A Matter of Style: Fiction and Difference

Linda Daley (RMIT University)

Philosophies of Difference Seminar

Wednesday 20th April, 6pm-7:30pm

Room 9.3.4A, Building 9, RMIT University City Campus

*free admission*

"A Matter of Style: Fiction and Difference"

Linda Daley (RMIT University)

Abstract:

In this paper I consider Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari’s conception of literary style as more than mere ornamentation in relation to Alexis Wright’s novel, The Swan Book (2013).  Wright speaks of the “bad history” of Aboriginal life in the nation-state in her novel as well as in interviews and essays.  Her aim is to “shape the rhythms that can be created in sentences” so as to “find out what makes a people,” especially those who “fall outside of life” (Wright, 2002). Her aim is no less political than literary. Wright’s pairing of life with writing chimes with the approach Deleuze and Guattari take toward literary works that engage with history through linguistic experimentation, and by that means find in history a reserve that can engender new possibilities in the future. I argue that Wright’s novel aligns with what Deleuze and Guattari call fabulation, a conception of fiction incorporating several dimensions and provokes a style necessarily collective and future-directed.

Bio:

Linda Daley is a senior lecturer in literary and communication studies at RMIT University and a member of the Centre for Communication, Politics and Culture. She has published on the intersections of philosophy and literature and other cultural forms in various journals including Contemporary Women’s Writing; Feminist Theory; and Film-Philosophy.

About PoD:

The Philosophies of Difference group (PoD) is a Melbourne-based group of scholars working in continental philosophy and interested in problems that have been marginal to the dominant traditions of Western thought. We engage with approaches including: critical philosophy of race, decolonial thought, feminist theory, Indigenous studies, philosophy of disability, philosophy of nature, queer theory, and trans philosophy. The first PoD seminar series will consist of weekly seminars beginning in March 2016. We especially welcome participation and contribution from women, people of colour, and other minority groups.

For further information email: [email protected]  

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