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    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
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    128 views29 pages

    Writing AIDS 2

    Uploaded by

    Vanessa Solano Cohen
    Writing AIDS

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 29
    82 SANDER L, GILMAN 5. hah Became, Unsgori:Oatorr an Jue ach 1985 (Vz eck, 199) p. Thanos th fn St ena un ntei ae covet diene ne ontive ake sch eee eas ‘Sol ai Toe Maps: Expy Sal es Jd {tl Hamecet ese ve ann Ra” Pre 39 29} 19-218, ‘Ronde Ka ing Petia Srl Sedo Pe Say we ‘oh finn Sack, tas (ew Ys Pm, 199 2 {Cant Ote Berens Hye enn: Dat D0 (3, Aap Fa, Mh el Ouan A Sse, Pelt Hye d= iit Sndy OF Maal How Yr: Pins oi Sunn Bonk Cm, 1923, pp at32 “2 Tieton Kes Ehing Peo of Py, Che Cer Chak, Phot F SDs, 1905)» 18. Fantom Images: Hervé Guibert and the Writing of “sida” in France Emily Apter “The AIDS novel in France ie the novel of le sida, spelled without capital Teter. Do these differences in notation fom the acronym and capitals of [MDS indicate diferent cultural constraetion othe illness? Inall proba bility itdoes, but ser than all sto the tap of making evens ener slizatons aout the way this tragedy being wrtten county to country, 1 fer t consider the work of Foatee's promier sida novels, Her {Guibert av a example of how the problems asociated with writing AIDS sre being adessed across he Allan From is eaten ofthe dawn= fttgof «sida conacigasness i the erly 198Ds to his dacurentaion ots ravages on close ciclo fiends, this own ambivalent positon a8 v9 Ccrstie spear and subject of disease, Guibert ha uilinchinghy ob- Served and documented. His nels are neither fiction nor pare aulo- Fingrapty: combining clement of bth, they resemble working nlebooks lispatched fom the land of ghosts Tent om ceputing the existential satu of ATDS anguish together nit the shocking propulsion af the subject into «reality composed of Inediclized particulars, Guibert adopts nether a tone o politicized, un ‘ompromisingwspency nor the coating tinbre of sentimental, His rtngs stand trying ye cious understated sda testimonies, Teepe inthe French itlloctal leary of Googe Bataille, Jean-Paul 24 EMILY APTER Sone, Jean Genet, Roland Barthes, and Michel Fouowalt, His two most rece sonelo, A Fang ne mapas 2oue la ie (1990) (To the rend whe {hd pot save iy if) and Le protocolecompasione! (Compassionate at- es) composed at breakneck sped oa the winds of impending death, are ‘lun peose testimonies hiss after dignosisin 1968, The ye af theee parties eit degre, frst person, mseabre, imbued witha p= vate dignity af the bly sel in pain, and lcal—ttve to the milieu, at ce ecamopolitan and pochia, of the Parisian intligentia, Guibexts hargters are his ends and Tovers theater and film people pnts, (homgrephers, writes, and doctors, imerspersed with the rough trade Fished up in nightclubs or eneouatared onthe road. ‘Born in 1955, Guibert came af goin 1970s Pars, he Pate of Roland aries end Miche! Foucault, Bases fll in lve with Guiber, parzod- tly fering to write «prefre for one of his wos erotically explicit hronieles of oy life La More propagade no. 0 in return foro sexual favor fen exchange he apparently reuse. Barthes wrote a love decarae ‘SovluGuibere, "Fragment pour 1," which “H" ater published in Eure Journal? Guibert, fo his par, would acknowledge the rucal influence Ure? Fragments of ¢ Lanes Discowse on his noel abouts story Tove alli ete! Fou de Vincat (1988) (Cray aout Vincent). “Guibert relationship wih Foyesut waa by his en acount more s2- sion both intern ofthe mentoring oe thet Foucault played bis intl- tual development and in tenna of thei emotional involvement. The tanflly Bypereal desertion of Foucault's 1963 death with AIDS, given Fp Guertsn Poms gui me pas see la vi, gnmered the exits of toes closet Foucault? Mind though he was of Foucault's desire for fouthumons privacy? Guibert claimed shat to violate the socrts of Fnceuls ie exploits ad his death with AIDS (in hs words, an “amo- rouse” ws his inevitable fote-® Remaining rigors tue this per pant ered of expericntil tanepareney in writing, commiting himsel to nging he nubjct of AIDS outof the French closet (andthe tbo aseo- ‘ated ih aking abuat gave illnesses ere, by convention, even stronger {France than in North Aterca he denies the subversive homologies between sea ilation, nosological wycurism, and the medical ape of Toast aerial comsitent of sida narrative, integers of ts taco ire. Tam qi ne mapas sun la ie open with a cetain defiance ofthe tesmina loge impose on ATDS: te ore ofits first sence “Jat eu le ide pendant wus os Cl bad AIDS for three months” record vis on bythe grim eaper thet ts boon eed by the writing ofthis ook Fantom imeges 85 (ALA, 9) fn this sone, though the word sia is immediately intone {connatng 2 it dows a oecaedresebity) this book wil inhabit the Jean fatale psychic zane of HIV: pest, wile eschewing alse hopes ‘rmeical deliverance, Like the djsfunctonal chronology in which the strative sequences ate presented, Guibert text purposely kes us out of Ted tne ino tht of Ue writing eure. The questionable esserveration, tale atthe end ofthe first seton "Twas going to sake thi was ging too, by some extrndinary chance, one of the wal first survivors of ‘Bis inexorable Mlnes—ie belied by Hervés aval, « mere page ls, the: the conditions of his bok’sclorore are anchored in uncertain, Wie open to imminently unferesoeable endings asthe subject ofthe ise ae ital (ALA, 9-10) "The lfe posture of dénégaton (avd disavow), with ts traumatic cpstemalogyofeyniciem aad suspension of dsbeli, shows tse nat onky ee Gaiber’s wicks seth ehetorion! and naratoogicalteraporality (inesr i querces an hed and teil, but alo in the way the allegory of Foeauls life and death i recounted a an exemplary erdibiity teat. A ‘ete lashed fore os ofthe narrator and Fovcaut (alias Mull an ‘lowe play onthe Austran author of Man Withous Qualities) dining optier in 1901 shortly fer the frst news ofthe vies was broken by Uatce jst back from the United States Musi, in fi of uncontrollable lnnghice, early lls his chat: A cancer dha aks nly homosexs. leno, it would be to good to he tre, Cs enough to make one die of Tha scquence tha lows shorty insertod ito x description of Mul’ acdoensothistic xeapades inthe eater bars of the twelfth eondise- taunt and baths of San Francisco, we get ash-orwad of his spar ‘nt after his death. His wwe Stephane, wandering throws empl {Tainerted rome, cones upon sack filled with whips, leather masks, leashes mustes, end handcus. Thesetstaments of a secret life com. imemorate the uncunpromising (homo)sexuality of Foucault Iie and Work his insistence om erlbraing the macabre solidarity that bonded Mra aan in the Sen France bathhones at the inception of the epi Ulemic (this oating nace has created new complictes, new forms of tenderness, new soliatite. Before, noon exchanged a word, now, peo= pl alk tw cach ober. Each one kaows exactly why he is here," and his hate refuel oss nt ie fatal condition a portent of gay holocaust (ALA 30. ‘ide know ht hehad AIDS? By all acount be bth id and di ot, Diier Eston cites Foucault close (end and confidant Paul Verne 86 EMILY APTER (whose record of final interie with Foucault, acording to Exbon, was ‘fesed publication by the journal Crise Foucault allegedly sai to Veynes “ koow Cave aida, but my bysteria allows me to forget i." Gut’ ri itself eae spe for dou, fr patent ambi. Lo dis ‘ston fen years foe abot the formal ned by doco to eommuni= fate the imeverity of thee patent’ diseases, Musil had sai “The Aloctor does notary tlle truth athe paint he fers, trough ‘diffs diseoue, 2 measure of feesiom, a means of apprehending it by himself orw way of chosing no to know that isthe option prefered” (ALA, 39} On there ofhis own intro withthe dtr, Mail eects to remain len, leaving eve hin eloset fiends wondering how much he Fimeelf had chosen to ho Following Muzil's burial the narrator sys: On ail did aot know whether Mes had been conscious or unconseis the nate ofthe nen which had killed hin (ALA, 31), ‘The master inventer and deconstuctor of elinical discourse reserves @ terifpngsilanoe inthe ace of his ow malady. Reduce to pysial pale dais hie eyes insaly follow the path ofa tennis ballon the TV sereen. ‘When ch ntztor ventures a sadist samise—"In teat, you bope you have wa”—Maail meets ie remark win stny lok that let him now be hs tespassd (ALA, #8) Inthe las days, seated inthe hospital ‘orn in a white tooeskin csr, he smal f frying Fh in thea, Mun vets his eyes an confides to