폴 드만의 전의이론을 통해서 본 에르네스토 라클로의 헤게모니이론

Abstract

Paul de Man’s theory of trope is that of rhetoric which has the reference to epistemology. On the other hand, Ernesto Laclau’s theory of hegemony is that of power which allows for continually generating trope to the figures of politics. Reading two theories comparatively, this paper aims to reveal the fact that de Man’s tropology is associated with realistic practices connected to our social lives, not left as just the theory in the area of literature. For this purpose, first of all, I will examine allegory and hegemonic suture—the way that hegemony is represented as political identities—and then present how allegory works on the hegemonic suture. Second, metaphor, metonymy, catachresis and partial retotalization as a temporary closure of the movement of signification-operation generating the effectiveness of the political identities, will be studied, and then I will present how metaphor, metonymy and catachresis function in the partial retotalization. Finally, I will illustrate the way that political opinions and identities under the operation of tropological structures are crystalized by describing the state of the period of socialism in Russia and Italy. These processes of this paper will demonstrate that tropology is not the languid system, but connected with the structure of social life or politics which is changeable and dynamic.