body. excitement in exposing the maid’s of the pun; punning the stimulating nature lus, 1990) recognizes the audience – they from excites intellectual and somatic responses think about the multiple layers of the joke, discover the joke, then laugh. In placing taboo subjects like pudendas and buttocks in the both mirth and sexual provokes servant’s mouth, the comic effect excitement. Swift’s (1716) jocular Modest Defence of Punning points its capacity for “ambiguous of punning from to the political nature individual’s implicit alle- (p. 4). Following this idea to an treason” betrays words in Win’s Smollett’s punning giance to social mores, of sexual endogamy. desire the socially censured - encounter Clink able attention in Humphry Clinker. Indeed, readers of the perpetually so shocking to the delicate sensibility er’s rear, himself. Win the eponymous hero before carping Mrs. Tabitha, Clinker’santicipating alabaster,” as fair “as is skin his that notes - origins of a higher station as Bramble’s illegitimate son at the nov quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 287 Kathleen Alves Kathleen Humphry Clinker Volume 03 Tobias Smollett’s Smollett’s Tobias The Transgressive Literacy of the Comic Maidservant in Maidservant of the Comic Literacy The Transgressive When I looked into the coach, I could see nothing dis- nothing see could I coach, the into looked I When who was kicking but the nether end of Jenkins, tinctly, a of All vociferation. with great squalling and her heels pate, and bolted up his bare sudden, my uncle thrust having grasshopper, a nimble as as the window, through posteriors as a step to rise in his use of poor Win’s made ascent (p. 91). In the episode immediately preceding Clinker’s introduction through introduction Clinker’s preceding immediately episode In the - an instru of plot – it is merely is not an instrument rear Win’s Here, the aesthetic qualities of a well-propor ment. Smollett admired el’s conclusion (p. 93). The servant’s rear-end is the butt of the joke 93). The servant’s rear-end el’s conclusion (p. of the comedic plot.and an instrument joke. Here, Jery of the butt the is also, literally, rump Winifred’s his rear, writes of the tour, on the family nephew accompanying Matt’s Bramble, overturned carriage: the aftermath of their - to the Medici Ve evidenced by his reaction tioned female bottom, France and Italy (1766): “Heavens! what a Through nus in Travels grasp! the fill they exuberance what with loins, the back! beautifull how finely are the swelling buttocksrounded, neither too thinly incon- flabby of mass huge a into effused nor bone, the to cleaving locates it- the comedy of the episode sistence!” (p. 236). However, rather than to its rump, self in the innovative use of Winifred’s - loveliness. The joke is class-based; the elite make use of their serv ants to ascend and maintain their social position. The coupling of sexual appeal of a com- the dissimilar things (butt/step) reduces making the thereby space on the female body, mon erogenous considering Yet, body appear ridiculous rather than attractive. an ambiva- female, the part of this how much Smollett appreciates arises. In drawing the reader’seffect joke’s lence of the to attention to Smollett compels the reader a sexualized site of the female body, - imagine that part of the body with him in a confederate act of sex but nonetheless invites This point is speculative, ual aggression. agent in the comic tradi- is an inquiry of why the motif of exposure tion. The treatment of the female plebian body in comic fiction, I changes happening at to the “progressive” contend, is a response market- and an expanded commercialization the time: increased place, technological innovation and higher incomes that decreased quarter

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kvarter akademisk 288 Kathleen Alves Kathleen Humphry Clinker Volume 03 Tobias Smollett’s Smollett’s Tobias The Transgressive Literacy of the Comic Maidservant in Maidservant of the Comic Literacy The Transgressive the gap between classes. The obscene joke is rooted in an enforced enforced in an classes. The obscene joke is rooted the gap between rank to biologi- from difference to transpose nostalgia that desires distinction. It seeks to recover cal difference. quarter

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kvarter akademisk 289 Eighteenth- Kathleen Alves Kathleen Humphry Clinker , Brooks- Shamela, Volume 03 and Tobias Smollett’s Smollett’s Tobias Joseph Andrews Andrews Joseph The Transgressive Literacy of the Comic Maidservant in Maidservant of the Comic Literacy The Transgressive vol. 20, no. 3, pp. 1-19. Century Life, vol. 20, no. 3, pp. pp. 421-438. Science Information, vol. 16, pp. 645-68. J., A., Brewer, public.” In Bermingham, formation of a reading - Rout London: Text, Object, Image, Culture: of Consumption The ledge, pp. 54-74. University Press. Oxford Davies, D., (ed.), Oxford: Humphry Clinker. London: Penguin. of North Carolina day Club, Chapel Hill & London: University Press. Shakespeare , Oxford: Pope 1711-1720 of Alexander Works Prose Head Press. Novel, Cambridge: Cam- Companion to the Eighteenth-Century bridge University Press. A. (eds.) London: Duckworth. University Press. (ed.), London: Oxford guin. - 1630-1685. Cambridge: Cam and Literary Culture, Politics ality, bridge University Press. J. Harrifon. , vol. 96, no, 4, of Puns’, Modern Philology Bates, C., 1999. ‘The Point Social of Linguistic Exchanges,” , 1977. “The Economics Bourdieu, P. Review criticism and the , 1995. “Colonizing readers: Donoghue, F. In “Preface.” 1999. H., Fielding, In Hammond, B., Regan, S. (eds.) Lewis, J., 2008. Introduction. - Tues Micklus, R. (Ed.), 1990. The History of the Ancient and Honorable Ault, N. The Against Punning.” In Pope, A., 1935. “God’s Revenge J. The Cambridge Rawson, C., 1996. “Henry Fielding.” In Richetti, C., Sechehaye, , 1983. Course in General Linguistics, Bally, Saussure, F. Felsenstein, F France and Italy, Through , 1979. Travels Smollett, T. Pen- (ed.), London: , 2008. Humphry Clinker, Regan, S., Smollett, T. - J., 2002. Libertines and Radicals in Early Modern London: Sexu Turner, Swift, J., 1716. In Defence of the Most Antient Art of Punning, London: References Pun,’ the on Attack Augustan ‘The 1996. , S. Alderson, quarter

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Food for thought Cannibalistic translation in the Lestrygonians episode of James Joyce’s Ulysses

Ida Klitgård PhD, Dr.Phil., Associate Professor in English at the Department of Culture and Identity, Roskilde Uni- versity. She has published widely on James Joyce and translation studies and recently on plagiarism in student second language writing.

The idiom in the title of this essay – ‘food for thought’ - is here to be understood both literally and figuratively. It is to be understood literally because Leopold Bloom’s thoughts in Lestrygonians are visi- bly about food, but it is also to be grasped figuratively as the objects of his thoughts give rise to serious considerations of so much more than food, notably the conception of cultural cannibalism - which is a thought-provoking kind of cultural transgression. In the following I shall give a detailed explanation of this contention. The entire episode of Lestrygonians is famous for its intercon- nected puns, images and associative reflections on the similarities between human savagery, cannibalism and degeneration on the one hand, and cultural control, Roman Catholic transubstantiation and death on the other hand. One example is found half- way through the episode where Bloom enters the Burton restaurant. Here Bloom is faced with a scenario of animalistic “dirty eaters” (U 8.696) who not only represent the Dubliners’ primitive instinct for survival, but also represent their intellectual and emotional paralysis:

Perched on high stools by the bar, hats shoved back, at the tables calling for more bread no charge, swilling wolfing

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291 the His Ida Klitgård Food for thought Food missionary . exercise consumes Volume 03 White chief from There was a right royal right royal a was There the rice. tough and . effect be Expect to the lemon pork. watch with Ought 8.745-49). . 653-63). to . U

