The Lost Territory: Parables of Exile in Julia Kristeva
THE ESSAY READS KRISTEVA’S INTERDISCIPLINARY WORK ALONG THE TRAJECTORY OF A SECRET NARRATIVE: THE NARRATIVE OF EXILE AND DISCONSOLATE WANDERING. THE CLAIM IS THAT KRISTEVA’S THEORETICAL MOVEMENT TOWARDS A FOREVER LOST OBJECT RETURNS AS THE PARABLE OF A FLIGHT AWAY FROM THAT OBJECT. THIS READING OF THE THEORETICAL VIA THE FICTIONAL UNCOVERS, HENCE, A HIDDEN MAP OF THE “LOST TERRITORY” (BULGARIA) AND ITS FORGOTTEN LANGUAGE. THE DARKENING OF THIS MAP WHICH BURSTS “ON THE FAR SIDE OF LANGUAGE” INTO SERENE IRIDESCENT SPACES PROVIDES A MODEL ABOUT THE WAYS IN WHICH KRISTEVA SPEAKS OF DARKNESS THROUGH LUMINOSITY, OF SILENCE THROUGH POLYGLOTTISM, OF THE NATIVE THROUGH THE FOREIGN, OF THE MARGINAL THROUGH THE CENTRAL, AND OF WOMEN THROUGH MALE MASQUERADE.
More...