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/$Jo',
Y'
'*(l
hawn
MiklaucictJc
W(
rnslish487
-r]rru."I^tjj
.rg',
David
Foster
Wallace0'
d
May
1997Appropriatingthe
Postmode
Mccarthy's
nxtLrnlr
*"t3::i?3"""u
spat
$
olu',
f,
r"t
;t
hf
rn:
ialized
4
Time
insuttreeis
a
novel
about
insides
and
outsides.Iti
obviously,
about
a lot
of16ther)things
butI
intend
inthe
folLowing
pages
toisolate
some
ways
in
whichMccarthy
uses
the
dichotomous
relationship
between
ittt"
as
a
central-thematic
device.
I
would
alsoliketo
explore
thisrelationshipwith
aneye
toward
answering
a
broader
question:
is
suttree
an
example
of
a
modern
or
postmodern
literarywork?this
guestion
may
seen,
in
and
ofitself,
somewhat
academic
and
esoteric.
However,
I
believe
that
anattempt
to
answer
itwill
involve
the
examination
ofa
number
of
issues
thatwill
prove
centralinbetter
understanding
Mccarthy's
magnificent
and
complex
novel.
Fredric
Jameson
hasbeen
a
centralfigurein
helpingtodefinethe
modern/postmodern-distinction,
and
Ishall
beoin
with
a
rs*r/
,"-
"F.;J-:f
;;;:;;i;;i
,t.
;ti
t
nrt'
1ookatSomeofhisryejcriptionsofthetwoconcepLS.
one
ofhis
most
direct
and
lucid
examples
of
aquintessentially
modernist
work
is
Edvard
Munch's
The
scream,
which
he
calls
a
,,canonical
expression
ofthe
great
modernistthematics
of
alienation,
anomie,
solitude,social
fragmentation,
and
isolation"
(Postmodernism
11)-
A
briefis
reading
ofthisthe
epitome
of
modernist
exPfession
will
serve
as
I
convenient
startingpointfor
an
explan{tion
ofhis
conception
of
/,t^e**o
ountingof
inting
-/Mikraucic
2
"/"/|"{
postmodernism's
reactionagainstthe
modern.
t,,L{
Jameson
writes
that
Munch's
painting
is
J7
an
embodiment
not
merely
of
the
expression
ofthat
kind
|"faffect[of
thealienation,
etc.,
mentioned
above]
I
nna,
even
more,
dsa
virtual
deconstruction
of
the
very
I
"esihetie
of
expression
itsel,
which
seems
to
have
I
aominated
much
bf
wnat
we
call
high
modernism
but
to
I
n.rr"
1ruyri"n"a
away--forboth
prac{.icaI
and
theoretical
|
,easons--in
the
world
of
the
postmodern.
(11)
|
.oo?
Itni=
expressiVeness
thatis
central
to
modernism,
Jameson
goes
on,
I
I
presupposes
both
"some
separation
withinthe
subject..
'of
the
I
Irordless
pain
withinthe
monad
and
the
moment
in
which,
often
I
|.athartically,that
'emotion'
is
then
projected
out
and
T
I f
externalized.
"
This
externalizationof
an
interiorfeeling
rests
| /l
| / 1"e""
,,awhote
metaphysics
of
theinside
and
theoutside"
(11)
that
Iy
|
.r.*"=on
argues
get
lostin
the
postmodern.
Thus,
within
the
lf
I
naintingr
w€
see
a
solitary
figure
attempting
to
render
fi
inner
l-I
nain
in
external
terms.
The
implicit
contradiction
in
the
form
of
|--'
t-h^t-
er.Dression
nects
its
own
I
|"eSthetic.,(i4);tiremeciiumofthepaintingy'.,r
auciicory
@
,rIr3]rn
I
form
of
the
figure's
exPressron
|
,,absent',
scre';uallyin
the
swirls
that
surround
.Sr/Itnis
"absent"
scream
returns
vl-!
I
an.
figure,visibly
enclosing
and
isolating
him.
