Regan Flieg: Pastiche, Myth Mixing, and Dead Metaphor

 Since studying Jameson’s “The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism” in another class, I have been thinking about the art form of pastiche that he describes.  According to Jameson, pastiche is a kind of imitation similar but not exactly like parody  that has become a “well-nigh universal practice” (573).  This form involves “the random cannibalization of all the  styles of the past,” and when we discussed it in class, our professor described the roots of the word “pastiche” itself as coming from the French for “paste” because it takes parts from various styles and forms and pastes them together into something new (Jameson 574; Rodden).

The most obvious application this reading from Jameson had to this class was how we’ve discussed Lewis’s mixing of various myths; however, I found several other aspects interesting to apply to our course material as well.  In his description of pastiche, Jameson describes it as “speech in a dead language” (573).  For me, this called to mind Barfield’s claim that language itself is built out of dead metaphors (63).  I think the idea of language itself as recycled meanings that have been reworked metaphorically over time is an interesting addition to Jameson’s exploration of pastiche since in some ways any use of language could be considered a blending and reworking of a multiplicity of preexisting myths and meanings.  

Barfield, Owen.  Poetic Diction: A Study in Meaning.  2nd ed., Wesleyan University Press, 1973.

Jameson, Fredric. “The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism.” 1991. American Literature, American Culture, edited by Gordon Hutner, Oxford University Press, 1999, pp. 573-584.

Rodden, Ivan. University Course.  English 490W.  Christopher Newport University, Newport News, VA. Fall 2020.