dialects and politics

The article was chuck full of relevant stuff to reflect upon but I would like to return to an idea I wrote about last time as I see it being addressed in the article as an element which has political implications. Although I am not too familiar with Scottish politics and public consciousness of drug abuse, I would argue that the political implications are more complex than simply reminding folks of bad habits taken up by those on the fringe. Rather, I think the fringe, not the habit or its consumptive basis is really something worth considering, especially in context to a political function of language. I really agree with Alan Freeman’s assertion that, "focusing on social margins not only affirms their inhabitants but also illuminates the center against which they are defined and, in this novel, Welsh dramatises the repressive processes of post-industrial individualism”. I think this is essential to understanding how language is functioning in a transgressive and political way in Trainspotting.  This challenge of “individualism” in post-industrial culture I think is something we have been dealing with all semester and is treated differently by every other, but nonetheless, often finds great exaggeration to forge characters that transgress. It rears its head all around the dapper dressers of the Lang halls. Everyone with their own esoteric interests and sense of identity that is, at least as I have observed, often constituted by how it stands in contrast to the “center against which they are defined”. Regardless though, the issue here is the utilization of particular dialect and its possible political functions. At one point, the argument is raised that the inclusion of the glossary is reductive and imposes some sort of hegemonic construct that informs the reader that the use of language is in fact something spoken by the “other”.  I don’t know exactly how I feel about the latter assertion but I can say rather confidently that one of the interesting functions of slang is, as freeman alludes, how it functions within a group and their respective identity.  I would assert that in all actuality, barring actors who in a sense accomplish this through role playing, the function of slang is not fully realized until it constitutes a mode of communication one is capable of assuming.  Moreover, one cannot assume this mode of communication unless one has actually heard it. Again I will reference all that I have to go by, but I am reminded of the numerous skits on 90’s hip hop albums. Is it simply a brief rupture in the whole album’s experience, or is it something more?  I think that what is actually going on is that, the identity associated with a particular dialect is being taken out of the strictly musical context and shown to the listener as an actual mode of being and not simply a style to assume in order to create music. For those who are familiar with the dialect, it affirms a common culture, perhaps a similar sense of humor, or simply a shared identity.  However, for those who are unfamiliar, it demonstrates, “the center against which”, things foreign are inevitably defined by. As much as I have enjoyed the book, I think what I am trying to communicate is that dialects, although comprehensible in written word, find a really heightened sense of clarity when it is spoken amongst those whose identity it helps constitute.  I don’t really have the authority to say this, but I feel like Shakespeare for example, although beautiful and poetic in linguistic style cannot be fully realized until it is seen and heard as something spoken. It is a slang unto itself, and hearing the free verse juxtaposed with the iambic pentameter seemingly makes more clear the function of two separate, but not unequal, dialects.

Slinging that slang

he first thing that hits you when you read Trainspotting, is perhaps the last thing to fade from the experience of reading the text. That is, from the onset, readers are submerged into a lower class subculture of debauchery and drug abuse through the immersive capabilities of language. Not unlike A Clockwork Orange, and its implementation of ‘nadsat’, the reader is forced to reckon with counter culture in its most apparent manifestation, language, or more specifically, slang. I think what is most striking about the utilization of a language in Trainspotting, is how one is forced to assume a phonetic disposition, which more often than not, is not native to them. At first, especially for American readers I would presume, there is a what seems to be a learning curve where one first tries on their best British accent only to realize that the words on Irvine Welsh’s page, are in fact not British in the slightest. Rather, the inflection is one which, after some brief period of adjustment, the reader understands is characterized by a dialect and inflection which are clearly not akin to the Brit, nor the bourgeois author. Furthermore, after more reading, this style of speech, which is rather lazy with respect to its annunciation of syllables, is one rather favorable and easily adaptable. That is, after a few hours of reading I noticed a proclivity for my inner monologue to have a vaguely Scottish lower class accent.
I think though that what is so effective about Welsh’s choice to utilize this dialect is that, on some level anyway, the vernacular is inherently transgressive to the normative mode of speech and therefore lends itself to easily conveying realities which are far separated from our own, yet nonetheless, understood in essence as one that is clearly not of the mainstream ilk. Thus, it seems that by beginning with a transgressive dialect, Welsh makes what is a seemingly far removed world, one which is understood on the surface as rejecting normative values and modes of life. Therefore, one is not, at least in my opinion, asking themselves, “why would he act in such a way, and how could he go on with shit in his trousers?,” but on the contrary one immediately understands and accepts to a certain degree that these are persons of a fringe culture who abide by and conform to the rules that get them through the day. Not for nothing, but this is why, to a certain extent, good rap albums, (i.e. 36 Chambers, Lifestyles of the Poor and Dangerous, Stillmatic and so on), communicate much more about the process of socialization and the power of language in conveying a modus operandi than politically correct critics and moms across the board care to observe.

