Extravagant Fabrics of Myth: The Language of Ideology in The Lover

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2014-01-15
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Fujikane, Candace
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Bacchilega, Cristina
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English
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University of Hawaii at Manoa
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A central obstacle to a feminist project seeking social change lies within ourselves and our collusion with the very structures that oppress us. As Catherine Belsey points out, collusion is a problem that must be investigated in the larger structures of subject production based on the subject's assumption of ideological representations. This concern necessitates a reexamination of the material conditions that shape women's perceptions of their subjectivities and the processes of subject production in our culture. Marguerite Duras's portrayal of mythified images of women has been a site of controversy for many women. While several feminists valorize her presentation of the "absent woman" as revolutionary, both a representation of women's history of oppression and a refusal to participate in patriarchal structures, others argue that her images of women reaffirm a male representation of the world, and they maintain that Duras's work lacks political significance. I would like to argue that, on the contrary, Duras addresses the problem of ideological interpellation and construction of women in a culture based on a specular economy. Patriarchy interpellates women in mythified positions outside of society, dematerializing women and thus diverting a full understanding of real oppressive structures. While acknowledging that these myths provide a means for women to endure cultural pressures, Duras counters this mythifying tendency by returning the mythified figure of woman to specific experiences and contexts. A woman's perception of her subjectivity as shaped by her imaginary relations with the real conditions of existence is a central concern of her recent text L 'Amant (1984; translated as The Lover in 1985).
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69 pages
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