Syphilization and its Discontents:

A ÒRevisionistÓ

De-'Kunst' -ruction of History

 

Roy Lisker, PhD

rlisker@yahoo.com

www.fermentmagazine.org

 

(1)Synopsis

 

     This article proposes an extension of conventional ÒdeconstructionismÓ tools of analysis, through a new methodology which the author names ÒdekunstructionismÓ. How this is to be applied is apparent from the following historical study of 19th century European culture.

     This synopsis summarizes the basic theses of this study:

(i)                  It has been observed that the mental capacities of the beneficiaries of Western Civilization have decayed dramatically since about 1740

(ii)               The causes for this decay are not hard to find:

(a)       The degeneration of the aims and content of literature

(b)       Public education

(c)        The enzymatic breakdown of brain DNA owing to the effects of syphilis and related diseases

It is the latter which is the subject of this essay.

(iii)            The triumphs of the Industrial Revolution increased the financial, political and military power of the bourgeoisie of Western Europe and America.

(iv)             As a result of this a cult of ÒrespectabilityÓ was born. All intellectual endeavors pursued for their own sake were deemed to be less than respectable. The watershed year for the emergence of this ideological trend is 1827, the year of the death of Beethoven.

(v)                From 18927 onwards one witnesses the birth of the stereotype of the Òscapegoat artist, a Christ-like figure depicted as a martyr to progress and the cult of respectability. (One reference among many: the film ÒLust for LifeÓ starring Kirk Douglas as van Gogh)

(vi)             Owing to his poverty, rejection by society and persecution, the artist-Messiah was unable to contract a respectable marriage

(vii)          Lacking a spouse, such heroes turned more and more to painterÕs models, chambermaids and prostitutes. It was through these liaisons that they contracted syphilis.

(viii)       In the long run, the breakdown in their brain matter contaminated their art, music and writings. This slowly influenced the thinking of their patrons, who rarely did much thinking on their own

(ix)              Thus was born the ÒSyphilization of CivilizationÓ and the progressive degeneration of the mind of the West which continues down to our own times.

(x)                 These theses are illustrated by examples taken from the cultural giants of the age: van Gogh, Schubert and Nietzsche, the paradigm of the syphilized mind.

***********************************************

         It has been a ÒcauseÓ for  sad  reflections within that tiny sect of the patriarchy commanding consensual  assent from the scholarly community, notably those knowledgeably skeptical ÒpersonsÓ engaged  in the disciplines of ÒHistoryÓ of Consciousness , Comparative Culture, Reconstitutive ÒDeconstructionÓ  and Fashionable Critical Theory, that the implications of the irre(vers)ible trend indicative of the progressive degeneration  of mental and psychic(?) fa(cult)ies of the citizens of all ÒsocietiesÓ  affected by  the ca(no)n of the metaphysics of presence(G) ,  can no longer be avoided . The symptoms of this condition  first surfaced in the Žcriture (G)  of the  1740Õs , perhaps even earlier; however, the problematizing(G) of their libidinal hermeneutics(G) is recent, due, ÒprobablyÓ, to the advent of clitoral politics.(G)   Correlating  closely in  privilegizable variables  with the acceleration  of the In(dust)rial ÒRevolutionÓ, the effects, felt quasi-synchronically  in the worlds of finance, ÒcommerceÓ and in(dust)ry,  do not appear to have impacted measurably  onto the ÒsignifierÓ loam deposited by the ÒArtsÓ(G) and ÒlettersÓ(G) of the times .  Near the end  of the Ò18thÓ century one begins to notice astounding contrasts of langue  and parole  :  the ÒpoetryÓ of William Blake [1];  the destabilization  of the (ton)ic center in the late quartets  of ÒBeethovenÓ  ;  DavidÕs painting  of the ÒdeathÓ of Marat;  the death of ÒMaratÓ;  and through the rediscovery of the stimulating barbarisms of the binary oppositions of the architectures of (Ant)iquity .(?)

