De-authoring or Authoring?: A plunge into the question of authorship and language in J.M. Coetzee's Foe

J. M. Coetzee's Foe is not only a post-colonial novel, but it is also a re-writing of a classic, and its main themes are language, authorship, power and identity. Moreover, Foe is narrated by a woman, while written by a male, Nobel prize winning South African author. The aim of my tesina is to focus on the question of authorship and the role of language in Foe. Without any claim to be exhaustive, in the first section I will examine some selected extracts of Coetzee's book, in order to provide an analysis of the novel. These quotations will mainly be its metalinguistic parts and will be analysed in the “theory” sections of my work, relying on literary theory and on previous works on the novel. Among others, I will cover themes such as the relationship between speech and writing, the connection between writing, history, and memory, the role of silence and alternative ways of communicating and the relationship between literary authority and truth. These arguments will be the foundation for my second section, in which I will attempt to shed a light on the importance of the novel from a linguistic point of view, but always keeping an eye on the implication that this has on authorship. While it is true that it is less politically-permeated than Coetzee's previous works, Foe is above all a “journey of discovery” in the world of language and authorship. In fact, it becomes a warning for any person immersed in the ocean of language since, while everyone naturally tends to trust speech and writing as the only medium through which one can get closer to the truth, authority never is a synonym of reliability, and language is a system of communication behind which structures of power, misconceptions, lies, and treacherous tides easily hide.

Singing Nature, Dancing Buddha: Zen, Language, and the Groundlessness of Silence

This thesis presents Zen experience as aesthetic in nature. This is done through an analysis of language, a central concern for Zen Buddhism. The thesis develops two modes of language at work in Zen: representational and indexical. What these modes of language entail, the kind of relations that are developed through their use, are explored with recourse to a variety of Zen platforms: poetry, the koan, zazen, music, and suizen. In doing so, a primacy of listening is found in Zen - a listening without a listener. Given this primacy of listening, silence comes to the forefront of the investigation. An analysis of John Cage's 4'33" provides this thesis with justification of the groundlessness of silence, and the groundlessness of subjectivity. Listening allows for the abyssal subject to emerges, which in tum allows for reality to present itself outside of the constitutive function of language.

Els marges del pensament polític contemporani

La crisi i esfondrament del pensament metafísic heretat de la modernitat deixa la filosofia contemporània davant d'un nou paradigma on el coneixement s’ha de construir prescindint de tota identitat i fonamentació. El meu projecte s’estableix com un recorregut descendent que parteix d’un àmbit concret, com és el del problema de la manca de fonamentació en la filosofia política contemporània, per arribar a la veritable arrel del problema general que no és altre que la mateixa naturalesa del llenguatge filosòfic. El punt de partida és la pregunta sobre la possibilitat d’una filosofia política en termes postmetafísics. La filosofia política, atrapada entre les forces de la tirania unitària del concepte metafísic i la dissolució pràctica en pro de la realitat instrumental, traça ponts cap a l’estètica i la deconstrucció, que tenen com a corol•lari final qüestionar-nos els propis límits del pensament polític. El concepte d’impolític és una sortida deconstructiva a aquest atzucac. Des d’Esposito, Rancière, Nancy, però sobretot Massimo Cacciari, he aprofundit en el paradigma postmetafísic que origina aquesta negació política de la pròpia política, política com els seus límits, relació com a distància i identitat com a silenci. És evident que la clau de volta és l’herència i recepció contemporània de Nietzsche i la seva crítica a la transcendentalitat moderna en el sí de l’elaboració d’un coneixement en un naufragi constant pel fracàs de la síntesi que anhela. És aquesta herència la que ha possibilitat aquest pensament negatiu contemporani, el del joc wittgensteinià, la deconstrucció del valor que queda convertit en el seu propi marge (Derrida). Definim així no només una comunitat política basada en la incommensurabilitat dels seus membres alhora buits de contingut (Musil), sinó un model de llenguatge que és el seu propi silenci, un llenguatge en contínua lluita contra sí mateix. El meu projecte és una relectura d’aquesta veritat no identitària on el concepte de diàleg pren una importància cabdal. La filosofia de la música aquí es presenta com un terreny fèrtil d’eines conceptuals a l’hora de desenvolupar-ho. La música és el llenguatge negatiu que només troba possibilitat en la seva pròpia impossibilitat de contingut sintètic. Més enllà de les referències obligatòries a chönberg i Adorno entre altres, el camí iniciat per Bergson amb la introducció de la temporalitat a la discussió obra la porta al paper de l’esdveniment en aquest discurs sobre la impossibilitat. Tornant a la filosofia, on el propi llenguatge filosòfic es defineix ja com a impossible, l’esdeveniment reobre l’antiga tensió entre l’escriptura i la paraula viva, veritable fonament del problema, i vèrtex de la possibilitat d’aquesta filosofia impossible.

