Theory Terminable and Interminable: On Presentism, Historicism, and the Problem of Hamlet

Author: Sedinger, Tracey

Source: Exemplaria, Volume 19, Number 3, Fall 2007 , pp. 455-473(19)

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Abstract:

This essay argues for the ongoing relevance of theory to Shakespeare studies by examining Jacques Derrida's book, Specters of Marx, in the context of historicist critiques of "presentism." It argues that historicity cannot be relegated to a finished past, and that ethics is the primary reason for embracing the historicity of both past and present. Hamlet's own entrapment by remembrance leads to a final orgiastic outburst of violence that allegorizes both the dangers of a presentism that seeks to escape from the past and a form of historicist remembrance that would prevent the articulation of the truly new.

Keywords: THEORY; HISTORICISM; ETHICS; PRESENTISM; HAMLET; JACQUES DERRIDA; SPECTERS OF MARX

Document Type: Research Article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/175330707X245231

Publication date: 2007-09-01

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