The nonsense gesture interrupts not only the
> metonymy of common sense but...of social relationships verified through
> common sense. Thus, although nonsense may be insulated through framing,
> through its status as an impossible context, its contexts are at
> the same time
> fields for the manipulation and recreation of social
> relationships. We have only
> to think of the anomaly of carnival or rites of inversion, or the
> calculated chaos
> of the 'reign of terror.'..
hmmm - thanks for the clarification Rebecca.... I am still pulling a bit of
a face here - this definition of nonsense seems to take in pretty much
everything that isn't 'common sense' and so the argument kind of proves
itself. An argument that takes children's rhymes, carnival and the 'reign of
terror' as grist for its mill is a bit sweeping for my taste. All these
different kinds of 'nonsense' need untangling. There is surely a great
difference between the bloodthirsty behaviour of a mob, the excesses of
carnival and the puns and ritual of children's rhymes......?
It doesn't seem to me that the kind of nonsense poetry we started off by
talking about fits this notion of interruption either. To me it seems much
more calming and reassuring in its appeal.
But then I am saying this from only the summary and quotation that you have
kindly given us Rebecca, and I could be way off beam.
Liz
PS: A new kind of nonsense seems to have entered the world. I heard on the
BBC today that the UN thinks that there is evidence that the orphans of the
tsunami are being illegally 'offered for adoption' - or trafficked in other
words.......
There is an interruption of social relations verified by common sense if you
like.
|