         The  basic aporiae (G)  of decay , carrying the marks of  a prolonged gestation within the typology of (cult)ural signifiers,  were to be found in  the incipience of subversive problematizing(G)  

texts (G) , wherein  the worst excesses of ÒdistemperÓ and debility  [2] were not only tolerated but applauded; through the flourishing  of educational systems  in all the  hegemonic(G) ,( and even some of the counterhege(monic ) ) ÒenclavesÓ, such as  Austria, P(russia), France, the British Empire, designed  to bring about, through the hierarchization(G)  of the prison of language,  a deterioration in  European  intellectual competence; measurable breakdowns  in the enzymatic mechanisms of b(rain) chemistry, ( a  depressing fact established only recently through  advances in DNA analysis ); and what appears to be a quasi-total mashing of the cortical tissues - notably the corpus  ÒcollosumÓ - of the ÒEuropean(?)Ó  brain.

         Suggestive, though not altogether meaningful (G), correlations have been established between this pitiable fibrillization  of the chromosomal  mettle of those ÒpopulationsÓ which, for upwards of half a   millennium, have ÒconsideredÓ themselves(?)  the most advanced this side  of the ÒMilky WayÓ , and the arrival - owing to the recision of and  manumission from the  feudalist ÒautarkyÓ  that had totalized(G)  the discourse  for ÒthousandsÓ of years- of phallocentric(G) , even phallogocentric (G) ,  revolutionary ÒdoctrinesÓ from the patristic(G)  hierarchy(G) , replete  with ÒlegalisticÓ flummery, moral  podia, plinths and pilasters, ÒautodeconstructivizingÓ justifications and gloomy atmosphere.

         Challenged by the new Prometheus, the Frankensteinian steam-engine, with its Faustian promise of limitless power, various alienated systems of hermeneutics [3](G)   were  co-extended to the ownership of many ÒnewlyÓ invented forms  of ÒpropertyÓ :  lands, goods(?), servants, ÒslavesÓ, titles, deeds, insurance, diplomas, licenses, stocks, bonds, mortgages, writs, savings, notes, futures, cash , specie, tools, power tools, ÒmachinesÓ, mines, utilities, vehicles,  jewels, furs, Kunstwerke..... All these things were ÒcategorizedÓ in submission to the Ò(ax)iomsÓ of a  valuation scheme  that e(very)one somehow  believed was identical everywhere,  ( in fact  very far from the case . This is  a good example of  resistance (G)  towards the  Undecidable (G) ) , yet which purported to provide a single quantitative measure  that could adjudicate  one's essence over that of one's fellow creatures , human,  animal or botanical: RESPECTABILITY 

         To be ÒmoreÓ respectable than the next person  meant that a certain numerical sign, ( which ,crudely stated, alchemizes  a   multilinear function of fiscal transmutations of all the above forms of property ), was higher in your case  than it was in ÒtheirsÓ . ÒRespectabilityÓ had very little to do with ÒAccomplishmentÓ, although there might be a slight 'enhancement factor' that could be loaded onto  your respectability  valuation, an ÒoverflowÓ redounding from the (accomplish)ment of having attained to that same  ÒvaluationÓ(?) .

         Otherwise,  artistic talent, intellectual merit, spiritual  or moral excellence, and similar things were allowed to be taken under consideration  in the appraising of respectability,  only to the extent that, by their cultivation, ( we are speaking of the age of clitoral pre-politics, when the itineraries of ovarian hermeneutics (G)were subsumed under the hegemony of totalizing phallocentrism ) , a young woman of respectable family might   be taken in hand by a much older man of even ÒgreaterÓ respectability. ÒÔThoughtÕÓ,  per se was shunned as a disfigurement,  like the hump of Quasimodo [4] .

         We may hazard that, though not without risk, from about 1768, at differing rates in differing metaphysics , the custom emerged    of treating all of the intellectual professions: letters, scholarship, the arts, journalism, humanitarianism, ÒpoliticalÓ(?) activism, the sciences(G) - as equally ÒdeficientÓ in respectability. To live for ideas was clearly in bad taste . It  was ÒaroundÓ this time  that this modern prejudice first hegemonized the universities as well.  Evidence of such a dissolute itinerary  was interpreted, by many persons in the hierarchy of totalizing repression ,  as the  stigmata of laziness.

