Abyss of Representation

Hartley George Hartley

Description

From the Copernican revolution of Immanuel Kant to the cognitive mapping of Fredric Jameson to the postcolonial politics of Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, representation has been posed as both indispensable and impossible. In his pathbreaking work, The Abyss of Representation, George Hartley traces the development of this impossible necessity from its German Idealist roots through Marxist theories of postmodernism, arguing that in this period of skepticism and globalization we are still grappling with issues brought forth during the age of romanticism and revolution. Hartley shows how the modern problem of representation-the inability of a figure to do justice to its object-still haunts today's postmodern philosophy and politics. He reveals the ways the sublime abyss that opened up in Idealist epistemology and aesthetics resurfaces in recent theories of ideology and subjectivity.Hartley describes how modern theory from Kant through Lacan attempts to come to terms with the sublime limits of representation and how ideas developed with the Marxist tradition-such as Marx's theory of value, Althusser's theory of structural causality, or Zizek's theory of ideological enjoyment-can be seen as variants of the sublime object. Representation, he argues, is ultimately a political problem. Whether that problem be a Marxist representation of global capitalism, a deconstructive representation of subaltern women, or a Chicano self-representation opposing Anglo-American images of Mexican Americans, it is only through this grappling with the negative, Hartley explains, that a Marxist theory of postmodernism can begin to address the challenges of global capitalism and resurgent imperialism.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: Duke University Press
• Date de parution: 16 juillet 2003
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780822384557
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

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∫2003 Duke University Press

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of

America on acid-free paper$

Designed by Amy Ruth Buchanan

Typeset in Minion by Keystone

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Cataloging-in-Publication Data appear

on the last printed page of this book.

For Barry Watten—comrade, inspiration, friend

C O N T E N T S

Acknowledgments, ix

Abbreviations for Works Cited, xi

O N E

Representation and the Abyss of Subjectivity, 1

T W O Presentation beyond Representation: Kant and the Limits of Discursive Understanding, 22

T H R E E

F O U R

The Speculative Proposition: Hegel and the Drama of Presentation, 53

Marx’s Key Concept? Althusser and theDarstellungQuestion, 84

F I V E Figuration and the Sublime Logic of the Real: Jameson’s Libidinal Apparatuses, 127

S I X

The Theater of Figural Space, 182

S E V E N Can the Symptom Speak? Hegemony and the Problem of Cultural Representation, 235

Notes, 295

Bibliography, 319

Index, 327

A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S

For a variety of reasons, this book has been long in coming. And there are three people who are most responsible for seeing me through the process: Fredric Jameson, who gave me encouragement and support early on as well as through- out; Reynolds Smith, executive editor at Duke University Press, who also sup- ported me with great enthusiasm and greater patience since the day I first contacted him in 1995; and most importantly, Barrett Watten, who has been a supporter of my project from its earliest and who for almost twenty years has provided me with an intellectual companionship and lively friendship that have kept me relatively sane and honest through good times and bad. I thank all of the editorial sta√ at Duke University Press, including Fred Kameny, Katie Courtland, and Rebecca Johns-Danes. I received time o√ for this project at Ohio State and Ohio University. There are many other great friends and scholars whom I also wish to thank for seeing me through this project and through my life and career as well. My tenure review team was the answer to my dreams: Charles Altieri, Charles Bernstein, Fredric Jameson, Hank Lazer, Jerome McGann, Marjorie Perlo√, and Barrett Watten. My professors: Lee Bartlett, Michael Fischer, George Huaco, Grant Keener, and Hugh Witemeyer. My many colleagues and friends at Ohio State: Murray Beja, Roger Cherry, Tom Cooley, Chris Daniggelis, Matt Dingo, Je√ Gabel, Kay Halesek, Ethan Knapp, Barbara Rigney, and most of all, Cli√ord Vaida and Steve Yao. At the University of Kansas: Jesse Aleman, Byron Caminero-Santangelo, Marta Caminero-Santangelo, Tony Tyeeme Clark, Joe Harrington, Ken Irby, Stan Lombardo, Jonathan Mayhew, Je√ Moran, Judy Roitman, Tony Rosenthal, and Rochelle Vota. And now at Ohio University: Marilyn Atlas, Ken Daley, Pepo Delgado, Andy Escobedo, Whitney Huber, David Lazar, Bob Miklitsch, Betsy Partyka, Beth Quitslund, Mark Rollins, Carey Snyder, Tom Walker, and Johnnie Wilcox. And other friends have helped me from afar: Francisco Alarcón, Wilton Azevedo, Rodolfo ‘‘Corky’’ Gonzales, Juan Felipe Herrera, Nathaniel Mackey, Demetria Martínez, Mez, and Regina Cecilia Pinto. Many thanks again to my others close to me: my children, Dylan and Katy