The Primal Scattering of Languages: Philosophies, Myths and Genders :: Philosophy Philosophical Papers

The Primal Scattering of Languages Philosophies, Myths and Genders raise In After Babel, George Steiner recounts two main conjectures in mythology which explain the mystery story of many tongues on which a view of translation hinges. One much(prenominal)(prenominal) mythic tale is the tower of Babel, which not only Steiner, but in any case Jacques Derrida after him, worry as their starting point to approach the interrogative sentence of translation the other conjecture tells of some awful error which was committed, an accidental divulge of linguistic chaos, in the mode of Pandoras Box (Steiner). This paper go away take this other conjecture, the myth of Pandora, first woman of the Greek presentation myth, as its point of departure, not only to offer a feminized rendering of the ancient scattering of languages, but to rewrite in a compulsive commence and therefore withal toreverse the negative and misogynist sleeper of Pandora with mans fall. But, rather than exposing t he entrenched patriarchal bias in mythographers interpretations of Pandora, my foremost designing is to pose, through her figure, challenges about language and woman, and, by extension, the mother tongue and womanish sexuality. In After Babel George Steiner recounts two main conjectures in mythology which explain the mystery of many tongues on which a view of translation hinges. One such mythic tale is the tower of Babel, which not only Steiner, but also Jacques Derrida after him, take as their starting point to approach the question of translation the other conjecture tells of some awful error which was committed, an accidental release of linguistic chaos, in the mode of Pandoras Box (Steiner 197557). This paper will take this other conjecture, the myth of Pandora, first woman of the Greek creation myth, as its point of departure, not only to offer a feminized version of the primal scattering of languages, but to rewrite in a positive light and therefore also reverse the negativ e and misogynist association of Pandora with mans fall.Rather than adopting the patrilinear account Derrida or Steiner give as regards the furrow of translation, I will use the figure of Pandora to combine, and rewrite, aspects both of the Babel myth and the Oedipus myth. This is because, whilst Babel is associated with prejudice, the overtaking of one tongue, and Oedipus is associated with lack, mans castration anxiety, Pandoras box has been associated with both the threat of linguistic chaos, i.e. the loss of understanding, and the threat of womans sexuality, i.