Spieël, kamer van spieëls
Oor Postmodernisme en representasie
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20156502 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Hein Viljoen (Literaturarchiv, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1988 |
| Volume | 4 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 417-426 |
| Publication date | 1988-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Literary Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0256-4718 • E-ISSN: 1753-5387 |
| Publisher | Unisa Press (PUBLISHER • ZA) |
| DOI | 10.1080/02564718808529886 |
| OpenAlex | W2133966985 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 6 |
This essay tries to define representation in Postmodern texts, departing from the central metaphor of the mirror and the idea of art being a mirror image of nature. Postmodernism has replaced nature by a hyperreality, a procession of simulacra. Representation is, however, extremely ambivalent, oscillating between discovering an essence and obscuring the Truth. Derrida (1982) analyzes representation as the move whereby the Original Full Being sends out its lieutenants or delegates. Representation is thus secondary, a derivation of the real. By emphasizing their representational status postmodern texts exacerbate this problematic or deny its validity. Derrida sharply criticizes the view that representations are secondary, because a thing can only be conceptualized in a frame of reference and “pure” experience presupposes iterability. Does a postmodern text like Dan Roodt's Sonneskyn en Chevrolet (Sunshine and Chevrolet) then “say” anything, discover any essence? An analysis of different representations and commentaries on representation in this text show that it can be read as a critique of the unfettered production of representations and of the production of subjectivity by subjecting a series of victims
Aesthetics · Art · Epistemology · Linguistics · Literature · Metaphor · Politics · Postmodernism · Procession · Sociology · Subjectivity · Theology · Hermeneutics and Narrative Identity · Law · Literature and Cultural Memory · Narrative Theory and Analysis · Philosophy
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |