PREVOST, G.F. " Raids on Human Consciousness: Writing, Anarchy, and Violence "

DELEUZE, Gillesphilosophyliterature (general)GOLDMAN, Emma (1869-1940)CONRAD, Joseph, (1857-1924)violenceSOREL, Georges (1847-1922). Théoricien français du syndicalisme révolutionnaireJAMES, Henry (1843-1916). Romancier américain* bibliographiePIERCY, Marge (1936-....)

Ph.D. 1994. 528 p. The University Of Wisconsin & Milwaukee, Supervisor: Herbert Blau
DAI, VOL. 55-06A, Page 1557

Pursues the thematic of violence “across a related set of texts in order to understand the multifold ways in which violence enters discursive understanding. I examine various writers and theorists who have grappled with the problem of the violent; violence is materially external to language, and we can speak only metaphorically of linguistic violence. The philosophy of language replete with figures of violence, however, and as Rene Girard and others have argued, the fabrication and consolidation of communities involve ritualized responses to physical violence…

I first consider anarcho-syndicalist approaches to political violence, particularly the work of Georges Sorel and Emma Goldman , whose inquiries into the relationship of violence to the imaginary representation of modern communities have implications for both satirical and Utopian fictions.

The following chapter explores representations of anarchism in turn of the century novels (James, Howells, Norris, London; Conrad and Dostoevsky)…

Chapter four deals with the resurgent interest in anarchist thought among the New Left and its implications for post-sixties writers (Piercy, Morgan) and political activists. Moreover, I argue, this legacy is conveyed by the transgressive rhetoric of contemporary critical theory (Deleuze, Jameson, Virilio).…