One Stroke Bloak

In Cock and Bull, there is particular attention paid to both individuals who prematurely ejaculate and to the character which informs these individuals in ability to perform. Self explains that “Alan was a one-thrust man” and more importantly:

While each thrust had, therefore gone in, it had turned back on Alan, at some deep level penetrating him with the morbid realization that his sexual being was a dull thing, a lifeless thing, a mass produced marionette with chipped paint and fraying springs (232)

This is not unlike Dan in Cock, who also lacks any sexual fervor or stamina for that matter. Indeed, Dan and Alan, also regard sex in a weird sort of disconnected manner. Dan refers to it as “climbing aboard”, suggesting the inanimate nature of the vagina upon which he “climbs”. Not to mention it seems entirely void of a person who is being mounted. Alan’s sexuality on the other hand is referred to as “mass produced” and indeed, this title is fitting for a man who can rationalize his adultery in the midst of adulterous actions. The notion of mass production I think is really critical in our discussion of why these books are transgressive. That is, they seem to be responding to our postmodern sexuality by thrusting, no pun intended, into center stage conflated, but not entirely unbelievable, characters who espouse a sexuality reflective of values concomitant with mass consumption and production. I think this is hugely relevant to Martin Amis’s Money, but is also present in the seemingly more magical, but nonetheless relevant instances provided in Cock and Bull. Not only is Alan’s sexuality mass produced, but it is “lifeless” and marionette like. I think this characterization is offering readers a really raw look at the values, or lack thereof, which have been a result of our hugely commoditized age and has penetrated our most primal urges. Are we past the point of no return? Self seems to be suggesting that even educated persons like Doctors are even susceptible to this corrupted sexual nature. I mean to highlight this because Amis, in my opinion seemed to be suggesting that it was really the lower class which suffered from the culture of mass production and consumption. Although I agree to a certain extent that sexuality has in a sense become corrupted by mass productive values, I don’t really know if it is fair to assert that human sexuality wasn’t always something which jumped on any and every opportunity to express itself; and therefore is merely finding more modes of expression in our postmodern condition.

Obscene? Yes please!

After reading the article, The Aesthetics of Post-Realism and the Obscenification of Everyday Life, I feel a compulsion to respond to the article. Gonzalez finds fault with a number of things concerning transgressive British literature and the postmodern condition in general. Although I am not a literary studies major, nor am I able to quote Baudrillard, I think Gonzalez is missing something essential about the experience of reading, which to me seems quite timeless. There is no doubt our exposure to media and resultant over stimulation have had an effect on our attention span and what we find ourselves entertained by. However, I think this is exactly what the transgressive style aims to get at it in its form. That is, first and foremost we find ourselves in intensely stimulated scenarios and it is as if this is utilized in order to ask the reader from the onset to acknowledge and explore this actuality in context. I think the transgressive literary style is reckoning not with its inadequacy as a medium, but rather changing minds and consciousness. More specifically I mean, to get the full spectrum of certain ideas, their interconnectedness and relevance in our world though, the content is indeed conflated. That is, in the age of information, we simply know more. As a result of knowing more I would argue we make more connections, we see more correlations -regardless of their apparent truth. Therefore, the satirical tone and content must be prepared to handle how loaded these ideas like sexuality and identity have become. Of course, some of the authors in my opinion are more capable than others in their attempts. Although it may seem crude and as Gonzalez seems to imply, indicative of some sort of degeneration, I would argue that perhaps the space between past and present is transgression. That is, perhaps transgressive literature is the experiment of present that will signal a shift in how we read and write.

