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

Sun Oct 17 12:29:35 UTC 2010

I have to believe you, George, but,  regrettably, you're stuck in
yesterday's interpretation of reading and writing.

In the old paradigm, the wily, masterful writer "seduces" and "works his
will" on the mesmerized but essentially unwilling reader.

In the exciting, empowering model of today, the violent, aggressive reader
brutalizes the words, "interrogates" them till they yield the "meaning" he
or she wants. The writer, of course, merely a propagandist for the language
that speaks him, has already been disposed of.

Wake up, man!  This is reading and writing we're talking about, not some
sick fantasy!

JL
On Sat, Oct 16, 2010 at 9:27 PM, George Thompson <george.thompson at nyu.edu>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       George Thompson <george.thompson at NYU.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Marine [and] his-story; rape; "Negro"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> "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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-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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