Abstract
Eugene O’Neill’s concern with the fate of individuals over that of social systems and his belief in the primacy of emotions over thought have led him to explore dramatically the theme of self-revelation. Ostensibly, however, this theme has been subverted by the deconstructive program. The opposition here is between the idealist view of the subject as a “human essence”, a source of meaning that transcends and operates language and the social system, and the anti-idealist view of the subject as a “function” of language — of the identity of language and metaphysics, of language as the totality. Jacques Derrida argues that deconstruction does not attempt to reject the “metaphysics of presence” or logocentrism: “Since these concepts are indispensable for unsettling the heritage to which they belong, we should be even less prone to renounce them”.1
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
Jacques Derrida, Of Grammatology, trans. and Preface Gayatri C. Spivak (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1976), pp. 13–4.
Gerald Graff, Literature Against Itself (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979), p. 193.
With “self as archetype” I do not intend a Jungian approach to O’Neill, but rather make a distinction between the small self and the large self, or between ego consciousness and transcendental consciousness, the archetype that Whitman experiences in “Song of Myself”.
I refer to Vedic philosophy as formulated by Maharish Mahesh Yogi in works such as The Science of Being and Art of Living (London: International SRM Publications, 1963) and his preface to Modern Science and Vedic Science, 1 (1987), 1, in which he says, “Vedic Science is the science of Veda. ‘Veda’ means pure knowledge and the infinite organizing power that is inherent in the structure of pure knowledge. Pure knowledge is the state of awareness in which consciousness knows itself alone, when awareness is completely self-referral, when awareness has nothing other than itself in its structure. This state of pure knowledge, when knower, known, and process of knowing are in the self-referral state, is that all-powerful, immortal, infinite dynamism at the unmanifest basis of creation”.
The mechanics of “samhita” transforming itself into “rishi”, “devata”, and “chhandas”, and of their transforming themselves into “samhita”, as well as into each other, are the mechanics through which the unity of pure consciousness transforms itself into the diverse laws of nature. These self-interacting mechanics are expressed sequentially through the unfoldment of each unit of Vedic literature — Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda, Atharva Veda, Upanishads, Aranyakas, Brahmanas, Vedangas, Upangas, Itihasa, Puranas, Smritis, and Upaveda. See Kenneth Chandler, “Modern Science and Vedic Science: An Introduction” in Modem Science and Vedic Science 1 (1987): 10.
John Hagelin, “Is Consciousness the Unified Field” in Modem Science and Vedic Science, 1(1987), 77.
Ferdinand de Saussure, Course in General Linguistics, ed. Charles Bally and Albert Sechehaye, with Albert Riedlingen trans. W. Baskin (N.Y.: McGraw-Hill, 1966), p. 116.
Jacques Derrida, “Structure, Sign and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences” in Writing and Difference, trans, and Introd. Alan Bass (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978), p. 280.
Jacques Derrida, Positions, trans. Alan Bass (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981), pp. 40–1.
Jacques Derrida, “Différance”, in Speech and Phenomena, trans. and Introd. David B. Allison (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1973), p. 156.
Jacques Derrida, Positions, quoted by Charles Levin, “Derrida and the Cupidity of the Text” in The Structural Allegory, ed. John Fekete (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1984), p. 207.
Keir Elam, The Semiotics of Theatre and Drama (London: Methuen and Co. Ltd., 1980), p. 19.
For an excellent analysis of literature in terms of the field concept, see Katherine Hayles, The Cosmic Web: Scientific Field Models and Literary Strategies in the 20th Century (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1984).
Jacques Derrida, “The Voice That Keeps Silence” in Speech and Phenomena, p. 85.
Kenneth Chandler, “Modern Science and Vedic Science: An Introduction” in Modern Science and Vedic Science 1 (1987): 5–26.
For articles on quantum unified theories accessible to the general public, see the following: F. W. Hawking, “Quantum Mechanics of Black Holes”, Scientific American, 236, No. 1 (1977), 34–40
Daniel Freedman and Peter van Nievenheuizen, “Super-gravity and the Unification of Laws of Physics”, Scientific American, 238 No. 2 (1978), 126–43
Howard Georgi, “Unified Field of Elementary Particles and Forces”, Scientific American, 244, No. 4 (1981), 48–53.
Among the critics who have noted this theme of self-understanding in The Emperor Jones are Doris Falk, F. T. Carpenter, H. Frenz, and T. Tiusanen.
Eric Neumann discusses the circle as a symbol of wholeness, or the self-contained, in The Origins and History of Consciousness (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1973), pp. 5–102.
Northrop Frye, Anatomy of Criticism (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1957), pp. 115–28.
Harold G. Coward, The Sphota Theory of Language (Columbia, Missouri: South Asia Books, 1980), p. 10.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1990 Kluwer Academic Publishers
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Haney, W.S. (1990). The Semiotics of Self-Revelation in Eugene O’Neill’s the Emperor Jones . In: Tymieniecka, AT. (eds) The Elemental Passions of the Soul Poetics of the Elements in the Human Condition: Part 3. Analecta Husserliana, vol 28. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2335-5_32
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2335-5_32
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-7550-3
Online ISBN: 978-94-009-2335-5
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive