#violent duality

The Protean Self is a book written by the American psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton in 1993. In this work, Lifton describes the modern society as very flexible, using the words “fluid and many-sided”. Like the Greek god Proteus is known for shapeshifting in mythology, humans are able to re-create themselves over and over again, in a figurative way. According to Lifton, no human has a fixed character, we all play different roles in different situations, always switching between them. This is very familiar to Erving Goffman’s interaction theory, that he described in his book The presentation of self in everyday life (1959), that distinguishes between ‘onstage performance’, for example the role a person plays at work and ‘backstage performance’ someone shows at home. Lifton makes also use of the theatre metaphor, as he describes modern life a series of theatrical performances.

‘Violent Duality’ describes oppositional forces that are in contrast to each other. Gorjup names some pairs, for example civilization and nature or male and female. He adds that these forces also are presented as transcending in Atwood’s poems.

Update on Werewolves presents modern woman as predators that once have been pray of men but now are able to turn into strong creatures with fangs and claws as well and go on hunts themselves. The shapeshifting metaphor is closely connected to the protean self, as you can see in the last two lines of verse six and the first two lines of verse seven:

“bums to the wind, ripping out throats on footpaths, pissing off brokers.

Tomorrow they’ll be back in their middle-management black”