The Language of Empire and the Empire of Language Joyce and the Return of the Postcolonial Repressed
Transcript of The Language of Empire and the Empire of Language Joyce and the Return of the Postcolonial Repressed
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Enemies of Empire: New Perspectives on Imperialism, Literature and History, edited by
Eoin Flannery and Angus Mitchell. Dublin: Four Courts Press, pages 160 1!1
"he #anguage o$ E%pire and the E%pire o$ #anguage: &oyce and the 'eturn o$ the
Postcolonial 'epressed
Eugene ()*rien
Depart%ent o$ English #anguage and #iteratureMary +%%aculate College
ni-ersity o$ #i%eric
"hat language is a structural $actor in the politics o$ identity is -ery %uch a gi-en in the
conte/t o$ postcolonial studies. "he discourse o$ the postcolonial paradig% is one hich
is $raught ith uestions. +n a #acanian conte/t, all sub2ecti-ity is de$ined in ter%s o$
hat is called the sy%bolic order, and this order is the structural %atri/ through hich
our grasp o$ the ord is shaped and enunciated.1 For #acan, the sy%bolic order is hat
actually constitutes our sub2ecti-ity 3%an spea s, then, but it is because the sy%bol has
%ade hi% %an).4 +t is the %atri/ o$ culture and the locus through hich indi-idual desire
is e/pressed: 3the %o%ent in hich the desire beco%es hu%an is also that in hich the
child is born into language).5 "he social orld o$ linguistic co%%unication,
intersub2ecti-e relations, no ledge o$ ideological con-entions, and the acceptance o$ the
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la are all connected ith the ac uisition o$ language. (nce a child enters into language
and accepts the rules and dictates o$ society, it is able to deal ith others.
"he sy%bolic, then, is %ade up o$ those la s and restrictions that control both
desire and the rules o$ co%%unication, hich are perpetuated through societal and
cultural hege%onic %odes. #acan condenses this $unction in the ter% the 3 a%e o$ the
Father). "hrough recognition o$ the a%e o$ the Father, one beco%es a %e%ber o$ a
society or culture. "he sy%bolic is about language and narrati-e. (nce a child enters into
language and accepts the rules and dictates o$ society, it is able to deal ith others. "he
sy%bolic is %ade possible because o$ the acceptance o$ the a%e o$ the Father, thosela s and restrictions that control both desire and the rules o$ co%%unication: 3it is in the
Name of the father that e %ust recogni7e the support o$ the sy%bolic $unction hich,
$ro% the da n o$ history, has identi$ied his person ith the $igure o$ the la ).8 "hrough
recognition o$ the a%e o$ the Father, entry into a co%%unity o$ others is %ade possible.
"he sy%bolic, through language, is 3the pact hich lin s... sub2ects together in one
action. "he hu%an action par excellence is originally $ounded on the e/istence o$ the
orld o$ the sy%bol, na%ely on la s and contracts.9
+n the case o$ the history o$ e%pire, the conse uence o$ i%perial con uest is the
gradual control o$ this sy%bolic order by the hege%onic i%perial language, ree , #atin,
;panish, and, o$ course, English. +n the case o$ +reland, the gradual attenuation o$ the
+rish language, both through i%perial policy and through econo%ic necessity %eant that
in the %id eighteenth century, this sy%bolic order under ent a paradig% shi$t $ro% the
+rish language to English. "his as also true o$ the cultural code o$ the sy%bolic order,
na%ely literature. +n ter%s o$ a
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as no English, and the binary opposition English +rish, hich has bede-iled +rish
history, as to achie-e $urther -alence in the linguistic idio%.
;ea%us Deane has asserted the i%portance o$ language in the colonial process =
in ays it is the ulti%ate +;A, in an Althusserian sense, as it interpellates sub2ects to see
the orld in its ter%s and gradually allo s the% to beco%e enculturated into the culture
o$ that language.6 As Deane puts it, English is 3not %erely the language o$ a country or
o$ an e%pire or o$ an in-ading culture> it is the language o$ a condition = %odernity).!
"his o$ course %eans that the colonial and postcolonial encounter is rephrased in ter%s o$
the %odern and traditional encounter. "o be counter %odern is to be allied ith the$orces o$ tradition, and in episte%ological and political ter%s, this is to place the
coloni7ed culture in a classic double bind.
+$ the language o$ the coloni7er is e%braced, there ill be a loss o$ di$$erential
indices o$ identity and tradition, and the hole concept o$ 3authenticity): i$ the original
language is recuperated, or re-i-ed, then the associated connotati-e i%plications are an
e%bracing o$ the past as opposed to the $uture, o$ tradition as opposed to %odernity, and
o$ ignorance as opposed to instru%ental reason. Either ay, the coloni7ed is le$t
dise%po ered, $ore-er de$ining itsel$ in ter%s o$ the ;y%bolic order o$ the coloni7ed.
Asserted independence $or% the colonial ;y%bolic order can only be achie-ed by
espousing a nati-ist position, $ro% hich the coloni7ed is seen as -oluntarily e%bracing
the %ore bac ard conditions o$ the coloni7ed people,de facto 2usti$ying the hole
process o$ coloni7ation, hich as o$ten glossed by ter%s li e 3protectorate). +$ any
proleptic 3ene%y o$ e%pire) as to raise his or her head abo-e the parapet, the issue o$
the language o$ e%pire needed to be ta en into account.
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And o$ course, the sa%e is true $or literature. As auri ?is anathen has put it:
"he i%portance o$ English literature $or this process could not bee/aggerated@as the source o$ %oral -alues $or correct beha-iour and
action, it represented a con-enient replace%ent $or direct religiousinstruction.
the use o$ the ad2ecti-e 3+rish) in connection ith any %od
o$ co%%unication hose language o$ enunciation as English as an o/y%oron hich
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could not be tolerated. +$ eats rote in English, thenipso facto, he as an 3English
poet) in Pearse)s ter%s.
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their and their societies peril, as not lost on coloni7ed peoples. Macbeth, Claudius,
'egan and oneril, (s ald, politically, and (thello, racially, de%onstrate the $ate that
be$alls such resistance to the gi-en socio political order, both $or the indi-idual
%icrocos% and the socio political %acrocos%. As "erence
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*oycott, Dante Alighieri, Christopher Colu%bus, ;aint Fursa, ;aint*rendan, Charle%agne, "heobald ol$e "one, the Mother o$ theMacabees, the #ast o$ the Mohicans... apoleon *onaparte,Cleopatra...Dar 'osaleen, Patric . ;ha espeare.14
"his list o$ 3 Irish heroes and heroines o$ anti uity) is an e/a%ple o$ a speci$ic $or% o$riting: that o$ a 3catalogue -erse) herein a list o$ entities is used to sho progression,
generation or, in this case, co%%onality. "he genre can be traced bac to t o o$ estern
ci-ilisation)s canonical or s: the genealogical list in the %oo& of 'enesis and the list o$
"ro2an ar heroes in
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contention o$ this paper that this process o$ rede$inition o$ +rish identity is achie-ed under
the auspices o$ Patric . ;ha espeare.
"he trans$or%ation o$ 3 illia%) to 3Patric .) could, at $irst be seen as a classic
postcolonial re-ersal = the reappropriation o$ the synecdoche o$ Englishness through
2u/taposition ith a synecdoche o$ +rishness.
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3;hi ispo er...Anony%oses),19 and later in the telling line 3all the ri-als to allsea,
sha eagain, ( disasterO ;ha elose).16 in other ords,
the troped na%e o$ ;ha espeare introduces a political $orce into &oyce)s riting, a $orce
hich liberates notions o$ +rish identity $ro% the %onocular -ision o$ the Citi7en, and
instead introduces a European and orld based -ie 3anony%oses) o$ +rish identity. "he
co%posite na%e o$ Patric . ;ha espeare, an e/a%ple o$ (inne"ans !a&e)s -ie o$ the
bard)s ability: as 3 reat ;hapesphere puns it),1 allo s hi% to reshape the sphere o$
national identity, and hence is a constituent $actor in the political di%ension o$ &oyce)s
or .
;o%e literary detecti-e or de%onstrates the place o$ ;ha espeare in the literary
politics o$ &oyce, and this detecti-e or begins ith A Portrait of the Artist as a )oun"
*an . "he na%e o$ 3;ha espeare) is not to be $ound any here in this no-el.
