Student Profiles: Brandi Wilson
In utilizing Julia Kristeva’s psychoanalytic discursive theory of identity-formation within literary symbolic spheres, my project seeks to follow the ontological processes involved in identity and signification in ‘subversive’ signifying practices. Specifically, I’m interested in the ways modern experimental poetry (such as Jorey Graham and Susan Howe) defies traditional patriarchal discourse as dominant literary devices, while embracing plurality and inherent virtues of the female voice. My project will trace Kristeva’s evolution from semiotic practices to particulars of her psychoanalytic/linguistic theories, and finally, attempt to construct a space within experimental poetry, where it can be said, the subject (poet) remains on trial/in crisis, and poetic expression reveals the ‘jouissance’ or unspoken voice of repression. Kelly Oliver articulates Kristeva’s contributions to linguistics and psychoanalysis quite succinctly: “When we learn to embrace the return of the repressed/the foreigners within ourselves, then we learn to live with, and love, others.”