A conundrum. In order to speak my mind, do I necessarily need to speak against another? The dialectic is an historical movement of difference that derives meaning through a teleology that proceeds not unlike a musical composition, arranged towards the inevitable finale.
I’ve always found credence in Bakhtin’s concept of the “monologic utterance,” a type of discourse he attributed to poetic didacticism. I asked a friend of mine, “What happened to ‘harmony’?” “You only talk about harmony when you aren’t in control.”
The narrative of modernity, what the hell is it? Is it supposed to be a preordained series, some Pilgrim’s Progress? Or is it an eternal return of the same, a late-to-the-appointment repetition by one subject of an Other who, having arrived there earlier, decided to write the first map? Or is it post-modernity now, and we are all waiting with baited breath to see the next move?
Reality shows reveal their difference from conventionally scripted programs in the way the players gather in ever-changing, huddling networks, always strategizing. They are like hyper-self-conscious theorists of everyday life.
Sean Macdonald <smacdon2005@gmail.com>