CriticaLink | Spivak: Echo | Questions
- What is the status of Ovid's text in this essay? How does the Metamorphoses relate to the texts of Freud, Assia Djebar, Mahasweta Devi, and the theorists Spivak treats in the last pages?
- How do you understand the idea of the "deconstructive embrace"? Can you put together a deconstructive embrace among texts of your own choosing?
- Where is the deconstruction in this essay? Can you point to passages that exemplify a deconstructive orientation to reading?
- Can you think of specific examples of the kind of ethical dilemma Spivak is describing in this essay, in which an empowered observer is in a position to make claims about the others he/she is observing?
- Spivak claims that she wishes Freud's time period had not given him such an "abject script" for his thinking. Can you think of other theorists in a similar position? Who are your "flawed" philosophical heroes?
- How do you understand the connection between narcissism and knowing that Spivak sets up in this essay? In what way can wanting to know something be a form of narcissistic desire?
|
