CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2013
| Author | Velkov, Nikola |
|---|---|
| Title | Queer Performativity in the Abyss |
| Summary | The debate surrounding mise en abyme is a very interesting intersection between ontology and epistemology that asks for an ethical concern about sincerity. The questions that mise en abyme explores are integral to the theory of deconstruction and critical thinking. What this touches upon are debates about originality and the vicious circle of infinite mirror reflexions. These fields of thought, as approached from the thinking of affect theory, exhibit traits of reflexivity that can either surprise or let us anticipate the future. Through the anticipation and the representation of what has been expected, Eve Kosofsky-Sedgwick points out that what is represented is a strong theory of negative affects. In other words, the openness for a surprise welcomes reparative work as well – in the sense of knowledge production that points to what is missing or flawed in itself. This reparative work is illustrated in the process of hiding and showing within André Gide's use of mise en abyme. I argue that his work opens up varied moral debates surrounding the issues of sexuality, sexual identification, coming out, and the significance of personal freedom through the use of the potentialities of mise en abyme for open readings. The (inter-)personal reparative character of mise en abyme shows great potential for use in queer performativity and, as I show, reexamining mise en abyme's role as a catalyst in queer theory and queer performativity offers subtle ways of discovering identity and the multiplicity of the Self through concealing and revealing the underlying binaries through which we understand existence. |
| Supervisor | Timar, Eszter |
| Department | Gender Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2013/velkov_nikola.pdf |
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