The Macherey reading was not the easiest theorist to understand, given his writing style and uncanny ability to say the same things more than once. But what noticeably jumped out of the page was the main idea of "the space between". In order for a critical discourse to be worth something, it is essential that there must be a space where the reader can be aware of what is not present. and what is not present is there on purpose. Whether this space is a "true absence" or an "extension of half presence" (15) can be discovered through the question of "will it be the pillar of an explanation or the pretext for an interpretation?"(15). The critique, which is necessary in order for a discourse to provide us with a deeper meaning, relies on what isn't said. On page16, Macherey states: "Thus the work cannot speak of them ore or less complex opposition which structures it; though it is its expression and embodiment. In its every particle, the work manifests, uncovers,what it cannot say. This silence gives it life. This was the line that most stood out to me in the entire text because its poetic form allows the reader to understand what exactly the unsaid "between the lines, and why exactly the questions left unanswered at the conclusion of a discourse is necessary for the discourse itself to exist. I hadn’t realized how necessary this theory was to be carried out until the sections quoting Nietzsche (“…he points out the necessity of asking questions; for there are several. The object or target of these questions is ‘all that a man allows to appear’” (18).) and Freud (Freud relegated this absense of certain words to a new place which he was the first to explore, and which he paradoxically named: the unconscious (17).) To look for what is not there doesn’t seem like something easy after reading a discourse, but that spaces’ necessity is vital to critical thinking.
On my honor, I have not given, nor received, nor witnessed any unauthorized assistance on this work.
--Lindsay Hansen
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