They Aren't, Until I Call Them: Performing the Subject in American LiteraturePeter Lang, 2010 - 233 oldal In the story of the three baseball umpires, two novice umpires compete in boasting how they respect «truth» and the way things «really» are. One says, «I call them the way I see them»; the other, trying to trump this remark, responds, «I call them the way they are». Then enters the third, most seasoned umpire, saying, «They aren't, until I call them». This book deals with two widely argued issues in literature criticism today, performativity and subjectivity. How do people become who they are? What scripts do they follow when they «do» gender, race, and sexuality? Tying into speech act theories and subjectivity theories, as well as gender, race, and sexuality studies, the author explores - through the close reading of several American texts - the many ways words make «things» in literature. |
Tartalomjegyzék
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS | 7 |
THE STRONG PERFORMATIVE | 25 |
Alternative realities as performative creations Mark Twain | 50 |
The language games of irony and makebelieve Edward Albee | 59 |
EXTENDING THE PERFORMATIVE | 71 |
PERFORMING GENDER | 97 |
Gyakori szavak és kifejezések
African American agency American Ántonia assumptions becomes binary biological body Carson McCullers catachrestic character claim Clare color concept constative context conventions created cultural Daisy Miller Declaration Derrida desire différance discourse Djuna Barnes dressing emphasis in original evoked example existing female feminine feminized fiction foregrounded full passing gaze gender passing George heterosexual Hillis Miller homosexual Human Stain identity ideology illocutionary illocutionary acts insists irony iteration James Kate Chopin language games linguistic logocentric male markers Martha masculinity meaning Melanctha Moreover narrative narrator Nella Larsen norms novel nymphet object passer performative acts performative constructions performative processes person play postmodern poststructuralist pragmatic pre-existing presuppositions produced protagonist puts race passing racial reader reading reality referent relationship scripts secret seems self-construction sense signifier social speak speech act story subject position subjecthood theatrical theory things transgression Twain ultimate utterance Willa Cather woman womanhood women words