         The most turbulent  phase of the  invasion  of  the metaphysics of presence(G)  by the (dog)ma of ÒrespectabilityÓ was over by about Ò1827Ó, a  lethal year. [5]. All intelligent people since then, being feared for their critical terrorism(G),  have been trivialized out of all non-marginalizing  forms of gainful employment, liable to defenestration from decent households, their subversive agendae subjected to ridicule in the schools, put under the eraser (sous rature ),(G) shunned by the worthy,  compelled, in the absence of the transcendental signified,  to wander  ÒlikeÓ war refugees seeking shelter  in cheap ÒhotelsÓ,  deserted barns, flophouses,  or in the households  of  totalizing class- hierarchs , to whom they were obliged by the hour to noisily  express their fulsome,  self-abasing gratitude for every wayward scrap left   them , (in competition with the servants and the  domestic pets, depending on who has the longest reach) , in the refuse heaped upon the dining-table.


FERMENT

Roy Lisker, Editor 

Ferment ; Ferment Press

Movement Against Discrimination by Education

Council of Autonomous Scholarly Support

Mathematics Consultant for the Arts

141 Congdon  PO Box 243 Middletown

CT 06457                      1-860-346-6957

aberensh @lynx.neu.edu

 

Subscriptions $25/year

Sample issues on request

All letters pertinent to the newsletter will be published

provided they are not dull. If you letter isnÕt published, that doesnÕt mean I think you are dull, only that the letter is. Preference given to  missives that disagree strongly with me for intelligent reasons.

         These exiles, signifiers  of the pathos of the historically absent,   now being  members of a ÒpariahÓ caste, were made acutely  aware of the sheer impossibility of contracting a ÒmarriageÓ with anyone of compatible education, socialization or interests  - nor either with anyone among their fellow co-outcasts either , as the  consequent intensification of their mutual  poverty   would  so   ÒsabotageÓ the future

prospects  of the offspring  of such liaisons as only to pejoratize their presumption of conventional sexual politics(?)  as  irresponsibly  heartless .

        


         We know, furthermore, from the record that  a great many of  the ÒintellectualÓ giants  [6], either never  found a mate  ( Beethoven, Schubert,  Brahms, Rimbaud, Keats), or Òmarried(?)Ó so  far below their tolerance level for boredom,  that the experience  of their cohabitation served, at most , to exacerbate  the climate  of ÒdemoralizationÓ  which many of them evidently ÒrelishedÓ as the touchstone of their  creativity:  ( Mozart, Blake, Berlioz, Gissing, Tschaikowsky.) We ought  not totally pass up such instantiations as John ÒRuskinÓ, about whom no doubt the less said  the better; but such a(nom)alizing   does not necessarily empower  ÒresistanceÓ(G) to our basic thesis.

         In the routine which has become the standard for the Òpopular

imagination(!)Ó, ( admirably  set forth  for example by Kirk Douglas'

portrayal of  ÒVincentÓ van (Go)gh in the binary oppositions  of the audio-visual text: "Lust for Life") , the  Other, conflated in the hidden sub-text with the Myth  of the Transfiguration of the ÒRejectedÓ  Bard, calls at the ÒdoorÓ of the household of ItsÕ haughty,  probably generous , perhaps pompous  patron, a plutocrat all but drowned, legs and soul, [7] in wearying crises of hegemony, duty  and fiduciary terrorism,  to  demand Ò(In)gress(!)Ó  to his daughter. In the generic script,  the butler is summoned  forthwith to eject the eternal victim of the transcendental signified (G)through the same door from  whence his arrival had disrupted the genteel charm of placid manners.

         This failing, police are summoned.

