Journal of East China Normal University (Philosoph ›› 2016, Vol. 48 ›› Issue (1): 122-129.doi: 10.16382/ j.cnki.1000-5579.2016.01.014

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On the Seduction in Oleanna

LIANG Chao-Qun   

  • Online:2016-01-15 Published:2016-03-02
  • Contact: LIANG Chao-Qun
  • About author:LIANG Chao-Qun

Abstract: The hegemony of discourse production constantly courses misunderstandings, resulting in gaps and contradiction in our consciousness. Almost all the available researches on David Mamet’s Oleanna unconsciously interprete it in the mirror of production, which has caused evasive interpretations. This paper places the play back into the tension between production and seduction both in Baudriallardian sense, reading carefully the seduction scenes in the play on stage and exculpating the accused character and the equally accused playwright. The significance of the play is not in its apparent confrontation with feminism, but in urging us to break the discursive monopoly of production, and facing our seducible self, and guiding us into a conscious reconstruction of the tension between production and seduction.