The EmBodyment of American Culture

225 Pages·2003·12.8 MB·English

by  Heinz Tschachler

Heinz Tschachler,
Maureen Devine, Michael Draxlbauer (Eds.)
The EmBodyment
of American Culture
AAA^
AustrianAssoctatkxiforAmericanStudies
American Studies in Austria
Lit
HeinzTschachler,MaureenDevine,
Michael Draxlbauer(Eds.)
The EmBodymentofAmerican Culture
This On©
G875-3W3-UHE8
American Studies in Austria
editedby
Prof. Dr. Astrid Fellner
(UniversityofVienna)
Prof. Dr. Klaus Rieser
(UniversityofGraz)
Prof. Dr. Hanna Wallinger
(UniversityofSalzburg)
Volume
1
Lit
HeinzTschachler, Maureen Devine,
Michael Draxlbauer (Eds.)
The EmBodyment
of American Culture
Lit
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Acknowledgments
Theeditorswishto acknowledge the financial supportofthe following
persons and institutions towards the organization ofthe 28th Annual
Conference ofthe Austrian Association for American Studies(AAAS)
andtowardsenabling speakersfrom sevendifferent countriestoattend:
BundesministeriumfurBildung, WissenschaftundKunst;Creditanstalt;
Dr Manfred Gehring Privatstiftung; Embassy ofthe United States of
America, Public Affairs Section, Vienna, Forschungskommission der
Universitat Klagenfurt; Karntner Universitatsbund; Osterreichische
Forschungsgemeinschaft, Rektor der Universitat Klagenfurt
(Generalsubvention Bank Austria). OurthanksalsogototheUniversity
ofKlagenfurt for a generous print subsidy. Special thanks to Aurora
Alonso, HelgaKlopcic,PetraStrohmaier,DagmarWernitznig, Eleonore
Wildburger, Simone Pansi, and Gerhard Paoloni fortheir helpwiththe
conference organization, to Brigitte Hipfl for giving invaluable advice
when the project was still in nascent state, and to the conference
participants for their enthusiuasm and support for this project Thanks
alsotoDr. Wilhelm Hopfand LIT-Verlagforacceptingthe manuscript
and forsuggestingthatthiscollectionbecomethefirstvolumeofanew
series,AmericanStudiesinAustria. Last but not least, personal thanks
toAuroraAlonsoforexpertlydoingtheformattingandlayouting
TableofContents
ListofIllustrations
Acknowledgments
HeinzTschachler
Introduction
Part1:CulturalStudies
JessicaJohnston
NormalizingDisciplines:OverweightSubjectivities
andResistances
LouisJ.Kern
VenusEnvy-PenisEnvy: AestheticAutoplasty,
GenitalReconstruction,andEroticEmbodiment
SarahHildebrandt
TheLastFrontier: BodyNormsandHairRemoval
PracticesinContemporaryAmericanCulture
janjagodzinski
ThePiercedandTattooedBody:
TheBrandedSkin-egoofPost-Oedipalization
AnnaSchober
BlueJeans.AlterationsofaThing,aBody,aNation.
KlausD.Heissenberger
AnAll-AmericanBody?BruceSpringsteen's
Working-ClassMasculinityinthe 1980s
GretaOlson
TheMonsterWithin: DemonicImagesofFood,Bodies
andtheDesiretoEatinRecentAmericanLiteratureon
EatingDisorders
Part2:TextualStudies
MonikaSeidl
"FramingIsabel":AboutSomefin-de-sieclePortraits
ofLadies
AstridM. Fellner
"bodyforbody":TheRepulsiveandEroticizedBodiesof
DjunaBarnes
PiotrZazula
TheWomanandtheCity:The"Feminine"Bodyin
ModemAmericanPoetry
MartinaAntretter
TheSurrenderoftheBodyinMaryOliverandAmy
Clampitt'sEcopoetry
Klaus-DieterGross
ViolenceinAmericanOperafromthe 1900sthrough
the 1950s
BerndHerzogenrath
TodBrowning'sFreaksandtheFraternity
oftheFragmented
Contributors
ListofIllustrations
1. June(ViolaDana)asevery-womwiinBlueJeans
2. Consumedbodiesandclothes
3. There-discoveryofthesexybody: MarlonBrando
4. Thefindingofa"resemblance".
Teddy-boyand-girlinWestGermany
5. Visiblydifferent EmbroideredJeans
1
Introduction
HeinzTschachler
The present volume contains a selection ofpapers that wereoriginally
given at the 28th annual conference of the Austrian Association for
American Studies (AAAS), October 26-28, 2001, at the University of
Klagenfurt, Austria. Theconferencetheme, whichwasbroadlydefined
as "The EmBodyment of American Culture", originated from the
organizers' conviction that American culture has literally become
fixatedonthebodyatthesametimethatthebodyhasemergedasakey
term within critical and cultural theory. The fixation on the body is
perhapsbestillustratedbythe factthatformorethanayeartheUnited
StatesofAmericawasmuchmoreinterestedinitspresident'sbodythan
inhispolitics,letaloneinthebodypolitic. Incontemporaryintellectual
debates the body is generally looked at as a symbol displaying and
revealing hidden 'truths' about the individual and his orherbehavior.
ThehorrifyingeventsofSeptember11,2001 addedatotallyunexpected
dimension to our original understanding of the conference theme.
Following Jessica Johnston, we had taken the term "embodiment" to
mean "to represent in bodily or material form. To deprive of
abstractness, to givetangibleordiscernible formto.Tomakepart ofa
systemorwhole; toincorporate."(TheAmericanBodyin Context321.)
Inthewakeof09/11,thestatusofthebodyshiftedfundamentally, from
a locus of wholeness and presence towards a figure of crisis and
fragmentation.ThefollowingthoughtsbytheAmericanlinguistGeorge
Lakoff are a good example both of the extent to which 09/1
fundamentallychanged theworld andofthe semantic shift oftheterm
"embodiment":
The World Trade Center was a potent symbol, tied into our
understandingofourcountryandourselvesinamyriadofways.Allof
whatweknowisphysicallyembodiedinourbrains.Toincorporatethe
new knowledge requires a physical change in the synapses of our
brains, a physical reshaping of our neural system. The physical
—violencewasno—tonlyinNewYorkandWashington.Physicalchanges
violentones havebeenmadetothebrainsofallAmericans.1
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