Visioning the Body Mosaic: Enchanted Transracial Selfhood in Postsecular American Literature
Twentieth-century literature and theory have offered no shortage of challenges to the unity of personal identity. What such undertakings leave largely unquestioned, however, is the prevailing understanding of the individual as sealed within the circumference of the physical body. Emerging from a mat...
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European Association for American Studies
2015-08-01
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| Series: | European Journal of American Studies |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/11082 |
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| author | Erick Sierra |
| author_facet | Erick Sierra |
| author_sort | Erick Sierra |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Twentieth-century literature and theory have offered no shortage of challenges to the unity of personal identity. What such undertakings leave largely unquestioned, however, is the prevailing understanding of the individual as sealed within the circumference of the physical body. Emerging from a matrix of “postsecular” texts—by Don DeLillo, Charles Johnson, Tony Kushner, Toni Morrison—is a counter-argument to such a notion of selfhood. This paper explores the ways in which this recent American literature re-imagines the human self as porous and energetic and capable of deep inter-ontological communion with other open selves across space. Drawing upon a rich history of the “energetic self” in the American imagination, this literature uses the open self as gateway to forms of intersubjective attunement and cross-racial identification that ultimately transcend nefarious racial-identitarian categories. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-ad965a0c10234bb8a6c137e39bc348ec |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1991-9336 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2015-08-01 |
| publisher | European Association for American Studies |
| record_format | Article |
| series | European Journal of American Studies |
| spelling | doaj-art-ad965a0c10234bb8a6c137e39bc348ec2025-01-06T09:07:54ZengEuropean Association for American StudiesEuropean Journal of American Studies1991-93362015-08-0110210.4000/ejas.11082Visioning the Body Mosaic: Enchanted Transracial Selfhood in Postsecular American LiteratureErick SierraTwentieth-century literature and theory have offered no shortage of challenges to the unity of personal identity. What such undertakings leave largely unquestioned, however, is the prevailing understanding of the individual as sealed within the circumference of the physical body. Emerging from a matrix of “postsecular” texts—by Don DeLillo, Charles Johnson, Tony Kushner, Toni Morrison—is a counter-argument to such a notion of selfhood. This paper explores the ways in which this recent American literature re-imagines the human self as porous and energetic and capable of deep inter-ontological communion with other open selves across space. Drawing upon a rich history of the “energetic self” in the American imagination, this literature uses the open self as gateway to forms of intersubjective attunement and cross-racial identification that ultimately transcend nefarious racial-identitarian categories.https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/11082American literatureidentitysubjectivityracepostsecularenergy mysticisms |
| spellingShingle | Erick Sierra Visioning the Body Mosaic: Enchanted Transracial Selfhood in Postsecular American Literature European Journal of American Studies American literature identity subjectivity race postsecular energy mysticisms |
| title | Visioning the Body Mosaic: Enchanted Transracial Selfhood in Postsecular American Literature |
| title_full | Visioning the Body Mosaic: Enchanted Transracial Selfhood in Postsecular American Literature |
| title_fullStr | Visioning the Body Mosaic: Enchanted Transracial Selfhood in Postsecular American Literature |
| title_full_unstemmed | Visioning the Body Mosaic: Enchanted Transracial Selfhood in Postsecular American Literature |
| title_short | Visioning the Body Mosaic: Enchanted Transracial Selfhood in Postsecular American Literature |
| title_sort | visioning the body mosaic enchanted transracial selfhood in postsecular american literature |
| topic | American literature identity subjectivity race postsecular energy mysticisms |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/11082 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ericksierra visioningthebodymosaicenchantedtransracialselfhoodinpostsecularamericanliterature |