Hervé that he is stricken with aphasia One alvays believes thal inthe kind of situation thre willbe something tosayand then the station arives and there x mating say abou i” ALA, 91) By Kind of unwritten law of payehological compensation, “Musi aphasia, hissubbora tention ofthe word, willbe matched by the rata’ readinere say too much, to divulge precisely what Foucault tefuzed tlt posteriy kno. "The ambivalent meaning of MoT vticence might be more filly un- Uerstood in elation othe ol vation of the subject induced by medical [probes and interventions The exploratory tube thrust into Mail’ that land Tongs ung the former pleasure fellatio, emerges nexeably Tinked to wat Mul describes a the los of his ident inthe medical maze his ov name, too well nw, purposely “lst") ‘Guibert amplifies and drumties the hur of oral rape in Le protoole ompasionl wen be describes his own experience ofthe fiberoptic ‘sam, The frst one he compares toa nighimare orzor fim the second toda taking place aslon bourgeois, a sary far tale which the petty womaa doctor tte into «tad a she appeoshes hee quae. The Fist operation raises moat divety the question of medical/sxual vio- Fontom Imoges 87 lence in AIDS treatment. A“contnando of pg-leughterers” descends on Gait plese by with tho blssing ofthe doctor “or whom T was just ltl pl who was ping odie anya"? Rater than isk being doused With infected pute, the dactr passes the atk along w &novee, who Imalarotly ahoves the tube down the patent's throat ito his stomach Gagging onthe instrument, the narrator rejerteit nat of pain, much to the disgust ofthe doctor, who continues to hark orders at adistanc. The tenure erated, tht me uocesflly, butte iti ees the hospi talbhed af pooch, unable saya word abou the tau. By qualifying the doctor a sadique, the naraor introduces acuions rapprochement beoweu fs medical mastor and his intellectual master, ‘chose tase for sniomasochiem had been alluded to inthe esler book. Guibert dares to explore the disturbing commonalities between sida reat- mente and rough gay sex—the ites of builtin, the transgression of Poily Timi, the submission to power, porires demanded and ex- hinged. Recllinga phe tered semiacetiusly ins doetor's office in 1881 (wl before the word sda had mad is entvance on the Feneh conc}, Gaibert’s “kiss the hard of he who delivers my condemnation” {ecalls the lover's assiduous pose of supplication in the sadomatochistic cone (ALA, 46) Leprotoul compaction! could infact be described a rpicomicsadnmaeachstie version of a Ronde, in which doctor, vised in rapd suecossion and submited to without word, ae substtatd for the tricks ofl ‘Guibert dr out the kindof pathologie lied deus hana itselt inthe doctor patient power dynamic, animeti, mutaly complementary folly that he dub “esipeoen contagion in «preface oa phot album of otras of himself taken i 1980 by his intimate companion Hans Georg, Berger (CTmage de oo Pijontion de son beau mament?).* Photo per and model, living logeher i «shared delirium, erates of ea thers phantasy dispute what belongs to neither a them (te pho- Coprapted Lodo heathy, csy-ired Cuber nmuch the same way. ‘Soctor an patient dream each ther combat on the body ofsida, onion inwfaling T-cell counts, racking the stigmata of Keposissscoma, direc ting pulmonar clesrsings ad oxygen injections on his othe” corpus. Tau Fai qu nea pas sana se Guibert aes the fle ddews a joss the poroining of Faucaslts star. "We were linked weah other by acon: tao thanatlogeal spel” he matin, sx iby way of underscoring tha Foucault's ealvary ws bis own, that to spyon Foucault’ life wos an set ratified by Herts ow sell-exposure tsel'a mere extension ofthe “We Tie” ef his move fanous end, 88 EMILY APTER 0 “The terstry of collective mori fantasy, a fle @ deus incasive fal dhowcaich with AIDS, lle the dscourneafsida to open up nt the mare Comptes iaup of bow fantasmatie contagion ie capable of orring the oundaie, bth mesial and physical, of individ personhood. Lake tow ceviusillneaen sda inthn sense ot only interrogates the mare of the subject e+ medical abjet, bat, nore haantingy, sises the issue of tiscace ana alle nong ghosts whereby each sel, bannted and ithab- Sted by the specter of «disappeared fiend who fas disolved into the then ofmetempsychosi, no longer knows whether thas an ideni- tyofiteown Ton Date (1857-1942), avatar fight ving ideology, homopabe, and author of degenerate” Gtion chronicling the plight of bourgeois Taoites track dow by heveditry ness, rete (agains the gain of his (non works ns twee) a langue of sees and sexily, ee ad pain, ‘Mrtory cod posi shut seems soy in tune wth Guibert’ doloous Tnamoly of phantoms and vnishing bodice. Haunted by his fer Ale onset gay deterioration fom apple racked hy the sssasination (or sade? at is epileptic son Philippe Gnbeitor ofthe ats amily taint Tina Dauet developed the eatcept ofthe persnimage defined a “hale Tuclnaony image hat visits the subject whem hisor er lved one x ead Dade’ personimage, past and peel of what he called le dae in ‘Hour orinoes ama of touring and pein denoted an “emnation ofthe Tota totum of eel instinct," eransmssble heise oten- Sieeknsenn the jargon fey the eroorgsnism of eantgion: le Teponome, la sprehete, le baclle de Kach.? Daudet refer to these lone the"palleno literati,” aga of speech that seems urdly vate one thinks of the belle fp Kerry company kept by his a= {he lat whom suceambed to Za grande wrols—Flaubert, Gautier, ‘Muapassant, Jules de Gone, Feydee, and of course his dearest pa ‘et Alphonse.?® 1 dvell for some tise on the parallels between Dane's medi- cophasapical etre ofthe po and Caliber hallucinatory evoeations GPnd each rooted inthe storie imaginaries of a respective fr-do- ‘les pais it ieneither encourage simplistic analogies between the oe epidemics nor to imply that some vestable ity exists between Daudet aed Guibet e+ wrtere, Rather. Lauggest hat ther discourses of thnence and ference, of bodies erty and socially marked, antieue Fontom images 8? tate ways in which erotcisna and death collaborate om the disohation of the aubjee “Throughout Le protocol compossonel Cuber narrators haunted by the spoctt of ¢ dead dancer whose Back-naxket drug il, believed more powerfal than AZT. was posed him theugh undegzound channels, n= Bening hi wit the pit of etended ie. Tus imageaf one body as cartier ‘other's on feo theme anticipated by Cuber in his pe-sida wnt noe on phonogtaphy, most of them weiton during the years when he worked regula for Le Monde as a photography ete. n Lfmage fantine [The fantom maze he deserts bw the death of person i comparable tothe low fen archive of rental photogeaphs, for “bing” owe its st ‘alto the wiles: of memory st as. storehouse of mnemonic rep. esetation. “Fach death," Guibert writes, "provokes the destin af ‘hoteraphie collection that wil pase for Us last times one might sy, Through ary of consciousness." Similarly, in Dstt ext on waking UGnums, Le Re ec, the nasraor evokes the way in which the subject [peo ovessed by “teal owe of Bante phantass,” “reappa- ‘ons of beings cherished and lng gone." Posessed by “heredis”™ (puntos of keveditary metamemory, no dou spawned by the spiritual LUblectumingscanoss esgnized by hi other Jia Alla), Date fash- Tee his persona asa predestined keeper ofthe photo album ofthe past “The wisest ni trie, may aun find tang everberatons log ugh them he pnpet of wee rare een ching ma nferts the ith ond tn raboding. This tine, make no mint, Thos pnt oi of evsttin, capris ois othat ane= tir nwdorfngte, knows ar unkaorewhich ene ight eal ater 7 ‘wn esa, eras." Sst as family scons re kept ke fail hellooms, eked up in ents for yeas only tobe discovered and diseminated samong future genera~ Ton, tthe sort of syphilis ling race of ct coxul isso) in eno forced “ot” in the hereditary eye “Guibert inner citle of feende wa na somenbat comparable way, reinforce thei aly tes by becoming guardians of gay aceets. At he ‘ery end of Tmagefantie, Guibert aces the desi ofthe sere tis ‘ito “outing” —Horng ld you thi uy, in yl ting smpletaly eed “Thin sey tem arr you dean? — Wit aoa oer? 90 EMILY APTER Bo ous en to ae ts eg yo deepest Yeh pow our secrt ae le beer set as boot parol mesa! wl eave toma inthe sme ey ab Eo with al Elects Tl spose of when the tn amas And Dome "You are ight. Secrets must necessarily circulate ‘Secrets mat ndoed necessarily create inorder to kee history, culture, fad memory ave but withthe advent fatal illness, the pic paid bythe ‘ef qua habitus ofthe pereonimage bores exorbitant. One could say ‘tha IV, with its bugguge of dead soul, bears down