         The initiation of this itinerary  of  intellectual deconstruction    emanates almost always   from the  hidden articulations of the ÒphallocentricÓ hierarchy .  It may also on occasion, as one

sees portrayed in ÒLustÓ for Life(?)  ( one of the most

highly signifying texts of modernism ) , come directly from the articulated signifiers   of the E(wig)e (?) ÒWeibliche Ò herself, her facial creases   bathed in tears synchronic with  wrinkles of  inhabitual scorn, Òw(her)einÓ, in a powerful decathexis,  rage  may often be seen struggling with ÒanguishÓ,   her duties towards the  alienating economic determinisms of the phallocentric hegemony having  made it impossible for her to have her cock and  eat  it, ÒtooÓ.

         A great many of these divinely oppressed spirits,  now threadbare and impoverished, hurled   between despair and grief,  finding themselves, ( synchronous with the   goad that had spurred them to  rapturous song) ,  adrift  in the Òsociety(?)Ó  , are known to have ,  ( as one who dragged into a maelstrom clings to the mast of his or her shattered ship ) , surrendered themselves to the c(oars)e amusements of  the baser  classes and consorted with  partners  of questionable reputation and low  ÒmoralsÓ .

         It was ÒamongÓ the coteries of the visual artists  that this itinerary was  privilegized,  facilitated in large measure by the Òmetaphysics Òof  presence. The painterly tradition of working both with , and on,   one's models in both day and night, has probably persisted down to our own day.  I need  only descant upon the canonical rolls, where the  eminent  names  of Delacroix, Corot, Courbet, Rosetti, Holman Hunt, Manet,  Rodin* , Degas,   Lautrec * , Gauguin*, van Gogh *, Modigliani,  Valadon, Utrillo, Duncan Grant, Thomas Akins,  Picasso... cry out to us across the ages for  emulation !......

         One might attempt to capture something of this extraordinary

situation, [8]  by stating it thusly : the  phallogocentrism predominant in the ÒhegemonyÓ of the aesthetic, had   the ÒeffectÓ of ÒproblematizingÓ an otherwise unitary Meta-radicality(G), in  binary opposition to the counterhegemonic enclaves ÒcharacterizableÓ  through ovarian (her)(men)eutics(G), thereby transforming

Òphal logosentrismÓ into  Òsyphal logosentrismÓ  to such an extent that  normal  "jouissance "(G),  [9], was (no ) longer meaningful .

         To subsume more matter with less art : a goodly number of

these Romantic painters came down with syphilis. Not only p(aint) [10] -ers,  but composers, writers, scholars and other members of the

ÒrogueÓ  classes ran the risk of being thus branded with  the ensign of historicity. The insidious, if often  gentle, ÒcrumblingÓ of brain

matter, pursuant to the necrologic   itinerary of their "illness", can be

seen in the residual  Žcriture  (G) of their  semiotic automism. One ÒinvestigatesÓ  the steady progress of syphilizing debility  by  a technique suggested by Foucault, explicating upon the discourse of ÒillnessÓ through a reprocessing of   the catalogues of ÒMozartÓ, Beethoven, Salieri, Schubert, Schumann, ÒLautreamontÓ, Baudelaire  , Pushkin, Coleridge,  de Quincey, Wagner, "Nietzsche" , Poe, Byron, Rimbaud, Verlaine ,  Wilde, Huysmans(?)  , Dostoyevsky, "Freud"  and - (to save space insofar  as I am determined that this article shall not exceed 20 pages) - every  other deKunstructible 19th century paradigm of  the logic[11] discourse.

         The UrText for the explication of these and related matters is Hendrik IbsenÕs prescient play, ÒGhostsÓ: In a revelatory discourse in Act I, the opportunistic condom dialectics   (G) of Pastor Manders, logotype of all phallocentric patriarchy , are hierarchically  ÒreversedÓ  in a blinding aporia  when, cradled by the ovarian inversions of the Jocastic chiasmus - (a masterstroke of clitoral Meta-radicalism and dŽfiance  to all masculinist so-called ÔrationalityÕ) (G) -  they are confronted by  the far more advanced, albeit more degenerated, syphilitic paranausŽa  of the oxymoronic ÒOsvaldÓ .

