This thesis examines, in the light of Julia Kristeva's and Michel Foucault's recent theorisations of the productions of meaning, the work of two authors, Djuna Barnes and Audre Lorde, whose writing, it argues, sets up virtual spaces which can become places of resistance to the normative functioning of a given culture. Having sketched a philosophical background to notions of extra-linguistic space through reference to Plato, Kant, Hegel and Lacan, the first chapter considers what is distinctive in the theories of space provided by Kristeva, who (in Revolution in Poetic Language) develops Plato's notion of the chora functioning at times as a synonym for "semiotic articulation". The semiotic (le semiotique) is employed by Kristeva in a very precise way. It represents a convolution of expressions: operating as a drive system within the body that affects the structure of language (understood by her as the symbolic), as a "network of marks" that breaches the established sign systems, and as a revolutionary process that is responsible for the transgression and articulation of new meanings. Because both the semiotic and the symbolic are an inseparable part of the signifying processes of language, they together act as pathways of production. Of all these various processes and relations, the most remarkable one is that these two modalities are genderised: the semiotic chora is "enigmatic and feminine, th[e] space underlying the written"; while the symbolic is a "phallic function". That being so, one of the main features of this thesis is to articulate a feminist argument in relation to Kristeva, expounding on the notion of the spatial concept of the semiotic chora as a "resistance" to phallocentrism. The second chapter sets out to explore Foucault's spatial reasoning. My argument is that space is central to Foucault's concerns. This is demonstrated in several ways. First I suggest that Foucault's interpretation of a social construction of space is such that the subject is connected to its own fashioning processes. Second, by introducing space into his documentation of history, Foucault sets in motion a dispersion of society's master narratives. In respect of this, I argue that a methodology can be formed from Foucault's spatial term "heterotopia", where contingent sites, rather than causes, shape new discourses and open up possibilities of resistance against the techniques and tactics of domination. Because (as Foucault writes in The Order of Things) the heterotopia serves to "desiccate speech, stop words in their tracks, contest the very possibility of grammar at its source", it not only produces discourse, it challenges all boundaries and remains essentially fluid, escaping the matrix of historical category. The next three chapters consider the implications of Kristeva's definition of the semiotic chora which, as briefly mentioned above, is constituted by psychosomatic drives. Hence, mood plays a central role in the semiotic chora. I construct a reading of Nightwood the main tenet of which is to examine the textual variations of Kristeva's resistant and abject `language'. Located in melancholy, incest, and discontentednesse ach trope forms individual chapterse xploring ways in which the limits of language are transgressed. Taken as a whole, the theme running through the three chapters on Nightwood is that new literary formations arise when the abject as mood becomes structured and made meaningful by the symbolic. The last two chapters examine Foucault's position in relation to Kristeva's, and argue that Kristeva's and Foucault's spatial thinking questions the appearance of finality and completeness in language. These chapters also provide a practical application of Foucault's heterotopia, in which spaces between contingent sites are shaped by Lorde. It is argued that opportunities of resistance are provided by Lorde who, naming her disparate position against the master narratives that fail to recognise her, locates her difference from them. In conclusion, a feminist reading of Kristeva's chora and Foucault's heterotopia reveals an opening to resistant spaces and new paths of production of meaning. Chora and heterotopia, then, are not merely abstract philosophical concepts, but powerful tools of reading, as is shown by their application in the interpretation of the works of Barnes and Lorde.

This essay offers an analysis of Paul Auster's novel Invisible. The main focus of the essay is on the incestuous love affair between Adam Walker and his sister Gwyn. It is argued that the novel via this incestuous affair is addressing the issue of the unrepresentable, what Lacan termed the “real” that lies beyond the symbolic order. It is shown that the concept of the unrepresentable has been a central theme in Auster's work throughout his career. The main theoretical foundation of the essay is Julia Kristeva's theories regarding the “abject.” A summary of Kristeva's theories is therefore offered, as well as a summary of research into the incest taboo.

