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The Returnof the Repressedin
Women'sNarrative
SusanStanford
Friedman
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142 The Journal of Narrative Technique
A similardifficultyconfrontsthepoliticalwriterwhohasdisagreeable truths
to tell to thosein authority.
If he presentsthemundisguised,theauthorities
will suppresshis words. . . A writermustbewareof thecensorship, andon
its accounthe mustsoftenanddistortthe expressionof his opinion.Accor-
dingto thestrengthandsensitiveness of thecensorshiphe findshimselfcom-
pelledeithermerelyto refrainfromcertainformsof attack,or to speakin
allusionsin placeof directreferences,or he mustconcealhis objectionable
pronouncement beneathsomeapparently innocentdisguise. . . . Thestricter
the censorship,the morefar-reaching will be the disguiseandthe morein-
genioustoo maybe the meansemployedforputtingthe readeron the scent
of the truemeaning.(Interpretation of Dreams,175-76)2
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The Returnof the Repressedin Women'sNarrative 143
its absence from the public domain. Womenmay talk louder and more directly
in the closet; but a closet is a closet is a closet.
The psycho-politicalapproachI am proposing for unravelingthese disguises
builds not only on feminist criticism in general, but also on the work of critics
like FredericJameson,ShoshanaFelman,MichaelRiffaterre,andJonathanCuller,
all of whom posit the existence of what Culler calls a "textualunconscious"that
can be interpretedthroughan adaptationof Freud'shermeneutic("TextualSelf-
Consciousness"). For Riffaterre,this textual unconscious is linguistic, with re-
pressed words buried etymologically and syllepsistically as a "sub-text"inside
the words of the surface text. The manifestwords of a text have, in other words,
a latent "intertext"so that the critic must read "intertextually."The "intertext"
is a "verbalunconscious"thatcan be "deciphered"with the aid of Freud'sgram-
mar for the dream-work."While meaningis wholly presentin the text," he con-
cludes, "significancerestson the inseparabilityof a visible sign from its repressed
intertextualhomologue"(385). His approachto readingthe unconsciousintertext
stresses the figurativeaspect of language-the decoding of repressedmeanings
in metaphorand metonym, for "while the text is narrative,the intertextis not"
(385).
For Jameson, the textualunconsciousis narrative,not lyric. It is "the political
unconscious,"which he definesas the repressednarrativeof class struggle,a story
concealed within the narrativesof literaryhistory.In ThePolitical Unconscious,
he proposes a hermeneuticin which the interpreteroccupies the privilegedposi-
tion of the analystwho uses his theoryto decode the storiesforbiddenby the social
order:
theliteraryunconscious is anauthorial
unconscious,anunconscious involved
in theproduction andthenotionis thususefulfor raisingques-
of literature;
tionsaboutthe relationbetweenwhatgets intothe workandwhatgets left
out, andaboutthe sortsof repressionthatmayoperatein theproduction of
literature.(369)
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144 TheJournalof NarrativeTechnique
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The Returnof the Repressedin Women'sNarrative 145
of alldreams
Thecontent thatoccurduringthesamenightformspartof the
samewhole;thefactof theirbeingdividedintoseveralsections,as wellas
thegrouping
andnumber of thosesections-allof thishasa meaningand
maybe regarded as a pieceof information
arisingfromthelatentdream-
of Dreams,369)
thoughts.(Interpretation
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146 The Journal of Narrative Technique
shouldnotbeoverlooked
thepossibility thatseparate
andsuccessive
dreams
of thiskind. . . maybe givingexpressionto the sameimpulsesin different
dreamsto occuris oftenthe
If so, thefirstof thesehomologous
material.
andtimid,whilethesucceeding
moredistorted onewillbe moreconfident
anddistinct."(Interpretation
of Dreams,369)
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The Returnof the Repressed in Women'sNarrative 147
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148 The Journal of Narrative Technique
is runthrougha vintner'ssieve,the
or fermenting,
Madrigal,leftsimmering
dregsarethrown out.Really,thisis notbad.Webeganon thatvineyard in
1921.Itwasstony.Wegrubbed updeadroots,trimmed andpruned. Butthe
grapesweresour.Wewenton. It wasa pityto letthatfield(1914-1918) lie
utterly Wereturned
fallow. to it, fromtimetotime.Atlast,winter1949,we
tastethe1939gathering.
