ENGLISH LITERATURE

1
ENGLISH LITERATURE CULTURE

• I IS ANOTHER
• AUTOBIOGRAPHY
• ACROSS GENRES
• Camelia Elias

2
Woody Allen

• film director, writer, actor, jazz musician,
  comedian and playwright. (won the Oscar 3 times)
• his many films mix various styles satire, wit
  and humor
• writes and directs most of his films movies and
  also acts in the majority of them.
• draws heavily on literature, sexuality,
  philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, European
  cinema, and New York City, where he was born and
  has lived his entire life.

3
the I as a pathological cultural case

• assumes the identities of others
• the result of expressing a lack of self and an
  obsession with self
• pathological narcissism
• obsessive fear of death
• fear of fragmentation
• fear of self-disintegration
• alternation between fantasies of an idealized
  grandiose self and contemptuous self-deprecation
• alternation between idealizing and feeling
  contempt for women

4
the self as a clinical subject

• represented neuroses (Lidz)
• schizophrenia
• paranoia
• compulsive genius
• represented constructed, self-imposed, enacted
  neuroses (Allen)
• emptiness
• inability to form meaningful relationships
• fear of intimacy
• annihilation

5
the mediated self

• He was given to fits of rage, Jewish, liberal
  paranoia, male chauvinism, self-righteous
  misanthropy, and nihilistic moods of despair. He
  had complaints about life but never any
  solutions He longed to be an artist but balked a
  the necessary sacrifices. In his most private
  moment she spoke of his fear of death, which he
  elevated to tragic heights, when in fact, it was
  mere narcissism. (Manhattan)

6
manipulation vs. humor

• a genuine sense of self emerges against the
  background of ridicule, humor, parody,
  caricature, exaggeration, dramatic irony
• the self is mediated through the manipulation of
  the anticipated reactions of others
• the anticipation of potential weaknesses puts the
  subject in a stronger position than that of his
  critics/detractors
• pseudo-self-awareness the narcissist manipulates
  the analyst

7
self-awareness as meta-awareness

• the character displays awareness of his problems
  in the very act of demonstrating the problem
• awareness of self-awareness creates comic relief
• the existence of problems is not negated
• detachment as humor is symptomatic of the
  condition of the narcissist

8
Freudian autobiographical subject

• the past represented in analysis is both a
  discursive and a symbolic one
• the material recollected is less a pure past
  than a narrative created in the present as the
  subject imaginatively reworks conscious and
  unconscious material
• its the present perspective of the subject that
  contains the key to the symptoms

9
Lacanian autobiographical subject

• What we teach the subject to recognize as his
  unconscious is his history that is to say, we
  help him to perfect the contemporary
  historization of the facts which have already
  determined a certain number of the historical
  turning points in his existence. (23)
• psychoanalysis has only a single intermediary
  the patients word (The Language of the Self,
  1968 9-27)

10
the dominant self vs. the mediated self

• no real relationships in Allens films
• only projections and extensions of Allens
  persona
• all the characters sound alike
• they fulfill functions rather than embody
  attributes
• all stutter
• all speak in fragmented sentences and voices
• the Allen persona dominates all the other
  characters

11
inclusion/exclusion

• there exists a perfect, ideal world that
  excludes the self. Yet as soon as the self is
  granted entrance (becomes a member of the
  club), that world is depreciated. (Schapiro,
  59)

12
fantasy/real constructions

• idealized fantasy vs. contemptuous
  self-depreciation
• idealized woman vs the hyper-intellectual or
  morose type
• good, idealized images of the self vs. bad,
  depreciated ones
• from fantasy through the characters imaginary
  ascension to the real, rather than symbolic
  world, the character is reduced to nothing (See
  more Lacan)

13
autobiographical self-perception mediated through
laughter

• genuine laughter at oneself, laughter thats not
  bitter but cognizant of ones foolishness,
  pretensions or insecurities can be a
  self-affirming and communal act in that it
  invites a public identification and sharing of
  ones personal experience of oneself. Such
  laughter, as it relates to the social world,
  confirms rather than demeans the self.
  (Schapiro, 61)

14
Radio Days (1987)

• interfusions of life and art
• secular religion
• ordinary vs. idealized world
• gods, goddesses, moral guidance, spiritual
  consolation and uplift, a bond of emotional and
  imaginative support

15
the medium is the message

• arouses a strong sense of community
• it offers harmonious role models
• it follows up on the events
• it continues with the real world
• it allows for ordinary events to transcend their
  ordinariness
• Aunt Bea wins the jackpot prize on a quiz about
  fish
• the burglars forget what they came for, and start
  singing
• it addresses all the senses through imagination

16
radio vs. religion

• events in life are arbitrary
• punishment and reward are distributed without
  logic and order
• yet, the faithful are rewarded
• faith in the radio vs faith in religion
• sport vs. sermon
• Marxism replaces Judaism

17
characters Sally White

• lives out the dream life that the ordinary
  listener can only imagine
• takes things literally
• naïve and gullible
• has no real talent
• listens to the voice of God to gain a voice
  (through elocution lessons)

18
Aunt Bea

• in search of a soul mate
• modern
• extravagant
• liberated
• independent
• believes in following trends and the mass media

19
Joey

• uses his sense to their fullest
• lives through the others experiences
• has very little agency
• is a representative of the typical character in
  search for and need of a pattern for his life
• guidance in how do deal with problems
• believes in the promise passed down to him
  through his family of a brighter life beyond the
  banal

20
Allen as the narrator

• enforce the community of diversion as a secular
  community, par excellence
• plays God, but not the omnipotent one but the one
  that is, or reveals himself in the detail

21
theme stability vs. transience

• family vs. celebrity
• family life can be warm and loving
• the life of celebrity is marked by solitude and
  detachment

22
demystifications

• the domestic life is not so warm and cozy
• the flashy life of the characters on the radio is
  not so glamourous
• life lessons
• life consists of moments
• vagaries
• compromises
• dissapointments

23
the emergence of the mediated self

• radio days are full of radio waves
• the imaginary constitution takes shape against
  the background of
• dream and disaster
• tease and torment
• frustration and desire
• illumination and delusion

24
Without Feathers (1976)

• series of short, first person excerpts from what
  purports to be Woody Allen's secret journal
• the self is mediated through writing
• the self IS writing
• the self is a construction through, by and for
  writing

25
1. person singulars life story

• paranoid and sleepless.
• has health problems.
• shares a ideas for stories
• shares reflections on these ideas
• worries about his girlfriend, W.
• has failed at suicide
• asks absurd questions about the afterlife
• his brother beats him with a pig bladder.
• is wracked with guilt for hating his father who
  wore a gas mask to his first play.
• his nephew has some strange ailment and is
  covered in feathers.
• decides to break off his engagement with W.
• is plagued by doubts about God because of cruel
  and silly accidents.

26
the private vs. the public self

• the I is a parody of himself
• a humorous performance of Woody Allen, as he is
  perceived by the public
• the I is perceived through the anticipation of
  the others perceptions based on shared
  knowledge.
• the I is depicted as an absurd, hyperaware,
  worrying comedian subject
• irony the I is presented as a private self,
  but this work of presentation is based on the
  impression hes given the world.

27
symbolism

• the parrot
• the pig bladder
• the feathers

28
Hope is the Thing with Feathers, Dickinson

• Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in
  the soul, And sings the tune without the words,
  And never stops at all,
• And sweetest in the gale is heard And sore must
  be the storm That could abash the little bird
  That kept so many warm.
• I've heard it in the chillest land,
• And on the strangest sea Yet, never, in
  extremity, It asked a crumb of me.