8 pickled row would

a Like honour . in of salty old nigger. Who ate or something the somethings of the reverend reverend something the somethings of the Who ate or nigger. old ( Mr MacTrigger There was a right royal old nigger was a right royal There MacTrigger Who ate the balls of Mr. wives His five hundred wives parts Cannibals gobfals of sloppy food, their eyes bulging, wiping wetted food, their eyes bulging, wiping gobfals of sloppy suetfaced young pallid man polished his A moustaches. set ofNew napkin. his with spoon and fork knife numbler napkin saucestained infant’s an with man A microbes. soup down his gurgling him shovelled tucked round plate: halfmasticated man spitting back on his A gullet. gristle:Am I like gums: no teeth to chewchewchew it […] us. Hungry man is an that? See ourselves as others see angry man (U too Roman Catholic missionaries, who believe in the transgressive doc- believe in the transgressive Roman Catholic missionaries, who at and wine offered of Christ in the bread presence trine of the real to cannibals. The chief too salty to swallow communion service, are of honour’, his victim’s ‘parts told, then prefers cannibal, we are or the genitals, which we must assume to be either the inner organs implying exercise’, which Bloom in turn assumes to be ‘tough from expect this saturation to The wives of the chief sexual ‘exercise’. just as Catholic on his sexual performance; have a positive effect transubstantiation is believed to make Christ’s body and soul come alive at the Consecration of the Eucharist. These rather blasphemous up with an even nastier ideas then link “translations” of religious in its totality: association, that of a limerick which reads Further on we are increasingly startled and repulsed by the many repulsed startled and increasingly Further on we are vivid and highly complex images of human consumption of both animal and human flesh and blood, which are strikingly toppled This passage, which with further allusions to sexual consumption. says it all: takes place in Davy Byrnes’ Pub, quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 292 8.701-3). Ida Klitgård Food for thought Food Volume 03 477-83; 495). . 8 8.665-67). According to Gifford and Seidman, the refer to Gifford According 8.665-67). Had the time of their lives Had the time of bigger (Henke 1977) bigger and bigger and It grew Things go on same, day after day […] Dignam carted off. Things go on same, day after day […] Dignam carted off. to have a swollen belly on a bed groaning Mina Purefoy One born every second some- child tugged out of her. five birds the fed I Since second. every dying Other where. kicked the bucket. Other three hundred minutes. Three washed in All are born, washing the blood off. hundred the blood of the lamb, bawling maaaaaa […] Feel as if I had been eaten and spewed (U expand his powers as it were. does expand his powers Now, Bloom’s mind is not only dirty. These parabolic bites of These parabolic bites of Bloom’s mind is not only dirty. Now, The civilisation which has taken over Ireland in the wake of the over Ireland The civilisation which has taken In Bloom’s “dirty” mind Mr MacTrigger turns into ‘the reverend’ turns into ‘the reverend’ mind Mr MacTrigger In Bloom’s “dirty” reverence him clerical or at least deserving making Mr MacTrigger, – he encapsulated in a wider frame of cultural nourishing musings are part. Immediately following the and social concern on Bloom’s is an association to restaurant scenario of dirty eaters in Burton’s ‘choked Cormac’ who presumably ‘That last pagan king of Ireland of the Boyne’ (U 8.663-65). Bloom pon- himself at Sletty southward Something galoptious. Saint what he was eating. ders: ‘Wonder all how- Couldn’t swallow it Christianity. to him Patrick converted ever’ (U ence is more likely to be to the supposed meeting between the likely to be to the supposed meeting between the ence is more and St. Patrick than to the myth about then-high king Laeghaire King Lae- of The legend he ate. King Cormac choking on the food that even though he did not accept the Christian con- goes ghaire mission:Patrick’s St. with interfere to not agreed King the version, - might also, in my interpreta he could not ‘swallow it all’ – which tion, refer to the Irish King’s refusal to swallow the alleged flesh and blood of Christ. fights everyone which in one indicated, is it is, conversion Christian for his or her life: ‘Every fellow for his own, tooth and nail. Gulp. Kill! Kill!’ (U […] Eat or be eaten. Gulp. Gobstuff Grub. dis- a like implications its spread has survival for competition This ease into the stomachs, hearts and souls of the people in the modern alienated by it all: city of Dublin, and Bloom feels increasingly quarter

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kvarter akademisk 293 Ida Klitgård Food for thought Food Volume 03 8.495). This feeling may originate in the fact8.495). This feeling may originate passage in Lestrygonians with the existing Danish 8.659-60). This resembles in a figurative way how Bloom how way figurative a in resembles This 8.659-60). as well as the before-mentioned reference to the limerick about reference as well as the before-mentioned In the following I will analyse what happens to these ideas andIn the following I will analyse what The Danish Translations to a comparative analysis of this article I am going to devote the rest of a profound - translations. The passage includes a number of innuendos express can- ing the above-mentioned similarities between human savagery, cultural control, and hand, on the one degeneration nibalism and death on the other hand. transubstantiation and Catholic Roman puns, ambi- play, amount of language The passage includes a great - and paro irony referents, multilingual guities, phonetic resonances, dy cannibalistic sexual consumption. Bloom’s thoughts constantly circle around a comparison between a comparison between around constantly circle thoughts Bloom’s based urban Christian civilisation and modern pagan Irish culture on reflections of the similarities between transubstantiation and having Irish pagans had to convert to Christianity, cannibalism. The values, but virtuous as well as non-virtuous to ‘swallow it all’, infollowers its it is suggested, swallows subsequently, Christianity and savage pigs into greedy a most degrading way turning them And what they cannot chew, who live by the motto: Eat or be eaten! man spitting back on his plate: halfmasticated they spit out: ‘A gristle’ (U city: “Feel as if I had beenfeels in the middle of the vast alienating eaten and spewed” (U As is demon- but Jewish. that Bloom is neither pagan nor Christian, person Ulysses, the Jewish Leopold Bloom is a strated throughout and savage Dubliners cannot understand, that is “chew”, the greedy making him of their community, so they spit him out, cast him out a stranger in his own country. in an actual translation of Lestrygonians into a totally dif- features of Ulysses plays language, i.e. Danish. The texture foreign ferent - ambiguities, phonetic resonanc with language and includes puns, But how do we trans- and parody. irony es, multilingual referents, swallow and transform this - into a foreign - chew, late this texture text turns into a successful target language in such a way that the cultural transgression? quarter

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kvarter akademisk 294 : 2 There There Ida Klitgård Food for thought Food The 1970 and 1980 1 Volume 03 1922: 8.741- There was a right royal old nigger. Who ate or something old nigger. was a right royal There Sardiner på hylderne. Kan næsten smage dem ved synet. på hylderne. Kan næsten smage Sardiner Sandwich? Hele familien Skinke paa række og geled. daasemad? uden Plumtree’s Hvad er konen Daasemad. Aldrig glad. Sikken en dum annonce! De satte den op under dødsannoncerne. Helt i skoven. Dignam’s daasekød. missionær for og ris. Hvid Godt for kannibaler med citron salt. Ligesom røget flæsk. Høvdingen æder sikkert de Hans sejge af brugen. nok være Maa fornemste stykker. virkningen. iagttage at for stribe paa sidder koner something the so- Who ate or old nigger. was a right royal Med den jubler hun Mr MacTrigger. methings of the reverend ra- fryd. Guderne maa vide, hvad der er i. Livmoder, af . With it an it an . With Mr Mac-Trigger the somethings of the reverend knows what concoction. Cauls mouldy abode of bliss. Lord tripes windpipes faked and minced up. Puzzle find the Hygiene that No meat and milk together. meat. Kosher. Kippur fast spring cleaning Yom was what they call now. on some fellow’s diges- of inside. Peace and war depend and geese. Slaughter oftion. Religions. Christmas turkeys full casual wards Then innocents. Eat drink and be merry. Heads bandaged. Cheese digests all but itself. Mity after. cheese (U Sardines on the shelves. Almost taste them by looking. looking. by them Almost taste shelves. the on Sardines [mus- descendants mustered his Sandwich? Ham and with- home is What meats. Potted there. bred and terred] potted meat? Incomplete. What a stupid out Plumtree’s All up a they stuck it. ad! Under the obituary notices Dignam’s potted with meat. Cannibals would plumtree. pickled Like salty. too White missionary rice. and lemon Ought parts of honor. pork. Expect the chief consumes the thewatch to row a in wives His exercise. be tough from to effect. translations are thorough revisions of the 1949 translation of the revisions thorough translations are Mogens Boisen 1949: - pro and the Danish translations Joyce’s 1922 passage Below are Boisen in 1949, 1970 and 1980. duced by Mogens James Joyce 1922: quarter