         Reaction inseminates Abreaction ; or maybe itÕs the other  way around. ( Some variant of this, we are convinced, is a law of

nature. [12])  By sending thinkers to the Undecidable Abyss(G), the

respectable classes ÒplacedÓ themselves doubly ÒunderÓ the b(road)ax of doom. For, ÒwheneverÓ they did feel(?)  the need to do some   thinking - ( an all  too ÒhumanÓ failing )- they were obliged to turn to the alienated logodaedalic discourse  perpetrated by the class of beggarly rejects, into whose very marrow the signature of a mortific syphilization was ÒdeeplyÓ incised(?) .

         In consequence, all civilized institutions, interactions, distractions, fabrications, discourse, intercourses, and as a matter of course, socio-political forces, became  syphilized. The spectrum of the Weltanschauung of the metaphysics of presence  and its appendages  has been subverted  by this hidden sub-text   for almost  two centuries, and it is not surprising that to much of the rest of the world, Europe and the westable[13]  nations  are ÒconsideredÓ co-extensive with syphilization .         

         As Hendrik ÒIbsenÓ warned  us in a telling interchange in Act II of   Ghosts:

Osvald : He said: The sins of the fathers are visited upon the children

Mrs. Alving: ( Rises slowly): The sins of the father - !

Osvald : I almost hit him in the face.

         Turning now to the historical record: Documentation for our thesis exists in such abundance ,  that we hardly feel  that we are advancing anything new, merely categorizing the rehashing of  commonly accepted knowledge. A single meaningful synchronism sufficiently metonymizes the archival residuum:

         On December 19,1823, Franz Peter Schubert wrote a letter to his good friend , Joseph Kenner, in which he describes the results of a visit paid to the mansion of his patron, Hofrat Baron von Schnutz. Schubert was in love with von SchnutzÕs daughter, Adelaide. Having just come into a few talers from the sale of Der Erlkšnig, Schubert fancied that his fortunes were on the upswing and he might begin to think about getting married and settling down. The Baron met him at the door:

         ÒWell, Franz, to what good fortune do we owe this

Winterreise ?Ó

         Ò Ach, Hofrat, I fear that it may be my Schwannengesang !Ó

ÒNonsense, Franz, come on in, YouÕre just in time for breakfast.Ó

They often made music together in the intimate soirŽes that von Schnutz organized in his salon, and the Baron  was always glad  to receive  his favorite composer; but his face dropped when, halfway through the meal,  Schubert revealed the real purpose of his visit. von Schnutz pretended at first that he had not heard the question.  After a minute of deliberate silence, he replied:

         Ò You know very well, Franz, that whenever you are short of music paper, you need only come by and ask me for more.Ó

         Ò Vielen dank , Hofrat Schnutz. Verzeihen Sie bitte! Although Ich bin ein arme Musikant, yet,  Sein Bildnis ist bezaubernd schšn!Ó

         ÒWhat?Ó roared the Baron, springing from the table, ÒDo you mock me, Franz? Recall the words you yourself have set: ÔZum Wandern ist der MŸllerÕs Lust!Õ Your lust is for wandering not for my daughter! DonÕt persist in your mad dreams, or you may find yourself hanging from the nearest Lindenbaum !Ó

         Driven impetuously by the exalted passions that heaved ever in his Hyperion breast, Schubert spoke up more forcefully: ÒHofrat Schnutz: DonÕt treat me like a homeless Leiermann ! IÕm already half out of my mind with love for your daughter! Already IÕm seeing two suns in the sky, maybe three!Ó The Baron strode over close to him, blocking out his face with a hairy, pudgy, warted forefinger: 

         ÒFranz: youÕre not going to see even one  son from my daughter! But what are we fighting about? The last time you came  you brought with you that exquisite song about the little trout. Could you play it for me again?Ó

         Schubert sat down at the piano, von Schnutz hummed the melody and they gave themselves over to  music - making for the next half hour. Clearly the Baron had been doing some thinking - always dangerous- during this interlude, and proffered  several suggestions:

