The Writing-Machine as Method: Affect, Acker, and the Traumatized Subject

Abstract

In this article I explore writing as a method of attending to the singularities of life and worlds without thinking in terms of a primordial Whole. Deleuze and Guattari present the writing-machine as that which produces effects and transforms affective experience; the focus is on what use, rather than meaning, the writing has. I extend a discussion of this concept by exploring the generation of my own research space through machinic writing as a technique. I then turn to the development of trauma as the central research topic, and explore the capacity of my still-forming narrative—What Happened to Harriet—to unpick the clinically defined traumatized subject. The narrative illustrates traumatic experience as a chaotic and difficult-to-represent progression of sensations. To add texture to this discussion, I stay close to the work of Kathy Acker, whose own writing, often centered on trauma, exemplifies a fragmented, disruptive, and anti-Oedipal writing-machine.

我于本文中探讨写作作为关照生命世界的非凡、且无需以原初的全体进行思考之方式。德勒兹与瓜塔里将写作机器呈现为生产效应并转化情感经验之物；焦点在于写作作有何用而非具有什麽意义。我探索自身藉由机械式写作技巧所生产的研究空间，以此延伸探讨此一概念。我接着转向创伤的发展作为核心研究主题，并探讨自身仍然在形成中的叙事能力——哈里特发生什麽事了——以拆解临床界定的受创伤的主体。该叙事将创伤经验描绘为混乱且难以再现的感官发展。为了在此一讨论中加入纹理构造，我贴近凯西．艾克的作品，其写作经常聚焦创伤，并展现出碎裂、干扰且反对恋母情结的写作机器之案例。

En este artículo exploro la escritura como un método de ocuparme de las singularidades de vida y mundos sin pensar en términos de un Todo primordial. Deleuze y Guattari presentan la máquina escritora como aquella que produce efectos y transforma la experiencia afectiva; el interés se enfoca sobre qué uso tiene la escritura, más que sobre su significado. Amplío una discusión de este concepto explorando la generación de mi propio espacio de investigación por medio de escritura de máquina como una técnica. Enseguida vuelvo con el desarrollo del trauma como un tema central de investigación, y exploro la capacidad de mi narrativa todavía en proceso de formación ––What Happened to Harriet [¿Qué le ocurrió a Harriet?]–– para deshacer el sujeto traumatizado clínicamente definido. La narrativa retrata la experiencia traumática como una caótica progresión de sensaciones difícil de representar. Para darle textura a esta discusión, me mantengo cerca del trabajo de Kathy Acker, cuya propia escritura, a menudo centrada en el trauma, ejemplifica una máquina escritora fragmentada, perturbadora y antiedipícola.

Key Words:

• affect, 
• Deleuze and Guattari, 
• Kathy Acker, 
• trauma, 
• writing-machine.

• 情感
• 德勒兹和瓜塔里
• 凯西．艾克
• 创伤
• 写作机器

• afecto
• Deleuze y Guattari
• Kathy Acker
• máquina escritora
• trauma

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank Professor John-David Dewsbury, Dr. Maria Fannin, and Dr. Joe Gerlach for all of their continued support and supervision throughout my PhD studies so far, and for their thoughtful and encouraging feedback on the drafts of this article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council [ES/J50015X/1].

Notes on contributors

Freya Johnson

FREYA JOHNSON is a PhD Candidate in Human Geography at the University of Bristol, School of Geographical Sciences, Bristol BS8 1SS, UK. E-mail: [email protected]. Her research focuses on fictional and experimental writing as a method of investigation, nonrepresentational theory, and postmodern literature.