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kvarter akademisk 295 Ida Klitgård tagen Food for thought Food Volume 03 3 1970: 166). 1949: 178). Sardiner på hylderne. Kan næsten smage dem ved synet. på hylderne. Kan næsten smage Sardiner Sandwich? Hele familien. Kam og Skink på række og ge- dåsekød? uden Plumtree’s led. Dåsekød. Hvad er hustru Stedt i nød. Sikken en dum annonce. De satte den op un- dåsekød. Godt Helt i skoven. Dignam’s der nekrologerne. salt.for missionær Hvid ris. og citron med kannibaler for Ligesom røget flæsk. Høvdingen æder sikkert de fornem- sidderkoner Hans brugen. af sej være nok Må stykker. ste Sardiner på hylderne. Kan næsten smage dem ved synet. Sardiner Skink på række og ge Sandwich? Hele familien. Kam og dåse uden Plumtree’s led. Dåsekød. Hvad er hjemmet De satte den opkød? Stedt i nød. Sikken en dum annonce. Helt i skoven. Dignam’s dåsekød. under nekrologerne. og ris. Hvid missionær for Godt for kannibaler med citron salt. Ligesom røget flæsk. Høvdingen æder sikkert de Hans koner af brugen. sej Må nok være fornemste stykker. virkningen. Der var en sidder på stribe for at iagttage fornem som åd en vis ting af pastor MacTrigger. gammel nigger, må vide, hvad der er i.Men med – et saligt sted. Guderne rådnende tarme luftrør hakkes Livmoder, fint og blandes. Ikke kød ogmælk sam- at finde kødet. Kosher. Vanskeligt Jôm Kippur fastenmen. Det er dét, der nu kaldes hygiejne. på en eller og krig beror Fred indvendig forårsrengøring. Julekalkuner og gæs. Religioner. anden fyrs fordøjelse. Drab på uskyldige. Spis, drik og vær glad. Skadestuerne alt undta- Ost fordøjer hoveder. Indbundne fulde bagefter. Stærk ost (U gen sig selv. adnende tarme luftrør Vanskeligthakkes fint og blandes. at finde kødet. Ikke Koscher. kød og mælk sammen. Det indven- hygiejne. Jôm Kippur fasten er dét, der nu kaldes paa en eller an- og krig beror Fred foraarsrengøring. dig Drab Julekalkuner og gæs. den Religioner. fyrs fordøjelse. fulde glad. Skadestuerne drik og vær på uskyldige. Spis, alt und Ost fordøjer Indbundne hoveder. bagefter. Stærk ost (U sig selv. Mogens Boisen 1970: Mogens Boisen 1970: Mogens Boisen 1980/1986: quarter

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there 1970; 296 Ida Klitgård bred Food for thought Food and

4 Volume 03 musterred række og geled (U 1949) 5 descendants 1980/1986: 206-7). his and Ham Der var en fornem gam- virkningen. Der var en fornem på stribe for at iagttage Men med som åd en vis ting af pastor MacTrigger. mel nigger, der er i. Kallun,hvad må vide, – er dagen sød. Guderne Van- blandes. og fint hakkes luftrør tarme rådnende lunge, sammen.mælk og kød Ikke Kosher. kødet. finde at skeligt ind- fasten Kippur Jôm hygiejne. kaldes nu der dét, er Det på en eller an- og krig beror Fred vendig forårsrengøring. og gæs. Drab Julekalkuner Religioner. den fyrs fordøjelse. Skadestuerne fuldepå uskyldige. Spis, drik og vær glad. alt undtagen Ost fordøjer Indbundne hoveder. bagefter. Stærk ost (U sig selv. All these complex references cannot be transferred to the Danish cannot be transferred All these complex references (1922) paa Sandwich? Hele familien Skinke Subsequently I will extract individual lines in order to analyse them lines in order Subsequently I will extract individual separately. Example 1: Sandwich? 1980) a sand- order he should whether speculates Bloom lines these In learn that he orders Later on we wich, a ham sandwich presumably. gives rise to the memory But this food a sandwich with gorgonzola. not and language including several puns play, of a comic rhyme no man starve on the de- ‘Why should least phonological resonants: / How came Because of the sand which is there. Arabia? / serts of and mus- there bred was Ham of The tribe / there? sandwiches the to Ham com- and Seidman 1988: 179). The reference (Gifford tered’ as the bines food and the Biblical son of Noah, traditionally regarded and Seidman 1988: 179). races (Gifford father of the Negroid to attempting a pragmatic point of view, from And translation. in a Danish text would of the English rhyme maintain the parody - simply would not rec as s/he make no sense to the Danish reader his and ‘Ham of translation first Boisen’s Mogens Instead it. ognise Ham descendants’ has become ‘Hele familien Skinke’ [The entire Sandwich? Hele familien. Kam og Skink på række og geled (U geled og række på Skink og Kam familien. Hele Sandwich? quarter

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kvarter akademisk - In- 297 1949). meat? 1970). Ida Klitgård U 1980). Food for thought Food potted Volume 03 Plumtree’s […] With it an abode of bliss meat […] With without potted home is What meats. The wordplay of ‘musterred’ and ‘bred’ with the similar sounds and ‘bred’ of ‘musterred’ The wordplay names such as ‘Kam’ and This vision of family members with Dåsekød. Hvad er hjemmet uden Plumtree’s dåsekød? Stedt i nød. Dåsekød. Hvad er hjemmet uden Plumtree’s […] Dignam’s dåsekød. […] Men med – et saligt sted (U dåsekød? Stedt i nød. uden Plumtree’s Dåsekød. Hvad er hustru […] Dignam’s dåsekød. […] Men med – er dagen sød ( Potted of Plumtree’s Bloom thinks about the advertisement Here Meats which has paradoxically been placed under the obituaries in makes Bloom link ‘potted meat’ with the This, then, the newspaper. His corpse in burial of his friend Paddy Dignam earlier in the day. the coffin obviouslyresembles that of ‘potted meat’. After this di- (U 1922). Aldrig glad. daasemad? Daasemad. Hvad er konen uden Plumtree’s […] Dignam’s daasekød. […] Med den jubler hun af fryd (U complete […] Dignam’s Example 2: Potted family], where ‘Skinke’ in Danish only refers to the meat, not the to the meat, not the Danish only refers ‘Skinke’ in family], where the changed has he translations subsequent the In figure. Biblical Kam family. familien. Kam og Skink’ [The entire lines into ‘Hele for theis a pun on both the Danish name ‘Kam’ and Skink] where animal. ‘Skink’ is to the loin of an referring as well as Biblical Ham [pork ham] which now looks like of ‘skinke’ abbreviation a creative a one-syllable name just like ‘Kam’. in Danish. Boisen has not been rendered and ‘bread’ of ‘mustard’ og geled’ [in serried ranks] into ‘på række ‘musterred’ translates but without the mustard/ which does have military connotations, way the Danish translations ofham sandwich connotations. In this English rhyme, to the old these lines certainly lose the references in images of hams lined up somewhere but they nevertheless create linking up with his vision of ‘sar the pub, or just in Bloom’s mind, the cannibal’s wives dines’ lined up ‘on the shelves’, foreshadowing further on. waiting ‘in a row’ next the with concocts also surprisingly row a in standing ‘Skink’ lines in the passage: quarter