Thus
the
t
t-t
I
nainting,
a decidedly
externaT
medium
of
expression,
paradoxically\
,L- .^-a--Ll^.:---^-^.i^n^+innar +rrrmni'l : I
| /
creates
the
palpable
impression
of
inner
turmoilt
I
\I
[The]loops
inscribe
themselves
on
thepainted.surface
I
/inthe
form
of
those
greatconcentric
circlesinwhich
I
/ ,rt
sonorous
vibration
be6omes
ultimatelyvisible,
dson
the
I
/ .q
^ilt
r
surface
ofa
sheet
ofwater,in
an
infiniteregress
I
/ .i'-{-^A
which
fans
out
from
thesuffererto
become
the
veryI\ :5 Sf' { fttq;"qi"pnyofa
universe
in
which
pain
itself
now
-speaks/
-p
-#^{'J,
geography
of
a
univer""
ir
which_
pain
itself
now
speaks
fhi
fr{-
r
i#';l!nffi",:li:"fl3,'ffi.:*::'if,:
;:ti":,"t*"'fi3ffi"3:'
t
,r\1,'ydrni.nthis
'scream
runningthrough
nature'
(Munch's
.lt-
-[-..-'(,(.1 /
terms.
The
implicitcontradictioninthe
form
of
.lT
^
l.cli$,ll-..,r-'rr-r---r.;,,
I l?-,I r
f
d
.f
.r{
^,f,
,/
\ri
^(d
-traci
/)\
v
l{''
b-'{'-
Miklaucic
3
fr4
*'c'l€+
)is
recorded
and
transcribed'
(
14
)
ameson
asserts
that
postmodernism
challenges
and
perhaps
even
abolishes
the
"metaphysics
ofinside
and
outside"
that
modernism
posits.InplaceofimageslikeMunch'sTheScream,weget
insteadWarhol's
reproductions
of
Marilyn
Monroe'
the
verymechanical
nature
of
which
replaces
the
individualism
and
affect
central-
to
modernism
witha
dqcentered
impersonality
prevalent
in
ttrfi
1
the
postmodern.
Where.=
@-*odernism
Jameson
would
posit
a
certain
alienated
paranoia
orindividualistic
hysteria/neurosis
as
the
signature
mental
breakdown,
for
postmodernism
he
suggests
instead
schizophrenia:
"This
shiftinthe
dynarnics
ofcultural
pathology
can
be
characterizedas
one
in
which
thealienation
of
the
subject
is
displacedby
thelatter's
fragmentation"(14)'
I
present
Jameson's
visual
iconography
rather
thanhisdiscussions
ofliterature
because
they
lend
themselves
more
readilytoa
consideration
oftheinternal/externaldistinctionthatI
perceive
p(at theheartofsuttree.
Jameson
argues
at
length
that
various
signs
ofinteriorityin
modernism
are
abolished
inthe
postmodern,
that
considerations
of
depth
are
replacedbyadominanceofsurface,andthatthe''critical
distance"
that
the
modernistdepth
models
allow
has
largely
been
collapsed
and
eliminated
inthe
postmodern.lThis
partial,
1,,iA]t].eastfourotherdepthmodelshavegenerat}ybeenrepudiatedin
contemporary
theory:(1)thediaiectica]
one
of
essenceand
appearance"';(2\the
Freudian
model
oflatent
and
manifest,orofrepression...i{3)t}':---.^existentiar
rnooei
ofauthenticity
and
inauthenticity
whose
heroicor
trag'l-c
thematicsarecloselyrelatedtothatothergreatoppositionbetweenalienation
and
disalienation...i
and
(4)most.recenlly,thegreat
semiotic
opposition
between
signifiet.titlqniii"a,
which
was-
itselfrapidry
unraveledand
deconstructed
duringitsbrief
freyaay
inthe
1960s
and
1970s"
(L2\'
.4/,r.
d/*t{rTa*"f<
/7f/.nrrr.//-
<{s'z'<y'
aer'rrct7
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