Thesis Supervisor: Dr. Doreen Mende

Thesis: From a site of resistance to a gesture of banality

June 2013

Abstract

"My research question considers a shift of the notion of poetry as a site of resistance to one that encourages an understanding of it as a gesture of banality. As an initial part of the research process, I will focus on the act of writing itself and how it differs from the notion of poetry. It seems to me that poetry has gone through a transformational process, from a site to a gesture. Understanding a site as a spatial notion that can be measured, and a gesture as a process that involves the body and where the body itself becomes a space. The gesture is defined as a writing body, as a space where I move around whilst writing. Therefore, a gesture that writes is not attached to a site anymore; rather it is a mobile condition that displaces itself all the time. Once poetry has been detached from a site of resistance and has become a gesture, I would like to research the idea of why and how writing becomes a gesture of banality. I will develop this idea in reference to the work of French writer Marguerite Duras, and her book: Écrire. I will focus specifically on the first two chapters of her book Écrire "Writing" and "The Death of the Young English Aviator," as well as on her banal way of treating death and her uses of the literary technique of parataxis.
I will continue developing the idea of the gesture, what is a gesture and how it is connected to poetry. I will work in reference to Brazilian writer Clarice Lispector, who seems to connect writing and gesture by translating intuitions and senses into words. Following Lispector´ book Revelation of One World I will introduce some thoughts from Hélène Cixous, where she describes through Lispector how a text becomes a living text.
Last but not least, I will include part of my own writings to better follow the process that understands poetry from a site of resistance to a gesture of banality."

Author: Mercedes Azpilicueta