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A U the man it ( milk. 298 of Pick them. . Ida Klitgård white

for against a Food for thought Food fellow Corpse

a say meat dead of Volume 03 cheese? work Chinese Priests . Ordinary the short what’s better was. that and it make Well who 1922/1986: 8.750), suggesting that Bloom’s would Cremation bad. matter chaps gone Voyages in China Voyages corpse. no

a those that meat is like of clean in One Bloom associatively links human corpses with eating dead meatBloom associatively links human together a and ‘Hades’ create The passages in Lestrygonians not bring ‘milk does kosher food In contrast to all this, Jewish - In translation, this big “messy” conglomeration of images of re read

gression he returns to the last line of the jingle, ‘With it an abode ofabode an it ‘With jingle, the of line last the to returns he gression the image of again interfaces with bliss’, which, metaphorically, Dignam in his coffin,resting in peace. The entire passagereminds where following passage in ‘Hades’ of the the attentive reader what the rats think of dead meat:Bloom wonders corpse I smells 1922/1986: 6.980-85). compared are corpses cemetery Dublin the In bad. gone has which with cheese (which becomes significant in the last line of the se- Bloom puns on the phrase where lected passage in Lestrygonians that the Chinese him recall ‘Mity cheese’) which, in turn, makes linked This is furthermore think white man smells like a corpse. in the selected passage in Lest- with the above-mentioned limerick rygonians where the cannibals find white missionaries too salty, ‘Like pickled pork’. meat, cheese, milk, de- food, network of disturbing images where smells and tastes evoke thoughts composing corpses, death, bad the passage in ‘Hades’ and cannibalism. Ironically, of corruption ends by saying that Roman Catholic priests, who by implication which ‘dead against’ cremation, believe in transubstantiation, are would in fact put an end to such degeneration. The implication is that the doom of the Irish is very much in the dirty hands here with rats picking the bones thus compared of the priests who are of their flock. and meat together’ (U cultural cannibalism. of is free religion death must be preserved, and pulsive cannibalism, cultural control or ‘potted’, in a new multilingual and multicultural hybrid of the notAnd this network is language. language and the target source invigorate and the translation, but to in gradually decompose to text. the target strengthen bones quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 299 Ida Klitgård Food for thought Food windpipes faked Volume 03 1922/1986: 8.750-51), tripes mouldy up’, as Bloom himself gathers (U minced Boisen firsttranslates ‘Potted meats’ into ‘Daasemad’ [tinned translating ‘home’ into Oddly enough, Boisen lingers between Mogens Boisen’s translations of the conclusion to the ad, ‘With Mogens Boisen’s translations of the conclusion to the ad, ‘With food] and then ‘Dåsekød’ [tinned meat] getting the connotations of [tinned meat] getting the food] and then ‘Dåsekød’ and ‘pot- the p-alliterations in ‘Plumtree’ death right. Unfortunately - is, how between and ‘Incomplete’ ‘meat’ lost. The rhyme ted’ are ‘Aldrig– food] [tinned ‘Daasemad’ early the in both preserved ever, ‘Stedt– meat] [tinned ‘Dåsekød’ later in the and happy] [never glad’ starving]. Even though ‘Incomplete’ does not refer i nød’ [in distress; the Danish translation, but to theto anyone actually starving as in pot- lacking something without Plumtree’s fact that a home is really the link to underscores ted meat, the Danish phrase successfully food and consumption. – with [the wife and ‘hustru’ ‘konen’ [the wife], ‘hjemmet’ [home] a more dignified ring to it] which emphasises that it is the wife or even starving without this amazing potted who is in distress this is a somewhat correctness meat. In view of today’s political but it miraculously ties up with the can- chauvinist interpretation, nibal chief’s wives in the limerick, waiting in line to see their hus- we might associations The to the occasion. rise manhood band’s awaiting ‘potted meat’, per get of a Dublin housewife anxiously not in the least dragged home by her husband, are haps ironically or in any way admirable. Potted meat, that is con- epic heroic, served animal corpses, or ‘Cauls and is a poor substitution for fresh quality-meat. No wonder Bloom quality-meat. No wonder Bloom for fresh poor substitution a is opts for a vegetarian sandwich. in peace Dignam resting us of it an abode of bliss’, which reminded she this [with fryd’ af hun jubler den ‘Med from turn coffin, his in will cry with happiness] to ‘Men med – et saligt sted’ [but with it, with [but sød’ dagen er – med ‘Men to finally and place] blissful a Dub- the emphasises translation first The sweet]. be will day the it, may having ‘potted meat’, which to wife’s ecstatic response lin I suggest, tying in with the turn it into a sexual double entendre, cannibal wives’ similar expectations of their husband’s manly in contrast, stays very close translation, performance. The second to the original, thus focusing on the quiet bliss of a home with pot- has turned into translation, I am surprised, ted meat. The third almost sheer nonsense as it dilutes the spunk and spice of the quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 300 Ida Klitgård Food for thought Food of the most smellythe of Volume 03 1922/1986: 6.982). And so the the so And 6.982). 1922/1986: But what is meant by the fact that it ‘digests all but itself’?But what is meant by the fact that Gifford But The Danish translation of this line does not cause any trouble. cheeses one can possibly have, and the fact that it is mouldy sug- cheeses one can possibly have, and at the same time, underscoringgests that it is both dead and alive cannibalism in Lestrygonians.the themes of transubstantiation and sixteenth cen- saying that originated in the and Seidman explain: ‘A as a was popularly regarded of making cheese The process tury. a sub- digestion because it involved the use of rennet, of process milk’ (Gif- animal stomachs and used to curdle stance derived from Seidman 1988: 180). This means that the vegetarian cheese and ford stomach, by substances, a rennet animal is in fact also corrupted eats itself in the making, which evokes signifying that the cheese in As we recall, Paddy Dignam’s. decomposition of a corpse such as and of cheese: ‘Well Hades Bloom did speculate on the nature (U milk’ Corpse of cheese? what’s itself in the making, and is both dead and alive, eating gorgonzola decomposing, transubstantiating, when fully made. - the translation of the next one, ‘Mity cheese’, loses all the rich ambi and Seidman explain that Gifford guities of the English expression. a ‘The minute cheese mite infests and “digests” cheese, leaving (Gif- [sic]’ traveled has it where skins shed of mass powdery brown, coupled with the associa- and Seidman 1988: 180). This may be ford by worms – or mites. But corpses being eaten tions we get to rotting since Boisen’s Random House edition has ‘Mighty’ instead of ‘Mity’ - as in the Gabler edition, Boisen’s selected adjective is ‘Stærk’ mean cheese. The refer “hot”, “sharp” or “smelly” ing either “strong”, above ambiguous implications. It loses the biting flavour of the to the meaningless jingle-like quality stresses original as it only the advertisement. Example 3: cheese (1922) Cheese digests all but itself. Mity Stærk ost (U 1949; 1970; 1980) alt undtagen sig selv. Ost fordøjer vegetarian cheese sandwich in these lines Bloom’s Unfortunately, option to the dead meat scenario uncorrupted a fresh, does not offer one is which Bloom selects The gorgonzola above. ences to the small cheese mites thus fall away. quarter