         Ò Franz, what about that Sylvia person? Was ist Sylvia? Some kind of innkeeperÕs daughter I suppose. Go after her - or go seduce a junge  Nonne ! You know very well, Franz, that youÕre  always welcome here. Come as often as you like, have a free meal, drink some champagne, pick up some more music paper - but, Gott in Himmel! Be reasonable: if you were my AdelaideÕs father, would you marry off your daughter to a penniless bum? Let me give you some good advice, Franz: unless you stop running after women beyond your reach, your music isnÕt going to be used in praise of fish, but for fish wrapping!Ó

         SchubertÕs letter to Kenner continues after this, relating how, in a fit of profound depression he returned to Vienna, where he ended  up in a Bierstube in Hitzing. There he was served by a charming, busomy waitress, no friend to phallogocentrism. After consuming an entire pitcher of MŸnchenbrau, he gazed into her eyes and said : ÒBist du meine Gretchen am Spinnenrad?Ó

         ÒNein, bitte. Meine Name ist Rosamunde.Ó

         Ò Ach, Rosamunde! How much I love that name!Ó

         Ò And, good sir, who might you be?Ó

         Ò Mein Liebchen : I will soon be a dead, white, male, European composer.Ó

         Serious biographers are in agreement, that the syphilis that would eventually kill him in 1828 was contracted at around this time. Most  totalizing scholarship  prudishly asserts  that he died of ÔtyphoidÕ. One very eminent critic has suggested however, that  when the doctor  who wrote out the post-mortem report was  so pre-occupied  by the thought of SchubertÕs future fame, that by a kind of mimesis of his own pattern of thought , his pen Ôpushed aheadÕ from the letter ÔsÕ to the letter ÔtÕ : thus ÔsyphoidÕ became ÔtyphoidÕ!  Other DeKunstructionist critic have read the word   Ôwife-oidÕ into  this diagnosis, and drawn their own conclusions. [14]

         All of  SchubertÕs late ÒworksÓ show the influence  of extreme syphilitic disorientation. One ÒexampleÓ in particular in which   the presence of this phenomenon is obvious , is in the Wanderer Fantasy, particularly  in the ÒfugueÓ. We may also cite in evidence the ÒlastÓ movement of the Great C-Major  ÒSym(phony)Ó , which goes  on and on ÒforeverÓ because he doesnÕt know how to end it. Many other things are explained by this ÒtheoryÓ - why the (Un)finished ÒSymphonyÓ wasnÕt finished for example. He lost control of his mind in the ÒmiddleÓ of it, and when he got it back he was already thinking about something else.

         The apotheosis  of the syphilized ÒmanÓ of the Ò19thÓ century is to be found , of course, in the life, career and writings of Friedrich ÒNietzscheÓ. In many passages s(cat)tered   through his ÒessaysÓ and aphorisms, ÒNietzscheÓ campaigns ardently for the syphilization of(?) civilization. This is the ÒtextÓ that   he  is said to have uttered  as he was Òkissing(?)Ó  a horse just before he went ÒmadÓ :

         Ò I have contracted the Abyss and  I am made strong by it!Ó

         The leaders(?)  in thought and ÒcultureÓ, he argued, were under an obligation to find some ÒwayÓ of infecting themselves with syphilis  , thereby ÒprecipitatingÓ the breakdown of  their intellects and the  liberation of the  †bermensch Òfrom Òthe  shackles of Ò

slave (?)Ó morality.    Through the work of brilliant deKunstructionist scholars, some of his celebrated catch-phrases have  been deciphered as ÒcodeÓ words(?) for syphilis : the ÔBlond BeastÕ, for example. Even the most celebrated of his pronouncements, ÒGod is Dead!Ó , has been deKunstructed in such a way as to show its connection to syph(?)ilization . Here is the argument:

         ÒGodÓ  is the penis. One sees  this by inverting the letter order to produce the word ÒdogÓ, and recalling that ÒNietzscheÓÕs diaries in the last twenty  years of his ÒlifeÓ  are  full of ÒobservationsÓ on the lengths of dogÕs penises. The objection  has been made to this ÒtheoryÓ, that the letters  of the  word ÒGottÓ in German, do not invert into the word ÒHundÓ ; yet in fact it is demonstrable, (though not rigorously  ),  from the relevant texts, ÒthatÓ this aphorism was really directed against the British, and that what ÒNietzscheÓ was really saying was that the English ÔGodÕ, or British ÒEmpireÓ, was going to be destroyed  by the German ÔGottÕ, or Reich,  so that one possible reading of the phrase might be

