The hypothesis of the following essay is that any relationship, even a friendship, is asymmetric. At the beginning of the essay, I will analyse asymmetry as the basis of any exchange. Where surplus and subtraction are viewed as interactions’ continuous plateaux. I will focus on surplus and subtraction as a way of local strategizing with no general Strategy. Homer ’s Ulysses is the paradigm of subtraction (Metis) while Shakespeare’s Portia the one of surplus (Mercy). As Marcel Mauss (1990), Georges Bataille (1976) and other authors claim: the gift is neverfree. Subtractions and surplus arealwaysconstitutive parts ofthe exchange, eventhough the surplus is not always exploitation (as seen with Portia) and the subtraction is not always submission (as in Ulysses). This implies that the rational exchange, in which I sell you something and you buy something from me—providing an adequate quantity of goods, money, or else—is utopic and ideological. The aim of the essay is to support a transdisciplinary investigation concerning the exchange and to approach asymmetry from different scientific and literary perspectives, an essay on what Gilles Deleuze (1997) called “critical and clinical”. So literary critics and clinical approach are mingled, both of them belong to “life as we know it” (Bérubé 1998).

(2019). The Unequal Exchange: from Ulysses to Shylock [journal article - articolo]. In HUMAN ARENAS. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10446/128486

The Unequal Exchange: from Ulysses to Shylock

Barbetta, Pietro
2019-01-01

Abstract

The hypothesis of the following essay is that any relationship, even a friendship, is asymmetric. At the beginning of the essay, I will analyse asymmetry as the basis of any exchange. Where surplus and subtraction are viewed as interactions’ continuous plateaux. I will focus on surplus and subtraction as a way of local strategizing with no general Strategy. Homer ’s Ulysses is the paradigm of subtraction (Metis) while Shakespeare’s Portia the one of surplus (Mercy). As Marcel Mauss (1990), Georges Bataille (1976) and other authors claim: the gift is neverfree. Subtractions and surplus arealwaysconstitutive parts ofthe exchange, eventhough the surplus is not always exploitation (as seen with Portia) and the subtraction is not always submission (as in Ulysses). This implies that the rational exchange, in which I sell you something and you buy something from me—providing an adequate quantity of goods, money, or else—is utopic and ideological. The aim of the essay is to support a transdisciplinary investigation concerning the exchange and to approach asymmetry from different scientific and literary perspectives, an essay on what Gilles Deleuze (1997) called “critical and clinical”. So literary critics and clinical approach are mingled, both of them belong to “life as we know it” (Bérubé 1998).
articolo
2019
Barbetta, Pietro
(2019). The Unequal Exchange: from Ulysses to Shylock [journal article - articolo]. In HUMAN ARENAS. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10446/128486
File allegato/i alla scheda:
File Dimensione del file Formato  
tne unequal exchange ulysses and shylock Pietro Barbetta.pdf

Solo gestori di archivio

Versione: publisher's version - versione editoriale
Licenza: Licenza default Aisberg
Dimensione del file 472.45 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
472.45 kB Adobe PDF   Visualizza/Apri
Pubblicazioni consigliate

Aisberg ©2008 Servizi bibliotecari, Università degli studi di Bergamo | Terms of use/Condizioni di utilizzo

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10446/128486
Citazioni
  • Scopus 2
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 0
social impact