ENG4013 - Beginnings and Uncanny

I've been failing to write up the answers to the B&R questions -- at least formally to post on this blog. This week, however… Dr. M asked the following questions for B&R.

The Beginning

What are peritexts and in what way do they complicate the notion of beginnings? Provide an explanation in addition to an illustration.

Peritexts are things that come before the "official" beginning of the story -- before the first line of the narrative in question. Some peritexts are inherent in the construction of a book, such as covers, tables of contents, etc. Many books include some kind of summary on the cover or end flaps that establish the basic premise of the story. Some include quotes from reviews and establish reader expectations (or predispose the reader to a particular interpretation) of the book. Some authors may include prefaces, dedications, quotations or prologues before the primary text. The preface to the English edition of ENDO Shusaku's "Chinmoku" ("Silence") provides historical context and predisposes the reader to a particular interpretation of the story. (It is better read as a afterword than a preface.)

Peritexts complicate the notion of the beginning by introducing elements between the reader and the beginning. For example, the cover image of a book, the title of a book, story or poem, dedications and other peritexts pull the reader into parts of the story or set the stage for the story -- in effect, beginning before the beginning. So, the translator of "Chinmoku" gives historical background for the story and, in doing so, tells a major part of the story which involves a priest who sneaks into Tokugawa Japan after the Shimabara Rebellion, when Christianity has been outlawed. That background, and the more detailed overview of Tokugawa repression of Christianity in the preface, effectively tells the reader the major strokes of the story. The preface even delves into the complex crises of faith that the priest faces as he struggles with God's silence in the face of Tokugawa treatment of Christians, addressing (and telling the reader how to interpret) several key issues in the story. (For these reasons, this peritext is better left for a post-text.)

Define intertextuality and explain how this concept provides a means of complicating the idea of a simple beginning.

Intertextuality is when the author incorporates, consciously or not, allusions, references, quotations and other elements from other texts. Even a title can be intertextual. For example, a story titled "Beloved Son" calls to mind the Biblical quotation, "This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased," and establishes a subtext to the story. Other examples include Beckett using Proustian language in his early stories.

Intertextuality complicates the beginning by establishing these connections to predecessor texts. This calls into question whether the text at hand stands alone or whether it begins in the earlier texts.

The Uncanny

In B&R's discussion of Freud's notion of the double, B&R go on to identify a specific paradox associated with the double. What is the paradox and how does it illustrate the notion of the uncanny?

Freud says the double promises both immortality (through reproducibility) and death (of identity because now "I" can point to one outside "me" and say, "That's me"). B&R says this paradox of the double "undermines the logic of identity" -- making a sense of self uncertain, therefore being uncanny.

In what way is the word "uncanny" itself uncanny?

The root "canny" basically means to be skilled in something, but it takes on connotations of unnatural skill or knowledge. Therefore, because it carries the concept of unnaturalness, it carries its opposite within itself, making it doubled and therefore "uncanny."