Solitude and Hope: Y'all Come Visit!

During the past few weeks, many of the young persons with whom I work have been focussing upon and struggling with issues related to feelings of attachment to others. As a result, many of my own thoughts have centered upon our generally pervasive need to feel connected with others. The following brief commentary attempts to summarize the course of those thoughts, which have ranged from Jean Paul Sartre's book "Nausea," to the jazz songs of Bessie Smith and finally to a short "Haiku-like" poem that I have written in an attempt to encapsulate this journey in a hopefully striking manner.

To begin, for a number of years my mind has often returned to the echo of a scene near the end of Sartre's Nausea. Nausea is a haunting narrative of one day in the life of its protagonist, Roquentin, as he attempts to cope with living in a world that is meaningless. It is a kind of existence that appears to tumble from moment to moment, without any real sense of past or future, a life that slowly decomposes and ultimately slides toward death.

But in one of the final scenes of the book, juxtaposed to the painfully dark and grim journey of the day, Roguentin is alone in a darkened, candle-lit room in a bistro hidden away in a desolate location beneath an overhead train trestle. He is facing a juke-box, which suddenly begins to play a scratched recording of Bessie Smith's hauntingly hopeful song, "Some of These Days."

The lyrics and melody suddenly punctuate Roquentin's existence by imposing a sense of order on the chaos of his life. Despite the record's scratchiness, Roquentin can play the song again; he can return to a melody, an underlying sense of connection in life, which is repeatable, unchanging, a-temporal and ideal.

Further, the latter belief rests upon what has become a post-modern conviction, that meaning is co-created by a person and an object, for example that meaning is co-created by the artist and the sense-making activity of the "reader." In terms of interpersonal relationships, for Sartre the recognition of and by the other is represented by the "stare" of the other.

The stare is the other's attempt to fix "me" in the present, to transform me into Being for others, establishing a sense of connection and attachment. Further, the gaze of the other jolts one to realize the significance of one's personal choices in determining the course of one's life. In other words, while we may not know ahead of time how the course of our lives will turn out, it is not all simply a matter of fate.

"Feeling Connected"

I'm looking at you
Looking at me
Looking at you
And you the same.

Disembedded, 2005.

"The Subcapitalist Paradigm of Narrative in the Works of Smith"


Z. John Wilson
Department of Philosophy, University of Champaign-Urbana


1. Contexts of Meaninglessness.

In the works of Smith, a predominant concept is the distinction between masculine and feminine. The subject is contextualised into a patriarchial nihilism that includes culture as a reality.

If one examines the subcapitalist paradigm of narrative, one is faced with a choice: either accept social realism or conclude that reality is intrinsically elitist. In a sense, a number of situationisms concerning the role of the participant as writer may be discovered. The premise of postmodernist theory states that sexuality is used to exploit minorities.

However, Bataille uses the term 'the subcapitalist paradigm of narrative' to denote not discourse, as postmodernist theory suggests, but prediscourse. In Mallrats, Smith deconstructs the subcapitalist paradigm of narrative; in Chasing Amy, however, he affirms social realism.

It could be said that an abundance of materialisms concerning the subcapitalist paradigm of narrative exist. Lacan uses the term 'deconstructive desublimation' to denote the failure, and thus the dialectic, of subtextual society. Thus, any number of narratives concerning the role of the participant as artist may be revealed. Cameron[1] implies that the works of Smith are an example of mythopoetical libertarianism.

In a sense, Lyotard uses the term 'social realism' to denote not demodernism, but postdemodernism. The subject is interpolated into a subcapitalist paradigm of narrative that includes truth as a totality.


2. Subcultural Marxism and Dialectic Narrative.

"Sexual identity is a legal fiction," says Bataille; however, according to de Selby[2] , it is not so much sexual identity that is a legal fiction, but rather the rubicon of sexual identity. However, Sartre uses the term 'social realism' to denote the bridge between society and class. If dialectic narrative holds, we have to choose between social realism and Lyotardist narrative.

Therefore, Lacan uses the term 'neocapitalist situationism' to denote the failure, and some would say the defining characteristic, of textual sexual identity. Many theories concerning social realism exist.

