Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1 M.A. Student in English Literature, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran
2 Assistant Professor of English Language and Literature Department, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran
Abstract
Some of Donald Barthelme’s works have been undeniably influenced by Michel Foucault’s socio-political philosophy, however, few scholars have explored such concepts in his works, especially the theme of “panopticism.” The purpose of this article, which is library based, is to analyze and scrutinize the panoptic society of Barthelme’s “Subpoena” in the light of Foucauldian “panopticism” which is a segment of his more general concept of power. Keeping the Benthamite “Panopticon” in the back of his mind, Foucault outlines the “new physics of power” represented by “panopticism” as a modern or disciplinary power; he, then, draws our attention to its most important feature, i.e., the penetration into the most trivial and personal affairs of social subjects. It is worth mentioning that the basic characteristics of disciplinary power such as omnipresence, omniscience, and omnipotence can be discovered in panoptic society of “Subpoena.” In this society, there is always the possibility of resistance and rebellion because wherever power is found, resistance emerges as well, though, eventually, power prevails upon individuals. Barthelme creatively portrays a post-modern society in which disciplinary power, with its meticulous and permanent surveillance, on the one hand, has transformed the subjects into the men of modern humanism, and, on the other hand, has changed the traditional society into a panoptic one. Barthelme successfully finalizes the story with the message that modern society intends to make obedient and useful machines out of the subjects.
Keywords
Main Subjects
- Barthelme, Donald. (2007). Flying to America: 45 more stories (K.Herzinger, Ed.). Berkeley: Shoemaker and Hoard.
- Bowring, John. (1843). The Works of Jeremy Bentham (Vol. 4). Edinburgh: W. Tait.
- Cognard-Black, Jennifer. (2019). Great American Short Stories A Guide for Writers and Readers. Virginia: The Great Courses.
- Foucault, Michel. (1977). Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison (A. Sheridan Trans.). New York: Vintage Books. (Original work published 1975)
- Foucault, Michel. (1978). The History of Sexuality: An Introduction (Vol. 1). (R. Hurley. Trans.). New York: Pantheon Books. (Original work published 1976)
- Foucault, Michel. (1980). Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings, 1972-1977(C. Gordon, Ed.). (C. Gordon, L. Marshall, J.Mepham, &K.Soper, Trans.). Pantheon Books: New York.
- Foucault, Michel. (1997). Society Must Be Defended: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1975-76(Arnold I. Davidson, Ed.). (D. Mace, Trans.). New York: Picado.
- Foucault, Michel. (2001). The Subject and Power. In J. D. Faubion. (Ed.), Power: The Essential Works of Foucault, 1954-1984. (pp. 326-348). (R. Hurley, Tran.). (Vol. 3). New York: The New Press.
- Hoffmann, Gerhard. (2005). From Modernism to Postmodernism: Concepts and Strategies of postmodern American Fiction. Amsterdam: Rodopi.
- Jameson, Fredric. (1991). Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. London: Verso.
- Moore Barthelme, Helen. (2001). Donald Barthelme: The Genesis of a Cool Sound. Texas: Texas A&M University Press.
- Roe Barbara, L. (1992). Donald Barthelme: A Study of the Short Fiction. New York: Wayne Publishers.
- Stott, William. (1976). “Donald Barthelme and the Death of Fiction.”Cambridge University Press, 1: 369-386. doi: 10.1017/S0361233300004415
- Ziegler, Heide & Bigsby, Christopher. (1982). The Radical Imagination. London: Junction Books
)
Send comment about this article