That terrible vowel, that I : autobiography and Derek Walcott's Another life

In this thesis, I approach autobiography in Another Life by exploring the linguistic means Derek Walcott uses to set up subjectivity in the text. In particular, I respond to Emile Benveniste's question: "what does I refer to" by examining the role of the first person pronoun in Another Life. In chapter one, I introduce the problem of "being in the text", attend to comments Walcott has made about the self, review criticism of the poem, raise issues which concern critics of autobiography, outline Benveniste's theory of subjectivity and Philippe Lejeune's observations on the use of the third person in autobiography. A thematic summary of the poem follows in the second chapter. The pronominal structure underlying Walcott's autobiography and the "biography" of a West Indian intelligence is traced in chapter three where I relate Walcott's dual perspective to Benveniste's definitions of discourse and historical narration. In the final chapter, close readings of selected textual extracts demonstrate the complexity of language phenomenalizing the pronoun I in different sequences of the poem. The readings support Benveniste's claim that the I "refers to the act of individual discourse in which it is pronounced" and the post-structuralist notion that the "self" is a linguistic construct. I conclude that Walcott's I assimilates both romantic and post-structuralist properties.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Department of English Language and Literature

Year dc:date.issued

1989

Author dc:creator

• Marks, Susan Jane

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Glenn, Ian

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/22151

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/22151