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2. THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE EQUAL SIGN
- Wesleyan University Press
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THESECRE THISTORY OFTH EEQUA LSIGN TheLanguag eSchoolisknownforit sproductio nofmaterialtexts,bu tanequally importantdimension ,i nfac tth eon etha tdefine si ta sa school ,i sth ewa yi t constructstherelatio nbetwee nmaterialtextandliterarycommunity.Inthischap ter ,I readanumberofkeyworksoftheLanguag eSchooltoshowhowthemove ment fromtexttocommunit ytakesplacethroughtheus eofstrategiesofmultiple authorship.Avant-gardes ,inbreakin gdow nth eboundarie softh eautonomou s authorinfavorofboththeworkanditsreceptionwithinitscommunity,frequently usesuchstrategies,inwhichtheworkispositionedbetweentwoormoreauthors, towarda horizo no fcollectiv epracticeorpolitics .Example sofavant-gard emultiauthorship develope db ywritersoftheLanguag eSchooltakenupher einclud e thecollectiv eauthorshi prepresente dbyL=A=N=G=U=A=G=E an dotherliterar y journals;Legend,amultiauthoredexperimentalpoembyfiveauthors;twopoem s writtenunde rthetitl e"Non-Events "byStev eBenso nandmyself ;an dCarl aHarryman an dLy nHejinian' scollaborativ enove lTh eWide Road. MichelFoucault's concepto fdiscursiv eformationandJuli aKristeva' sdialecticofsymboli candsemiotic providecriticaltermsfortherelationoftextandcommunityenactedinworks oftheavant-garde.Theavant-garde'sculturalpolitic scontinu einthecontemporary formofthePoetic sListserv ,whichIdiscussintermsofarepresentativemonthof debate,seenasaformofmultiauthorship. AVANT-GARDEPARADO X Theavant-gard eha sbee ncharacterize da sbeingi na paradoxica l historicalsituation :whil ei tundertake sth eoverturnin go fth eprio raes thetic orde ra sanirreversibl eact,i tcannotsurviv eareentryint ohistory , asaformo frepresentation,withou tlosin geithercreativ epotentialo rcrit 2L =A=N=G=U=A=G=E BETWEEN DISCOURSEANDTEXT icalforce .A sa critique ofrepresentation ,i twoul dfollo wfromthi sargu ment ,theavant-gard eca nonl ycontradic titsel fasastabl eformo frepresentation .I nacademia ,th ehistorica lcontradictio no fthetenure dradica l ironicallyindicate ssuc ha devolutio no fpolitica lagency ,inmovin gfro m publicspher et oeducationa linstitution ,profession ,andtenure .I nradica l politics,Leo nTrotsk ytrie dt ocounte rth ehistorica liron yo fth eavant garde part ywit ha notio no fpermanen trevolutio ntha twoul db etrans parent tohistory,an dthatwouldnotrigidif yinanyformofrepresentation.1 Significanttendencie so fth ehistorica lavant-gard einEurop e(surrealis m centralamongthem)sa wtheirclaimstopoliticalagencyandculturalmeaning i nterm so fa dialectic so frepresentatio ni nthi ssense. 2 Bu twhil ea surrealistpolitic so fdesir eha sbee na centra lexampl eo fth eovercomin g ofstableformsofrepresentationi nthehistoricalavant-garde,it sparticular claimt ohistory ,a sa concret efor mo frepresentatio no ra nidentifiabl e style,risk ssuppressin git siconoclasti cmethod sonc ei tha sachieve drec ognition .A sa resul to fth eseemin ginevitabilit yofth ehistorica lreversal oftheavant-garde' scritiqueofrepresentation,it spoliticalclaimshaveoften beensee na sfailedo rirrelevant . Inhisaccountofthestructurallogi cofthis"failure,"PaulMann'sTheory Deatho f...