CC Response to Day 1

The first time I was really introduced to literary theory was in 2001. A friend of mine was studying film and became very interested in these mind puzzles. I guess he had the foresight to see that this was something I would enjoy (either that or he just had to share it with someone- as I often shove it in the faces of my friends and loved ones only to get ugly, sour, terrible looks for destroying their fun.). So we ventured to Borders and he presented me with Angela Davis’ Women Race and Class. The book was evidently so problematic and controversial to some human-like entities that Borders taped many of the pages together. Immediately I knew I was getting into something that I would never be able to turn away from. I took it home- entirely filled with anticipation to read these “secrets” that one perceptive woman had collected to set the record straight. Of course, I was baffled. I read the thing front to back and immediately afterward my brain felt soggy, my heart felt incensed, my eyes certainly burned from words I didn’t really understand, but oh yes- I felt SOMETHING.
Since that time I have read a few more books, takes a couple classes, and I think, despite being looked at like I’m green when I say this, this is what I love. I love looking at our little “club” of humanity and picking it apart, opening it up (always was interested in medicine but too afraid of handling guts), TRYING to figure it out. I love watching how we repeat mistakes, create things we didn’t even understand a few years back (or don’t understand even now), communicate, learn, love, hate, all the hoards of good stuff that separate us, to some degree, from the rest of the animals on this planet. And when it comes down to it, our biggest difference from those animals is our ability to create and think abstractly. Well, that’s theory for me.
I took the class because postmodern theory is where I really start to get excited about things. The skepticism that is inherent in the minds of these great thinkers really appeals to me. Not because of some banal need to rebel, but in a truly scientific sort of way. Pulling each little (or big) word/sentence/paragraph apart, like a flower, to get to that core where all the action is. It’s like that. It’s about a refusal to allow things be so black and white. It’s about paying attention- something which, sadly, has fallen out of fashion in recent times. Today’s culture is saturated with meaningless, vacuous, mind-numbing, entertainment. It has dulled many of our youth to a soft, rounded, nub. There is no such thing as rebellion anymore, or so it seems. No one wants to ask questions. No one wants to fight the malaise. No one wants to seek out different, new, or exciting culture. And when I say no one, I realize there are exceptions, but this is what the future looks like to me. Most of us are numb and hegemony is working at its best. Most people would rather have comfort and efficiency in their lives than see through the façade of that comfort. As Eliot said, “this is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper.” Well, this class is a way for me to sharpen myself. To at least make a few explosions along the road before even the whimper starts to fade away- and then we are gone.
I am really excited to be doing it with such a curious and intelligent group of people. Roger’s lecture got me ready to dig in after an embarrassingly restful summer. I agree that postmodernism is certainly an “aura and not an era.” It’s an aura that, once you know about it, will never fully leave your brain. And really, that’s the way it should be. Although I have many questions about how postmodern theory can be used for political action, how we can take these terrifying ideas and apply them to the world to actually change it, a wise woman named Jennifer Henton once told me to “let it simmer first.” That is exactly what I intend to do here. Commence the simmering.
CC