unelentingly onthe subjectivity of thowe surviving with AIDS, Trnsmited epdintojected, [ike the virus tel, the ghost of former lovers and fiends ste infor the ddarstion crowding ot the space alee fo i's ordinary preoccupations fan pleasures, What the ghosts fal to elaim a8 their personal teeiton, pala acquires colenixing conaciousnese along withthe body. “The beginning of Le potacle compasionelvecouns this conquest being” by pains oolong tke baths becuse cot ep at ofthe a Lo longer titre ogee darth shoes etek ass way of arming pio the dy boone thar ft etn esi in mL ad a to ‘low wetedicenangl rye hme the ene of being bound ee hn hve he olin hth dune ent e antat Hinbsae ppeleafsteleveneat heeomeatighnare, end Tae nwo expe evot flier then he nightmare, Ln loge ck, lng have a ‘ras seven tho, Lena longer masta, pean with ‘rho becones forced ltr, nti aay Tareboen able twit, ean hanty ed ane and what owl nd mat storing at iveatny Japa theme efcormiting sce tothe of ign cle fo mpopen see undermy nerves (PC, 10-11) Here the blunt, verbally spare tone of naaton prepares the reader forthe nowological elim yet t9 come. The uarratve of Le protocol compas- Yam guinem'a ps sel ve, hot through wit les ‘on of technical modal terms sighing the prophylactic consciousness ‘ned to combat the physeal eeremaity af cut pain. While the eer el nates the reader int the language of immune system breakdown, ‘night Iss diaguns, sesoponitive testing and HIV ueatments, the later work makes a dune at of endoscopies, rectal insertions, blood tests, Chemotherapy, and administrations of the massively strong AIDS semis- Sion drug dl (35 milligrams of white powder made in Middlesex, En- Fontorn Images 91 land”) andthe antidepressant Prosoadaly caps contsiing 20 mile TigramsofFonéine Chlorohydrate). These drugs are te constituents of “being” forthe peru wth saya Guibert nays, she df ofthe dead dance, together wih Pons, tha writes his ook in my ple” (PC, 8. With the compassionate dos, there is jus to auch pinto write the uraive of pai ow docs one wate pin soa thus the way pas hart? This was one of the eental questions ped by Elaine Seary in The Body ia Pain, where the examined how discursive renderings of physical torture are never ommensnate wit ite badly endurance. Bat surely pin is wanslatebio {nto lenguege, "Gay writers, wary though they may bo of misleading anal- fozies between nineecolh-century apps and twontith-cetury AIDS, Inve begun to examine sane of the cama ground is looking fra lane tung of pain, Michel Tourser, fr example, recent intedced the e= publication of Alphonse Dade (1840-97) “antastic™ syphilis novel of ever and contagion inthe Camargue-—Le Thor fAvlatan (1897}—by clawing alention to “sews vagaboadage” and physical distress en need inthe ideological construction of bth diseases. Tourer claims thatthe side narative wil have sine catching upto do os the seal of horror prdced by syphilis text (pezhaps be hed not yet read Guibert’ Le protocols compastne and hemcatons in thisregaet Alphonse Dauders Frurwing jrumal of hi illoes ene Le Dono, published alter hin death © Ie this dealed résumé af tntures he pictres ims ‘vourded Den, Quinste: hs hones compress hi likes eoat of anor, sharp ‘nt tee ae toga bis toc, abd his whole Body imaged as an ane~ Ini, wrinkled, hallowed-oat carcass, becomes nothing more han arecep= {acl for unitgned suring" ‘audet pre's chronicle of pin tthe end of his Lie emerge in retro pect asa hind of homage to his sn Léon erry daba with Les Mor~ Totes (1894), a mond sative a the medicopsychitric profession of the Tate 1880s This elatively obscure medical dystopia, bated on Daude’s ‘eal course of ty atthe Faculté de Médecine under the supervision ‘of the now-famous choreographer of hysteria fean-Marin Chaat, be- Tongs to » popular fide-sitele geore eaconpassing the protolturist srk a Jules Vere and Albert Rabida Le Vingidme stele: Roman woe Parisienne apri-domain), the negative wopianisn of Gabel de Tae rogment histoire future, YG) and the extravagant porocraey of 92 EMILY APTER Pier Lowy Te aus dames (circa 1912), whowe ile refrsto the ibab- ites of en inland unby an oligarchy ofsadiatedoctors(an uncanny fre- shadowing of the Nex death camp docor)- Like Dates nition ofthe hrédame in Le Reve eile the motcole connotes parieleof dest, «succubus, or atom of malevolent contin, “The hero ofthe slry, one Félix Canlon, bocomes increasingly infected the more hei inducted tuto the ranks of his captors. Maeoned en this island of degen” ane "muss," he works stot a conscript in the hospitals ad then moves on to more serious medial taining. The twin ‘hjeeties of « Mortons medical eddcatin ae the enjoyment of wbjee- iowand the endurance of digs (what Freud would identify asthe esten- tal ingen of perversion i his Tree Essays onthe Theory of Sex- tal Suocese on the Binal exam—"le concours da chement des pieds"—-is contingent icing the ity fet ofthe professors without amiting on the flor. En preparation forthe exam, Canelon ssi tthe perormance of surgical rutality tht is common custom in the Land Inthe mide ofan smoophere which compounded the deseo vr [ersinedagoap of several peopl, propping up a li-ion contre ub oer nich ond dat isle men aie bog had eyes, Scere incre nly “Ob al-Oi ow Latest Ohl wha pan” wese rough oven oa an ea aie, Thx petro borer easels “The une ppl ll bk ke w shea uri. “Dobe ea” edhe ington ballin sent Len eee athe body ck thy ad Teast ange worker with ed vrs wot wane acc and hate terete wih dan pan Mey orl ih earand sche Teaed al mori ueris yur, wiley sated i in fovton budagee watched my avighbors hardly btheed.y this Ws fen 1) Caneton has «weak stomach for hese operations he fll unconscious afte bebling this scene, only to bo castigated hy hs pitiless supe ‘sors: Fil he too becomes inured the sight of pan, sliding from & Aiscors of violent medical alien nto “Tatatic™ mode in which visi- ‘slemelty is aborbed into fe drameintriur the interior mental dea) of ‘madness er watching Di. Maleous utc, ua cameto lish th pete ‘ uhing sda, sveringacavoan pear. Why, fer, des ‘heya ing tel height ad ml of lod? Why ds he Tealtharsciginn hier which the perc ve converted int seal ease? Aad hy a il ae rer away by lod, i sigh ts Fontors Images 93 tect indi the lod that wil tape, hig, hd ing holding fost res of ysl ne beach of el cea, Cam Sin bs, pple ke ie the avenue ova ne, the uy tooo itp ange andcape. And, upon waking, emu psi a sharp {Sy sellodt me hat over hee Hea joined my dea. (61) Tn thie postage Dandet draws out the relationship between pain and scopophilia te lore of looking). The eye is tacted tothe bys idle {Ble wounds, and what is acribed to Une “perverse” subject namely the ‘extraction of janivance frm the spectacle af tres by implication ap- plicable to veryman, Theballucinatry image of loo elides ba aneiic Phantasm and contagious ricrbe, eo tha the olan coursing though the Seine of Dr. Malavons vit infot the viewer with a kind of pyebo sel delim, v oth Daudets typed thee ers in their understanding of the pornography death, Throat Ls Moroes ghoulish episode iglight the roe fubeonssious f deathly ilies, heifers named Misard courts the regatve ode f risk when he sucks the open sre of «moribund ptint: He ape his tp to the wou the patent Bega o Boao mawe Fea. is marley lane, hi peony eaprensed gatade mined Wh stay whe the wou iter sineed hiv mouth cat in he [Saks Aerie depot thre wana concer of ender pases One ‘sar ithermenbrane ino ser the dost blot the operat ingrnn. Everane fel ean the beaatiflinageof ace b phan over deat, 138-139), In Guibest’s Le protocol there ea scene quite comparable o this one in its conjugation of ex and death. © young delinquent lover named Djanlouka appeats at of Hervé past on «red motorcycle and makes ‘ srange requst He wants to see Her ake now hat is body has hus wasted by AIDS. Herve agrees, unprepared forthe er lis lover's visu ravishment. Danlouka devours his skeleton with his He bean to ber fom ha fost with the amewent of ong ‘ith whoo theft sine odors the nerd exsteee ‘he git ete elephant, On cui nytt be ecordd every tse of ‘ecko Hey tha hr ok ln tao ato be able rene, lay Tek again. PC, 1) ‘94 EMILY APTER After possessing him throug the gst, Dunlouka brandishes con- dom and atounces that "be wants to rsk death” (PC, 1963). Tie love- ‘making epproximotes a kindof reciprocal ustmord:Djanlouka's brotal ‘otc gestures express a murderous contempt, while Herés penile self ‘fering conveys a deodly danger. InLeprtcolecompasonel, theknowledge ofimpending deaths ubli- mated int aatemcey over symptoms ofprematie aging, Like Alphonse Daulet, who deplored the sight of the emacsted “ddl de pai ieus™ (Gannlooking old men) storing uek at him in the minor, we are mae tofeel the nrto's hurt pride atthe loss his god lok, the embarrass tment of tir five-yeatold forced to eecognze himself in the badly of told man.