In utilizing Kristeva's psychoanalytic discursive theory of identity-formation within literary symbolic structures, my thesis seeks to follow the ontological processes involved in identity and signification in “subversive” signifying practices. Specifically, I'm interested in the ways modern poetry (such as Elizabeth Bishop) defies traditional patriarchal discourse as dominant literary devices while embracing plurality and inherent virtues of the female voice. My project will trace Kristeva's semiotic/psychoanalytic evolution from linguistic models of the signifying process, to particulars of her psychoanalytic/linguistic theories, and finally, will attempt to construct a space within modern poetry, where it can be said, the subject (poet) remains on trial/in crisis, and poetic expression reveals the “jouissance” or unspoken voice of repression. Bishop's poetry constantly questions reality, knowledge, sexuality and the self. I strive to expose how Bishop's poetry performs Kristeva's theory of the self in writing; her poetry puts at the core of the self a sense of loss in her attempts to express herself in language. I offer close readings of “The Fish,” “Questions of Travel,” and “One Art,” to show how Bishop's self exposes the unconscious process of poetic activity. Kelly Oliver articulates Kristeva's contributions to linguistics and psychoanalysis quite succinctly, “When we learn to embrace the return of the repressed/the foreigner within ourselves, then we learn to live with, and love, others” (14). / Master of Arts

I denna uppsats kommer jag analysera flickskildringen i två ungdomsromaner, Freaky green eyes och Two or three things I forgot to tell you av Joyce Carol Oates. Romanernas flickor bär på pendlande känslor av begär och avsky både inför sig själva och sina föräldrar. Därför har Julia Kristevas teorier kring abjektion som förklarar dessa motstridiga känslor som en del av subjektets tillblivelse varit fruktsamma för min analys. Flickorna söker tillgång till språket och makten genom en identifikation med sina pappor och manliga värden samt ett bortstötande av sina mammor och allt som representerar det kvinnliga. Men för att må bra och kunna uttrycka sin egen sanning krävs ett omfamnande av mammorna och den egna kvinnligheten vilket när de tillslut fullbordas får flickorna att hitta inre harmoni och sin egen röst.

<p>Gränsland is a poetry collection by the poet Eva Sjödin. One distinct theme among others in Gränsland is repulsion and attraction, disgust and fascination in interaction. There is also a direction inwards and towards something. This essay is an attempt to analyse this theme. I will apply Julia Kristevas theory on abjection, a theory that explains these contradictory feelings and movements of the subject. The first part of the analysis is about how abjection is expressed through the ego in situations concerning eating, sickness and hunger and the colour red. The last part shows how the text itself expresses abjection, and becomes abject, through its explicitness and repetitive form.</p>

Gränsland is a poetry collection by the poet Eva Sjödin. One distinct theme among others in Gränsland is repulsion and attraction, disgust and fascination in interaction. There is also a direction inwards and towards something. This essay is an attempt to analyse this theme. I will apply Julia Kristevas theory on abjection, a theory that explains these contradictory feelings and movements of the subject. The first part of the analysis is about how abjection is expressed through the ego in situations concerning eating, sickness and hunger and the colour red. The last part shows how the text itself expresses abjection, and becomes abject, through its explicitness and repetitive form.

This thesis is an examination of depression in D.H. Lawrences Last Poems in the light of Julia Kristevas theory of depressive discourse. Kristeva theorizes in Black Sun that depressed persons have difficulty communicating through ordinary symbolic means or language. In order to communicate, they must find new linguistic means to overcome sadness. Kristeva calls depressive discourse this attempt to overcome sadness through poetic language. Writing and art, and specifically poetry, can be depressive discourse, thereby allowing a certain level of recovery to occur. Once an individual can write about his or her sadness, the sufferer may experience a reprieve from depression, if only temporarily. D.H. Lawrences Last Poems, written in the last six months of his life and published posthumously, shows the crisis of depression in a dying man. The citation in the title is from Aldous Huxleys 1932 introduction to a volume of Lawrences letters, describing Lawrences change in mood in the last few months of his life (Huxley 30). Lawrences particular use of rhythm, tone and imagery can be identified as an attempt to overcome this crisis through writing. The poems exhibit specific formal features such as irregular metre, sonorous sound and hypnotically repeated words and phrases, as well as images of darkness, falling, dying, oblivion, and heaven and hell, that, coupled with the knowledge of his personal state, can be interpreted as features of depressive discourse. Using particular examples of depressive discourse within D.H. Lawrences Last Poems, this thesis will show that Lawrence was attempting to overcome his depression through poetry.

