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).

Comments

[vjlove.livejournal.com]

yes, class of '02, and jya in florence. i was an italian major.

i'm valerie, incidentally. i saw you on nevers' friends page, and you seem familiar, though i'm not sure if our paths ever really crossed at smith or not.

[aslant.livejournal.com]

i'm jesse :) i was class of 01, jya in florence. i was a comparative lit major, italian minor. i lived in haven. i didn't know a lot of people, but you may or may not know my first cousin danielle castaldi-micca, who was a lot more prominent around campus & in sga. she lived in various houses, but was also hr in haven our senior year. i would bet our paths didn't cross, though, because i only knew a very small circle of people. i'm not too social.

who did you live with in florence? i lived with signora marisa in the san gervasio neighborhood near the stadio.

[vjlove.livejournal.com]

danielle played hockey, right?

anyway, i lived with maria teresa bedoni, on via arnolfo, a little ways past santa croce.

[aslant.livejournal.com]

oh gosh. i don't know, but i don't think she did.

i am wondering if that is the house that a girl named jessica lived in, the year before you? she was a crazy seamstress and hand-made all our costumes for carnevale, corsets and everything. ahh, i could be wrong. i have a bad memory for street names.

[vjlove.livejournal.com]

yeah, i think it is. i remember my host mother talking about that.

[aslant.livejournal.com]

oh wow. i definitely spent a lot of quality time in that house, she had us stitch up or baste our own chemises & petticoats in return for the rest of her labor & skills. jessica was so dedicated. i remember those rooms had such beautiful light...but then, i remember that was true of all of florence.