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"hese $or%s are: the lyrical $or%, the $or% herein the artist presents hisi%age in i%%ediate relation to hi%sel$> the epical $or%, the $or% hereinhe presents his i%age in %ediate relation to hi%sel$ and to others> thedra%atic $or%, the $or% herein he presents his i%age in i%%ediaterelation to others...Land here he or she assu%es a proper and intangible
esthetic li$e... "he esthetic i%age in the dra%atic $or% is li$e puri$ied in andrepro2ected $ro% the hu%an i%agination. "he %ystery o$ esthetic, li e thato$ %aterial creation, is acco%plished. "he artist, li e the od o$ creation,re%ains ithin or behind or beyond or abo-e his handi or , in-isible,re$ined out o$ e/istence, indi$$erent, paring his $ingernails.40
;tephen)s highest $or% the dra%atic here each person 3assu%es a proper and
intangible esthetic li$e) is associated by
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Patric . ;ha espeare sy%boli7es the possibilities that arise bet een the trans$or%ing
intersections o$ England and +reland in ter%s o$ language and identity. +t is i%portant to
note the trans$or%ati-e dri-e at or here. ;ha espeare as *ritish national bard has been
trans$or%ed into hat is beauti$ully ter%ed in (inne"ans !a&e 3clasp sha ers Jthe hand
touch hich is speech ithout ordsK).48 "he na%e is the clasping o$ t o cultures
together, and the result o$ this clasping is to sha e the essentialist notions o$ both cultures
=);hi espo er).49 "his troped na%e is both an i%age o$ i%plied potential and a ghostly
$igure redolent o$ the past. "hat the ;ha espearean presence in Portrait is %ediated
through the theoretical co%%ents o$ the French riter ?ictor
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rather he is sy%bolic o$ a brea ing do n o$ essentialist para%eters o$ nationality and
language.
"he use o$ 3Patric ) de%onstrates a linguistic and cultural %ediation o$
;ha espeare in ter%s o$ +rish e/perience. +nterestingly in$lysses, chapter nine, 3;cylla
and Charybdis), there is re$erence to a French production o$ Hamlet :
Hamlet
ou
Le -istrait Pi.ce de ha&espeare
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per$or%ances o$ ;ha espeare English or +rishI hat nationality is the A ira Burisa a)s
&apanese production o$ *ac/eth I For that %atter, hat is the language o$ &oyce)s
(inne"ans !a&eI
&oyce)s interrogation o$ essentialist attitudes to culture and nationality reaches a
cli%actic point in #eopold *loo%)s ans er to the uestion:
hat is your nation i$ + %ay as I says the citi7en as ed+reland, says *loo%. + as born here. +reland.4
"his is the ulti%ate e%ancipatory ai% o$ the in-ocation o$ Patric& ! ha&espeare: the
pluralisation o$ identity hich allo s a
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colonised. +$ ;ha espeare, as a supposed -ehicle o$ ideological colonial hege%ony is
no being used to deconstruct and sha e lose the %oti-ated connections bet een English
literature and English i%perial po er and instead he no ser-es as a synecdoche o$ the
e%pire o$ language as opposed to the language o$ e%pire.
"his -ie o$ literature as a speci$ic linguistic discourse hich deconstructs the
ideological construct o$ language as do%ination, is $urther e/plored in ;tephen Dedalus)s
theory o$ ;ha espeare, here the spectral $igure o$ ;ha espeare is $oregrounded:
it is the ghost, the ing, a ing and no ing, and the player is ;ha espeareho has studied
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+n ter%s o$ the troped na%e o$ ;ha espeare, there are nu%erous di$$usions o$ this
na%e in (inne"ans !a&e. e see such trans$or%ations as e see such trans$or%ations
as 3;hi espo er)>59 3bacon or stable hand)>56 3sha eagain)>5! 3sha ealose)>5
3Chic speer) >5 3*ragspeer)>80 3sha espill and eggs)>81 3clasp sha ers)>84 3slo spiers)>85
3;ha hisbeard)>88 3;ha e hands)>89 3as ;ha e$or %ight pitch it)>86 3As great ;hapesphere
puns it)>8! 3the curly bard)>8 3;hi-ering illia%).8 "his is not an e/hausti-e catalogue:
the list goes on, as does the episte%ological $oundation underlying both this list, and that
ith hich e began this discussion. "hat episte%ology in-ol-es the troped na%e o$
;ha espeare, present and not present, ghost and non ghost, English and non English,re$ined out o$ e/istence, pairing his $ingernails as he presides o-er the &oycean pro2ect
hich in-ol-es the sha ing lose, and sha ing again o$ essentialist notions o$ the politics
o$ +rish identity.