This thesis is an examination of depression in D.H. Lawrences Last Poems in the light of Julia Kristevas theory of depressive discourse. Kristeva theorizes in Black Sun that depressed persons have difficulty communicating through ordinary symbolic means or language. In order to communicate, they must find new linguistic means to overcome sadness. Kristeva calls depressive discourse this attempt to overcome sadness through poetic language. Writing and art, and specifically poetry, can be depressive discourse, thereby allowing a certain level of recovery to occur. Once an individual can write about his or her sadness, the sufferer may experience a reprieve from depression, if only temporarily. D.H. Lawrences Last Poems, written in the last six months of his life and published posthumously, shows the crisis of depression in a dying man. The citation in the title is from Aldous Huxleys 1932 introduction to a volume of Lawrences letters, describing Lawrences change in mood in the last few months of his life (Huxley 30). Lawrences particular use of rhythm, tone and imagery can be identified as an attempt to overcome this crisis through writing. The poems exhibit specific formal features such as irregular metre, sonorous sound and hypnotically repeated words and phrases, as well as images of darkness, falling, dying, oblivion, and heaven and hell, that, coupled with the knowledge of his personal state, can be interpreted as features of depressive discourse. Using particular examples of depressive discourse within D.H. Lawrences Last Poems, this thesis will show that Lawrence was attempting to overcome his depression through poetry.

I uppsatsen undersöker jag hur huvudkaraktären Mimmi, under vägen att etablera sig som författare och i mötet med Hugo, söker nå balans mellan intellekt och kropp. Utifrån Julia Kristevas teori om abjektionen utforskar jag på vilka sätt Mimmi förhåller sig ambivalent till viljan att vara å ena sidan innesluten, å andra sidan avgränsad, och hur i sin tur synen på kroppen, dess samverkan med själen samt synen på andra kroppar präglas av begär och äckel. Som metodisk språngbräda använder jag paradoxen utifrån Kristina Fjelkestams definition. Med hjälp av den jag fokuserar på motsättningar och dubbeltydigheter hos karaktären och i texten utifrån frågeställningen: hur ser spelet ut mellan Mimmis förhållande till kroppen (Kvinnan) respektive själen (Konstnären), och är det möjligt för henne att förena kropp och själ i något som skulle kunna bli en fullbordad Människa?

Denna uppsats diskuterar Julia Kristevas begrepp det semiotiska i Pipilotti Rists audiovideoinstallation Tyngdkraft, var min vän, som visades på Magasin 3, Stockholm konsthall, 2007. Verket består av ett rum med upphöjda mattskulpturer där betraktaren kan ta av sig skorna och lägga sig ned för att ta del av två filmer som visas i taket ovanför matthögarna. Största delen av filmerna utspelar sig under vattenytan där en kvinna och en androgyn man utforskar ett universum fyllt av sinlighet, närvaro, lekfullhet, kropp, drifter och lugn -ett paradis fyllt av växtlighet och där tyngkraften ibland minskat. Bilder i starka färger och ljus, kaleidoskopiska formationer och ett till viss del uppbrutet bildspråk, möter åskådaren. Det semiotiska beskrivs av Kristeva som den driftsmässiga dimensionen av språket som är kopplat till ett förspråkligt stadium hos det preoidipala barnet innan det hunnit utvecklats till ett eget subjekt. Med detta menar hon den värld nära moderskroppen som barnet befinner sig i och där en icke-språklig kommunikation sker mellan mor och barn. Dock står denna värld inte helt utan lag och ordning eftersom modern (och barnet) alltid befinner sig under en viss språklig och kulturell lagbundenhet, kallad den symboliska ordningen, vilken kommer in även i det semiotiska. Det semiotiska och det symboliska är därför nära kopplade till varandra och kan inte existera utan varandra. Det semiotiska lever kvar även efter att det lilla barnet utvecklats till ett subjekt och trätt in i den språkliga, symboliska ordningen. Detta visar sig som semiotiska spår i bland annat konsten, och när det kommer till språket ser vi det främst i poesin, som är ett mindre lagbundet språk som rör sig i gränslandet mellan det semiotiska och det symboliska. Eftersom Tyngdkraft, var min vän inte innehåller något talat eller skrivet språk görs i uppsatsen en koppling mellan detta verk och det semiotiska genom utforskandet av olika element i verket. Dessa element är tyngdkraften, jorden, vattnet, bildspråket, upprepningen, rytmen, moderskroppen, paradiset, affekterna och drifterna samt gränslandet natur och kultur.