Angel of Anarchy, Angel of Desire: The Work of Kathy Acker A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies University of Manitoba in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirement for the Degree of Master of Arts by Tamara Steinbom O July, 1997 National Library Bibliothèque nationale 1+1 of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395. nre Wellington OnawaON KIAM OnawaON KlAW canada CMada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une Licence non exclusive Licence dowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, Ioan, distribute or sell reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microfom, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/film, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. 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The author reservu otber publication nghts, and neither this thaWpracticum nor extensive extracts fmm it may be printed or othernise repduced without the author's written permission. ABSTUACT "Angel of Anarchy, Anqel of Desire: The Work of Kathy Acker," addresses the notion of the postmodern subject and its hiqhly contested place in the tventieth century, in light of poststructuralist and psychoanalytic theories of narrative, subjectivity and represeritation. The importance of psychoanalysis in determininq the development of suk~ject.idet-&ity is cxylcrred ty ttieorist Julia Krhteva. Her study of the 'subject in process' dialoqizes the discourse of both postmodern and ferninist ethics, makinq xoom for new conceptualizations of gender identit y. Character development in the novels of Kathy Acker challenges traditional vievs of the Western unif ied subject and its evolution into a discursive site of theoretical debate. The psychoanalytic and poststructuralist theory of Julia Kristeva further refines this debate which ~cker'snovels Empire of the Senseless and In Memoriam to Identity open up. Kristevals notion of the 'subject in process' lends insight into Acker's desire to find revolutionary potential vithin the postmodern subject of her texts. Throuqh the vork of both Acker and Kristeva, a nev ethics of the subject is offered, pushinq past the frustration and despair often encountered in postmodern fiction and theory. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction: '~heUnfulfilled Subject of ~ostmodernism~1 Chapter one: "ituating Kathy ~cker!!8 Chaptex Two: "A Haunt inq Jouissance: Sliding int O Julia ris te va's Semiotic Playing ~ield"25 Chapter Three: "rash ~odies!!46 Conclus ion: fntroduct Ion: The Unf ulf Ued subject of Postmodernism In Modern French Philosophy, Vincent Descombes write s that "academic reallsm had failed to take into account the rivalry inherent in the very notion of the s~bject~~(23). This "rivalry" still exists in the tventieth century. Hov fulfilled are ve, as subjects, in our tventieth century culture? Are ve searchinq for a neu sense of teleological completion? Are we staring, faceless and poverless, into the chasm of nihilism, of Jean Baudrillardls "simulacra?" Are we still struqqling to see ourvelves in the riumerous ideritities of the twentieth century cultural mat rix - the politically correct, the environmentauy friendly, feminist, generation-X slacker, technologically vise? The diversity of identit y positions is overwhebing, and the tension stands high as ve vait for nev theoretical twists to define our sense of beinq. At the same time, culture assumes an already understood definition of its 4postmodernist state: vith its postmodern fashion, T.V., music, shopping malls, videos, and postmodern coffee to start your day. The concept of postmodernism has been introduced, studied, and packaqed for our consumption. Yet, in this contentious age, ve are still faced vith a culture at great odds with itself and possessinq a profound unfulfillment of identit y. In his article, "what is at Stake in this Debate on P ostmodernism,!! Warren Mont ag acknowledqes the radically divergent forces which make up the postmodern debate on the subject: "ither the subject is master of itself, its own thouqhts and actions or it has shply vanished into the pure systematicity of the historical present" (Kaplan 88). There are still disturbances in the manner in vhich ve unfold as Irdivlduals and in the vays in vhlch ve f orm ethical relations vith others. The hope for a dialroctic still plays itself out in moments of history - the unification of Germany, the formation of the United Nations at the end of World War Tvo, the movement tovards de-seqregation in America. We bear vitness to tvo simultaneous desires -culture is busy vith a postmodern discourse of disenfranchisement vhile at the same time searching for some Eoundation for relationships betveen self and others. As we go on living and ushg each other, our happy endings beginning over and over again in a vicious, revolutionary questioning, the subject of this movement expresses itself in a ccrntinuous theatre of performative ene rgy. In an attempt to shed light upon the cultural fix of the tventieth centuxy, this thesis vffl examine hov the epistemoloqical questioninq of tventieth century subjectivity concerns itself vith the relationship between theory and the postmodern text.Our examination of postmodern theory vill attempt to understand hou vriters explore these nev vays of thinking, and produce innovative models of writinq and creatinq Rmeaning." The notion of postmodern narrative is a useiul tool for vriters vho look back to history as veïl as forvard in a generation of limitless fiction. As Vincent Descombes concludes in his study on modern philosophy, the storyharrative of history never ends (186). Writers shov that a postmodern narrative is a vital vay of understanding the various existinq tensions vithin our culture. Descombes points out tvo vital characteristics to bear in mind in cominq to terms vith this narrative: has alvays already bequn, and is alvays the story of a previous story; the referent of narrative discouise is never the crude fact, nor the dumb event, but other narratives, other stories, a great mumur of vords preceding, provoking, accompanying and f olloving the procession of vars, festivals, labours, time. is riever finished, for in principle the narrator addresses a Ustener, or 'narratee: vho may in his turn become the narrator, making the narration of which he has been the 'narratee' into the narrated of a fresh narration (186). Certainly modern-day fiction has seen a narrative play upon these Unes. We vill see hov Aioerican vriter, Kathy Acker, investiqates this notion of narrative, as her texts txavel alonq a coaplex gradient of voices/narratives vhich include vorks such as Nathaniel ~avthorne% Scarlet Letter, Erika Jong's Fear of Flyfng, Charles Dicken's Great Expectations and Antonin Artaud's poetry. This investigation hopes to reveal how certain texts reflect cultural assumptions, both historically and in the present. New fictions then display a desire to further challenge these representations, in a dynamic reassessment of our value systems. Our vay into the analysis of the text vill be through the philosophical precepts which have informed Uterary productivity and have lead to our postmodern culture. The question stili remains vhether one can discuss postmodernism vithout essentializinq it, vithout trimming it down to a fev catch phrases used tocritique a text. For the purpose of this thesis, it vill be important to touch on some of the debates surrounding the term/movement in order to more effectively contextualize the nev vritinq. The purpose of this examination is to analyze notions of subjectivity which predicate the vriting and reading of a text. In chapter one, 1 wish to trace a movement £rom the subject borne of modernism to the present self- The movement from modernism to postmodernism includes a study of possibillties for the restructuring of an ethics for the subject, in pazticular the female subject. As Chris Weedon suggests in Feminist Pzactice and Poststructuralist Theory, literature has long been observed as a poverful articulation of cultural concerns: 'ln this process the reader is offezed subjectivity..." (171). 1 believe that Acker concerns herself vith the notion of vhen and how ve are to articulate Our postmodern culture. Her novels involve themselves in an examination of a subject borne out of the unified European cultural heritage. Her characters find themselves in an America which is quickly losing hold of its influential and impressive European edifices, resulting in a narration vhich unfolds in despair and