Too bad I’m not a fan of Postmodernism!
The essay “Stitch Bitch,” by Shelley Jackson was built with conceptual layers, filled with re-contextualized “imagery,” and abject subject matter – all postmodern elements. She begins the essay by saying that she is not Shelley Jackson and continues to lead us through an M. C. Escher-like maze of bodily imagery similar to the ceramic art of Judy Chicago (another Postmodern Feminist).
The patchwork metaphor lurks in an unsettling organic sense, stitching together body parts and non-body parts, connecting stories and hypertext. With visceral content wafting through her imagery, Jackson seems to imply that hypertext is the organic, synaptic evolution to communication. Like the intelligent and orderly synapses behind our thought, so is hypertext. Just as our thoughts wander, diverge and converge, so should our stories.
Throughout the essay, I found myself more focused on trying to figure out what I’m trying to figure out. How long is this essay? Were those two sentences related in any way? Why is the brain a tumor and the body is a tick? What does this have to do with Feminism?
But wait. If this is about hypertexts, why does the last sentence mention “imaginal secretions” and “desire’s monsters?” Postmodern jouissances I suppose.