Light the Towel: Narrative and the Negotiated Unconscious

Julia Prendergast
2013 New Writing  
The thesis is based on a series of publishable works. The thesis is not conventional in structure. This format is 'an alternative model, sometimes called a "thesis by publications", where the thesis comprises a series of papers, some or all of which may have been published by the time of submission' (Deakin University: 39). One of the difficulties with this model is that some repetition of material is unavoidable. Each paper is written for a new audience and it is necessary to contextualise the
more » ... inquiry so that it meets the stringent requirements for publication. Deakin University recognises that '[i]n many cases papers include duplicated material' and candidates who adopt this alternative model are encouraged to 'minimise repetition' (Deakin University: 40) . The attempt to minimise repetition must be balanced against the exacting requirements for peerreviewed publication: a balanced, coherent argument, which inevitably involves the (re-) definition of key concepts and the (re-) introduction of key theorists. The theoretical component of the dissertation 'Light the Towel: Narrative and the Negotiated Unconscious' investigates the operation of authorial intention at a primal moment of narrative composition, drawing crucially and primarily on the concept of alterity (Derrida) and the work of the unconscious (Freud) as it organises memory and creativity. Chapter one concentrates upon Derrida's early work, for this is where Derrida's concept of alterity originates. Derrida's alterity is a response to the perceived limitations of the Saussurean and Husserlian linguistic traditions. Derrida's impetus is juxtaposed with the preoccupations of the practice-based inquiry, with the observation that consciousness and logic do not sufficiently explain the 'coming to expression' of the novel's themes and preoccupations. Chapter one charts the direction of the inquiry by referring to the body chapters of the theoretical component of the thesis. Derrida's alterity is discussed within the context of the linguistic tradition to which it belongs. Reference is also made to Derrida's later work, as well as to Hillis Miller and Whish-Wilson. This places the practice-based inquiry in the context of more recent scholarship. Chapter two introduces the creative component of the thesis, with reference to the discontinuous style employed by Moorhouse. Framed by examples from the novel, this chapter outlines the original concept of 'experiential representation'. With reference to philosophy (Nietzsche), linguistics (Lakoff and Johnson) and psychoanalysis (Laub), chapter two links remembering with the experiential act of representation at the heart of the creative process. In this way, chapter two deploys an argument against Bakhtin's privileging of intentional and conscious processes. Chapter three and chapter four explore how the work of the unconscious, in the context of 'experiential representation', relates to the editorial work that supplements the initial work of creation. To unpick this process, reference is made to Freud's distinction between the latent and the manifest content of dreams and, that is, to the work of the unconscious as it applies to representation and, by extension, creative writing. It is suggested that the relationship between the latent and the manifest content of narrative relies upon a metaphorical connection. The work of condensation and displacement are examined in the context of the 'uncanny' involuntary repetition of symbols and themes. In this way, Freud's earlier and later work, together, explain the metaphorical manoeuvre that is understood to inform unconscious, alogical processes of association, in narrative representation. Schacter's work on memory is used to explain how mnemonic processes might be applied to narrative. It is argued that ethical editing means being attentive to the work of the unconscious at a primal moment of narrative composition. Chapter five introduces the related concepts of hypnagogia and hypnopompia (Mavromatis). With reference to these concepts, this chapter investigates how it is possible to track back from the sign, to the operation of thought that produces the sign. This chapter investigates how processes of association, as they operate in the context of memory and dreams, mimic unconscious processes of association, as they operate within creative writing. Reference is made to mnemomic trace (Freud) and the operation of 'similarity' in hypagogia (Mavromatis). This discussion assists in returning the reader to the issue of narrative composition, because these concepts are concerned with the metaphorical, idiosyncratic nature of the 'coming to expression' in language. This final chapter collates the discussion about memory and metaphor (chapter two), and the analysis of the unconscious in the context of dreams, (chapters three and four), and returns to the issue of being and presence (chapter one). In this way, the reader returns to Derrida's concept of alterity, and to the enigma of the otherwise empty sign. The concept of hypnagogia is a means for explaining how presence is simulated, because the concept illustrates how signs are empty but for the permanent traces that simulate presence and transform them. The concept of alterity gives voice to the ghostly shadow of the unconscious in writing. In this way, the issue of 'coming to expression', via