Impossible buttrue.TheWarI novelhasbeenfermen-
tingawayduring War II. This is theredgrapesof-
intoxicating,
War? Love? (59-60)
TheeventsthatH.D.transmutes canbe simplysummarized. Afterheron-again-
off-againengagement to EzraPound had essentiallydissolved,H.D.lefttheStates
forEuropein 1911in thecompanyof thewomansheloved,FrancesJosephaGregg,
andMrs.Gregg.In 1912,Greggrefusedto stayin LondonwithH.D., andshocked
H.D.bymarrying.Inturn,H.D. fell in lovewithBritishpoetRichardAldington,
withwhomshe translated the Greeks,wrotepoetry,andtraveledin Italy.They
marriedin 1913andas poet-companion-lovers becameleadersin theimagistmove-
ment.In 1915,H.D'spregnancy endedin thestillbirthof a daughter,whosedeath
she linkedto the sinkingof the Lusitania.Aldingtonunwillinglyenlistedin the
armyin the faceof imminentconscription,begana seriesof affairswithwomen
in theircircle,andwentoff to the frontin 1917,returninghomefor leavesthat
becameincreasinglydisastrous.H.D.'scerebralintimacywith Lawrenceinten-
sifiedas theyfed off eachother'sflameandsharedmanuscripts. H.D. sheltered
Lawrenceandhis wife in LondonaftertheywereexpelledfromCornwallin the
fallof 1917.WithAldington's encouragement, butLawrence's disgust,H.D. went
for healingto CornwallwithcomposerCecil Grayin the springof 1918.There
she metthe adoringWinifredBryher,the feistybutsuicidallyunhappydaughter
of Britain'swealthiestshipowner.H.D.'sunexpectedpregnancyinterrupted the
Cornwallidyll. Aldingtonurgedherto abortthe pregnancy, butshe refused.He
alternately
promised totakecareof her,theninsistedthathecouldnotleaveDorothy
Yorke.H.D.'sbrotherwaskilledin the war,herfatherdiedfromthe aftershock,
andshecontracted thedeadlywarinfluenzain theninthmonthof herpregnancy.
Aftersheandthebabymiraculously survived,H.D. agreedto go backto a shell-
shockedAldington,whothentoldherto leaveandthreatened to haveherarrested
if she registeredthe childwith his name.Terrified,she nonethelessdefiedhis
threats,usedthenameAldington onthebirthcertificate,andtooka flatwithBryher,
whomshe creditedwith savingher life andsanity.'6Beginningthe decadeas a
unitof twodaughters witha mother,she endedit in a familyof twomothersand
a daughter.
fromthe "raw"to the "cooked,"eachnovelenacts
As thesiteof transformation
the dynamicof repressionanddesiredifferently.The ingredientsare the same,
butthe recipeis different.Readintertextually, eachtextformsa differentlayer
of thepsyche,a differentsurfaceof thepalimpsest,eachone of whicheruptsinto
the other.The gaps andomissions in one text are filled by the surfaceof the other.
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TheReturnof the Repressedin Women's
Narrative 149
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150 TheJournalof NarrativeTechnique
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TheReturnof the Repressedin Women's
Narrative 151
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152 TheJournalof NarrativeTechnique
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TheReturnof the Repressedin Women's
Narrative 153
Universityof Wisconsin
Madison,Wisconsin
NOTES
1. Thephrase"thereturnof therepressed" appears in Freud,"Negation"(1925),reprinted
in GeneralPsychologicalTheory,111-12.
2. Onlyin his so-called"speculativewriting,"in whichhe theorizedabouttheconnec-
tionbetweenthepsycheandsociety-about,in otherwords,thepsychological dimen-
sionsof socialcontract-didFreudseriouslyconsiderthesignificance
of hiscomparison
betweenstatecensorshipandtheinternalcensor.See especiallyTotemandTabooand
Civilizationand Its Discontents.
3. See also 564. Freuduses the terms"overdetermination" and "overinterpretation"
throughoutthisvolume,as well as the metaphors citedabove."AnalysisTerminable
andInterminable,"Freud'sfinalessayon clinicaltechnique,
stressestheindeterminacy
of interpretation
(Therapyand Technique, 233-72).
4. See Culler,"Textual
Self-Consciousness" (369-70);Felman,"Turning theScrew"and
"TheCaseof Poe"in Lacan(27-51);Gallop,"LacanandLiterature."
5. See Marks,"WomenandLiterature in France"andNewFrenchFeminisms (28-38).
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154 The Journal of Narrative Technique
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The Returnof the Repressedin Women'sNarrative 155
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156 The Journal of Narrative Technique
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