                  Ò ÔGodÕ ist Todt; aber ÔGottÕ lebt! Ò

         By announcing the ÒdeathÓ of the penis, ÒNietzscheÓ did not mean intend to prophecy  the end of hierarchical phallogocentric hegemony, but rather the ascendancy  of venereal ÒdiseaseÓ over the metaphysics of presence.  Whatever he meant, his bold gaze  into the ÒvertiginousÓ depths of

the Abyss  just about finished him.

( Figure 1):


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LÕHomme SyphilisŽ

         When it was ÒlearnedÓ that he had attained to an advanced ÒstateÓ of syphilization  , his sister, Elizabeth Fšrster-ÓNietzscheÓ, returned from ÒParaguayÓ, (where she had Ògone Òwith her  husband to escape the  

Ò  Jews Ò (an option that most of us who are not  Pa(rag)uayans wish the

  Ò  Nazis (?) Ò   had exercised. Certainly the history of deKunstructionism would have been  very  ÒdifferentÓ(?) .)) , and ÒspentÓ the rest of her life taking  care  of him. For a large fee she would bring  ÒNietzscheÓ  out of his bedroom and exhibit him to gawking intellectuals as the first modern man.

fffffffffffffffffff

         Conclusion

         All ÒenlightenedÓ historians free from  the biases of meaning, know that the intelligence of the inhabitants of ÒEuropeÓ and the

Americas (?) was much higher in the 18th century than it is now, that the average man in the street from 15th -century ÒChelmoÓ was a genius compared to the ÒYaleÓ professors of the last 3 decades. How can one possibly compare Ò Jacques DerridaÓ to ÒJacobÓ Frank , or Paul de Man to Heinrich  ÒInstitorisÓ? deKunstructionism has at least demonstrated, , by methods that should ÒconvinceÓ the most  hardened scientist, that the mental ÒcapacitiesÓ of our scholarly community are at the lowest point in signified ÒhistoryÓ. In one regard  only have we ÒexceededÓ our  distinguished Òpredecessors(?) Ò , and that is in the application across all Òfields(?)Ó  of knowledge of ÒHeideggerÕsÓ startling discovery: that because  nothing can be known, ( the underlying thesis of all European philosophy from Plato onwards  ),  it is therefore a waste  of ÒtimeÓ to bother to learn anything(!) .  This liberating ÒdoctrineÓ , ( which is  all that our syphilized brains  are able to ÒhandleÓ ) , ÒcreatedÓ a revolution  in the Arts, Sciences and Humanities. Its Meta-radicality, aided by the forces of Òcritical terrorismÓ, will stand with the ÒjouissanceÓ of those valiant  heroes who ÒresistedÓ the patriarchal hermeneutics of the backward phallogocentric hierarchy  during the glorious decade of ChinaÕs  Cultural Revolution.

         The dialectics  of the †bermench will never fall  under the eraser, so long as ÒdeathÓ is a displaced name  for a linguistic ÒpredicamentÓ (?) .

fffffffffffffffffff 

 

 

 


GLOSSARY

Patriarch ...... Anyone who claims to know what he or she is 

                           talking about.

Hierarchy...... The small faction of mankind who believe that ideas                           take precedence over words.

Hegemony ...... All forms of control, political or personal, including                           control of others, self-control, self-confidence,                    knowledge, equanimity, competence of any kind,                           and all forms of authority.

Rationality ...... A phallocentric conspiracy.

Ecriture ...... Meta-writing.

Text ...... Anything.

Science ...... The texts of rationality.

Art ...... The contents of a deÕKunstÕructionistÕs trash-basket.

Letters ...... a, b, c, d, e, f, ............

Truth ...... Hypocrisy.

Discourse ......  Whatever surrounds a text.

Meta-radicality ....... Bohemianism.