® This obotomy of rarcinsisn, aggravating the fear of ing Sums is perhaps smong the moat "abacene” dimensions of AIDS se nstioustess. Anepisode miwsyiethonovel, wichiight be dubbed “Tlegry ofthe caves” emblematieesthe person-wtirsida’senensnter wih jection, bonilaion, and otrage o leering that he iso be cheated of Iie prion, While the naratorrummagesinthlasementforhisapa tment building's commanal acim cleaner, the door slams shut accien- iy, shrouding himindakness anda. Down withthe drtand thers, (imagines wha it wll be ike to be buried underground {eer enisined ny death in this asemen ike an shud vgn ine Tis ty ening i ater vgn rater mise, Bt pce fcr ta the lan ws nmeone weal ever ‘rcv ely as wh ba ee terug in of wy ie To eth i lace wen oe asthenia, a the ly oe in ‘i wed could ih ay hs eat in my ate alread belonged tomy biography allt abeurdy ond oe (PC, 71=72) What Guibert discovers in the cave isthe Grand Guignol of his ow lie oy, Temporey buried alive unl en old man “sass” him two hours Tate, he comprehend with iter clarity dhe extent to which the life to taki he hs bon tured thei of ivng with ida, groveaquely mimes “Bn uninished death not unlike the panic darkness of the colina Le protocol compossone ends with «scene inthe office af Gulberts doctor, Claadete Denvachel, wih whow: he has lived = kindof Bathe- ‘San love afl, complete wit tals of eourtehip, seduction, fits of jeal- funy overs quarrels, peace ollesngs of tenderness, and exchanges of ‘Coed intimoey. When Guibert entre Claudette fice he caries a ‘Crera he wants fo fil his medial examination. A private person dedi- Fontomlmeges 95 cated tothe confidentiality fle mir, Clandote refuses tobe pasty to ‘ih exhibitinisms she detest being photographed just as she dislikes Fring nein prove onthe pages f Gar book aboat AIDS, Their con- ‘ecsatin borders on the serie, when, faced with Claudette’ stubborn ‘chtancs to becoming pat of his ii ieeweting, Hervé “pls this last ead” Hur you est tp me em ming ysl it my oly at ou Ton eles Cua, ty Boy wl bo forced enter int the nage node examine yo we Gea pin. TART the et plane, why oa want hn his examin? ‘Teens aco tobe nln exceptional tomer that oe eave toe moi seta oun pe, tpl question of am jing”, 295) Claudette runes the uncomfortable question of Guiers mative in watt Ineo hinewen wasted rake body, but in tr, he ries the qeston of the implication ofthe dactr inthe patients ife ond deat. fsa sense, Dollie angtng tha some breach in the ethics of medical distance i n= ovtable with this King nese that dtr aod patient aefatflly pst STi “fl” ofeach ther lives. ‘No naulin finale this final episode draws together many ofthe the toate sande cherecterzing Guibert’ uansformation asda into words {ie metaphysics of disease the peyebocenual power dynamics of medical {interventions nosological veyeuram: inca exhibitionism the crowding ator aubjetvty by hotly peronimazes; the relationship betwen in- faction and hallucination, contagion and eroticism: transmission and tnemorysthe ples feonmemeeaton (he dept over the right to dcx ‘eco orshe politely usgent need to die publicly); and aly, the ole ina tansposing snedium of se-entombnent, Mediating between these overlapping theres se ieic metaphor, «cella strip that im- pnts the ely tace ofthe personimage. We remember Guibert en= ‘oun wth the outlay Djanlouka: is voyeuristic zens the devas- ted body of the sida loner. Similarly, during the moment of self nthe eve, Guibert conceives of isda asthe "running ino Thy be" At hey momeots, the eto image” of fimmaking returns 8 ‘igor ot apeoch or lving wi sla Le protocol compassionel ends witha ‘Asplacement ofthe dreaded allusion wo death int ehesfally stated re- ‘Tite start king fits “bday, Avast 131980, [finished ny book. 96 EMILY APTER “The number 13 brings go ick, Tete i « masked improvement in my teas, Clandete sles the lyingto me?) 'vestartedo make. My fia fi (PC, 227) NOTES 2, For dssnetaspecinn ANS ming iors Leia ate, che Sing 9) ‘SS ikene Cite oon deal” oe ints Reena and Die te nla Nel Obra Jal 18-2, 1D, pe BBD 1. havea isin stn wh ein Pain oS ‘pinent psc ane aim, 0 Cla phe materi roo it itn sd cin am i Romine y estuson i jueacysed di (ted mle th wollte pln eh ata ‘Seeding he easy, rey he eral il hg [ny Sul, wach ou figs etd ans ware ecole ‘Mage ue, ws at he won om tw eis eat sie ta ec welt ‘ihn sre sc nner and peer, sy cea ‘Son ih el nih ep. need enh wb ‘Set dea (97-3 Seng reso lb iin ean sig the reaton"ALA.” ‘rato yoy een ght o ste wn ely Inte See Ctr fe Fed Pha On Nt Sov i Lin Cover, bs ‘Cin Mam, 193). “Daler En at th ond fh inphy Mi! Fen ai: Passion, wk nace Faces ds or vac Tonal ed eying a oe (Gna nl and nonnrp Mas, f eae "End grt pn ou Cet Snes th “se ad et cos nm nga hin co a tal etn on Mls ok By wat walt? Andi ncn wo ed wth all my ards tht moment, ws ee» a im, ei, wich thee fall poor nc lems epee ble axe, (Eng on ae al aeeeed wo me Cheng ren ‘Stn coped fe thse i ey aplenente [djctuce twa cn she en ny eda wa pres ‘trig, at tap ht re me nel ad edna och eins ay tod inal me weed bar Sone ol desty non hegre ‘ety oro opal 100-12 Fontom Inoges 97 6 Iain, Mea Fa 38 1 He Gelber de pa compniPisCallnrs 190,58, Se wnt rrct gor ilhedinensing sso 70" ‘3 Hee Gert imaged ni Tenn dso na momen? als, Pic ‘geo ne, 1280 Ko mason Merde Re Spon a dle Rit wage many site of besy wwe ring afar hpante Dade Feros nee Sic heey sist Dac ences haps Wars ee Pam ‘They Mara, W. Note Pate oi Rie, 19 TH Sn Lae Dre Lond: Eat rs meta aN as ‘tena 100 De Tada (Pte Cet 198) Sens dae Pa (Gem, 8 Le Rie el Pa Cron, 1905 ant Ps de Cama Pa (Cima 15 1 Har ibe, Uma Pi Elion do Minit, 1981,» 19, 1. Lean Do Rn eile. 31-2 15, Lam Danse ie p81 14. Gabe, Tage fan p. 170, 1S Bain Sey ir By Pa The Ming and Una te Rd Non "ek Oe Use Pr 1651. Mt ssi, "Du oe ede ala” pct Apts and, ‘hr titan oes Eine Vr Hay, 19 pe AS 1 Ap Ds, Ds aie gee 183] gp 25-2 i Date sven eso cn taser of Chae ate son Dn In as C181 Boa le af Mercer an vty ef Chass Toby Glan, "Mod Ney ats 108 Lt Dishes Moat” Blla hein fede 0 (98585516, Mya ee Calne ere TL ke ee Pe oh Cis Set "BAe Deu, Le Doaa, p. 25. Apocalyptic Utterance in Edmund White's “An Oracle” Richard Dellamora 1 OfOrecles Edmund Whit’ “An Oracle” make the couse that AIDS has traced through the social forms of gay existence since 1980. Or rater. through ‘amet thse form, since thrones that be limas are speific deng with Sppermide-lass WASPS on the American Fast Cost with pntrs, allege professors, management consultants, and thei sttndats, “he Joking, responsible, anguished hall-yorid of the guy aclorsinger ancervitermaitersmdel «who feels ooafident Europe sa etnet ta dead star and altho hest and life forte planet mast aia frm new ork" (217). Marking break within an exstonce thet had fier Stone- well quickly come tobe taken for grand as normal the onset of AIDS [ings forcible reminder of how recent a frmaton that normaley wa “In White’ shot story, Ray i eft at ose after theives and death of his lover, Goorge: “Ray thought, "We each nood jus the right weight of eins to erve a ballast’ Googe’ death had tossed all the sandbags ‘verboad und Ray had been lating higher and higher towards extine- ‘io (222), He experiences this esis in terms of los ofa sense of sel "Yu mus lok ot fr yourself Georgehad abaya Bat what ef?” {211 Ray testo respond a the urging fhe rend Baus, by teaveliog to {Geete with a prominent painter and gay sequaistance, Ralph Brooks. “There Ray becomes invalved in aes for pay witha young Greek named i ApocalyplicUtaence 99 Marco, wth whom he fll in lve. Wher, atthe end af the stor he pro pes that they open «gay guesthouse Yogether st Xan, Marco declines But responds in words thot mayor may not—hold a clue a how Ray ‘a faahion “a new way of ving” 22) A umber of oracles within the story open the prospect of establishing diffrent slations between sub- jects than those that eubsstd before the AIDS epidemic. “The focus ofthe stry, though personal, is ls sil, since the only sway forward fr Ray ist o-engage with th ives and war af others. For ‘ines for White this o-engagement rquies a spciialy sy 20: ‘alt. Discussing the thinking that led this decision to collaborte wih ish writer Adams Mare-Jones on a book of AIDS short stories, White ‘comments: We fought hat tion as the beet medi fr communist ing wht twas lke artualy 1 be living uvugh those expesonces as an insider We were acing sa many prams on television whore expert were discusing cur prem ax a mecical phenomenon, even a 4 scil plienomenon, tt always fom the outside. What was being lst sight of Wes that atu oman beings were elferng, watching thet lives eu Ue, and having to confront very deep Leer" Written by a gay wre who is HIV-pontve, witha guy protagonist who is alfaid te tested for HIV antibodies, and directed iowards gy eacers—White ays he has Andrew Holleran specially in mind—"An Oracle” engages Literary practice is ndertoreimaginegayexstnce.