Page 75 - Vinkler, Jonatan, Ana Beguš and Marcello Potocco. Eds. 2019. Ideology in the 20th Century: Studies of literary and social discourses and practices. Koper: University of Primorska Press
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Epistemology, Ideology, and Literature ... 75
is sated and insensitive; his regard for language—for the Word itself—as an
instrument of creation has diminished nearly to the point of no return. It
may be that he will perish by the Word (Momaday 1968, 95).
From the point of view of an external observer, i.e. ‘locus observan-
di’, the multiplication of words is only the multiplication of tools for mas-
tering the existent world, regardless how useful or useless they might be.
Whereas from a participatory position language can endanger the world
that is created by it, if it is treated without responsibility and respect. Lan-
guage is productive; therefore, it is possible to say that the place, Mom-
aday assigns to language, is the ‘locus producendi’. Momaday articulates
his critique in a novel, a traditional European genre, thus multiplying
the words himself; and it did not change the epistemological hegemony.
However, House Made of Dawn was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1969
and it aroused the attention of the public for Native American literature.
In a way, it did change the world, as it opened up the possibilities for oth-
er Native American authors to gain acceptance in the literary scene. In
literary history it is therefore called ‘the Native American renaissance’
(Monk 2016, 137).
Another manifestation of participatory epistemology is the emula-
tion of storytelling. It evokes the situation of oral literature, where the
storyteller and the listener are both part of the world, created by their ac-
tivity (or passivity). An example could be the poem Hey, Look, the Abyss!
by Sherman Alexie, published in 2016 in the journal The Stranger. The
poem, consisting of 36 four-lined stanzas, speaks about genocide, one of
Alexie’s main topics. Written in a kind of parlando, the theme is treated
with humor and sarcasm. In the first stanza the first-person narrator iden-
tifies himself as a descendant of Native American genocide and continues
to tell about a visit to Germany, especially to Dachau. It sounds that he
stands somehow aloof when discussing the German and the Turkish atti-
tude to the holocaust and the Armenian genocide. He thinks about other
countries and becomes aware “That genocide is always happening some-
where / In this amusement park called Earth”, but he admits in a defeat-
ist manner, quite common when a discussion comes to global atrocities,
“I’m powerless, as are all of you” (Alexie 2016). The narrator continues
to relate a story of a quarrel at a dinner party caused by his remark about
the Turkish policy of neglecting the Armenian genocide. He ponders the
reasons of the quarrel and gradually begins to lose his aloofness. He con-
cludes that it is not “only the epic monsters / Who commit genocide”, but
ordinary people: “Who are the monsters? Well, shit, it’s me / And you.
And you. And you. And you. And you” (Alexie 2016).
is sated and insensitive; his regard for language—for the Word itself—as an
instrument of creation has diminished nearly to the point of no return. It
may be that he will perish by the Word (Momaday 1968, 95).
From the point of view of an external observer, i.e. ‘locus observan-
di’, the multiplication of words is only the multiplication of tools for mas-
tering the existent world, regardless how useful or useless they might be.
Whereas from a participatory position language can endanger the world
that is created by it, if it is treated without responsibility and respect. Lan-
guage is productive; therefore, it is possible to say that the place, Mom-
aday assigns to language, is the ‘locus producendi’. Momaday articulates
his critique in a novel, a traditional European genre, thus multiplying
the words himself; and it did not change the epistemological hegemony.
However, House Made of Dawn was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1969
and it aroused the attention of the public for Native American literature.
In a way, it did change the world, as it opened up the possibilities for oth-
er Native American authors to gain acceptance in the literary scene. In
literary history it is therefore called ‘the Native American renaissance’
(Monk 2016, 137).
Another manifestation of participatory epistemology is the emula-
tion of storytelling. It evokes the situation of oral literature, where the
storyteller and the listener are both part of the world, created by their ac-
tivity (or passivity). An example could be the poem Hey, Look, the Abyss!
by Sherman Alexie, published in 2016 in the journal The Stranger. The
poem, consisting of 36 four-lined stanzas, speaks about genocide, one of
Alexie’s main topics. Written in a kind of parlando, the theme is treated
with humor and sarcasm. In the first stanza the first-person narrator iden-
tifies himself as a descendant of Native American genocide and continues
to tell about a visit to Germany, especially to Dachau. It sounds that he
stands somehow aloof when discussing the German and the Turkish atti-
tude to the holocaust and the Armenian genocide. He thinks about other
countries and becomes aware “That genocide is always happening some-
where / In this amusement park called Earth”, but he admits in a defeat-
ist manner, quite common when a discussion comes to global atrocities,
“I’m powerless, as are all of you” (Alexie 2016). The narrator continues
to relate a story of a quarrel at a dinner party caused by his remark about
the Turkish policy of neglecting the Armenian genocide. He ponders the
reasons of the quarrel and gradually begins to lose his aloofness. He con-
cludes that it is not “only the epic monsters / Who commit genocide”, but
ordinary people: “Who are the monsters? Well, shit, it’s me / And you.
And you. And you. And you. And you” (Alexie 2016).
