PatrickMcEvoy-Halston

English461lF0t
ProfessorS. Ross
04 December 2002

to CatherineBelsey'sFirst Lecture,"What's Real?"

Response

Havingmet CatherineBelsey,thereis no doubtin my mind that a psychicstanceof

alwaysbeinguneasyworksto keepher activelyinterestedandinvolvedin creatinga morallyjust

world. But becauseof the way sheanswereda questionI had for her, I am not convincedthat a

impedes
shetells us, JudithButlerholds--necessarily
conceptionof languageasreferential--as,

moral action. For, if I understandBelseycorrectly,her criticismof referentiallanguageshould

hold true evenfor politically involvedactivistssuchasButler who hopeto reclaim,or create,a

group'sneedsandpoint of view. The closerthey

languagethatbetterreflectsan oppressed

would cometo finding this language,the lessalientheir languagewould seemto them,andthe

more"comfortable,"accordingto Belsey,theywouldbecome.Comfortleadsto lessened

attentionto the "events"of the world, andthereforeto a diminishedalertnessto oppression,

which is why Belseytries to keepasvivid aspossiblethe differencethat alwaysexistsbetween

languageandthe "real." This is quitethe claim; andif shehadnot answereda questionI had for

her concerninghow languageevercameto be so aliento the real,I might be readyto believethat

all movementsthat assumelanguageis (or canbe) referential,eventhosesupportedby activists

suchasJudithButler,areflawedandunsophisticated.

BelseyjudgesButler's languageto be referential,that is, shebelievesthat Butler

conceivesof languageascontainingthe "presence"of the thingsit represents.Shecharacterizes

(hadshesomehowmissedreadingSaussure?),
Butler's referentiallanguageasunsophisticated

evenimmoral. Butler's questto find a languagethatbetterreflectsthe needsof the oppressed

to createa betterworld. Belsey

seemsto be almostoppositeof whatBelseythinksnecessary

believesthat the gapbetweenthe "real" (i.e.,our realitybeforewe startingusinglanguage)and

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our language,the differencebetweenthe two, is somethingwe mustalwaysbe sensitiveto else

we remainsatisfiedwith the world asit is. Ratherthana referentiallanguage,whatwe should

andcancreateis an enlargedsenseof the diffdrencethat alwaysexistsbetweenlanguageandthe

real. And for Belsey,this sensitivity,this 'heightenedradar,"is exactlywhat will help us notice,

for example,the pain that is glossedoverby hegemonicdiscourses.

But Belseyanswereda questionI hadfor her concerninghow languageevercameto

seemso alien from the "real," by respondingthat,for oneffng, the languagewe cometo know

is not ours,but the previousgeneration's.Her answersurprisedme: I had expectedher to say

thatthis is simply the natureof language(accordingto Lacan),thatis, it is alwaysaliento and

from the real,preverbalworld we knew asa child. I believethat shebeganby sayingthis, but

continued.And by continuing,by sayingthat language'salienquality is in part the resultof it

beingthat of a differentgeneration's,shemadewhat I know shethinksof aslanguage'sintrinsic,

inevitablealienquality seemto be,in part,conditional,somethingwhich couldbe overcome.

The resultof her qualificationwasthat it wasmoredifficult to leaveher lecture,which endedby

betweenlanguageandthe "real,"
emphasizingtheimportanceof keepingalive our awareness

convincedof her point of view: sheseemed,evenif only for a moment,to legitimatefinding a

languagewhich betterreflectsour generations'concerns.

If languageis aliennot simplybecauseit cannotreflectthe "real" world we knew before

language,but becauseit is that of a differentgeneration/,it would seemto be equallylegitimate

to endorseboth finding an idiom that seems(perhapsa key word) to reflectourselves(Butler's

project),andto keepvivid the inevitablediffbrencebetweenlanguageandthe preverbal"real."

Perhapswe mustchoosebetweena questfor simultaneityanda vigilant awareness

of difference.

But howevercomplexanddifficult combiningthe two goalswould be, it is an intriguing

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hadBelseynot throughouther
combination,andsomethingmoreof us might havecontemplated

referentiallanguageasunsophisticated.
lecturecharacterized

l',Ir'