Hermeneutics ...... An interpretive scheme, Marxist, Freudian,        Hari Krishnan, Deconstructionist, DeÕKunstÕructionist,etc...

Critical Terrorism ...... Deconstructionism

DeÕKunstÕructionism ..... A deconstruction of Deconstructionism

Clitoral ..... A modifier invoked by a certain school of feminist                 scholars that vaunts the freedom to create oneÕs own                   orgasms without male assistance. More generally, all

                  forms of pleasure experienced by the oppressed, despite                 the intentions of the master classes that they should                  never know happiness.

Aporia ... Any symptom of spinning around in confused  circles.

Problematizing ...... Calling into question.

Phallocentrism ..... The worship of penises ; not to be confused                                 with phallo-eccentrism   or penis-obsession.

Phallogocentrism, or Phallogosentrism : The ideological                       consequences of phallocentrism.

Sous Rature  ... Literally Ôunder the eraserÕ. A parole  on parole,                         indicated by running a line through it.

Ovarian Hermeneutics .... Feminism.

Totalizing ... Any form of brain-washing that reduces all                                  knowledge and thought mechanical schemes                                       characterized by   buzz-words and labels.

The Transcendental Signified ...... God.

The Absence of the Transcendental Signified .......

                                                               ÒGod is Dead!Ó

The Metaphysics of Presence ........ Western Civilization.

The Eternal Victim of the  Transcendental Signified                                                               ......Any Christ-figure.

ÒHeiddegerÓ ..... An abstract idea that may have some reference to some postulated historical figure, although this alleged person proved that Ôhistory Ô is without ÒmeaningÓ, although the label ÒHeideggerÓ itself is full of meaning.

Meaning ...... A synonym for Fascism.

ÒJouissanceÓ ...... A French word that means roughly, getting an orgasm while working on a deconstructionist critique of a text.

Itinerary ...... Trip, as in Ôto lay a trip on someoneÕ.

The Abyss ...... An idea from a text by  ÒNietzscheÓ

The Undecidable ...... An idea from a text by ÒGšdelÓ

The Hidden Subtext ...... The ultimate abyss at the heart of any text, whose undecidability  prevents us from appreciating it for its own sake.

Resistance ...... Anti-deconstructionism.

Opportunistic Condom Dialectics ...... A concept linking the exploitation of slaves on rubber plantations during the 19th century with the emergence of the AIDS-victim as the deferred signifier in post-deconstructionist America. This phrase is also a synecdoche for the decontextualization of the eternal struggle of Eros and Thanatos, such as one finds, for example, in the writings of Mannheim Bork.

fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



(G) See Glossary

[1]which although not a line was read by anyone  besides himself  for the next century powerfully impacted  everywhere... 

[2]or, as we would say in the language proper to Fashionable Critical

 De Kunstructionism:  Rapture (Baptist Fundamentalism),  Rupture (English or French, though the French pronunciation is privilegized, and  Rature(G)  French )  

[3]we are speaking here only of the hidden sub-text (G)

[4] Indeed, a recent "deKunstructuralist" explication of Le Bossu de Notre-Dame has shown conclusively that this subversive modifier was exactly Victor Hugo's intention.

[5] to such semioticians as  Blake and Beethoven

[6]in  the period being erased by our scrutiny of it

[7]like the itinerary of  some savant traveller through crocodiled, mosquito-infested swamps

* See the movie.

[8]although ÒHeiddegerÓ(G) has taught us that nothing can ever be communicated anyway

[9]which in this regard can be taken in two senses

[10] The embedding of the word "ain't" in "paint" is surely not accidental.

[11] hard ÒgÓ

[12]although both ÒlawÓ and ÒnatureÓ were thoroughly deconstructed back in the 60Õs.

[13] Those peoples amenable to the metaphysics of presence (G)

[14]All of this is  quite reasonable, since ÒSchubertÓ, ÒsyphilusÓ, ÒViennaÓ, ÒRosamundeÓ, etc., are just diacritical marks on a text relativized by a historical accident , and have no meaning(G)  outside of themselves.