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The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 12.2841  Thursday, 13 December 2001

From:           Martin Steward <MSteward@mds1974.freeserve.co.uk>
Date:           Thursday, 13 Dec 2001 08:56:00 -0000
Subject: 12.2819 Re: Subtext
Comment:        Re: SHK 12.2819 Re: Subtext

Bill Godshalk signs off “skeptically” (I spell it differently here in
blighty, but let’s respect the integrity of his text...). In fact, if by
scepticism we are to understand something, say, Humean, he appears quite
un-sceptical...

His last posting stated -

To my answer that "nothing" lies in the "interstices of the text," Sean
Lawrence answers:

Ah, but what is nothing?  The nihilation at the heart of being which
allows for Sartrean freedom?  The existential gap across which
Kierkegaard hoped to leap?  The infinite distance between self and
other?  The nothingness of negative theology?

And my answer is (f) none of the above. I was trying to insinuate that
“interstices of the text” is a metaphor, in fact, a misleading metaphor.
In a text, all one has is a text.  The only spaces are the white spaces.
There is also no “heart of being,” no “existential gap,” no “infinite
distance” between me and someone else (in fact, we’re pretty close), or
no mystical “nothingness.”

If he really believed this were so, what on earth would he be doing in a
Shakespeare discussion-forum devoted to exploring the ambiguities
inherent in those spaces between texts and people? Ah... but then we
return to the problem of differing definitions. Yes - “interstices of
the text” is a metaphor, just as all signifiers are metaphors; I thought
that was the point. The fact that a metaphor can be misleading points to
the existence of these interstices. On a practical level, then, I ask:
when you write, “in fact we’re pretty close”, are you telling us that
Bill Godshalk and Sean Lawrence enjoy an intimate friendship with one
another? Or is that just something lurking in the interstices...? (I
genuinely do not know either way)

m

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