Discerning the Subject

226 Pages·1988·18.797 MB·English

by  Paul Smith

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foreword by John Mou/itt

Discerning the Subject
Theory and History of Literature
Edited by Wlad Godzich and Jochen Schulte-Sasse
Volume 55. Paul Smith Discerning the Subject
Volume 54. Réda Bensmaïa The Barthes Effect
Volume 53. Edmond Cros Theory and Practice of Sociocriticism
Volume 52. Philippe Lejeune On Autobiography
Volume 51. Thierry de Duve The Readymade: Marcel Duchamp, Painting,
and Modernity
Volume 50. Luiz Costa Lima The Control of the Imaginary
Volume 49. Fredric Jameson The Ideologies of Theory: The Syntax of History,
Volume 2
Volume 48. Fredric Jameson The Ideologies of Theory: Situations of Theory,
Volume 1
Volume 47. Eugene Vance From Topic to Tale: Logic and Narrativity in the
Middle Ages
Volume 46. Jean-François Lyotard Le Differend
Volume 45. Manfred Frank What Is Neostructuralism?
Volume 44. Daniel Cottom Social Figures: George Eliot, Social History, and
Literary Representation
Volume 43. Michael Nerlich The Ideology of Adventure, Volume 2
Volume 42. Michael Nerlich The Ideology of Adventure, Volume 1
Volume 41. Denis Hollier The College of Sociology
Volume 40. Peter Sloterdijk Critique of Cynical Reason
Volume 39. Géza von Molnâr, Romantic Vision, Ethical Context
Volume 38. Algirdas Julien Greimas On Meaning: Selected Writings in Semi-
otic Theory
Volume 37. Nicolas Abraham and Maria Torok The Wolf Man’s Magic Word:
A Cryptonymy
Volume 36. Alice Yaeger Kaplan Reproductions of Banality: Fascism, Litera
ture, and French Intellectual Life
Volume 35. Denis Hollier The Politics of Prose
Volume 34. Geoffrey Hartman The Unremarkable Wordsworth
Volume 33. Paul de Man The Resistance to Theory
Volume 32. Djelal Kadir Questing Fictions
Volume 31. Samuel Weber Institution and Interpretation
Volume 30. Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari Kafka: Toward a Minor
Literature
Volume 29. Peter Szondi Theory of Modem Drama
Volume 28. Edited by Jonathan Arac Postmodernism and Politics
For other books in the series, see p. 186
Discerning the Subject
Paul Smith
Foreword by John Mowitt
Theory and History of Literature, Volume 55
University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis
Copyright © 1988 by the University of Minnesota
AH rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Published by the University of Minnesota Press
2037 University Avenue Southeast, Minneapolis MN 55414.
Published simultaneously by Fitzhenry & Whiteside Limited, Markham.
Printed in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Smith, Paul, 1954-
Discerning the subject/Paul Smith; foreword by John Mowitt.
p. cm.-(Theory and history of literature; v. 55
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-8166-1638-8 ISBN 0-8166-1639-6 (pbk.)
1. Criticism—20th century. 2. Self in literature. I. Title.
II. Series.
PN94.S65 1988
801’.95’0904—dcl9 87-35926
CIP
The Venn diagram on p. 73 is reproduced from
Jacques Lacan, Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis,
with permission of the publishers: W. W. Norton & Company, New
York, and Tavistock Publications, London.
The University of Minnesota is an equal-opportunity
educator and employer.
Dedicated to Britton Harwood,
with gratitude and by way of recompense.

Contents
Foreword: The Resistance in Theory by John Mowitt
Acknowledgments xxv
Preface xxvii
Note on Terminology xxxiii
1. Ideology 3
2. Text 24
3. Deconstruction 41
4. Resistance 56
5. Unconscious 70
6. Paranoia 83
7. Autobiography 101
8. Semiotica 118
9. Feminism 133
10. Responsibilities 153
Notes 165
References 177
Index 183