A vida como um jogo - Metáfora e esquecimento no primeiro Nietzsche

Pretende-se, neste estudo, levar a cabo uma investigação aos primeiros escritos de Friedrich Nietzsche, com o intuito de compreender de que forma o manifesto jovial interesse do filósofo pelas questões da linguagem pode revelar-nos uma perspectiva muito particular e peculiar sobre a vida e sobre o homem em relação com a vida. Para tal, tentar-se-á demonstrar que subjacente ao problema da linguagem está a questão - herdada de Kant e de Schopenhauer - da inacessibilidade, por parte dos homens, à «coisa em si», e que a esta questão, por sua vez, corresponde um esboço da constituição do homem enquanto insuficiente e incompleta perante a tarefa de conhecer a essência das coisas, de conhecer-se a si mesmo e ao seu papel no cosmos. Por outra parte, dependendo o conhecimento humano da linguagem conceptual, será de particular relevância, numa primeira instância, analisar a noção Nietzschiana de metáfora e, por consequência, o papel que o autor concede ao esquecimento. Será posto em evidência e sob análise o ponto de vista do filósofo segundo o qual a linguagem conceptual resulta de um processo duplamente metafórico que transforma um X para nós inacessível numa imagem e essa imagem, posteriormente, num som, ou seja, numa palavra. Concluir-se-á que, para que o homem possa crer na representatividade das palavras, de acordo com os escritos aurorais de Nietzsche, tornar-se-ia imperiosa a capacidade de esquecer a génese metafórica dos conceitos. Por outras palavras, apenas mediante o esquecimento poderia o homem viver com alguma tranquilidade e serenidade, confiando na verdade resultante do imenso edifício de conceitos por si mesmo criado. Ora, uma vez que tal verdade seria meramente humana, não correspondendo, como tal, a uma veritas aeterna, Nietzsche desenvolve, por um lado, uma crítica à razão pós-Socrática e à metafísica teísta, ambas vigentes na modernidade e sustentadas por uma racionalidade incapaz, por definição, de aceder à verdade, e, por outro lado, uma metafísica de artista pensada a partir dos gregos pré-Socráticos. Para que possamos entender esta metafísica, teremos de reflectir acerca da dicotomia, evidenciada, em especial, no Nascimento da Tragédia, entre Apolo e Dioniso, representando o primeiro um mundo de belas formas plásticas e de sonhos, e o segundo o Uno primordial que romperia com o principium individuationis apolíneo. Acima de tudo mais, será do intuito desta reflexão perceber como, no espírito da tragédia grega, no centro do conflito entre os impulsos dionisíacos e apolíneos, Nietzsche descobre um jogo de transitoriedade, i.e. do devir, e entender qual o papel que o filósofo concede, nesse jogo, ao indivíduo, ou seja, ao homem.

Indivisibilidades entre natureza, homem e expressão artística: a reflexão estética de Merleau-Ponty

Pós-graduação em Artes - IA

Nietzsche e o problema da verdade: o papel da linguagem na constituição da verdade e da moral

Pós-graduação em Filosofia - FFC

El maestro: un artesano del lenguaje. Escritura y experiencia estética de la palabra

 La identidad de una obra expresada a través de la escritura se teje en las voces y esfuerzos que se encarnan en memoria y dejan huella en el relato. El maestro es acción de este lenguaje movido por el his­torial social y cultural que permite hacer de la escritura un oficio ético y estético donde la mano construye y nombra las emociones que atraviesan al cuerpo. La escritura es el testimonio vital del maestro como artesa­no; es el arte del lenguaje que sale de su silencio con la lectura del relato, pero es, además, la potencia del pensamiento pues­to en pretexto estético donde se pregunta y se reflexiona por el tiempo y por el espacio de la palabra, es decir, las cronologías, kairologías, territorialidades y escenarios de las esferas educativas.Sobre estos presupuestos se propone una discusión pedagógica en torno a la necesidad de pensar la escritura artesanal como intención estética y política donde se plasma el testimonio del compromiso ético del maestro, pero también la perspectiva de los nuevos retos que la educación debe asu­mir para reencontrar el lenguaje con la vida y con las herencias socioculturales que dan cuenta del sujeto y de las subjetividades que confluyen en los procesos de formación, y que tienen despliegue y búsqueda en el escenario creativo y productivo de la escri­tura. Se intentará, entonces, reivindicar una pedagogía de la posibilidad en el lenguaje, una narratividad donde la memoria traza un puente para el encuentro de épocas, de rostros, de acontecimientos, de silencios y de saberes, donde el maestro está llamado a tejer, tallar, dibujar, componer y comu­nicar las artesanías que la educación ha olvidado, es decir, recuperar la memoria estética, lo cual también implica un olvido de las formas hegemónicas del arte.

