에드워드 존스의 역사소설『알려진 세계』에서 꺼낸 세 쟁점 - 권위, 예외, 정의
Authority, State of Exception, and Justice in Edward Jones’s Historical Novel The Known World
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This paper is designed to interrogate whether it is feasible to deal with such grand political issues as authority, sovereignty/the state of exception, and justice in the critical context of the African-American literature. There are reasons of looking at those power-related issues awry in our age shorn of grand narratives. If anything, African-American literary discourses have been responsible for contemplating the political and ethical implications about the historic changes of America. Since Martin Delany’s Blake; or the Huts of America, the African-American historical novel, such as Ishmael Reed’s Flight to Canada, Toni Morrison’s Beloved, or Charles Johnson’s Middle Passage, was concerned with the theme of ever-changing identity politics in the Americas. In this paper, I am particularly interested in the ways in which Edward Jones’s historical novel, The Known World, comes up with the topics of power and ethics. First, focusing on the triangular relationship between a unique black slave owner Henry Townsend, his biological father Augustus Townsend, and his white surrogate father William Robbins, I discuss how the ruse of authority influences fatherhood. Then, resorting to Giorgio Agamben’s philosophical view of sovereignty, I delve into the way that the slave master as a sovereign manipulated slavery as a peculiar state of exception in the antebellum plantation regime. Finally, taking a close look at the confrontation between the white sheriff John Skiffington and the free black woman Mildred Townsend, I investigate why the rule by law has been in conflict with the right of resistance in the history and how Skiffington’s excessive law enforcement results in Mildred’s sublime civil disobedience.
Abstract
This paper is designed to interrogate whether it is feasible to deal with such grand political issues as authority, sovereignty/the state of exception, and justice in the critical context of the African-American literature. There are reasons of looking at those power-related issues awry in our age shorn of grand narratives. If anything, African-American literary discourses have been responsible for contemplating the political and ethical implications about the historic changes of America. Since Martin Delany’s Blake; or the Huts of America, the African-American historical novel, such as Ishmael Reed’s Flight to Canada, Toni Morrison’s Beloved, or Charles Johnson’s Middle Passage, was concerned with the theme of ever-changing identity politics in the Americas. In this paper, I am particularly interested in the ways in which Edward Jones’s historical novel, The Known World, comes up with the topics of power and ethics. First, focusing on the triangular relationship between a unique black slave owner Henry Townsend, his biological father Augustus Townsend, and his white surrogate father William Robbins, I discuss how the ruse of authority influences fatherhood. Then, resorting to Giorgio Agamben’s philosophical view of sovereignty, I delve into the way that the slave master as a sovereign manipulated slavery as a peculiar state of exception in the antebellum plantation regime. Finally, taking a close look at the confrontation between the white sheriff John Skiffington and the free black woman Mildred Townsend, I investigate why the rule by law has been in conflict with the right of resistance in the history and how Skiffington’s excessive law enforcement results in Mildred’s sublime civil disobedience.
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