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kvarter akademisk 301 Ida Klitgård Food for thought Food 1922/1986: Volume 03 8.850-51). Mr Bloom ate his strips of sandwich, fresh clean bread, clean bread, ate his strips of sandwich, fresh Mr Bloom the feety savour of disgust pungent mustard, with relish palate. Not his his wine soothed of Sips cheese. green of logwood that (U 1922/1986: 8.818-20). mustard pith of bread rolled soaked and softened Wine wine it is. (U a moment mawkish cheese. Nice It is just as distasteful as the white missionary was to the canni- The phrase ‘Mity cheese’ in fact refers to a now vintage poster vintage now to a refers in fact ‘Mity cheese’ phrase The of a cheese sandwich and a glassBloom’s ensuing meal consisting In the last description the influence of the wine may have begun to sentence is highly playful in- work on Bloom’s mind as the long The cheese is, however, cluding lots of alliterations and assonances. still dubious as it is either described as giving rise to a ‘feety savour’ or as being ‘mawkish’ meaning either nauseating or stale. The of dis- It is a ‘relish is not particularly inviting either. mustard stinging or bitter, meaning a disgusting, gust pungent mustard’ relish. strong-smelling bals in the limerick, suggesting that the cannibalistic, Catholic feast upon Christ’s body is not for Leopold Bloom. It only brings deadly seems to mites to his body and soul. But the wine/blood, however, become him well. advertisement made by T. E. Stephens in 1912 with the words ‘P. T. T. ‘P. 1912 with the words E. Stephens in by T. advertisement made males in their featuring a bunch of sweating Selbit’s Mighty cheese’ cheese, wheel of try to pull apart a huge, round shirtsleeves who illusion- to a great Selbit refers T. The name of P. but have to give up. that Mogens century (1881-1938). I doubt ist of the early twentieth of this. Boisen has been aware is described in ways which may evoke images of Ro- of burgundy opening ofthe to circle full us bringing communion, man Catholic my article: Conclusion The network of ideas which comprises Leopold Bloom’s literal and lot a reader the gives Lestrygonians in thought” for “food figurative to chew on. The “flesh” of Bloom’sreflections offers new insights quarter

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kvarter akademisk 302 , followed Ida Klitgård Food for thought Food Volume 03 - as an apt cannibalis not, however, address the episode of the episode of address not, however, - re-transla largely and 1980 are 1970 from The respective Mogens Boisen translations appeared as Joyce, James. Mogens Boisen translations appeared The respective Ulysses Copenhagen: Martins Forlag, 1949, 1970, and Copenhagen: to the translations as Dn U Gyldendal, 1980/1986. I will refer by the year of publication. Ulysses Style in James Joyce’s In my book, Fictions of Hybridity: Translating 2007), I undertake aDenmark, of Southern University Press (Odense: detailed and critical, comparative analysis of the Danish translations discussion of cultural, linguistic with the original based on a theoretical Joyce’s poetics of translation as exile, and and aesthetic hybridity, terms ‘domestication’ and Venuti’s the translation theorist Lawrence as the two most important translation strategies a ‘foreignisation’ translator may choose. I do Danish the of analyses related Other work. in this ‘Lestrygonians’ This brings me to the epilogue of this study: the recent Danish this study: the recent This brings me to the epilogue of Indeed food for thought. Bon appetite!

Notes 1 2 into his perception, conception and digestion of Ireland’s hybrid hybrid and digestion of Ireland’s conception into his perception, these ideas, through verbal “blood” that runs The cultural identity. by way of puns, ambiguities, translational transfusions too, offers – not parody and irony referents, multilingual phonetic resonances, vision of the classic Ulysses least in the overall postcolonial condition. of the modern tic expression translations of Ulysses tions translations of of the 1949 “original”. This means that they are a translation (Joyce’s work beinga translation (the 1949 edition) of a translation of Homer’s Odyssey), suggesting that the Danish trans- cannibal- Mogens Boisen, too, performs some kind of cultural lator, which, up his own creation ism, that is, feeding on and swallowing up a number of other European in turn, has fed on and swallowed on a par with is sometimes The actual textual result creations. is famished other times the result Joyce’s intended playfulness, but metaphor of cannibalistic and limp. This means that the cultural but for the individual identity, translation is not only a metaphor global network of people and nations feeding on each for an entire but cannibals we are As Rainer Guldin says: ‘As translating other. spanning many generations and knots in a global net of creativity feeding on one another and vast geographical spaces constantly ourselves’ (Guldin 2007: 6). quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 303 Ida Klitgård Food for thought Food Volume 03 translations can be found in a number of articles listed in the bibli found in a number of articles listed translations can be ography. It must be noted that Boisen’s first translation is of the 1934 Random to his a preface which is full of misprints. In House edition of Ulysses this translation, says that during his work with 1970 translation Boisen which 1939 to get a copy of the edition from he eventually managed editions, hopefully im- of both enabled him to make parallel readings - is a dis the whole thing (U 1980/1990: 10). Whenever there proving I between these editions and the Gabler edition used here, crepancy shall make a note of it. which Boisen initially used, has The 1934 Random House edition, “mustered”. - orthographi was ‘å’ alphabet Danish the of letter last the 1948, Before 1948 was not manifested inThe change in with an ‘aa’. cally rendered explains why Boisen does not ad- Danish dictionaries until 1953 which to it in his 1949 edition. here 3 4 5 quarter

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- 304 Ida Klitgård Food for thought Food , 10, 10, , Ghrebh Revista Volume 03 (consulted 23.10.2010). Orbis Litterarum 60(1): 54-69. (consulted 12.11.2010). http://www.revista.cisc.org.br/ghrebh10/ar http://www.ohiostatepress.org/Books/Complete%20 Re-Mapping Exile: Realities and Metaphors in Irish His- Irish in Metaphors and Realities Exile: Re-Mapping (tr. M Boisen). Copenhagen: Martins Forlag. M Boisen). Ulysses (tr. Literary Translation: World Lit- World (ed.) Literary Translation: Ulysses’ in I Klitgård ’ in M Böss, I Gilsenan-Nordin and B Ol- ’ in M Böss, I Gilsenan-Nordin Finnegans Wake 6: 83-95. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Portrait of the Artist as a Young as Exile in James Joyce’s A and inder(eds.) - Copenhagen: Museum Tuscu Literature? or “Worlding” erature Special issue of Angles on the English-Speaking World lanum Press. rect Discourse in Ulysses’ in Nordic Journal of English Studies 3(3): Discourse rect 319-44. Styles in James Joyce’s Ulysses’, University Aarhus Dolphin 34, The Århus: . tory and Literature 107-34. Press: International Journal in James Joyce’s Ulysses’ in Target: Wordplay Studies, 17(1): 71-92. of Translation Joyce’s ed:Cali- Ulysses. Berkeley: University of James Joyce’s for Notes fornia Press. Identity’. Cultural of Construction the and at: June. Available PDFs/Henke%20Joyces/08.pdf Available at: Available tigo.php?dir=artigos&id=Rainer (2005b) ‘(Dis)Location and Its (Dis)Content: Translation Translation Klitgård, I (2005b) ‘(Dis)Location and Its (Dis)Content: (2004) ‘Dual Voice and Dual Style: Translating Free Indi- Free and Dual Style: Translating Klitgård, I (2004) ‘Dual Voice Anthology of of the Klitgård, I (2005a) ‘The Danish Translation of the Pun by the Horns: The Translation Klitgård, I (2005c) ‘Taking of “Penelope” in James Klitgård, I (2006a). ‘The Danish Translation Primary References London: Bodley Head. Ulysses (ed. H W Gabler). Joyce, J (1922/1986) House. London: Random Joyce, J (1934) Ulysses. Copenhagen: Martins Forlag. M Boisen). (tr. Joyce, J (1949) Ulysses Joyce, J (1970) Copenhagen: Gyldendal. M Boisen). Joyce, (tr. J (1980/1986) Ulysses Secondary References D and Robert Annotat- J. Seidman (1974/1988). Ulysses Gifford, Translation Guldin, R (2007) ‘Devouring the Other: Cannibalism, (1977) ‘Joyce’s Moraculous Sindbook: A Study of Ulysses’. A Sindbook: (1977) ‘Joyce’s Moraculous Henke, S quarter