alterity, is crucial to both the theoretical component, as well as the creative component, of the dissertation. In conclusion, it is suggested that it may be counter-productive to assess the work of the unconscious in the context of the strictures of fullconsciousness and logic. At the heart of the theoretical argument is the desire to investigate the concept of alterity in the context of authorial intention. In particular, the focus is on the work of the unconscious at a primal moment of narrative composition, and the relationship between conscious and unconscious processes. The link between Derrida and Freud is crucial because it shows how Bakhtin's prioritising of presence is superseded by 'otherness', by the work of the unconscious that is neither present nor absent, by work that invests and reinvests the sign with meaning in a never-ending chain of inversion and supplementation. The creative component of the dissertation is a novel: 'The earth does not get fat'. The novel represents a quest: Annie's daughter, Chelsea, attempts to find her 'bygone' family. This represents Chelsea's quest for the memories that her mother, Annie, is incapable of accessing. The story is told in multiple first person voices, beginning with Chelsea's voice in Book One, moving to a cacophony of voices from Annie's past in Book Two, and concluding with Annie's voice in Book Three. In this way, the narrative explores the 'coming to expression' of the expressionless: Annie's story, Annie's voice, the repressed 'other'. The novel is thematically connected to the theoretical analysis, in the exegetical component of the dissertation, for at the heart of Derrida's concept of alterity is a question: if the sign is empty, how does it mean? Derrida's concept of alterity configures meaning in the context of trace, deferral, Différance. A fractured narrative, in its reliance on the connection between characters and events (and, that is, on the 'other' that does not form part of the manifest content of the narrative), makes Derrida's alterity a particularly apt line of theoretical inquiry. The exegetical inquiry derives its momentum from the concept of alterity as 'otherness', and this momentum is based upon the findings of the practice-based inquiry: the experience of the operation of the 'other' in the 'I' at a primal moment of narrative composition. The creative component of the dissertation comprises more than two thirds of the thesis as a whole. By necessity, the theoretical discussion is sharply focussed around the issue of the 'coming to expression' in the context of authorial intention. Crucial to this theoretical inquiry, is the link between Derrida's concept of alterity, on the one hand, and Freud's identification of the relationship between the manifest and the latent content of dreams, on the other. The crucial aspect of this link, in the context of the dissertation, is the resemblance between Derrida's concept of alterity, as the shadow that lurks behind the sign, investing and reinvesting the sign with meaning, and Freud's identification of the latent content of the dream, as a useful tool for extrapolating meaning from the manifest dreamcontent. In each instance, Derrida and Freud explain the magical, metaphorical manoeuvre that accounts for the 'coming to expression' of the expressionless. This connection between Derrida and Freud is central to the theoretical analysis, an analysis that is motivated by the observation that consciousness and logic do not sufficiently explain the 'coming to expression' of the novel's themes and preoccupations and, that is, by the observation that the novel might, simultaneously, be both strange and familiar to the writer. Abstract 1 Preface to the theoretical component of the thesis 3 Chapter 1 [Research] 5 T h e strange and the fam iliar: seeing beyond w h en w e know Chapter 5 [Research] 51 Conclusion Light the tow el: narrative an d the negotiated unconscious Preface to the creative component of the thesis 68 Chapter 6 [Novel] 69 The earth does not get fat References 356 Abstract Abstract The thesis consists of two parts. • The theoretical component of the thesis is a collection of research articles, collectively titled -Light the towel: narrative and the negotiated unconscious. • The creative component of the thesis is a novel titled: The earth does not get fat. The theoretical component - Light the towel: narrative and the negotiated unconscious The theoretical component of the thesis is a collection of research articles investigating the operation of authorial intention at a primal moment of narrative composition. To try to understand the nature of authorial intention and, in particular, the play of unconscious processes at a primal moment of narrative composition, is to encounter alterity, or otherness, in various guises. To plot the operation of alterity is to ask: how does language mean? Alterity recognises that the present (surface narrative) is infected by a past (primal moment of narrative composition) that one cannot access in a definitive way. The thesis investigates a primal moment of narrative composition, a moment that is not necessarily consciously determined or logical; the surface of the narrative becomes a metaphorical map, and the inquiry engages with the possibilities for meaning that the map encompasses. This constitutes a quest for the unstable how of meaning attribution.
doi:10.1080/14790726.2012.753908 fatcat:wk3vwpji6ve5ziv4pe632uemwm