The sight of silence : the conceptualisation of silence in the visual cultures of sign language communities

Deaf people are perceived by hearing people as living in a silent world. Yet, silence cannot exist without sound, so if sound is not heard, can there be silence? From a linguistic point of view silence is the absence of, or intermission in, communication. Silence can be communicative or noncommunicative. Thus, silence must exist in sign languages as well. Sign languages are based on visual perception and production through movement and sight. Silence must, therefore, be visually perceptible; and, if there is such a thing as visual silence, how does it look? The paper will analyse the topic of silence from a Deaf perspective. The main aspects to be explored are the perception and evaluation of acoustic noise and silence by Deaf people; the conceptualisation of silence in visual languages, such as sign languages; the qualities of visual silence; the meaning of silence as absence of communication (particularly between hearing and Deaf people); social rules for silence; and silencing strategies.

Postcolonial Language: Rejection and Subversion

A literatura pós-colonial é muitas vezes pensada como uma forma de tradução cultural, como um lugar privilegiado a partir do qual se pode reescrever a história e retroactivamente reflectir sobre a experiência colonial. Tomando como ponto de partida esta noção de tradução cultural, o presente ensaio procura analisar as obras Une Tempête (1969), de Aimé Césaire, e Foe (1986), de J. M. Coetzee, no que diz respeito à re-escrita das personagens Caliban e Friday, respectivamente. Ambas as figuras serão comparadas e contrastadas relativamente ao uso particular que fazem da língua enquanto instrumento de poder, subversão e rejeição do domínio europeu. Palavras-chave: Literatura Pós-colonial, Mecanismo de “Writing Back”, Tradução Cultural, Língua, Alteridade Postcolonial literature is often depicted as a form of cultural translation, a privileged space from which to rewrite history and retroactively reflect upon the colonial experience. Based on this notion of cultural translation, the article seeks to examine, respectively, Aimé Césaire’s Une Tempête (1969) and J. M. Coetzee’s Foe (1986) as regards the “written-back” characters Caliban and Friday. Both characters will be compared and contrasted concerning their peculiar use of language as an instrument of power, subversion, and rejection of the European ruling. Keywords: Postcolonial Literature, Writing Back, Cultural Translation, Language, Other(ness)

A grammar of the English language; explained according to the principles of truth and common sense, and adapted to the capacities of all who think. Designed for the use of schools, academies, and private learners.

Mode of access: Internet.

The silence of the archives:postcolonialism and the practice of historical reconstruction from archival evidence

History as a discipline has been accused of being a-theoretical. For business historians working at business schools, however, the issue of methodology looms larger, as it is hard to make contributions to social science debates without explicating one’s disciplinary methodology. This paper seeks to outline an important aspect of historical methodology, which is data collection from archives. In this area, postcolonialism has made significant methodological contributions not just for non-Western history, as it has emphasized the importance of considering how archives were created, and how one can legitimately use them despite their limitations.

The silence of the archives : business history, Postcolonialism and archival ethnography

History as a discipline has been accused of being a-theoretical. Business historians working at business schools, however, need to better explicate their historical methodology, not theory, in order to communicate the value of archival research to social scientists, and to train future doctoral students outside history departments. This paper seeks to outline an important aspect of historical methodology, which is data collection from archives. In this area, postcolonialism and archival ethnography have made significant methodological contributions not just for non-Western history, as it has emphasized the importance of considering how archives were created, and how one can legitimately use them despite their limitations. I argue that these approaches offer new insights into the particularities of researching business archives.

The silence of the archives:business history, Postcolonialism and archival ethnography

History as a discipline has been accused of being a-theoretical. Business historians working at business schools, however, need to better explicate their historical methodology, not theory, in order to communicate the value of archival research to social scientists, and to train future doctoral students outside history departments. This paper seeks to outline an important aspect of historical methodology, which is data collection from archives. In this area, postcolonialism and archival ethnography have made significant methodological contributions not just for non-Western history, as it has emphasized the importance of considering how archives were created, and how one can legitimately use them despite their limitations. I argue that these approaches offer new insights into the particularities of researching business archives.

Native language identification (NLID) for forensic authorship analysis of weblogs

This chapter introduces Native Language Identification (NLID) and considers the casework applications with regard to authorship analysis of online material. It presents findings from research identifying which linguistic features were the best indicators of native (L1) Persian speakers blogging in English, and analyses how these features cope at distinguishing between native influences from languages that are linguistically and culturally related. The first chapter section outlines the area of Native Language Identification, and demonstrates its potential for application through a discussion of relevant case history. The next section discusses a development of methodology for identifying influence from L1 Persian in an anonymous blog author, and presents findings. The third part discusses the application of these features to casework situations as well as how the features identified can form an easily applicable model and demonstrates the application of this to casework. The research presented in this chapter can be considered a case study for the wider potential application of NLID.