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kvarter akademisk – 305 Ida Klitgård Food for thought Food Volume 03 Fictions of Hybridity: Translating Style in James Joyce’s James Joyce’s Style in Fictions of Hybridity: Translating Translations of Stylistic Shapeshifting in the “Proteus” Episode in the “Proteus” of Stylistic Shapeshifting Translations 15(2): 141-58. in Language and Literature of James Joyce’s Ulysses’ som vinden blæser?’ in I Klitgård and S Klitgård Povlsen (eds.) (eds.) Povlsen and S Klitgård in I Klitgård blæser?’ vinden som 129-44. Universitetsforlag: Århus . Århus: Joyce og Danmark of Southern Denmark. Ulysses. Odense: University Press Press. Carolina Chapel Hill: The University of North (2006b) ‘”The irresistible tug of the tides”: The Danish Klitgård, I (2006b) ‘”The irresistible Ulysses dansk oversættelse: Boisens Klitgård, I (2006c) ’Joyce i Klitgård, I (2007) Ulysses: An Annotated List. Thornton, W (1961/1987) Allusions in quarter

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kvarter akademisk akademiskkvarter Volume 03. Fall 2011 • on the web academic quarter

Body Refractions Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan

Steen Christiansen er ph.d. og lektor i litteratur, kultur og medier ved Aalborg Universitet. Anmelder ved Kulturkapellet. Har publiceret artikler om tegneserier, Hollywood, science fiction og det fantastiske. Han arbejder i øjeblikket på en bog om hauntologi.

Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan (2010) is a film which blends many different inspirations into one story. It is obvious that Pyotr Tchaik- ovsky’s Swan Lake (1877) stands at the center of the narrative structure, yet Aronofsky himself has also indicated a debt to Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Double (1846). In addition to this, there is also a link to Michael Powell’s and Emeric Pressburger’s The Red Shoes (1948) and by extension H.C. Andersen’s “De røde sko” (“The Red Shoes”) (1845). What these stories all share, in different variations, is a concern with transformation. The most obvious transformation of the film, is that of Nina Sawyer (Natalie Portman) and her transformation into a woman; this transformation is one which is both generational (in that Nina becomes independent of her mother) and sexual (in that Nina finds her own sexuality). There is another transformation, however, which is what this article will focus on and that is the transformation Nina attempts to undergo between playing the part of the Swan Queen and being the Swan Queen - expressed by herself as being perfect. I take this question of wanting to be the Swan Queen as a matter of transgressing the boundary between representation and performance. Nina is not satisfied with simply representing the Swan Queen, of appearing to be or pretending to be. Instead she must go beyond appearance and

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- - 307 Black Swan Body Refractions Body Steen Christiansen Steen Volume 03 Doppelgänger motif is concerned, this is established early on in My understanding of transgression therefore comes primarily comes primarily therefore My understanding of transgression the en- throughout motif it is evident If we start with the mirror embrace being. Nina’s change into a woman is thus a transforma- change into a woman is thus embrace being. Nina’s simply a transfor becoming the Swan Queen is not tion, while Nina of art. a going beyond the realm a transgression, mation but instead her transgression transformation is therefore Nina’s most powerful unsta- the by highlighted is which transgression a life, into fiction of film. the throughout world Nina’s of level ontological ble questions the notion of representation, framing it as a discussion be- framing it as questions the notion of representation, and performance; Nina Sawyer wants to be the Black tween mirror transgression, it. This leads us to another Swan, not just represent morph is the bridge between thewhich is that of the morph. The mirror and performance, because when Nina finally performs her of swan-woman being physically morphs into the unreal she role, of representation. hybrid, thus smashing the mirror - to Transgres of Bataille in his “Preface reading Foucault’s from Foucault points out the centrality of the eye and sight sion,” where inner experi- the eye signals Bataille’s notion of transgression; to the same time the eye is also theence (Foucault, 1998, p. 81) but at see and to of the limit” (84). To very limit of experience, “the being centrala is it as just transgression, for concerns central thus are be the non- concern for Black Swan. I take Foucault’s point to be that which can eye sees the world as image, as a picture transgressive - Transgres subject. viewing by the disciplined and controlled be at the same time both invisible andwhat is be therefore sion would in inwards what turns is eye transgressive the the visible; beyond the op- is therefore to be rather than to image. Transgression order - between repre position between image and being, in other words sentation and Being. tire film; there is hardly a scene without one kind ofreflecting sur face. The mirror motif thus sets up two immediate areas of tension: areas motif thus sets up two immediate face. The mirror far as As the split personality motif. and the Doppelgänger motif the and seeing some- the film,when we see Nina looking in the mirror but wearing a black coat rath- her (same hairdo) one who resembles er than Nina’s white. There is even a movement mirrored of fixing the similarity between which establishes - the two, some the hair, when Nina gets to the thing which is played out to its full extreme are all and other each resemble there women the All room. dressing quarter

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kvarter akademisk 308 Body Refractions Body Steen Christiansen Steen Volume 03 Lily is immediately set up as the evil Doppelganger of Nina evil Doppelganger of Nina Lily is immediately set up as the Central to the film’s psychological dimension is Nina’s evident looking in mirrors and fixing their hair the same way as Nina. With Nina. as way same the hair their fixing and mirrors in looking we see that there new member Lily (Mila Kunis), the arrival of the This between the two, physically. resemblance is indeed a striking only Nina is the fact that Lily wears black, while is contrasted by the the wide shot of out of all the ballerinas. Even one wearing white wearing still Nina outfits, black and gray of blur a is room dance the the only white outfit. praises Lily for her effortlessness the director, and Thomas Leroy, between the it.” The rivalry set up because she is “not faking and between Odette and Odile of the rivalry thus a mirroring two is As a contemporary tale, Lily as the black ballet. in Tchaikovsky’s Nina, lead- for white swan as the temptress swan functions more - on before act dared never has she out fantasies to live Nina ing when Lily goes out with Nina, their primary scene together is and fuck guys. Lily’s hedonistic do drugs get drunk, they where no ice life of Nina’s controlled in sharp contrast to pursuits stand devel- arrested food, living instead in a state of greasy no cream, by baby pink pillows and surrounded opment with her mother, The contrast is glaring, almost too obvious. What animals. stuffed is the way it ties in with the mo- clinches the Doppelganger motif tif of the split personality. early on, when she leaves get hints of Nina’s state We instability. the ballet company the first night and goes home via the subway, her toward coming is woman a Here corridor. dark a long, through and as Nina nervously glances up at the woman as she passes, we the face chang- see Nina’s face on the strange woman. Immediately, on. here motif from es back but face-changing becomes a running when Nina and Lily end motif This is tied most clearly to the mirror we see their As they enter the door, up back at Nina’s apartment. reflections in a emphasizing kaleidoscopic their mirror, drunken state but certainly also hinting at the slow unhinging of Nina’s one of the and lock the door, mind. into Nina’s room As they rush Shot love. make they as occurs film the of scenes controversial more shots of her en- reaction Nina’s point of view with primarily from theinto drawn are spectators as we Lily’s cunnilingus, of joyment at Nina. Just before close-ups of Lily’s face looking scene through Nina’s. into flash a for changes face Lily’s however, orgasm, Nina’s quarter

