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They Aren’t, Until I Call Them

Performing the Subject in American Literature

by Enikö Bollobás (Author)
©2010 Monographs 236 Pages
Open Access

Summary

In the story of the three baseball umpires, two novice umpires compete in boasting how they respect «truth» and the way things «really» are. One says, «I call them the way I see them»; the other, trying to trump this remark, responds, «I call them the way they are». Then enters the third, most seasoned umpire, saying, «They aren’t, until I call them».
This book deals with two widely argued issues in literature criticism today, performativity and subjectivity. How do people become who they are? What scripts do they follow when they «do» gender, race, and sexuality? Tying into speech act theories and subjectivity theories, as well as gender, race, and sexuality studies, the author explores – through the close reading of several American texts – the many ways words make «things» in literature.

Details

Pages
236
Publication Year
2010
ISBN (PDF)
9783653002096
ISBN (Softcover)
9783631589823
DOI
10.3726/978-3-653-00209-6
Open Access
CC-BY-NC-ND
Language
English
Publication date
2010 (November)
Keywords
Gender Race Subaltern
Published
Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Wien, 2010. 236 pp.

Biographical notes

Enikö Bollobás (Author)

The Author: Enikő Bollobás is Associate Professor of American Studies at Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest. She has published three books on American literature, including the award-winning history of American literature (Budapest, 2005) and a monograph on the poet Charles Olson (New York, 1992).

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Title: They Aren’t, Until I Call Them