From: guvenfe-AT-earlham.edu
Date: Sat, 10 Nov 2001 03:26:02 -0000
Subject: Re: subaltern?



"> Don't bother....really. It is crap."

I would say the same thing about WF's message except it is also very 
simplistic.  It is interesting that one can use one's intellectual inability 
to understand difficult ideas to criticize an author.  Why can't you either 
refrain from exposing this intellectual inability,or just admit that you are 
not capable of understanding Spivak.  Since when is intellectual inferiority 
(in this case your's) is a legitimate ground for criticism.  How can one move 
from admitting that one is incapable of understanding Spivak to the conclusion 
that what she writes is crap?

ferit guven


Wolf Factory <wolf_factory-AT-yahoo.com> said:

> Don't bother....really. It is crap. there are much
> better things to read.  I have come to the conclusion
> that Spivak is incapable of using the English language
> to good effect. If you plough through her work, you
> can after a while extract interesting nuggets.
> However, one always remains doubtful whether the full
> meaning of these nugget has been properly understood
> due to the mystifying language deployed. Orwell's
> famous essay on the abuse of language inevitably
> springs to mind when reading her work. A scholarly
> work does not need to be * simple * in order to attain
> our attention. However, as long as a scholar has
> committed him or herself to using language and
> particularly the written word in order to express
> ideas (as opposed to say beating their ideas out on a
> drum) then it becomes imperative that they find the
> best and simplest ways of conveying these ideas in
> spite of their difficulty. There is no sign in
> Spivak's work that such an attempt has been made. The
> alternative explanation I have is somewhat more
> forgiving. Spivak may be suffering from a rare form of
> neurological defect that renders her incapable of
> assigning words their correct meaning or to conjuring
> useful metaphors. In that case, she could be of great
> value to scientists.
> W.F 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> --- Maci Elkins <macibkstore-AT-yahoo.com> wrote:
> > Hi again,
> > 
> > I decided to read through Spivak's Can the Subaltern
> > Speak? essay recently (also via 3rd chapter of CPR),
> > and I'm a bit confused about her critique of the
> > "Foucault-Deleuze conversation". Could someone
> > please
> > offer a few words on that subject? I'm especially
> > thinking of the following passages:
> > 
> > "My view is that radical practice should attend to
> > this double session of representations rather than
> > reintroduce the individual subject through
> > totalizing
> > concepts of power and desire [as Foucault and
> > Deleuze
> > do]".
> > 
> > "...the constitutive subject on at least two levels:
> > the Subject of desire and power as an irreducible
> > methodological presupposition; and the
> > self-proximate,
> > if not self-identical, subject of the oppressed.
> > Further, the intellectuals, who are neither of these
> > S/subjects, become transparent in the relay race,
> > for
> > they merely report on the nonrepresented subject and
> > analyze (without analyzing) the workings of (the
> > unnamed Subject irreducibly presupposed by) power
> > and
> > desire."
> > 
> > Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
> > 
> > Maci.
> > 
> > 
> > __________________________________________________
> > Do You Yahoo!?
> > Find a job, post your resume.
> > http://careers.yahoo.com
> > 
> > 
> >      --- from list
> > postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
> 
> 
> ====> "All the wolves in the wolf factory paused at noon, 
> for a moment of silence."
> ........from laughing Gravy by John Ashbery.
> ---------------------------------------------------------
> Looking for something good and original to read?
> Check out: http://www.mesopotamia.free-online.co.uk
> 
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Find a job, post your resume.
> http://careers.yahoo.com
> 
> 
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> 



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