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6. NEGATIVE EXAMPLES
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NEGATIVEEXAMPLE S Onthewa ytonegativity ,I wantt osto pt oexplor eit scentralityfo rthreephilo sophical tradition sa stheyintersec tth ehistor yo fth eavant-garde .Theworko f SlavojZizek,itmaybesaid,isaformofavant-gardeculturaltheoryevenifitdoe s notforegroun dexample sfro mth ehistorica lavant-gard etomak eit spoin t(al though example sfromth eavant-garde ,orexample sthatar eavant-gardeintheir implications,d oappea rvariouslythroughou thi swork) .Rather ,Zizekprivilege s examplesfro mthre earea so fspeculation :th eworld-historica lreconfiguratio no f theen do fth eCol dWarandthefal lo ftheEaster nBloc( amattero flive dexperience forZizek) ;filman dpopula rculture ,see nasakindo fsteady-statepsychological mode lofpostmoder ncultur ei ntheWest ;and,subtendinghi spsychoanalytic accoun tofculture,th epositio no fnatur einthetraditiono fGermanIdealis m afterKan tan dHegel .Ho wmigh tth eimplication so fthes ekind so fexampl ebe extendedt oa naccoun to fmodernis tan davant-gard epoetry,specificall yi nit s directtreatmento fnegativity?Movin gbackwardinintellectualhistory,I thenconsider th eforemos tanti-Hegelia naccoun tofnegativity ,Marti nHeidegger' searl y attacko nth econcep tofZeitgeis tan dhi sidentificatio no fit svulga rhistoricis m withth eprovocation softh ehistorica lavant-garde .AsIhav epreviouslyargued , thetheoryo ftheavant-gardemustmovepastaconventionalHegelianism,inwhich negativityi salway ssublate da seithera renewaloftraditiono rareinvestmentin institutions;i ns odoing,thehandwritte npoetr yo fRober tGrenieri sthekin do f radicallyantihistoricist ,limit-testin gwritin gthatwouldbestexemplif yHeidegger' s critique.I tisnecessary,however,thatGrenier'swork,whichwantstoremoveitself fromtheSymbolicOrderevenforabriefmomentinordertomakeitsantihistoricis t point,b ereturne dtohistory .Wha tkin do fnegativity ,i fwerejec tHegelia nrecu peration ,i sadequat et oth erehistoricizin go fsuc hafundamentallynegativ epo etics ?ForthisIturntotheplacemento favant-gardenegativityi nMichelFoucault's work,th eearl yan dcontinue dimportanc eo ffigure ssuc ha sRaymon dRoussel, THEORIES OF NEGATIVTY IN THE AVANT-GARDE 6 AntoninArtaud ,an dth eMarqui sd eSad efo rhi sconstructio no fdiscursiv eformations .Thewritingo fAID Sactivis tandartis tDavi dWojnarowic zoffer sa counterexample ofdiscursivenegativityinthissense:intestingthelimitsofexperience, Wojnarowiczsituateshimselfinsocialdiscoursesthatwouldhavebeenunavailable forhistorica lavant-gardes.WhileGrenier'ssource si na Heideggerianconcer nfo r Beingareenactedi nhi slyri cform so fpoeti csubjectivity ,thegenr eo fth elyri c moregenerallybracketsthehistorica linitsformoflimitsituations.Thelimittesting o fWojnarowicz ,o ntheothe rhand ,throughtheunrepresentabl eexperiences ofsexualit yan ddeath ,lead st oa narticulationofdecentere dsubjectivit yi nth e postmodernnovelthatpointsthewa ytowardreconcilin gtheavant-gardeandsocial agency. NEGATIVITY Whati snegativity,a sanelemen to fliteraryan dcultura lproduc tion ?I ftherei son ecriterio no fth eavant-gard ewit hwhic hit...