Fredric Jameson and Postmodernism
In his Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism ( 1991 ) , Fredric Jameson offers the reader a critical analysis of the current postmodern status of the society. Unlike modernism that pursued a incorporate entirety, postmodernism has led us to a incorporate ego. It is against the ‘master narrative ‘ of modernism and defines it to be merely a narrative we deceive ourselves with to do sense of our world. Harmonizing to Jameson, interior world does n’t be. The universe is non a saber saw mystifier made of pieces which would suit together but instead a combination of differences ( civilization, race, ethical motives, etc. ) . Therefore, the different pieces join eachother in a ‘kaleidoscopic manner ‘ and each piece is nil more than a actual mark or what he calls “ simulacrum ” ( Jameson 1991:6 ) .
Having defined world as actual marks or ‘simulacra ‘ , Jameson refers to a expansive loss of significance. Postmodernism assumes that marks exist detached from any external world and they stand side by side without even associating to eachother. Whatever we see around us is a transcript of original ( simulacrum ) that is being mass-produced: A simply self-referential transcript that can non stand for any world outside itself. ( ……………… . )
To hold a better apprehension of the postmodern nowadays, we need to associate it to the yesteryear. If we pay attending to the historical tendencies, the present and accordingly the hereafter will be easier to hold on. But the job is, when the significance is lost, history happens to lose its significance every bit good. What we mean by ‘history ‘ in the first topographic point in the sum sum of ever-changing images or the simulacra of the original world ; Images invariably acquire replaced by newer images. For case, the movieAmerican Graffitiis what people might hold in head about the 50s in America orJurassic Parkcan be merely our image of the prehistoric age. Harmonizing to Jameson, The present age “ has forgotten how to believe historically in the first topographic point ” ( ibid. : Nine ) . In add-on, the deficiency of historicizing necessarily leads to a sheer captivation with the present that consequences in a capitalist manner of thought.
Commodification as the chief result of capitalist economy has faded the boundary line between the ‘high ‘ and ‘low ‘ civilization. Consequently, in the postmodern position, the work of art is valued as trade good. For case, the value of a newly-published book depends on its sold Numberss, and the art galleries today tend to function the satisfaction of the market instead than the aesthetic gustatory sensations.
In this age, literature as a work of art has n’t been immune to the taint of commodification. The postmodern literary work tends to be filled with mere depthless images in a rather ‘dehistoricized ‘ context, or as Jameson puts it: “ Modernist manners are transformed into postmodern medley, a montage devoid of any interior norm ” ( Nash 1989: 299 ) . Through medley, history is represented as lone images. Meaning, therefore, is conveyed by the agencies of one disjointed form to the following. Consequently, each form creates a minute of presence called ‘sublime ‘ which is a hallucinatory world. Sing the dehistoricised and depthless text, transporting no modernist manners, the creative person is left with sublime. He is stuck in the boundaries of simulacrum and commodification. Media and most significantly, telecasting have spread this commodified position and have turned our universe into a monolithic shopping promenade. In fact, We are more haunted with the procedure of ingestion and is has become fused with our civilization.
In this respect, Heiner Muller ‘sHamletmachine( 1979 ) portions a figure of overlapping postmodernist concerns. Muller, who was born and raised in East Germany has artistically bridged modernism and postmodernism and politically demonstrated the results of the Cold War and the divisions of Germany in his work. Has been considered to be a medley,Hamletmachineincludes tonss of allusions and historical mentions and yet is emptied out of the traditional substance of history and simply a representation of contradictions, subjugation and devastation.
