A Poetics of Plagiarism: The Case of Kathy Acker

  • Claudia Cao University of Cagliari
Keywords: Kathy Acker, Great Expectations, Plagiarism, Deleuze and Guattari, Anti-Oedipus

Abstract

After a brief introduction on the literary production of Kathy Acker and a brief overview on some essays where she shows the relation between writing and power, and between writing and desire, this paper analyzes the meaning of the act of plagiarism in one of her most experimental works: Great Expectation.

By means of the concept of “desiring-machine” illustrated by Deleuze and Guattari in their essay L’Anti-Œdipe. Capitalisme et Schizophrénie, this paper intends to highlight the link between the use of plagiarism in Kathy Acker’s novel and the schizophrenic thought elaborated by the two French theorists.

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References

Acker, Kathy, Great Expectations, New York, Glove Press, 1982.

Id., “Kathy Acker interviewed by Rebecca Deaton”, Textual Practice, 6.1 (1992): 271-282.

Id., Bodies Of Work, London, Serpent’s Tail, 1997.

Barthes, Roland, Le plaisir du texte (1973), trad. it. Il piacere del testo, Torino, Einaudi, 1975.

Carratello, Mattia, “Postfazione. Kathy Acker e il linguaggio della meraviglia”, Don Quixote (1986), trad. it. Don Chisciotte, Kathy Acker, Milano, Shake, 1999.

Deleuze, Gilles – Guattari, Félix, L’Anti-Œdipe. Capitalisme et schizophrénie (1972), trad. it. L’Anti-Edipo. Capitalismo e schizofrenia, Torino, Einaudi, 1975.

Dickens, Charles, “GreatExpectations” (1861), Great Expectations. Complete Authoritative Text with Biographical and Historical Contexts, Critical History, and Essays from Five Contemporary Critical Perspectives, Ed. Janice Carlisle, Boston – New York, St. Martin’s Press, 1996.

Hulley, Kathleen, “Transgressing Genre: Kathy Acker's Intertext”, Intertextuality and Contemporary American Fiction, Eds. Patrick O'Donnell – Robert Con Davis, Baltimore, Johns Hopkins UP, 1989: 171-190.

Kristeva, Julia, Σημειωτικὴ. Recherches pour une sémanalyse (1969), trad. it. Σημειωτικὴ. Ricerche per una semanalisi, Milano, Feltrinelli, 1978.

Sciolino, Martina, “The ‘Mutilating Body’ and the Decomposing Text: Recovery in Kathy Acker’s Great Expectations”, Textual Bodies: Changing Boundaries of Literary Representation, Ed. Lori Hope Lefkonvitz, New York, SUNY Press, 1997.

Published
2012-10-08
How to Cite
Cao, C. (2012). A Poetics of Plagiarism: The Case of Kathy Acker. Between, 2(3). https://doi.org/10.13125/2039-6597/380
Section
Legislation regarding Literature and the Arts