stinky funkin funk

Jordan Pilato

His coffee breath nauseated her, as it did every other morning during their pre-work romping. It was so modern. Without fail they would meet thirty minutes prior to work in the foyer. She, with her freshly brushed teeth, chomping at the bit to get the funk rolling. He, with a half consumed cup of coffee, already half erect from the diuretic that fueled him. Leaning over as they stood in the crowded elevator, he would whisper- his warm bitter breath causing her to shiver- how he would take his naughty girl this morning. With a lot of cream and sugar presumably... she would think to herself. Into his office they would parade and on his desk they would perform a one act that their co-workers would faintly smell all day when they passed center stage. Truthfully, Henry, her boss, revealed in the stink they made- he helped her make rather. She was well aware of this and on some level sincerely appreciated his obsession with the stink she would inevitably espouse. You see, she had a condition she thought no one could learn to love except she herself. It had a medical name, but for all intensive purposes, we shall refer to it as the stink. Like fish sticks drenched in chocolate milk and left out on a swelteringly hot summer day, her odor, her essence, her proverbial aura, could draw alley cats for miles in search of a delectable meal. A simple trip to the ‘gyno’ would have fixed this condition, but on some sick level, like getting a whiff of one’s own b.o., she derived a certain sense of pleasure from this sent that was all her own. Her nostrils would flare with delight as he pounded her on his desk. The pheromones, long since forgotten by most nostrils tainted with taint’s sprayed with perfume, now aroused in them both a primal being of antediluvian spirits who fucked not only for pleasure but for scent. Henry would wallow in it all day, sniffing his fingers and desk intermittently for boosts in energy. He would even pee sitting down so that he might lean forward toward the toilet bowl and his dangling third participle and breathe in heavily, the noxious scent of fish and nut sweat that loomed like a fog over his pelvic region for the day’s entirety.

Neither of them was aware, but the scent had begun to arouse the entire offices primordial desires for such scentual and sensual relations. Slowly but surely, they would too come to love the stink, come to imitate the stink, cum to the stink....

However, it is essential first to discover how these two secret lovers, came into this foul existence. That is, how Henry and Rose discovered what lay beneath one another.

review/sifting threw the narrative for meaning

Will Self’s, Cock, is essentially an exploration in gender dynamics and one character’s radical shift toward a fully autonomous life as a marginalized person. In the transgressive style, Self utilizes a polyphonic narrative structure as it includes both the narrators interjections and subjectivity, along with the inner narrative of Self, who is presumably the listener of this story. The narrator, referred to as the Don, is an ambiguous traveler, who lacks a positive form and his character, characterizations, and even shape seem to continually shift throughout the narrative giving the story a hint of surreality. Eventually, this surreal element pertaining to the Don’s demeanor is clarified as we come to understand that his narration of these supposed events are actually those directly relevant to the Don himself. Regardless, what is also interesting about this character is not only his grand finale in relation to Self, but his intermittent espousal of opinions ranging from anti-Semitism , homo-phobia and moreover; and indictment of anything and everything that accompanied modernity. The Don will interrupt his story in order to cite some verse, interject an opinion, and articulate his presumptions about the inner-workings of his audience’s mind. Most important however about the Don’s narrative, which I don’t think really translates to the reader’s experience as one does not find themselves confined to share a space with this loathsome creature is how it is affecting Self. That is, Self explains, “he was managing- once again- to marginalize me ”(102). I think this is really the crux of the thematic content of the book, and unfortunately, is a bit un-relatable as far as how it conveyed. The Don’s intermittent commentary is from its onset, is characterized by its disdain for most things however, it is not until he reveals himself as the protagonist (or antagonist of the story depending on how you view it) does one get a sense of how it is his undefined sexuality that really contributes to his own marginalization and that his rhetoric is more reactionary than anything else. That is, perhaps the Don’s rhetoric is in some sense supposed to signify what he refers to as the “true horror” of being a person beyond classification and therefore unable to relate to people beyond the realm of things they might share disdain. Eventually, the Don has his way with Self, not once, but twice. It is this reader’s opinion that one is to interpret the act of degradation as one which represents total marginalization for Self. Indeed, the scenario is so bizarre that Self cannot even bring himself to report it to the authorities, who he regards as family men that would ultimately blame him for inducing the rape. Ultimately, the book and it’s overarching moral or ethical aims have escaped this reviewer due to the inaccessibility of this close encounter with the undefinable. Be that as it may, the story is worth reading as it demands from readers some sort of interpretation, which to me is a mark of decent piece of fiction.

