The Language of Empire and the Empire of Language Joyce and the Return of the Postcolonial Repressed

8/12/2019 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.

The Language of Empire and the Empire of Language Joyce and the Return of the Postcolonial Repressed

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