In herThe Silence of Entropy or Universal Discourse( 1985 ) , Arlene Akiko Teraoka has attempted to “ utilize the drama to bespeak the extreme trouble environing any effort at being oppositional in today ‘s universe ” ( qtd. In Nash 1989: 298 ) and so is meant to be the intent of this paper. Trusting on Fredric Jameson ‘s aforesaid political orientation and most significantly the impression of ‘pastiche ‘ , the undermentioned pages set out to
1. Hamlet as a Machine
The first scene ofHamletmachineis believed to be the lone portion that is slightly evocative of the classical calamity ofHamlet. It opens with the entombment of Hamlet ‘s male parent and the visual aspect of the shade. Unlike the authoritative Hamlet, Muller ‘s character has been devoid of any familial feelings for neither of his parents. In his confrontation with his male parent ‘s shade, he fails to expose any understanding: “ What do you desire of me? Is one state-funeral non plenty for you? You old sponger. Is at that place no blood on your places? What ‘s your cadaver to me? ” ( Muller 1979: 141 ) Subsequently in the same scene, his ghastly sexual brush with his ain female parent in her nuptials chamber, should besides be noted:
“ Now, I tear the nuptials frock. Now, I smear the scintillas of the nuptials frock with the dust my male parent turned into, and with the dirty scintillas your face your belly your chests. Now, I take you, my female parent, in his, my male parent ‘s unseeable paths. I stifle your shriek with my lips. Do you acknowledge the fruit of your uterus? Now go to your nuptials, prostitute, in the wide Danish sunshine which shines on the life and the dead. ”
A few sentences to explicate Hamlet ‘s position of his female parent? ! ? !
Having lived in East-Germany, during the Cold War, Muller has carried his political positions along in his drama. His Hamlet “ stood on the shore [ … ] the ruins of Europe in dorsum of [ him ] ” ( ibid. : 141 ) . Through an indirect commendation of T.S. Eliot ‘sAsh Wednesday, he is mentioning to the economical ruin of Europe after the Cold War which marked the beginning of consumerism. However, in the 4th scene, these political impressions go even bolder as the supporter, Hamlet, denies his theatrical function and gets the function of a radical: “ My topographic point, if my play would still go on, would be on both sides of the forepart, between the frontlines, over and above them. I stand in the malodor of the crowd and hurl rocks at police officers soldiers armored combat vehicles bulletproof glass ” ( ibid. : 144 ) . There are besides descriptions of devastation and success as in the October Revolution and the instance of Doctor Zhivago which emphasize on the fragmental historical context of the drama.
Break of linguistic communication is one of the major features of medley. Jameson does non believe in on old construct of linguistic communication affecting a one to one correspondence between words and their significances. This mentality leads to a dislocation of linguistic communication doing schizophrenic experiences which fail to associate up words into a coherent address.Consequently, Muller ‘s Hamlet, suffers from a deficiency of integrity in his address. Throughout the drama, he uses pastiche-like addresss to maintain reminding the reader/audience of his dramaticality in a self-narrative manner as if he ‘s reading from a book ( cf Nash 1989: 302 ) . In his address with Horatio, he says: “ I knew you ‘re an histrion. I am excessively, I ‘m playing Hamlet ” ( Muller 1979: 142 ) . The linguistic communication he utters is full with confusion and commendations. To set it in other words, He speaks “ BLABLA ” which is “ a confusing montage of statements, signifiers and tenses alternately spoken in English and German ” ( Nash 1989: 302 ) . In the 4th scene, his metatheatricality reaches its flood tide as he explicitly rejects his function and therefore his individuality. His suicide along with his political rebellion escalate the map of the postmodern medley throughout the drama, to the point that at the terminal of the 4th scene, the rebellious Hamlet chooses to be a machine to overrule thought: “ I want to be a machine. Weaponries for catching. Legs to walk on, no hurting no ideas ” ( Muller 1979: 146 ) . In so making, He steps into his male parent ‘s armor as an act of mechanisation in order to decapitate Marx, Lenin and Mao: an action that consequences in ‘Ice Age ‘ . The ‘Ice Age ‘ Muller has in head seems to be the age of “ the petrifaction of a hope ” : When the anomic worlds carry on with their commodified lives in a machine-like manner ( ibid. : 144 ) .
Another illustration of medley takes topographic point through the monologic nature of the drama.Hamletmachinerepudiates the duologues between the characters, although There is a individual diologic minute in the 3rd scene, in which Hamlet and Ophelia join eachother for the first clip. Hamlet expresses his desire for going a adult female and frocks in Ophelia ‘s apparels and the mask of a prostitute. The compulsion with individuality as a chief subject of the drama, leads the reader to Jameson ‘s review of modernism which considers the whole non the person. To set it in a nutshell, “ he pursues, eventually, a release in the Jamesonian sense from the personal, or subjective, function and its determining aesthetic and historical traditions, none of which are seen to incorporate intending any longer ” ( Nash 1989: 303 ) .
