Macherey talks about the concept of silence and how it can
be as important (if not more) than what is said. He states, “[T]he silence of
the book is not to be remedied, an inadequacy to be made up for” (Macherey
2004, 16). I feel like many people try extremely hard to include all information
possible in a body of text. We are trained, in school and college, to look and
analyze what is present, to gather all the information and present it all. The
author argues that what is not there is as important as what is (although we
should not purposely hide information).
How can we make silence speak then? Macherey explains that “Speech
eventually has nothing more to tell us: we investigate the silence, for it is
the silence that is doing the speaking” (Macherey 2004, 17).
At first, I was skeptical about his theory. How can silence
be a moving force in a text? Nevertheless, I slowly started remembering moments
in my life where silence was more expressive than words. Maybe it was the
silence of a failing romance, or the silence after a loved one’s death. These moments marked me and spoke to me,
although no words were uttered. In those cases, what is in between the lines,
in between what is said or written, had more meaning than the text itself.
Macherey also states that, “[T]he latent or concealed are
not equivalent: it is the second which allows least value to the latent” (Macherey
2004, 17). This quote emphasizes how the author puts emphasis on the concealed,
compared to the latent. It is the silence that tells, that informs us. “What is
important in the work is what it does not say” (Macherey 2004, 17).
I am really looking forward to the class discussion. I
wonder how these concepts will develop and be clarified. It is hard to re-wire
our brain to consider the unspoken as the essential, but Macherey has an
interesting perspective on the topic.
Your post and discussion of Macherey is very intriguing. The concept of silence as more expressive than words can be very true, particularly in your connection between love and loss. Your post had me thinking more about the silence or absence in words and thought - particularly in the media. I am reminded of the term “symbolic annihilation,” which I originally learned in the documentary Miss Representation, meaning a gross underrepresentation or absence of representation of a certain group or minority in media or other locations. In the documentary Miss Representation, this symbolic annihilation was in reference to the lack of positive female representation in film and television. In the silence surrounding complex, intelligent, and positive roles for women in media, in the logic surrounding Macherey’s theories, women are understood as simple/basic, unintelligent or stupid, and other many negative stereotypes. Similarly to Carmen’s post on Pink or Blue, the logic of Macherey stands that if the representation of women is projected as one way, the silence or lack of representation with other characteristics must be true as well. A complex thought, which confuses even myself, but compelling nonetheless. This “silence” can be applicable to more than just women in media – any minority for that matter can be negatively affected by silence, just as much as vocal misrepresentation or negative commentary. The tremendous underrepresentation of African Americans in mainstream film and television speaks wonders more towards the media’s perception of African Americans – rather than analyzing the small amount of black characters actually included in the media. For instance, when YouTube videos are posted with edited films only including the lines of black actors – most of these videos from 3-hour films only consist of 3 minutes of dialogue. I think Macherey would agree that the actual dialogue of these black actors is irrelevant – it is the silence surrounding the lack of representation, which is more powerful and more poignant.
ReplyDeleteAlso as a note to Dr. Cummings - this post is in lieu of my pre-class posting as I was sick for the week and was not able to complete a pre-class posting in the appropriate time.
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