Antigone, Interrupted

342 Pages·2013·1.73 MB·English

by  Professor Bonnie Honig

ANTIGONE, INTERRUPTED
Sophocles’Antigoneisatouchstoneindemocratic,feminist,andlegal
theory, possibly the most commented-upon play in the history of
philosophy and political theory. From Hegel and Lacan through to
JacquesDerrida,JudithButler,PeterEuben,ArleneSaxonhouse,Lee
Edelman, Joan Copjec, Slavoj Žižek, and many more, interpreters
turntotheplayforinstructionregardingissuessuchascivildisobedi-
ence,theclashbetweenpublicandprivate,thehubrisofsovereignty,
and the politics of psychoanalysis, gender, sexuality, and mourning.
Bonnie Honig’s rereading of the play thus intervenes in a host of
literatures and unsettles many of their governing assumptions.
Referencestotheplayanditsheroinealsocirculateincontemporary
politicalculture,featuringindiscussionsofArgentina’sMadresofthe
Plaza, West Germany’s response to the Baader-Meinhof group as
depicted in the 1978 film Germany in Autumn, Butler’s theorization
of “precarious life,” and recent work by others following 9/11 in
political theory and cultural studies on mourning as a resource for a
politics that rejects sovereignty. Analyzing the power of Antigone in
thesepolitical,cultural,andtheoreticalcontexts,Honigexploreswhat
shecallsthe“Antigone-effect,”whichmovesthosewhoenlisttheplay
fromanactivistpoliticsthatquestsforsovereignpowerintoalamenta-
tionalpoliticsthatbemoanstheexcessesofsovereignpower.
However, Honig argues, this effect can be overcome by way of a
new reading of the Antigone. Read in historical context, and in
dialogue with contemporary political, literary, feminist, and queer
theory,Sophocles’greattragedyofferssomethingmorethanamodel
for resistance politics or a mortalist humanism of “equal dignity in
death.”Instead,Honigwritesonbehalfofanagonistichumanism:a
politics of counter-sovereignty and solidarity which emphasizes
equalityin life.
bonnie honig isNancyDukeLewisProfessorofModernCulture
and Media and Political Science at Brown University. She was
formerly Sarah Rebecca Roland Professor in Political Science at
Northwestern University and Research Professor at the American
Bar Foundation, Chicago. She is an award-winning author whose
work has been translated into numerous languages and is read by a
wideinterdisciplinaryaudiencecomposedofscholarsandresearchers
inpoliticaltheory,philosophy,classics,genderstudies,culturalstud-
ies, American studies, comparative literature, critical theory, media
studies, law, and international relations.

ANTIGONE, INTERRUPTED
BONNIE HONIG
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Honig,Bonnie.
Antigone,interrupted/BonnieHonig.
pages cm
isbn978-1-107-03697-0(Hardback)–isbn978-1-107-66815-7(Paperback)
1. Politicalscience. 2. Politicalscience–Philosophy. I. Title.
ja71.h6192013
320.01–dc23
2012038176
isbn978-1-107-03697-0Hardback
isbn978-1-107-66815-7Paperback
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websitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate.
ForNaomi,whoseinterruptionshavetaughtmemorethanIcansay...
Ifwewishtodojusticetotheconflictsthatsurroundusandlead
toonetragedyafteranother,wecandonobetterthantokeepthe
example of Antigone constantly in mind.
James Tully
[W]e are, in our ethical situation, more like human beings in
antiquity than any Western people have been in the meantime.
Bernard Williams
It is not a good time for Antigone.
German television executive in Germany in Autumn
Contents
Preface page ix
Acknowledgments xiv
Introduction 1
part i: interruption
Introduction to Part I 13
1 Tragedy, maternalism, ethics: toward an agonistic humanism 17
2 “Antigone versus Oedipus,” I: feminist theory and the turn to
Antigone 36
3 “Antigone versus Oedipus,” II: the directors’ agon in Germany in
Autumn 68
part ii: conspiracy
Introduction to Part II 85
4 Mourning, membership, and the politics of exception: plotting
Creon’s conspiracy with democracy 95
5 From lamentation to logos: Antigone’s conspiracy with language 121
6 Sacrifice, sorority, integrity: Antigone’s conspiracy with Ismene 151
Conclusion 190
About the Cover Image 198
vii
viii Contents
Notes 201
Bibliography 279
Index 311