* The “tory about Marco" (217 tht Ray begin to write provides the lex with an internal signature since Ray’ sory besortes, neffec, the one that Whit tells: White connects pereone fl content with plideal by understanding and representing socal pro- ‘eaves “ania naraive, as 9 process unfolding very local tries, which fv provisional tute." By witing in an ocular mode, moreover, be {vide taking privileged claims t knowledge ne he project is readers ito an asyecnchared fare, “The rflections on seal eatons hetweon mein ancient Greece that Miche! Fancault parses inthe second vlume uf The Histry af Sex walt and Jacques Derrdasemnsideratin af orale ini ess, “OE An Apucalyptic Tone Recently Adopted Pilsophy"®proridemeans ofa sting Ray's ition between one existence and another eto beens ‘ged: Fasc has usced the development in medieval and later ealtare ‘what be calls an “individeliing powes”—ie-, a power to fashion ‘nivale inthe Church an subsequently inthe wosern state.” Inthe First yame ofthe Hixory, Focal argies thatthe formation of homoses- tae is been one eflet of the exercise of hi omer Tn contest na ‘ent Gres tation he finds a ochnology af the sein relation tothe 100 RICHARD DELLAMORA body and to senul practices that is asthtic ater thin confessional in charseter. Fovealt describes “secial activity and vexudl practices probletetized though prectices ofthe sl, bringing into play the criteria ‘fan ‘esthetics of exstonce" (UP, 12 In this context, the ter ashetie refers ton specific set af practices, especial apt for guy men, that have the potential t he ariulated in resistance to an indvialising power ‘those forefuinss hasbeen exacerbated inthe plferaion of discourses round AIDS. While Foucault specially rejcts the use of Creck exam: ples asa “alernative” to euent gay existence, he does believe tht the problematic relation between ethics and an aesthetics of enstnce so ie orantin Greek thought resembles relaton that demand attention i a= ent gay soerefcction.” Inthe later slimes of The History of Seva, Foault impli rade Greck aestheties of existence aro the gra ofthe gay anahetes of existence that he eneauntered a communities on the Amevean East ane West Coasts during his wists therein the late 1970s ad ety 12. In Whites story Rays rp to Greece, under taken to etal him to regina sene elf fers an opportanity o make the contrast between theveaethetis explicit! ‘Deri’ reflections on orcular utterance occu ina diseussion ofthe two projeste of deconetcton."* The fst project ie the analsic or “deconstrctive” one, in which apparel integral entities such asthe “sel are shown to be suarked by internal contadctons. Analytic deoonstreton disaszemblee the notions of unitary entity upan which sppents to sellawareness and action would othervise all too easily be fromded. In contast, « deeonstrvetive approach requires is pectic {ones to raid such myeification and te ecegnae end respec the many siher diffrence that exist in gay and lesbiensubjectivitis. The demand that dferences he scknowtedged enntinies evn though, atime oy plague,” gay “ideal” in under extreme prea. White cotilly ‘hes “sy identity” in “An Oracle” by specifying its diferences. In the ‘pocalypti atmarphere that continues ty surround many diacisins of AIDS, the shale project has = frie aoe in sestingosertiny the "etaicof judgment, eri, sod ending that accompanies what Derrida refers toa “he apocalyptic we.” Yet analyte decontrcton equires supplement bya second or affi= rmative phase that enables the subject in distress to begin to make the tins that are psi ony when one bins oder from one's cotomsary Sense f sell Dea desecbes ths projet in tema the ability of "he tone of anaher, a come at no matter what moment interrupt a faiiat tonality” and hereby odarupt the sel idely” ol Unter ane peaker ApocalpiicUnerance 101 tech AT 85, 8). Such teraoe i fren anon, wie, hugh Teepe ue» linge feo, te coal of generating mew po ‘Sher ef mearng Inte cto of pienso for one, Shepunon wart ith AIDS. Th seen of hve no ran welsta be dsp by th car wr of th deceased in oder re wa el mse lw, aya ei ie SMguomecagesof Coun vie ecrdon Bt nsring mech ENdsowel ih he psy fearing Geog itera lar o- teliges Dil he lve Gere wh beeing existe? [ey] be Teed Genre il ned ino wll Got wo lt hi peak” 22 Theta tthe afte son, Gorge de peice i tit ike eens tetan of merin oie UWitceo. Tsoi e change te meaning sentence and ee haus Rays Den aps enced abot he ayn which tnt end ses cd eopaly i urling o sei ho “oh” might tect edocace thr bn space Bs hi coner abot he testo ef Oeste oter is resere, ween Tice peta atv deca nome by ving ‘Sikes the lace fal prt gpm By sing the pss weeroaltersne within he hy of gy execs a2 moment tvs lng id aufering coon, sd nse, White supplements Darareecton heist ppt pees eee and soll ence 11 Missives “An Oracle” begin with the felling paragraph: Ale oat dit ay wet hugh ng so owner. Cause ‘Bucsc ha ated teen months adding hat ne Ro had stopped Sein at ef is ol ade Ht een quale with Boy Pst FESGE Aitouhse'dcen hile car frie ine inking tne tune ya if-eara Calon hippie how she represented he it eed He's eve ll he nr ded Ua se orien (Eure hw ichening'd older be thought he patel otesand ap prssmtiens wer (207) With these sentences, White ates a concer about messages that re ‘urs thioughoat he sory messages ontiing dificlies, for nstance thet pre-erbe characte. tis care “the pastel leaves and sappy se0- 102 RICHARD DELLAMORA, ‘mons of Baty endehip cards do nt realy suit the criss that George and Ray fice. There are lapses of communication: Ray is unable to come ‘unicalchis ieitationo Bety ora est odo soins way thal wl prompt Ihr to change her behavior. There are contingencies that father limit ‘communication: Bey is using cas that ae, apparently, hee stack in trade. Tho use of the ward hippie and the absent thatthe hippie e= fore tie midle-aged auggest another lei, em inability Wo more out ek the pst ‘These limits do not coer simply wo questions about language, self ‘ety or intersubjoctive relations they are immoditely inscribed wthe fn and begin to deseibe the micrpoltics of one mode of gy existence: & ‘couple, one of whom has did (s'est of AIDS}—the withholding af the word “AIDS” here and throughout i feature of «polities within oehich Ray lves—and the other of whan is beset by grief ad los, Betty, the woman whois Rays “best rend,” provides anather key element i that microplities, since the role of the-woraiovho-e~angnymanebest fen is chaacterni of gay existence a epreonted in the story. Batty functions alink between ay fiends and with existence ous ane works, Her presence impli the need fr further analysis, net ony ofthe !spparentneecsiy ofthe foe he pls for gay men but also about ‘lprocit. What support do Ray and Ralph provide her and women like her? Laterinthe tory the fase of women's mourning comes tothe fore when ay become ascnated with an aevountin Laing M Danfort book The Death Ritual of Rural Groce shout a Greek mater lo of her dah ter Because Rays tent to draw analogies between this experience snd is own ignores cultural Uiferenoes, hie efforts produce ineongroous end times inadvertently humors results. Neveeeless, Ray's perception the lose faced by thir and other Grek women prompts flection about his responsiblity and tht of other gay men, to women wh snot, Te question is yt more ap since, like gay ten in he fae of AIDS, women ‘tho moar women often find neaeles inte position of oeding tia ‘ent modes of expreason, iteray genre, and tual to exprean the mea {ng of elaionships between women that radionally have had limited or possi of expression ha Orel” implies the need to consider sich questions ax well at ‘heir diay. The semiloected life of Ray and Ceare sag “couple” constiutos sn incipient and, toa large degree, blocked soa far, for sthich ile of mourning are wanting! However strical White maybe oot what is casually retered oa a“ Apocalyptic Utteroree 108 ind bow adislly new gy existence nas ase of pen expressed social Foxmations and that it contnaes