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Seeing and Perceiving

Synesthetic Perception, Embodied Intersubjectivity, and Gender Masquerade in Siri Hustvedt’s Works

Wagner, Diana

American Studies – A Monograph Series, Bd. 311

2021

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Abstract

Siri Hustvedt is one of the few contemporary US-American authors who consistently engages with the questions of seeing and perceiving in her work. However, despite the growing academic interest in her narratives, many aspects related to the depiction of these fundamental practices have been left unaddressed in the criticism. This study aims to fill this gap by examining the concepts of seeing and perceiving as represented in both her fictional and nonfictional writings published to date and argues that Hustvedt’s texts reveal the deep entanglement of the senses that inform a meaningful human experience. Drawing on phenomenology and feminist epistemology, this study highlights Hustvedt’s interest in embodied cultural habits and implicit forms of knowledge that play a crucial role in the ways people perceive the world and each other. Through the motif of gender masquerade, her narratives explore how the ideas about femininity and masculinity shape people’s perceptions and interactions.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

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Cover Cover
Titel III
Imprint IV
TABLE OF CONTENTS V
INTRODUCTION 1
1 SEEING AND PERCEIVING: KEY CONCEPTS AND APPROACHES 23
1.1 The Traditional Conceptions of Vision and the Mind-Brain Problem 25
1.2 The “Whole-Body-in-Relation-to-Its-Environment” Conceptions of Seeing 32
1.3 Intentionality and Embodiment: Phenomenological and Feminist Perspectives 49
1.4 The Gaze in Lacanian Psychoanalysis 56
1.5 Writing Seeing: Ekphrasis, Intermediality, and Literary Visuality 63
Concluding Remarks: “Ambiguity as a Philosophical Position” 68
2 SYNESTHETIC PERCEPTION 71
2.1 “Inter-Acting Senses” in Hustvedt’s Early Novels 83
2.1.1 SYNESTHETIC PERCEPTION OF PHOTOGRAPHS IN ‚THE BLINDFOLD‘ 83
2.1.2 THE INTERACTION OF THE VISUAL AND THE TACTILE SENSES IN ‚THE ENCHANTMENT OF LILY DAHL‘ AND ‚WHAT I LOVEd‘ 99
2.2 Synesthesia and Memory in ‚Memories of the Future‘ 109
2.2.1 SYNESTHESIA AND CARNAL AFFECTIVITY 113
2.2.2 NARRATIVIZING MEMORY 121
Concluding Remarks 138
3. EMBODIED INTERSUBJECTIVITY 141
3.1 Towards a Theory of Embodied Intersubjectivity 143
3.2 Embodied Intersubjective Practices 166
3.2.1 EMBODIED INTERSUBJECTIVE ‘MIXING’ OF THE AUTHOR, THE TEXT, AND THE READER 168
3.2.2 EMBODIED INTERSUBJECTIVE ‘MIXING’ OF THE ARTIST, THE ARTWORK, AND THE VIEWER 192
Concluding Remarks 219
4. GENDER MASQUERADE 221
4.1 Seeing (through) Gender: Feminist Discourse and the Motif of Masquerade 225
4.1.1 GENDER, MASQUERADE, AND PERFORMATIVITY: IRIS MASQUERADING AS KLAUS 236
4.1.2 MASQUERADE INVERSIONS: HARRY AND RUNE’S MASKED IMPROVISATION 242
4.1.3 ‚THE SUMMER WITHOUT MEN AND THE BLAZING WORLD‘: ‘HAPPY HOUSEWIVES’ VS. ARTISTS 247
4.2 Gender and/or Genius: The Mask as a “Mingled Reality” between Self and Other 254
4.2.1 MONSTERS AT HOME: ABIGAIL’S “PRIVATE AMUSEMENTS” AND HARRY’S THE BLAZING WOMAN 259
4.2.2 ‚MASKINGS' 265
Concluding Remarks 286
CONCLUSION 289
WORKS CITED 295
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 317
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