Referring to what was said on the poem “America,” written by Allen Ginsberg, during the last week’s section and yesterday’s lecture, let me suggest two more (probably rather theoretical) perspectives on the work.
The first aspect to be pointed out concerns the ostensible link of the lines to Ginsberg’s life and the depiction of ‘America.’ Whereas (auto-)biographical as well as political references seem to be found in the poem, re-thinking representation characteristics in certain genres has been necessary at least since the linguistic turn, in the 1970s, that brought into focus the obliterate differences between ‘factistic’ reproduction of the reality/realities, as biographies have intended to yield, and fiction (cf. Spits 2008, 21; https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/12931/Thesis.pdf?sequence=1 [Sorry, found only a German/Dutch version…]). From this point of view, one could indeed claim that the ‘America’ as outlined in the poem is not a mirror image, a mimesis, of the country which we mean to live in, but rather a fictional interpretation of the author; and this might be true for the portrayal of his life, too. (cf. also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_imitating_art).
In this context, also the role of the author needs to be examined carefully. Were the ‘America’ depicted not the ‘real’ one, and if, likewise, the author does not reflect his own ‘actual’ life, whose voice, then, is speaking, expressing themselves as “I”? In 1968, Roland Barthes, a French philosopher, declared “The Death of the Author” (http://www.tbook.constantvzw.org/wp-content/death_authorbarthes.pdf). Following his argumentation, the author—in a nutshell—is replaced by a “scriptor” who is born simultaneously with the act of reading, or uttering, his or her text. Since it is the reader who is exerting this act—as a performative—, the “writer” (“scriptor”) is merely a (subjective) someone existing in their mind. As a consequence of this idea that a “text is eternally written here and now,” it is necessarily not (only) Ginsberg to powerfully articulate in a political sphere, but it is each of us readers as well!
I like how your reading makes 'America' a much more participatory poem, good work.
ReplyDelete