Perhaps the %ost interesting conclusion that can be dra n $ro% &oyce)s pro2ect is
that there can really be no si%ple eitherNor choice underlying the postcolonial paradig% i$
that paradig% is to per$or% any sort o$ trans$or%ati-e criti ue o$ current and past
colonial enterprises. As Ania #oo%ba notes, the uestion is no being as ed o$
postcolonial theory as to hether, in 3the process o$ e/posing the ideological and
historical $unctioning o$ such binaries, e are in danger o$ reproducing the%)I90 +nstead
o$ this eitherNor choice, hat is needed is a %ore nuanced $or% o$ interaction bet een
sel$hood and alterity, bet een coloni7er and coloni7ed. "his is a $or% o$ criti ue hich
has been ad-ocated by Derrida, ho, spea ing about his early neologis%, di$$ rance,
notes that it is 3neither this nor that> but rather this and that Je.g. the act o$ di$$ering and
o$ de$erringK ithout being reducible to a dialectical logic either).91 +n ter%s o$ an
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in-estigation o$ postcoloniality, one can loo no $urther than &oyce to proble%ati7e the
episte%ological status o$ the postcolonial hile at the sa%e ti%e enhancing the -alidity
o$ postcoloniality as an in$or%ed %ode o$ criti ue.
;o, to uote another riter ho has ta en the language o$ e%pire, notably the
earliest poe% in the English canon, %eowulf , and %ade it part o$ the e%pire o$ language,
riting can co%plicate the si%plistic binary o$ the language o$ the coloniser as opposed
to the language o$ the colonised.
"here is not one ;ha espeare but rather, as &oyce notes in (inne"ans !a&e 3%yriads o$
dri$ting %inds) J19 .0!K, and these dri$ting %inds, these polyse%ic characters, allo $or ane politics o$ +rish identity, as epito%ised by #eopold *loo%)s assertion o$ +rishness,
&ac ues Derrida)s deconstruction o$ the certainties o$ identity and ;ea%us
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his $unnel. hat Lsic did he co%e here $or to teach us his o n language orto learn it $ro% us. Da%n hi% one ay or another.H94
"his ca-eat, that language is both si%ilar and di$$erent, Heimlich and$nheimlich, part o$
the sel$, and part o$ the other, is central to the politics o$ riting that e ha-e traced herethrough the or o$ &oyce as he deconstructs the language o$ e%pire ith the e%pire o$
language.
Derrida, too, is part o$ such a pro2ect. ;uch notions o$ displace%ent and
e%igration also $igure in Derrida)s notion o$ sel$hood.
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articulation o$ di$$erent $orces ithin so%e $or% o$ structure hich can re-eal %ore
aspects o$ the sel$ to the sel$. +n the passage 2ust cited, Derrida tells o$ ho , despite
spea ing French, and being i%%ersed in French literature and culture, 3the French%an o$
France as an other).98 Much o$ his riting stresses this $eeling o$ being at ho%e, and
yet not at ho%e, in French culture. +n#he 0ther Headin" , he spea s o$ hi%sel$ as
so%eone 3not uite European by birth) ho no considers hi%sel$ to be 3a sort o$ o-er
acculturated, o-er coloni7ed European hybrid).99
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$ro% sub2ect people status, $reed o$ the language uestion to beco%e part o$the language issue.
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1 (inne"ans !a&e, p.4 9.08.
40 A Portrait of the Artist as a )oun" *an, p.455
41 Don i$$ord. oyce Annotated: Notes for
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8! (inne"ans !a&e, p.4 9.5 8.
8 (inne"ans !a&e, p.869.4 .
8 (inne"ans !a&e, p.90!.59.
90 Ania #oo%ba. Colonialism=Postcoloniaslism. New Critical idiom eries. Editor &ohn Dra a is. J#ondon:
'outledge,1 K p.108.91 &ac ues Derrida. 3Deconstruction and the (ther), in 'ichard Bearney Jed.K J1 9Ktates of *ind: -ialo"ues with
Contemporary Continental #hin&ers. JManchester: Manchester ni-ersity Press, 1 1K.p.161.
94 ;ea%us Interviews, 56?925669. Edited by Eli7abeth eber. "ranslated by Peggy Ba%u$ and others.
JCali$ornia: ;tan$ord ni-ersity Press, 1 9K, p.408.
99 &ac ues Derrida.#he 0ther Headin" : ;eflections on #oday) s Europe. "ranslated by Pascale Anne *rault and Michael
aas. J*loo%ington: +ndiana ni-ersity Press, 1 4K, p.!.
96 #he 0ther Headin" , pp. 4 5.
9! 3"ranslating *eo ul$), p.19.