tex ander dares. The very pvely of ovlal fos exacerbates the disruption caused by ALDS while leo Taviting indeed, aloe equting) the existence af oracle utterance since if there is one constant in gay experiance since Stonewall, i has ben the need oconimully adapt quickly changing circumstances, of ‘hich AIDS presents only the moat recent and the moe dating et Tr the ora with which the story eas, the pessbiites of misunder- standing and failure, potsonal and police, ao magnified, in part be- ‘usc the words ofthe orale, “Take care of yourself" are ones thst George ‘fen repeated. The orci raises the possibilty of communication with those who have di with AIDS. But in what waycan the deceased speak 19 those who have been let behind? Moreover. the oracles spoken by Mar fo. in Ray's pata "booker" (240), a txm that nits very mischarar- Toveation ofthe celations betwee well to-do tourists and young Greek is- landers indicates Ray's insensitivity o eanomic and ether asymmetries between member ofthe two groupe The sender and receiver af this mes- age are masked by diferences of eas, age, sexual and gender identity, Tanguage, and nationality. Wil Ray see that. coming from Marco, even these familiar words mast havea difvet meaning? Owl be regard Mar. has simply the naesssic pretext for delivering a menege hat Ray. ready knows and wishes to hear flected back to i? “Those quedtions are inporant since Whites prepared to ik reaching ‘twat to atically diferent experiences rom a specified site of bjoc= tivity tha, othove vse, soften asocited with cultured ar afluent Jndifetence w others. White underscores the genera validity of rtcal ‘Seessinent of fay lifestyle by racing hie fl rm boyhood on far in (Ohio, tograduateeudy of Eile Durkheim's concept of anomie atthe Uni ‘ety af Chicago, to fe in ay commune in Teroto to adjustment “Corporat fein New York. Given this particular route oogh recent gay texstence, one wondees what has happened to Ra. IL Postmarked Greeve “The sit tw Creek content prides a be fleet sca forma> ton inrlatin Yow Rayne ep be Sterprted wat rd rural wer Greeks Hone, lesa hei, Mont, Dian nd Tallent. Rey igemnceaoat ADS or mtn, hs bee! ht the eons terete ota gh deta ie a 1000s lees him utes hsewing so mprtan mates 04 RICHARD DELLAMORA, the Grek villagers described in The Death Rituals f Rural Greece Mone ver, Ray's and George's experiment ine daable bat nonmonngames lationship entails a cultivated lack of e-ararneas that veils anxieties out gender inversion no loss tense than those that Foucault han de- sical Grek culture of thet Ray finde upon asving in ete ). As Georges “doll” (218), Nay hee has been a kindof “hooker” reduced in tte tothe level ofa high-priced eonmmity object (scape san him abviouly as so of superior home entertainment cone," 216), Within the relationship, Tayi loving, loys, nd patent but alienated, seeing himself as “impersonating Geurg's lover” (218). White associates the relationship with Ry’ los of diretion und with a "hndering lack of se-nowledg onthe part at Goorge. Tie ac has the sdvantge of helping George pass fr “straight” inthe upper echelons of fovporato America but alforde no gains in awareness eve the face of illness and death. His opacity is espeielly marked inthe phrase, “Yow rust lok ou for gourel" a etme repeated wil evernarying mean ing inthe sory and becoming, at lat, the equivocal oracle of the soy’ ttle, George keeps usingit tell Ray heneedea jb ie, a" well-paying” job, 211, Before he dios George finde Ray °s gi" in public velaions oe Amalgamated Anadgnes, an iresponsible corporation that “produced fabric for chidsn's wear that hod tared oat t be Mamnmable” (212) George himself specializes in high-priced face-lift fr corporations, ‘White satire ofthe ilasion and misinformation that George ed Ray po- duce reflects their complicity in late capitalist “we contoured! along Tine face, gender, ntinality, ad clas, ‘When Ray before leaving fr Crecce, gives tho eat, Anna, eto Bets Loepng, e thinks af George injuneton: "You mnst ok out fr you sell’ George ha sida now he was uying"(221. In Marco, Ray socks frst much-needed intimtey and, secondly «chance to regain waenacaf tall. Bu the cashmere ofthe lationship enats and paris elaine ‘exchange within the corporate cconny and in Rays ele ie with Googe Ray’ plesurabe, semiguilty fntusis sbout sex with Marco show that he is aware that asymmetries inthe rltionship do na tll in Ray's for: "He whose conscience yours of pica stage had raised now ank inthe delicins guilt of Anglo fag soricng Mexican worker of cxwboy face-focked by Indian breve, af lst out waylld by wily camel ny” 2891 Near the end of his stay, Ray flecs When bei sain Cate he ind he age ecg his body va metely «detour and that when be rine is ah Geng weal b> Apocalyptic Uterancs 105 tg fr him, Googe or thoghts of Grape othe ile Gorge at ‘Cinta ln he was ge sue which he est. Aad yet no there ua al poi hal Be might cape, curt something nev oF teenopore hsb Boyhood aes it one hey the Doin tne Everything here ore oe sping to erent hy r= {te hin eve the my ed Become Groce purser athe an the panel (47-8) ‘Ths ateipted repatriation, however, is zoe, since the pattems of| sexual elton in ancient Greece indicate by contrast how unsatisfactory Iie with George bts been In The History of Sexuality, Foucault bserven tow the ase of te pleasures'—elvesaphoison” ie codified in elas ‘al Groves so ast ponace an “ndsiual” who is “an ethical subject of Soul condact™ (UP, 2} Foucault denis “Four great axes ofexpei- ‘hee ae relevant to this proses, One ofthese axes, ditt, refers to ‘e's elatiun to one's body. This set of practices constitutes “a form of tmerstion defined by the measured and timely us of the aphrodisia.” ‘The second ein ered economic, rforeto marriage and isa fore af ‘moderation defined ot bye mutalfaithulnss of marrage panes, but Iya ceatain prvlege, wih the Husband upholds on behalf the awl ‘ne over whom he exercises hi authority.” The thin xis, ere, refers {omodertion in sexual elation betwoen men ar bos. The fourth axis Foleo slfconciane meditation an propesy pilosophic issues that [Bisefor Pato in response tothe oe of oye” (UP, 251, 252) Ray's “ase 2H anes” apenwpady he lava mide He etre Sites yor fw tig that "ha init oso st ‘tte isn pn comma” 210, “Mage Yo Georg a wtiied "hua stature aus powe (UP 252, in ST ay set penaonty nee ft ker ath ho ran TEE eth safe fom he sto ype wearing mortar od ‘fesse er adorable smb and iin” 18) Tails rena sn tori an lp epi the posi one inva he ay ern laton, sine esl tebetween male Si aad an adler inthe ancient madel eacade the xchange af sey UP, 271) Ae Roy hoot a, ach arltonhip specs “fest ie ut eds nly oan ll nee" A wel SNe ihe ifthe rl way “fa renmeain fall tious telaonwisbns" (UP, 262 On her andthe “lc and WR vens of Mare moat, te fit hr protien hi ‘Hon pre hs tthe! heb of aoe (UP, 24), Te moe ‘nny athe caneeton, mer, dpe on 106 RICHARD DELLAMORA the reipct hate ong tthe yo he adlencent and oe ane ‘sausat Ge rnn eisn longer singly the ble aa caning Thermstro is plennr; i a rblem of Kouwing ow one can ne lira fr deter’ edn in the waster tone exercise ‘nee aint tse lve that oe bears farkim. UP. 258) “This “problem” is precisely ays atthe end ofthe sor, In ain othe classic model af pederatic ove, other pattems of tna intimacy ae intimeted by Ray's tip to Kania. One i the pater of ‘sul srl emotional ies bswoen men ha exited in Crete in pre-Grel, Civilisation. Gay sotivets have explaited the eult of the Cretan bull go and the great mather godess in Minoan culture in arer to associate love between men with feminist inanalianee gaint patriarchy.” Ray alll- «ats Marco wiht cultare when he compares hi with “te sli-waised ‘matador (249) fou in Minoan paotiog. Yet the murals at Knoeae, tedseovered inthe twentieth centary by the English anthropologist, Sir Arthur Evans, have been “abeuryoertetored (285) at ha serves reminder that processes of appropriation and conanination, of lor nization and tourism, make impossible any exclusive affinity between Marco and his antecedents. Through his love of Maren, Ray is aflited withthe ethos of pre-Greck cvilzatin in Crete. But countertendencies Alsoabound. Foran, when a intokes “the Doran mae," he asain Iimself with the culture ofthe Bovis, group of Grek invaders who ‘onecan Crete!