Will Self

After reading about Will Self, from what Wikipedia had to offer, I found some clips of the author/critic on the television show News Night and a speech he gave about if he ruled television. He is clearly of the leftist persuasion. However, the speech and the footage both demonstrate his disdain for classes, demographics, or perhaps more abstractly for simply categorizing people for the sake of ordering things. This is somewhat evident in the first portion of our reading; however it is hard to get a sense of exactly how he is being satirical with his categorizations until the character Dave 2 arrives. That is, in the beginning of the reading there are many references to the colleges, and college life of those who surrounded the young couple Carol and Dan. Particular attention is paid to their disposition as one that is sort of dominated by the fact that these persons are of middle class status. Class status appears again when he notes the Carol’s father’s weeding speech which was intended to be condescending, but instead, went uncomprehend. However, it seems that the most evident satire that has been presented pertaining to class, or classes of people, is when Dave 2 appears in the picture. Dave 2 is described in a sort of biblical sense while also maintaining an ability to drum home, “the simplified fallacies of Dialectical Materialism”(43). Prior to that he is described as a, “double gazing salesman”, and between the two descriptions, both within the same paragraph, there is immediately something discontinuous about Dave 2. The rhetoric descriptions surrounding the inspirational cards that Dave 2 carries as “quasi-devotional”, further bolster the notion that Self, is ardently opposed to the sale, or peddling of ideas, perhaps in a way reminiscent of scholars like Adorno and Benjamin.

The Guts and Nuts

"The Guts" by Chuck Palahniuk undoubtedly shares some distinctly transgressive traits evinced thus far in our explorations of transgressive British literature. To begin, the prevalent theme of sexuality, or moreover a search for some former clarity brought about by this activity. "The Guts", explores how this sexuality comes about for young men living in modernity or post modernity. Similar to Amis and Ballard, there is an obsessive and methodologically driven nature behind this sexuality. Indeed, young men and their obsessive relationship with their penis when they first discover the phenomenon of the orgasm is probably not a peculiarity one could ascribe to the postmodern condition. Regardless, the young men in "The Guts" and their extreme explorations of the means and ends of their own sexuality resonate well with the transgressive British fiction we have read thus far. Along a similar trajectory, each of the boys either explicitly, or implicitly, are exposed in one way or another for their freakish endeavors. This too, reminds us of both Amis's characters demise and Ballard's main characters obsession. In all of these works, what was meant to be private, or what perhaps should be private, becomes a spectacle in one way or another.

The pornographic gaze and soul predicament

“Nelsons Academy accommodated those who were perturbed in their bodies and wished to verify, however unequivocal, however much they cost, the pleasures of the flesh were, at bottom, splendid. But, as for Madame Schreck, she catered for those who were troubled in their…souls”

There is a stark contrast between “Nelson’s Academy” and “Madame Schreck’s” that I think Carter Carter offer’s us for a reason. That is, I think Carter is commenting on something about how view women as opposed to how we engage with women. That is, the contrast offered seems to be one which comments, very subtly mind you, on the objectification of women in two different contexts. “The Academy”, is what one could putatively regard as a whorehouse, no if and’s or maybes. Nelson’s is in no way a representative of a new phenomenon but is rather a thing that people have done since the dawn of civilization- sell their bodies that is. I don’t think Carter is justifying it, but rather presenting it as a vice of humanity that, if managed properly, isn’t the most degraded existence one could live. Be that as it may, as it stands in contrast to Madame Schreck’s, it seems to represent a new phenomenon that has permeated the modern experience, pornography. That is, it seems to present women as creatures of a subhuman level and more importantly as spectacles to be watched through glass. However, this is not enough, but rather the following exchange between Fevvers and Mr. Rosencrauntz, seems to characterize how detrimental such spectacles become. Indeed, as Fevvers states above, Madame Schreck’s was “catered for those who were troubled in their….souls.” More evidence needs to be cited but for now let us turn briefly to another transgressive text which also demonstrates the danger of the pornographic gaze in the postmodern, or modern experience. Take for instance John Self’s relationship with Martina Twain versus Selina Street in Martin Amis’s Money. Selina Street is described by John from the beginning in strictly pornographic terms. What he enjoys about her is a body and a sexuality that is a spectacle. From her sexy outfits, to their economical sexual exchanges, and even with Self’s proclivity for hitting women, his relationship to her is one that seems sublimated with the notion that women are objects. Again, this is offered in contrast to another relationship between Martina Twain and Self, which is the antithesis of the aforementioned. In the end however, John could not help his pornographic tendencies and destroys himself by making himself and Selina a sexual spectacle in the eyes of the women he actually loves.

Granted these assertions need more developing, but this theme of the sexual spectacle seems prevalent in the texts and to a certain extent is perhaps characteristic of a post-modern predicament regarding how men and women engage the world.