Abstract
In response to a culture of diversity, which is, in effect, the culture of sameness, Bartleby prefers indifference. His presence is the punctum indifferens of the fool; his difference is close to Derrida’s notion of differance, a deliberate hybrid of ‘to differ’ and ‘to defer’. Difference is, like Bartleby, always double: words only have meaning in relation to other words, so meaning is perpetually deferred. Difference between words engenders binary opposition, which perpetuates hierarchies.
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© 2015 Matt Hargrave
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Hargrave, M. (2015). Envoi: The Bartleby Parallax. In: Theatres of Learning Disability. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137504395_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137504395_9
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-70023-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-50439-5
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