Doubletalking the Homophonic Sublime: Comedy, Appropriation, and the Sounds of One Hand Clapping
Channel: Centro de Estudos Sociais da Universidade de Coimbra
Date: 2020-01-27

Language is translation. And translation is appropriation — of sound, first of all, and of meaning. Considering the historical circumstances of the 20th and 21st centuries, and supported by a thorough investigation (from modernism to popular culture, from philosophers of power to feminism and migratory processes), Charles Bernstein discusses what he calls “homophonic translation” (or “doubletalking”), showing how language appropriation processes can become authoritarian and racist forms, but also, contrariwise, innovative forms open to the Other.