® and who ist tore altri the Peloponnesus, dele ‘oped a nv of peserstic elton hat boesme central to the forte ton othe solder itien/subo of Spats ‘White ses geographical references to neociate Ray and Macc with the ols ofealonizer and eolonizod in history. Ray, wh lives oo ise Juné, Manhattan, travels to another island, Grete, White dot the soy wit he tsces af pat conquests: fo exsaple, the Turkish minaret elt Teosted on an island in ania Ray and Ralph, the Areriean wth whom he twels ent “a Venesin palace” (221), monument to four entice of rule bythe island cit Ray als sociated with impel Rome dung the Hellenistic period: "His bay hod aoquted certain thickness, a8 though the original Grek statue had been copied bya Rom (238) TiRtayis, as [have suggested, assorated with Minoan swell a Doian ‘another imperil eutures, os Marco, whore alan name connotes the ascendancy ofthe Venetian ion [ofSan Marco]... emblazoned” on the veallof Xana 227). By furor seociating Marc with igure fine ae feats, White deaws on Minoan and Venetian referents of Mare’ OT Apocalpte Uterancs 107 “Marcon is white Kids ot Lew jcket cae readingateltily around the comer, noble and balanced lion; he winked hie approval and Ray {el his om please sptead over his whole body ike the heat af the run” {@4). These ion images imply a proces of reviization nthe Ray Maren peu that castes gave connotations tht peradsiallyisaleovali- ‘Sted pot of 2 zetun 1 an atred ense of vel, “Cats” ae “even “where” (237 the ist night that Ry flls Maro, These image, more- ‘er are associated with allectionateiamacy: Marcas "aes" i “airy with ice fend fans" (240), ‘White use reference oa ion tregistryetone or foumof afiaton betwien nen, this time in Homeric Greaes. Siting ona beac reading the aysey, Ray ix moved to ters byte lament of “ion-hoared Achilles” (226) ono the death of Pstrocas, David Halpern as argued that the rep ‘sentation of this ends in Homer celebrates snanseralized model {pai booding between ale heres." The reference t9 Aedes, then, {ssremindr of yt further diversity in he Grok imagination of male ro. Talling to recopive the cultural distance between histelf ard Ae, Ra nai hie nf ats inns fis a os of George. Yetthis distorting assimilation of eric eendship ogy past bership is countered by an experience that results in wat might be ‘haraclerzed aa 9 second or minor oracle in the stag. The unexpected Sppearanevon the beach ofan el berdamanandhis cheep prompts Ray to ‘tehis“piet” ina ew light "as scotty gengaw beyond the means ofthe ‘resouly hungry and hard-working word” (226) ofthe shepherd Recog- ising someone ee’ difiulty enables Ray tok at his wn experience ‘erent This double recognition, moreover raises further possiblity ‘Maybe it wos precisely hi rie thet one hin to this peasant” 226) 1 tall this moment oacule because forthe fit tine Ray's sense of eli lire by ronguizing someone else's TV. Home Truths of enothe” can “interupt a familar toealiy” and thereby dsrup "Whe fellideatty” af the Lntenet, White brings this concern self-reflexive into the text by incorporating number of passages rom Danforth book, {ny ofthe tites of exhumation tat or part the mourning process in sorte Greece. Expliit analogies betwern village experience and Ray's {veke the question of the elation between self and Othe 105 RICHARD DELLAMORA Atthe tr of his book, Danforth ells the ator af Iii, whose twenty year-old daughter Eleni ded i August 1974 ia aitand-rup accident in ‘Thessaloniki. Eleni was «bright atractio young woman whose parents ‘ud sent her from home atthe age of twelve 0s could attend high school nd prepare for work ss en elomentar-schooleacher. She was Kod une ‘oath before taking up he ftt poet (DR, 15}, When Ray devies to a. ceptan oflerof vacation in Greece, he is dawn in pat byLanrestory. would be all new—new place, new language, ghosts. He even liked {sing othe county where people expresced the git or dying 2 bone ‘ety, s0 passionately In that book he ike the way a mater, when she ‘xhumrsther daughter's ody alter toe years f burial, sid, “Look what | putin and look what ook out! [patina paridg, and Tak ot bones ADR, 65; 220, Ray's interest in eins rel suggests theoretical ques: tions about akerity, Do subjcots—and discourses —pernit the expression of ference in ways that efiexvelyaler tase subjects ad discourses? ‘Orare such expressions alway rocuperatd in ebinerystactre of sg- nifiestion in whichthe measing fone term subordinated othe meaning the other? White is familiar with such questions not only from hie veading in oststractrali theory bat lo fom the consideration that Danforth iss thor inthe sstodction to his honk (SD, xt itn} Danforth do= scribes the gulf humane anthropology as one ofreducing “the distance between the sndvopologist and the Other.” of bridging “the gap between “us and heen” He contend Aninveetpaton th Otheriovles on exploration fhe Slax wll. The ental protiem of ntvpolgy ths Fat Rion’ ord the om orion a eae bythe torah compecensn lth ote" The hope seta to arsine the Oe, onl a Bnd he Ot ie met and isl inthe Oe, Forth hg of death thatthe ty of awoken de becomes he stad ae wedi’ Rest tome tose inthe death fhe caronr det ar nell (DE 6) In this presage, elaquentshough itis, "Others”tande to become a trane= parent overlay of "we." Danforth misses e key step necessary if thx ‘graphic tly eo inreare wel now, namely, the analy ofthe {vestments that the ethnographer ing toi coat oad. Praphrare ng Claude Lév-Strauss, Pl cle Man has argued Pir making any vali statement about a stan soit the bseving ‘aljectenus bea lea ar pol mshi tad oad his own, He ‘illaon disor, beer tha th only way in which can seo : sl Apocalyptic Uteronce 10? thins demyaieton iy compane study ef hiscnen sca lfas tongs th vero thor a by becoanng seo the terete ta thi atton nosealy impli Inde Man's fermulation, ethnography pogreses not by finding sin the Other (or vice verse) but by analyzing the edinographr’s elaonship to those whom he o he studios and vice vere). Ray's aati to Duforts book aces i part om the emtionl Aeprivations of his soutines closeted extence. (He canna, for ‘Sanco, tel his bos, Helen, about Georg’ deat.) Ray's response othe Situation ofthe Greek women is complicate by theft hat 239 mam Tivig in New York iy he oa en sme ways nat one ofthe we but rather fan Other, Since the advest of AIDS, the tendency af gay ment be ee trdd as sources of canazn hs exacerbated theiraiention, Although Fay sometimes pases stsight upperomidle-clase WASP, his sexual liference means that in part he approaches Greece san Other spproaeh- ing an Other. His sorination as a gry man bots generally and inhi “yall” relation te Googe intensifies his dooteaton withthe widows in Danforth’ hock, whom Danforth doseibes as experiencing wexsi of identity when thy lose the male theough whom thee sain the village Tad been secured (DR, 130) Ray shifts with considerable confusion betneen the postions of we and Other In "An Orc,” the tems gay provides e touchstone of individual neta identity, But the continu vation of nominativs fr sobjeots ff mae-male desire indisteseatvaloxilation inthe sigiicance of being such a subject. This variation amplifies one Ray i in a society inher the poiteal trwctaeof desire between men ifr from tht of his ‘vn i the couse ofthe soy, gy men are refered to as muscle queens, “over.” panes, boy, “the Stonewall eneration,” pick-ups, posi dity ld men, ge puta, taneventtes, and faggots. The proliferation of terms indicates tht the tem gay refers ta subject whose meanings on tinully under pressure of ray selfknowledges and ignorances) and inten to others. Tn Xanity Ray tlie on a aquent visitor fom the United States, « {Classes profesor nained Home, explain hit the com- tration af wesuaity tht permits Greek mon to engage in sex for pay 28 Tongs ty take the ativeole bt which also icenses a shephen om leva son whom he learns "was getting fucked" (248) Homer acts ay ‘ethnographer who understands the difereaces betwen sexually at home land sevaality in Greek bae eure, Morover he understands the com Na RICHARD DELLAMORA ato so sly pho- togaphing the “oct” 220) inthe nde. Av his ame wy eugsese, Hones, whane modem Gresk is patched together fom en expert know cdg of uncer Ges, expect the eens betwee madera oh lout Greek males sonal pasties be alo ikely are that Jubb isinbricted in a social gy tation OF the charter in the son he is the one moat expable of ndrstandingmale-mae seal ‘erences con me and ec Barbara Godard has pointed out Un andi are graphic tacos of nguite meaning th end edo thy ave ending tex hsough the ears language oes than ht ew tte Was ten eae? Traaation-ffets ae isible signe o erences in Tneaing that depend on dferences io lnguee. ln“ Once” White Toth cknoradges and dees ingle derever in wae that cult satin the open semantic wih hich the sry ods, When Ray frst mete Marco, te Maron who nits verbal