Thus, Debord promotes the use of dialectic narrative to attack the status quo. Geoffrey[3] holds that we have to choose between social realism and the postdialectic paradigm of expression.


3. Realities of Rubicon.

"Class is part of the failure of language," says Marx. It could be said that Sartre uses the term 'dialectic narrative' to denote the common ground between consciousness and class. The subject is contextualised into a subcapitalist paradigm of narrative that includes culture as a reality.

"Society is fundamentally responsible for capitalism," says Lacan; however, according to McElwaine[4] , it is not so much society that is fundamentally responsible for capitalism, but rather the genre, and subsequent failure, of society. Thus, if the capitalist paradigm of discourse holds, we have to choose between dialectic narrative and subsemiotic rationalism. The subject is interpolated into a subcapitalist paradigm of narrative that includes consciousness as a totality.

The characteristic theme of the works of Gaiman is a self-falsifying whole. However, the figure/ground distinction prevalent in Gaiman's Death: The Time of Your Life is also evident in Sandman, although in a more mythopoetical sense. Sontag's essay on the textual paradigm of expression states that the Constitution is capable of deconstruction.

It could be said that Foucault suggests the use of social realism to read sexual identity. Prinn[5] suggests that the works of Gaiman are postmodern.

Therefore, the main theme of Sargeant's[6] analysis of dialectic narrative is the stasis, and eventually the economy, of conceptualist reality. Several theories concerning the role of the observer as reader may be found. In a sense, Lacan promotes the use of the subcapitalist paradigm of narrative to challenge the status quo. Any number of dematerialisms concerning postcapitalist narrative exist.

Thus, social realism implies that class has significance, but only if narrativity is interchangeable with reality. In Jackie Brown, Tarantino examines dialectic narrative; in Reservoir Dogs, although, he affirms the subcapitalist paradigm of narrative.

But Lyotard uses the term 'social realism' to denote the fatal flaw of cultural society. Many discourses concerning the difference between class and consciousness may be discovered.


4. The Subcapitalist Paradigm of Narrative and Subcapitalist Socialism.

If one examines subcapitalist socialism, one is faced with a choice: either reject the semioticist paradigm of expression or conclude that culture is meaningless. However, the example of subcapitalist socialism which is a central theme of Tarantino's Jackie Brown emerges again in Four Rooms. Several narratives concerning the subcapitalist paradigm of narrative exist.

"Class is intrinsically a legal fiction," says Derrida. In a sense, the characteristic theme of the works of Tarantino is the futility, and eventually the absurdity, of neocultural society. The premise of subcapitalist socialism holds that the State is capable of intention, given that the subcapitalist paradigm of narrative is valid.

Therefore, many situationisms concerning the common ground between class and society may be found. If patriarchialist theory holds, we have to choose between social realism and postdialectic deconstruction.

However, the subject is contextualised into a subcapitalist socialism that includes sexuality as a reality. In Pulp Fiction, Tarantino analyses the subcapitalist paradigm of narrative; in Jackie Brown, however, he denies subcapitalist socialism.

In a sense, several discourses concerning the deconstructive paradigm of consensus exist. The subject is interpolated into a social realism that includes culture as a totality.
1. Cameron, L. C. (1990) Reading Sontag: The subcapitalist paradigm of narrative and social realism. University of Michigan Press

2. de Selby, M. ed. (1983) Social realism in the works of Gaiman. And/Or Press

3. Geoffrey, V. H. W. (1998) Reinventing Constructivism: Social realism and the subcapitalist paradigm of narrative. Schlangekraft

4. McElwaine, N. ed. (1983) The subcapitalist paradigm of narrative and social realism. Panic Button Books

5. Prinn, K. W. G. (1979) The Context of Paradigm: Social realism and the subcapitalist paradigm of narrative. Harvard University Press

6. Sargeant, F. C. ed. (1985) The subcapitalist paradigm of narrative in the works of Tarantino. Cambridge University Press

Tee...heee...just a joke,the essay you have just read is completely meaningless and was randomly generated by the Postmodernism Generator!!! The Postmodernism Generator was uses the Dada Engine, a system for generating random text from recursive grammars.