2. The Commodified World
One of the chief disapprovals of the postmodern nowadays is the commodified world or the world of commodification. As it has been elaborated in the first subdivision of this paper, adult male has become obsessed with trade good and this inclination towards the bran-new technological devices is invariably increasing. The being of a humming icebox and three Television sets along with mentions to typewriters and computing machines, demonstrate that Heiner Muller has besides been concerned.
In the 4th scene of the drama, the stage technicians place a icebox but what would be the significance of a chilling machine to an alienated traumatized Hamlet? In the first glimpse, the audience/reader seeks to associate it with a symbol. Having in head the ‘kaleidoscopic manner ‘ of world, we already know that the irrelevant pieces fit together to do an incoherent whole. In this respect, any representation of engineering is considered a piece of this kaleidoscope such as the electric refrigerator. It can besides be interpreted as a machine for the petrifaction of hope. Muller could implicitly intend that the laterality of machinery has left no hope for a better hereafter. Even Hamlet ‘s proclamation that “ I am the typewriter ” and acclaiming “ Coca Cola ” lays more accent on the hopelessness of the commodified province of life. In her “ Diamond Dust Shoes ” , Andy Warhol uses the same image of Coca Cola in order to expose the trade good fetichism of the late capitalist economy.
The three Television sets without sound, demoing different images are besides other pieces of the kaleidoscope. In other words, each Television “ articulates nil but instead implodes, transporting its planate surface image within itself ” ( Jameson 1991: 79 ) . It works as a representative of a channel or a state, as the head accountant of a society. As we see farther in the same scene the figure of the TVs coincide with the figure of the political leaders ( Marx, Lenin and Mao ) Hamlet beheads. So the very act of obliteration might be the lone hope for the fascinated society.
3. The Europe of Women
The image of the authoritative Ophelia as the laden victim shatters into pieces inHamletmachine. The idle Ophelia or the European adult female that has ever been the object of self-violence Rebels against the patriarchal system that has used her as a trade good. She becomes the avengeful Electra figure who In the 2nd scene, harshly rejects the traditional image of female and tears the clock-heart from her organic structure to “ proclaim the rebellion of the oppressed ” ( Nash 1989: 303 ) : The clock-heart is the reminiscent of the “ smashing of redstem storksbills during the first yearss of the Gallic Revolution ” ( ibid. : 303 ) Therefore, the self-violence of Shakespeare ‘s Ophelia contradicts the outwarded force of Muller ‘s. like Hamlet in the 4th scene, she besides chooses obliteration over maintaining up with the current state of affairs.
Regardless of the voluntary Rebel, in the concluding scene, She is being strapped to a wheelchair, have oning a gauze and drifting amidst a sea of “ fish, debris, dead organic structures and limbs ” ( Muller 1979: 146 ) . Is she being wrapped, a menace to her earlier revolution? Additionally, she announces her refusal to make life which will take to the terminal of the oppressors and the oppressed. “ [ F ] or her there is nil deserving being left of this male dominated universe ” . ( ……… ) .
The radical Ophelia who has earlier hailed the rebellion and decease, displacements to a manner of inactivity and isolation like an exhausted soldier who has given up. Ophelia in isolation represents the Jamesoninan ‘sublime ‘ . What she leaves the audience with is merely a depthless image: a commodified image that the civilization is addicted to. Or it might be the beginning of another revolution.
4. Decision
Dr Zhivago MLA manner:
“ Doctor Zhivago ” .Encyclop?dia Britannica. Encyclop?dia Britannica Online.Encyclop?dia Britannica Inc. , 2015. Web. 31 May. 2015 & A ; lt ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/167414/Doctor-Zhivago & A ; gt ; .
MLA manner:
“ October Revolution ” .Encyclop?dia Britannica. Encyclop?dia Britannica Online.Encyclop?dia Britannica Inc. , 2015. Web. 31 May. 2015 & A ; lt ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/888785/October-Revolution & A ; gt ; .
