Lacanian 'Pussy': Towards a Psychoanalytic Reading of Patrick McCabe's Breakfast on Pluto
Wish that there had been nothing to say...
Well if this doesn't go right along with the theme of literary criticisms being a way to give myself a migraine I don't know what does. I all honesty I think one of the most frustrating thing about this piece was once again the rampant psychobabble that filled the pages of this criticism. I do have to admit that that I really enjoyed a lot of the historical bits that were throughout the piece, but I'm a bit of a history buff. Part of the reason that I enrolled in this course was to get a more cultural grasp on Ireland and its very comforting to see something that I do know about (history and in a broader sense the political ramifications between the Irish Nationalists and Unionists) come back into play.
When it came around to the matter of "Sameness" I was actually more interested in looking up Seamus Heaney's poem "Whatever you say say nothing", (http://poetry.mirandasbeach.com/content/view/745/53/) and I just couldn't help but put most of my focus on that. This poem really is how things are, in many situations. Heaney writes quite a bit about the Troubles of Ireland and how it's affecting the everyday life of the Irish person.
Heaney comments "Yet I live here, I live here too, I sing, Expertly civil tongued with civil neighbours". In all honesty, and please don't flay me alive here, I can see similarities to what was happening in that time period to what occurred in several German occupied countries during WWII. It got to the point in Ireland where people were afraid to talk to each other, people that they had grown up next to and gone to school with were suddenly 'against' each other because they may be the wrong religion or the wrong political affiliation. For so long the " 'One side's as bad as the other,' never worse" mentality cited by Heaney caused a buildup of apathy that eventually exploded from a powder keg of political and religious bigotry that had gone unsaid for so long.
Heaney also mentions a group of people called the 'wee six' as well as Ballymurphy. The two are actually in different verses of the poem but I believe that the 'wee six' is a reference to the first six civilians killed at the Ballymurphy Massacre on August 9th of 1971. These people ranged from a catholic priest trying to help another wounded man to an Irish woman who had been standing across the street from the military base.
There are so many references to the secular behavior of Ireland made by Heaney its really impossible for me to break it all down right now... I know though that the poem was far more enlightening than the criticism.
As to my final project, I'm still tossing around a few ideas and trying to narrow down my option. I thought of doing a comic book representation of some of my favorite scenes from multiple books. I also thought about doing songs, that idea struck a chord (pun not intended) with me. I also had the idea to create a movie poster with a few tag lines for each book, or some type of movie trailer to go along with it. Like I said I'm still really tossing around ideas. Advice is more than welcome and wanted.
WS
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I'm so glad you took the time out to look at the Heaney poem. A lot of his poems deal with his deeply personal conflict with the Troubles in Northern Ireland. I would highly recommend getting a copy of Station Island if you're interested. In it, he sort of narrates his struggle with coming to terms of leaving Northern Ireland and its politics behind. As a poet, he was being pressured to "take a stand" politically, but like Pussy, he wanted to inhabit a more "marginal" space, more of an observer and artist than an active participant. There's a great line at the end where he "meets" the ghost of James Joyce (a fellow exile) who tells him to go and just "write." It's very inspiring.
ReplyDeleteAs to your project, I like the idea of a comic book. Perhaps it might be easier to stick with one book? I think it would be interesting to see a comic representation of Portrait or The Gathering, or some novel that "resists" easy comic narrativity. I also like the movie trailer idea. I think it would be interesting to see what you would highlight in your trailer to inspire people to pick up one of these novels.