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309 Body Refractions Body Steen Christiansen Steen Volume 03 . At Black Swan. first, such areading seems evident and natural: The Doppelganger and the split personality is therefore two sides and the split personality is therefore The Doppelganger - doubles and sex, it becomes neces all this talk of mirrors, With Post-coital Nina falls asleep and wakes up alone. Rushing to the falls asleep and wakes up alone. Post-coital Nina Whilewho denies having spent the night. she meets Lily rehearsal, shared their real, club is established by Lily as the partying at the than a nothing more be a dream, to is revealed sexual relationship to Lily. according “lezzie wet dream” would be two sides of the same mirror of the same coin, or perhaps Lily stands as Nina’s Doppelganger because she is the accurate. more of Nina’s unstable psyche; Lily simply Nina inverted. image mirror of herself and so Nina sees onlyLily is what Nina sees as the opposite a reflection of her own innerdesires, of the one she wishes she could eye, for Foucault, “[t]he eye,be. This is Bataille’s power of the in a philosophy of reflection, derives from its capacity to the observe interior to itself.” (Foucault, 1998, p.power of becoming always more - prolif mirrors reflection; of world a as up set is ballet of world The 81) to constitute their The dancers need mirrors everywhere. erate and are for make-up but they also need them forselves; they need the mirrors if their moves can reveal only the mirror where their dance routines, image for the ballerinas, of the thus the ground are Mirrors correct. are and perfection for Nina is at first achieved through the only mirror, This artistic no- than simple representation. Thomas demands more Abrams M.H. by restating its and Plato to back way the all traces tion - is the poor crafts mirror the and the Lamp, where in his The Mirror man’s inferior reflection of the outside world, whereas the true artist an ideal or a lamp of imagination. within, from comes from a psychoanalytic reading the notion of discuss sary to pause and of her Nina, whose father we never even hear of, is trying to resolve them and play- and drives by interrogating unconscious desires double. This is a strategy which ing them out with her mirror-image is well-known in classical Hollywood cinema such as precisely Black Swan pointed out that The Red Shoes which I have already draws heavily on. Maybe it is precisely the obviousness of the the obviousness of the draws heavily on. Maybe it is precisely it, for just as it is typi- which makes me hesitate before reading cal- cinema as repre Hollywood motif in classical to see the mirror it is also typical in of the protagonist, desires senting unconscious film theory to see as for the a the screen mirror spectator’s identification with the protagonist. quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - - 310 Body Refractions Body Steen Christiansen Steen Volume 03 How, then, do we identify with Nina as female protagonist? It isIt protagonist? female as Nina with identify we do then, How, find indeed do we scopophilia, of issue the to turn instead we If For these reasons, I see the sex scene as emblematic of the film’s - unreli the to due part large in appear, first at may it as simple as not no Oedi- is certainly First of all, there point of view. ability of Nina’s to on, for even though Nina does attempt us to rely pal trajectory for (bisex- sexuality embracing her own by mother her from free break herself with her mother’s also realigns ual, it appears), she - expecta sits mother Nina’s how see We performance. final the in her of tions perfect performance, achieving crying in the audience at Nina’s and so symbolically we what the mother herself never managed that Nina becomes what the mother always wanted to might argue which the Oedipal trajec- of the parent the overcoming be. Hardly we left with a stable world as the film ends. tory signifies, nor are in the sex scene on the screen a male sexual fantasy represented the of triggers the desire Lily; the lesbian sex between Nina and party in the scene and is at third male viewer who wants to be the is a problem least allowed in as a voyeuristic participant. But there taken in the sex scene, for as it un- with the scopophilic pleasure folds Lily’s face changes into Nina’s in a few flashes, which cer be taking we might in the the pleasure tainly distantiates us from the disrupts also certainly it reflection upon and unfolding images scopo male our part of as see the scene we may with which ease a to be precisely revealed of course, the tryst is And philic drive. mind and the het- drunken fantasy - it only happened in Nina’s the only not shown, is sex which evidently took place erosexual tells her mother that she fucked two of it. When Nina disruption men but we never saw that happen, is Nina lying or did we sim- nar highly unreliable point a at this is Nina Clearly, see? ply not we might de- know and the pleasure we cannot actually rator so by the uncanny transformation the sex scene is disrupted rive from of Lily into Nina, refusing a stable character identification and a stable plot. out pointed I have already as a house of mirrors. structure larger how mirrors and reflecting surfaces occupyalmost all the mise-en- Nina. of images two see we that so positioned often film, the of scene themeNot only does this indicate in the mise-en-scene the running of the entire film, but combinedwith the morphing faces (the girl’s - face in the subway corridor changing into Nina’s, Lily’s face chang quarter

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kvarter akademisk 311 Body Refractions Body Steen Christiansen Steen Volume 03 One might argue, however, that what I have outlined above still above outlined have that what I however, One might argue, Certainly the scene fulfills these tworequirements, but like the ing into Nina’s, Nina’s face changing into Beth’s and so forth), we changing into Beth’s Nina’s face ing into Nina’s, to face forced the fact are is possibility that no for there real identification in this film. Our aligning ourselves with Nina turns out to be in Lily’s and Nina’s pleasure as taking false and disturbing as just same time. The necessary and impossible at the sex scene. It is both demanding of move transgressive this from comes film the of power and disrupting identification at the same time. The presence of the as seen be must a less, no film the into minutes 69 located scene, sex of the male audience, giving them what knowing joke on the desires uncanny anddisturbing, time making it same at the want but they only an embarrassing wet dream. and that even if of desire follows a psychoanalytic understanding this as false and only a dream, the sex scene is narratively cast denial still depends on the heightened significance of the scene - despite its am arises, which necessarily and the spectator desire spectacle an erotic remains This uncanny overtones. biguous and sex appeal which Thomas meant to convince us of the necessary Yet, it on stage. to present in order constantly insists Nina must feel an illusion, and “it works as a false spectacle the scene remains , deludes; and it works only if we only if it persuades as an illusion deluded. The gap be- we were can see that it is an illusion, that is the location of de- proposes, tween the two moments, Lacan 1994, p. 155) (Belsey, sire.” of the rest film it also insists fantasy. on than something mere more for her desire Nina is not satisfied with thefantasy of sex withLily, to be Lily is in essence a metaphoric substitution for Nina’s desire the psy- based around is not the Black Swan and so Nina’s desire Instead, Nina’s con- as lack or longing. choanalytic logic of desire which is founded in ascesis. is a Deleuzian desire, cept of desire - Nina is nothing if not self-disciplined and locates her sense of au thenticity in that very self-discipline. It is this self-discipline which theto be representation, go beyond to ability an desire to her drives we If Swan. Black the of illusion mere a than rather Swan Black Mitchell’s un- brieflyW.J.T. contrast illusion with thatrealism of in illusion is power over the where power, a matter of derstanding as world (Mitchell, 1994, p. is power over the spectator and realism 325), this becomes a way for bringing us back to the question of quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - 312 Body Refractions Body Steen Christiansen Steen Volume 03 - be the argu to Swan Black is therefore located in desire but this located in desire Black Swan is therefore Identification in image which call the affective It is this subjection of what we can representation and performance. Nina’s Deleuzian desire comes comes Nina’s Deleuzian desire and performance. representation beyond power over the world, to move the discipline to have from is the way things looks” and of “this illusion as the pretense mere assert “this is the way things are.” instead be able to of or longing. It is instead a relationship is not that of lack desire spectator’sthe world, the over power for desire power; Nina’s de- to con- urge based on the scopophilic over the screen for power sire motif by the mirror but which becomes frustrated the images trol into male of us, the easy lure front and the banality of the images in to take power over the naivefantasy which only works as means Classical spectator (male) identificationspectator. becomes a trap explain the which does not enable us to understand or properly way the film structures its affect and through thisaffect takes con- its function as a body genre which is exactly the spectator, over trol film as Steven Shaviro points out As (Shaviro, body 2011). genre, spectator’s the at jerks film the overpower to intends and emotions which in essence is the very opposite of the classical spectator, film identification’s powerful spectator in control of the images. Identi- with subjection. fication in Black Swan is replaced to moment of Black Swan. If we return as the transgressive regard I we see that it of transgression, Foucault’s and Bataille’s notion the through breaks that transgression the argument comes from at stake. I will ar truly what is behind it, what is image to reveal of the case in take this can gue that we the sexual fantasy of ment of fantasy versus experience, where of the actual expe- Nina is not enough, it is a weak representation when she is transformed which is what Nina has rience of desire trans- into the Black Swan. This is why Nina’s very body undergoes final her during explicitly most but film the throughout formations Nina over scene as the Black Swan. It is in this performance where and fantasy and instead becomes the representation mere steps a moment also meant desire, Black Swan in a moment of affective as We and spectator. the boundary between screen to transgress clearly meant to be not simply shocked and startled spectators are by Nina’s physical transformation but also to be elated by Nina’s the mistake in the virtuoso performance which clearly transcends to meant are we Furthermore, floor. the to falls she where act, first quarter

