School of Historical and Philosophical Studies

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Beyond Oedipus: the baroness and the sphinx: a reading of the imaginary of Western critical theory

Connell, Jane ( 2006)

This thesis will wind its way through some highways and byways of Western critical theory pausing to observe, sometimes to listen to, various characters along the way. En route are the master and the slave entwined in near mortal combat, some French prostitutes of diverse inclinations, the comico-tragic figure of the latter Bonaparte, the Oedipus both of Sophocles and of Freud, and the Baroness Moser together with her demoted facsimile 'Frau' Emmy. The end, the arrival, is at the place where the speaking Sphinx crouches at the turn of the path. The story of our theory is carried by such figures. They function to explain and illustrate the arguments within which they are placed but they also bring other resonances, histories, associations and prejudices to the texts. Thus they operate - and interact with each other - autonomously, beyond the theory. To bypass or ignore these effects is to be complicit with the promulgation of unexamined ideation. This thesis will address one such stream of ideation that runs through recent Western critical theory. (From chapter 1)