what is the excessive subject?

samja May 09, 2022 at 08:58 875 views 1 comments

I keep running into terms like "the political subject" the speaking subject and the excessive subject. From what I understand the political subject is the "we that assembles" and the "speaking subject" is the speaking part, rather than the deeper self. What is the "excessive subject"? the subject with "added features" such as opinions and addictions?

Comments (1)

Cuthbert May 10, 2022 at 14:26 #693319 0 likes

In Rothenberg's 'The Excessive Subject' it means the aspects of a person (or a thing or event) that are revealed at later stages and make us re-assess causes and motivations. Rothenberg's example: “Carl smiled as he gently stroked the skin of his lover with the keen edge of a knife.” The last five words of the sentence determine what we think of Carl and how we interpret the scene. 'Excess' suggests spillage, as if a glass has been over-filled and we are now seeing the contents over-running and revealing themselves in a new context. 'Excess' is also connected with 'extimacy', the inner lives that are revealed to others and displayed on the outside (Lacan) . Magritte's L'Homme au Journal can be used as an illustration pre-dating the theory. We are invited to interpret the first panel as a room in which there will be or was no man reading a newspaper - not just an empty room but a room emptied of a specific person - the 'excess' in this case is the whole subject, the man himself.
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