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kvarter akademisk 313 Body Refractions Body Steen Christiansen Steen Volume 03 shape.” (Bukat- becomes that; it takes shape.” Morphing is thereby the ontological basis which enables this the ontological basis which enables this Morphing is thereby It is not an accident that Nina smashes the mirror and kills the the mirror that Nina smashes It is not an accident man, 2000, p. 240) because beyond the image; enables the transgression transgression morphing always undoes its own performance. The ontological a paradoxical basis which I am claiming for the morph is therefore but instead an ontology which is not stable or structured ontology, of becoming. It is this onto- and in the process constantly altered logical becoming of the image which goes beyond representation in morphing and is exactly a becoming, a matter of being rather in an act the mirror Nina smashes than appearing or resemblance. as morphing, it phys- of becoming and this becoming is expressed image-fantasy to imperfect ically alters and transforms Nina from - repre perfect image-being. The image of Nina goes beyond mere It is this af- the spectator. in senation and achieves (ideally) affect illusionism fective morphing image which extends beyond mere that separate us and of the spatial boundaries into “a breakdown collapsing the theatri- perceptually the representation, from reality cal frame of the stage.” (Ndalianis, 2000, p. 265) Morphing insists be jubilantly heartbroken that Nina reaches a perfect performance reaches that Nina be jubilantly heartbroken performance. this very only to die from it sym- Not only is of the mirror. with a shard phantasmatic Lily but it is being bullied by her peers Nina rejects bolic of the way of representation to smash the mirror desire also shows Nina’s Nina’s and spectator. between screen and the mirror-boundary image, rather to be completely transformed into an affect is desire out and touch she wants to reach than an image of representation, is why this is That by extension us. in the hall and her audience the emotional high point of the film, visualized by one of the mo- morph to order in effects digital to transitions film the when ments go beyond what means, to the image beyond its representational is no attempt made to There we as spectators know is possible. nor any attempts made to make explain Nina’s transformation, like a Nina looks more appear realistic; the clearly visual effects or a human. The or a hybrid than anything like a swan monster in Black Swan, the morph mirror morph, then, is the opposite of the logic set up by clas- the mirror and rejects is the logic which resists it a new kind of literalism, as sical cinema and instead brings with “this Scott Bukatman argues, quarter

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kvarter akademisk 314 Body Refractions Body Steen Christiansen Steen Volume 03 We must of course keep in mind here that the cinematic images that the cinematic keep in mind here must of course We - that which is referen realistic as perceptually that we must accept p. 264) (Ndalianis, 2000, tially unreal No are. the digital effects how realistic illusions, no matter we see are Portman physi- expected to believe that Natalie one believes or is the diegesis only that the character Nina within cally transformed, - affec the on all of first insist I why is That transform. physically does imagesthe that out point all of second and images the of nature tive transform from celluloid to digital. In the first instance of the- affec between specta- that the boundaries affect tive images, it is through - collapsed moving beyond the di are and representation tor/reality the affective itself implies. That is why vision which representation we in the digital images, because here image comes most to the fore - is no pro there because referent move beyond the idea of sign and filmic event (everything in front of the camera), which allows us to Deleuze and Guattari point out, that “representations what realize - too!” (Deleuze and Guattari, 2008, p. 95) It is the repre bodies, are which is transformed through sentational image-body of Black Swan - transgres film’s the allows which morphing this is it and morph the of and beyond the image-fantasy sive move beyond representation accident that the it is also no classical Hollywood cinema. Therefore, as the stable on the body, morphing which takes place is centered body has generally been the basis for a continuous sense of self. Nina, far a from stable self, is also physically fluid and- sorepre the we can identify as down, something sentational image-body breaks iden- been have which films the all much pretty in motif dominant a tified as post-cinematic by scholars such as Shaviro, Matt Hanson bound- the representational transgressing By David Rodowick. and in a deeply problematic that such an issue is aries and recognizing Swan age, Black digital joins a growing line of post-cinematic films cinema to take its place which may be indicative of a new emerging mayimage we time-image; an and the movement-image next to the begin to call the morph-image. quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 315 Body Refractions Body Steen Christiansen Steen Volume 03 , London: Penguin Books, 1998. . Oxford & . Oxford Culture Love Stories in Western Desire: - Represen and Visual Essays on Verbal Theory: Picture Cambridge: Blackwell Publishers, 1994. Cambridge: Blackwell Transformation Sobchack. Meta-Morphing: Visual Self.” In Vivian London: Univer . Minneapolis & of Quick-Change and the Culture sity of Minnesota Press, 2000. sity of Minnesota Press, by Brian Massumi (1987). . Translated Capitalism and Schizophrenia Continuum. York: London & New od, and Epistemology . Chicago & London: The University of Chicago Press, 1994. of Chicago Press, tation. Chicago & London: The University Sobchack. Meta-Morphing: Attractions.” In Vivian Cinema of of Quick-Change. Minneapo- and the Culture Transformation Visual 2000. Press, lis & London: University of Minnesota 2011]. September, [Accessed 11th shaviro.com/Blog/?p=975 References . Catherine Belsey, . “Taking Shape: Morphing and the Performance ofMorphing and the Performance Shape: . “Taking Bukatman, Scott A Thousand Plateaus: , 2008/1980. A Deleuze, Gilles & Guattari, Félix In Aesthetics, Meth- to Transgression.” Foucault, Michel. “Preface Mitchell, W.J.T. . “Special Effects, Morphing Magic, and the 1990s Ndalianis, Angela. “Special Effects, at http://www. Available Shaviro, Steven. “Black Swan.” [online] quarter

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