exchange "Ya he ssid thm at far oT the lurpone esting 239) ip Se hon hs on ay Yer an tere ith hich the Cretan eles the Maat for pone intimacy, nay will become posible bower, nly if Marco ean prevent ay hm concn tal misconcving whit i about to pen. “Wht you want?" Marea Sk, “and hiss emile sagged he already knew aint ay dee st disgnting ad ently proteable” 239) Ray anewer, “You” [hy Youlstrtes alee mt becuse it pretest What he mans atts nents at You” te Th eepense, Maren “howd agi.” Ray rods th gesture: “Sex? Ray sida his tine the by ned, "at sme he ented, rb hing his thumb and factnger ogee” The nara smives that Mar cofseastion aceur Beene “the wad [ou pperety mas at one fe ‘ny’ den English word” Bat the areal inmeditly corrected Mareo contin “I ack you!” (235). He doc know the word yon the sent af sexalbjot and nis on speifng the diference between Sentimental tors and exchange vl, difeence tat ruil for Marco since inhi sex clr vais hs masalnty even when be engages in aex wih anther man. Maret neten dempliin Rays poston athe sae tie that it glncer at ste of appropriation at ftufces a the end ofthe sry. The performative leg tndermines te ‘wingnes of he aratocin his function aethnsgephee, Masco knows snore ard beterthan the narrator, howe ignorance aba selfand thers ‘Thane forthe moment, with Rays AgecayplUNeronce 111 iy the end hes Ray bu len in ine wh Meo, coon tt iely inde lary Pal de Man has ear th Lae’ fret fe, aap hat cede tls proper men ingto« upended, oon sant tsa Ray denn koto ope ote anoying hon In Kaui ring io ages tne, aig ee with te ngs ma. He inde gay Geek ar salt who ages totnlat this popes nile for Mare, Te ‘xen seems ooecme the presi of tandaon fs Rays ‘meaning ill anpaent to Mar bone the aor bth Grok gay. hlng wiht howe ays itp mers ther efsleny hue he here were wai” (259, Tejon amen tence, “Kae” codetnaing nd the thas “ry babe” eal wither the maar cr Ray niet isons, underet ay sated nero Ray atenpting oy Sle bubl? Ard itp hing Grok ofr Masta py ani apc tinge tiny Homer show be Jinpscate? "For sat Marco ede he teres penn rar the situnnpenet Aes logic, be aye gn know 0 le fr and lve os Bat Xia ua ry. al Do ore peu mus (280) Mac ple! the i th he cofence Sf Ensch nate speaker, inpbing heey raged svt of Chater ea crcontr nth anlopane, ne oh gay oc In Sentence, Marco uns Englh he diferent “hc you iver’ hesy and oe Ke what Ray nto Hi ete, witen inttorame rammaofpeton in obich Comer aspen, cas firuvinsich hi eaon wh Maco wil minor he aig” ne hing has tay ai ‘Narco continues by sponding, “Aad neo.” The predic ithe sama, bt tie intimation ier. Line thi ing demon Hc eater defen posting fame iin Greck omentine {iracalnity hl svitenenolsngenting the chino seen {Gooner ay Mar) inhi Ray caught Io Marc word "the eos fr the other ones o the tne af ante” become ie {Wah oscars whet Dera fers heer” le sl ‘oni sme nla esis] or sade eat namely ay. With he “erlmen” however, ran“ the pony fl ‘ison or trance (AT 88,89, namely he pos wt ely af arog bt also eran other This pay pen thes srt fr ay and Maro bth 112. RICHARD DELLAMORA, Then comes the oracuaruterance: “You must look ont fr oursel.” ‘The imperative resembles that of “Know thee” the insexption on the temple of Apolo at Delphi, whet, scardiog to Hellenistic secouns, the Dreses of Apollo/Dionyssutered eles as vapor roe fom the oor af the temple. In Oedipus Rex, the oracle speaks tothe inhabits of Thebes, another “plagued city"(266) After Marco studs andlesves, Rey is transported ay fe blown bck in a winced of gif end jy He fe his bir strange resco back the si of isp tern In pop ‘og phinies he haut "Ui uy” fad walked ou on Kim, done hes ‘ong, broken is hats oat he as happy tf raping agin th sharp wounded ie He was hows back on a he be we sed el ‘sid she'd never yt alone ise ey ober Googe a's po Lento hie taught leatikelporwle, 230) A this nme Res thinking ics tems he ich of opr sing These ven naman enan, stu ah ey Gre agg Yt in callenging a's fama Maoh opened oss of another meaning and prompts Ray to come hime By ‘ompltng th proceso mrng deed hin New York, Tt tra oi Danfrtisanayts of Grek ital, the “inal peri of eutng Sse ina “covers” In whi Ray's ty speaks wih sue an ‘George speaks by way ech DR, 6,117 13 ‘inurl Green, th eatin ofthe bones ofthe dead ani the sory ofthe deceased wale marking there of he berared a thconmuny, Wakes, mre ek te eryay lie othe village the celebrations ots of pesnage tthe tiehsing 6 the soups one propery and sustenance In Rays ees the auiocal charter ofthe re spends the psa af eanion Ue invokes songs expressing the pana he wronged wma mehr the same ur dnl erent A he eu to comaantyroe cuted the Fame ofthese, as do the referents of som ch ‘ppear wo eit bck in Mahan, Hance the qucstono Ray ton ‘ith Baty ried tet eminence ‘ene of apc impends toniy ecne Ray cesot kw hab vd becaae he drs ot know gael epond oe Seve Singita AIDS; er dss he nme omega ft gee ie ‘ays in hich other commune wl eypopo teen Ray's reference ois trip a “det” (247 che the pra tht Dani cites fm Risser at ethoplogy being "he compen ApocalyptcUterence 113 sion ofthe self by the detour of the comprehension of the othe" (DR, 6) ‘White tacks he path by his seo the worl “Lid” and kid,” appesble tothe young Cretan on para, to Masco o Ray and other adalencent Tis youth near Findlay, Ohio, and, av Satering misnomer, t9 Ray by ‘older acquaintances in gay circles in New York City Encountering the the ceri More is she an eneauater with sl. Finally, AIDS too i figured. ax Selkid™! "The dioeate --scemed to him like a kid who's holding his nae underwater for an eerily longtime but is bound to come crashing, taspingupforale" (219) This uncanny image sugeest that ike the “ey ‘od goals and valuce” chat Ray woud ike To regain, he visualizes AIDS tobe part of himsl. Liokng back tos yath and forward othe pose poet of untimely lines and death, Ray sees no obvious route into social ‘existence, though White offer the poesiility that Ray may ture to bis Tongenelectedintermat inweting Inconeat othe misuse of Rey intel ligence in “public lations" (211), White characterizes Ray's recupers= Seisnene othe work hy did ster every tro fintinacy lato reflection, coeplton (ether psych and wring (AT, 68) eparation AT Grek oe, nocesry fr Maco to come of gs ng my atk Raye tnd tha ory een writen Ine in he 1960, whe the eines of 1 intvida and group nt fe of AIDS a bce fii fact, White migh hee sugested leet rout af tum wal Ras {tne pertiipation in rganie gy eponse to ADS, Nay already a ‘Serienced are giver an lof Cong’ og es. Today many Song gaye ken the te binary res lain to cvng for Phe Thm i eaten to sex White's purpose in “An Orc” however, 10 tnd heer tht ra denies ben the eat of te sue {ory Henig at erly that comet, nthe clr fo tie ull pla erty aod he hele nome ot” (6D, avis Inthe 1983 itt States of Dee, White ge {eve solvent eflet ofboth AIDS and postatusturi oy on ea ion ogy Hen He lo apes ofthe ope, exes ne it to snd asin in 1983, that en il crea lend ot sone eet a leet of atid of cnmouoaon (5, 0. {ihe ope mats his emphasis nn Ors” and validates sand Ray) ee the word ark in lt teal inna. Tadvertea, Der touches on one meaing of rc in gay exe tence wen he Seine the the elated Hebrew ad Grek orm, ala 114 RICHARD DELLAMORA and apolalygo, refer t “disclosure, discovery, uncovering, smelling, the veil lifted rom, the uth revealed abou the hing: fst fl, ifwecam say ths, men's or women's genitals (AT, 64). White story draws to 2 tegre ov econritio that intimacy between men can generate privileged Insights into tho meaning of existence. As inthe eas of Chistian spoe- slypse as Dera interprets it, the one disclosures accompanied by a ‘ther, that of divine being itself (AT, 68) In wtng by subject of mas taline desire, this socondary disclosure is recognized to be figural or Fetive, although gay thooristeoceesanallyIteralize the metaphor of di ‘ine presence when, for example, Arthur Evans, authorof The God of Fenasy, identities Dionyaus as "an expresrion ofthe sensual joys of ie ‘unroatrainal by the sate and unchanaled by the patriarchal lara" ‘White reraine skeptical about this meaning of orsle (SD, sv; oe otis oracles rotor litarl unveiling ofthe genitals. Hes more inter ‘sted inthe possiblity that arund intimacy gay men may devise new ‘modes of social. By the end ofthe story, the rele, “Te cate of your ‘has been translated from its lave capitalist mounings (lok ou far umber one: get good jo) int number of traditions of desire hetween rmenin Greece: In conte, herman imporant ofthese isthe ethical model

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