wendy doniger

[aslant]

i went to a lecture last night, the mythology of self-imitation in passing: race, gender, and politics by wendy doniger. she was a pretty amazing lady, and her talk made little explosions go off in my brain. she talked about reagan & schwartzenegger, about actors who play politicians, who become politicians, who then impersonate actors again. there is that scene in 'demolition man' where sylvester stallone comes across the schwartzenegger presidential library in the future, and is told about a 61st amendment to allow immigrants to run for president, etc: and of course we all know now that such an amendment is currently being pushed. she spoke about 'white noise' and the idea of passing for white or passing for black, servants as masters as servants; passing for male or female, as in 'as you like it'. people who 'pass' inevitably come to a place where they imitate their original self, in humor or self-preservation, and oh what a strange moment that is. i was reminded of virginia woolf's "orlando" which i would like to reread one of these days; wendy doniger spoke about a french count or marquis or someone who sounds like perhaps the transgender source myth for orlando.

if you are at all interested in this, you should read doniger's book splitting the difference or her current book, the woman who pretended to be who she was: myths of self-imitation. she has an incredible range of sources, geographically, culturally and historically, which lend her writing a very synergistic feel (viz, little explosions in my brain).