Marine [and] his-story; rape; "Negro"

Sun Oct 17 01:27:06 UTC 2010

"Don't forget that all human relationships, including "reader/writer" are
regarded by many cultural theorists as "victim/perpetrator" relationships,
of which "victim/colonizer" is a subset. In fact, I just saw a reference to
"the violence of reading," but charitably declined to post it."

Surely it is the writer who rapes the poor hapless reader?  I surely never read cultural theory without putting on my cast-iron undies first.

GAT

George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.

----- Original Message -----
From: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
Date: Saturday, October 16, 2010 12:10 pm
Subject: Re: Marine [and] his-story; rape; "Negro"
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU

> "Argus-eyed, prissy journal editors" whose gaze is fixated on what exactly
> in this case?
>
> I hesitated to mention the use of _rape_ for exactly the reason Joel give,
> but in context it seems to be intended to convey none of the violence
> usually associated with similar usages. It's just a distortion, or matbe
> even an imposition.  I've read enough recent lit-crit to get the feeling
> that, like other terms I've posted in the past, it's just becoming one
> of
> those words a certain kind of writer likes use. But more evidence is
> required.
> (Don't forget that all human relationships, including "reader/writer"
> are
> regarded by many cultural theorists as "victim/perpetrator" relationships,
> of which "victim/colonizer" is a subset. In fact, I just saw a
> reference to
> "the violence of reading," but charitably declined to post it.
>
> Also, I should have thought that one example of "Negro" within scare quotes
> would have been enough to protect all concerned.  But there are
> several in
> quick succession. Since when are academic writers supposed to
> encourage the
> presumed ignorance of their presumably academic audience?  Don't answer
> that.
>
> BTW, there is not much doubt that the current loathing of _Negro_ stems
> largely from the conviction (discredited by more than one dictionary)
> that
> it derives from or is equivalent to the "other N-word," which, if media
> currency is any indication, is now far less tabooed than _Negro_.
>
> "His-story" is worth notice, I think, because it's a new word used by
> a
> professional educator in a professionally edited journal. It also
> alludes to
> the well-established, unfunny _herstory_, which alludes to the well
> established, unfunny _history_.
>
> As I've said before, I don't search for these things.
>
> BTW, I too noticed _empirical_ 'factual,' but didn't think it was worth
> noting. Dave has changed my mind.
>
> JL
>
>
>  On Sat, Oct 16, 2010 at 11:22 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> > Subject:      Re: Marine [and] his-story; rape; "Negro"
> >
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > A few comments on the linguistic aspects.  I may
> > make some (negative) comments on Adhikari's
> > hiostoriography later, after I've read his article.
> >
> > At 10/15/2010 01:27 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > >P. 52: "In Michener's 'his story,' Tony Fry becomes a hero."
> >
> > [And later, Jon wrote:]
> > >Though not "herstory," it seems absurd to call Michener's book
> > "his-story,"
> > >since one of his major characters is a Navy nurse and another is a
> > To[n]kinese
> > >woman. But maybe "his-story" means "history (which includes fiction)
> > written
> > >by a man." Who knows?
> >
> > I think "his story" is merely an attempt to be
> > clever and call attention to the writer's
> > (Adhikari's) distinction between "history", as
> > commonly thought to mean the facts, and "his
> > story", meaning "what Michener creates as having
> > happened".  (Too cute for my taste.)  Thus it is not an allusion to
> gender.
> >
> > >Also, _rape_ = 'serious distortion.'
> > >
> > >P. 44: "Plausible documents need to be created to bridge evident
> gaps [in
> > >historical records]. This is not a rape of history but a generous
> act to
> > >give credibility and continuity to it."
> >
> > If we instead take "rape" = '*violent*
> > distortion', this does not seem to me to be
> > unacceptably far from rape n.3 sense 2.c, "In
> > extended use".  A few quotations from the OED:
> >      1677 R. GILPIN Dæmonol. Sacra I. xii. 94 If
> > thou yield, will not God account it a rape upon thine integrity?
> >      a1704 T. BROWN Satire French King in Wks.
> > (1707) I. i. 92 Old Jerom's Volumnes next I made a Rape on.
> >      1815 J. HUTTON Fashionable Follies Pref.,
> > Sir, you have committed a rape upon my play.
> >      1975 Times Lit. Suppl. 10 Oct. 1217/5 It is
> > his job to save Juli from the hangman and, in the
> > final court scene, he does it by the public rape
> > of the boy's secret personality and the destruction of his genius.
> >
> > If one can rape integrity, volumes, plays, or
> > genius, surely one can rape history, which is
> > merely (apart from artifacts) what is written in volumes (and other
> > documents).
> >
> > At 10/15/2010 09:58 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > >Why _Negro_ is repeatedly in scare quotes I can only guess.  That is
> > indeed
> > >the word Michener uses - the same as most polite people of every
> race in
> > the
> > >1940s.
> >
> > The answer, I think, is:  "Because 'Negro' is a
> > word polite people of every race are not supposed
> > to use today, therefore I put it into quotes to
> > show that I am not using it either, I am just
> > displaying to you that Michener used it."  But I
> > sympathize with authors today who are faced with
> > earlier documents using various forms of the
> > N-word (and with Argus-eyed, prissy journal
> > editors) -- where and how does one admit it
> > (them), or does one not use it/cut it out
> > entirely?  (It should not be altered in quotations.)
> >
> > Joel
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
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> >
>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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