(or, being on the edge of something)
for anything with “textual” qualities
first identify a movement, an exchange of meaning, between the literary and the real
(this is blatant disciplinary imperialism)
think of it as “poetics of culture”–meaning, in other words, is a relationship
(Surprise! meaning is only (barely) graspable, a little wispy
watch for unexpected spaces, for some may pass and others may not)
next, sketch the aesthetic, in any medium
pay attention to discontinuities rather than continuities, points of rupture rather than points of coherence, edges rather than shapes—this is diction and contradiction
(this works because words, people, critters, and things all have the experience of “release,” of being on the edge of something)
finally, you’ll find that the story goes something like this:
“social order itself” is not a rave or a revolution, it’s red tape or the manufacturing of consent
but there are spaces within which freedom can be practiced: this “liberalism,” with its monuments, laws, values, and markets, is also spaces within which “struggle” must occur
so reading is moving between distinct spaces—threatening the social order
the singular and indivisible in history are and will remain invisible and impossible
there must be a separation, both material and imagined, between figure and ground
for anything to be seen at all.
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