Jay/James: Locating The Posthuman Embodiment of Gatsby
Document Type
Panel Presentation
Start Date
19-4-2018 10:45 AM
End Date
19-4-2018 12:00 PM
Keywords
Posthumanism, Deconstruction, Identity Theory
Biography
David Schwartz is a second-year student at Marshall University with a double major in English and Philosophy. His areas of focus involve the utilization posthuman and queer theory to explore the logic of human and posthuman identity. He hopes to continue these studies in a path of lifelong learning as he pursues acceptance into Law School and a career in Intellectual Property Law.
Major
English/Philosophy
Advisor for this project
Dr. Daniel Lewis
Abstract
This presentation utilizes F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby to discuss the problem of character embodiment in the wake of deconstructive literary theory. Addressing the problem raised by Derrida, that there is an abyss between the signifier and signified, one must confront the fact that a character such as Gatsby has no formal and centralized body. Therefore, this study utilizes the posthuman theories of Katherine Hayles and Judith Butler’s theories of performativity to locate embodiment not in formal physicality, but in the abstract action of identity performativity. Likewise, this presentation addresses that, in the character of Gatsby especially, the embodiment of identity performance decentralizes the character’s body, causing identity embodiment to lie in the interstitial tension between a plurality of identity performances. The goal of this character study is thus to analyze this interstitial tension in the embodiment of a posthuman subject such as Gatsby in the hopes of better understanding the process by which a character achieves embodiment in the postmodern era.
Jay/James: Locating The Posthuman Embodiment of Gatsby
This presentation utilizes F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby to discuss the problem of character embodiment in the wake of deconstructive literary theory. Addressing the problem raised by Derrida, that there is an abyss between the signifier and signified, one must confront the fact that a character such as Gatsby has no formal and centralized body. Therefore, this study utilizes the posthuman theories of Katherine Hayles and Judith Butler’s theories of performativity to locate embodiment not in formal physicality, but in the abstract action of identity performativity. Likewise, this presentation addresses that, in the character of Gatsby especially, the embodiment of identity performance decentralizes the character’s body, causing identity embodiment to lie in the interstitial tension between a plurality of identity performances. The goal of this character study is thus to analyze this interstitial tension in the embodiment of a posthuman subject such as Gatsby in the hopes of better understanding the process by which a character achieves embodiment in the postmodern era.
