The research paper is a study on the instability of the enunciative subject - the - ‘I’ - in narratives that are constituted by neurological disruption. The study also argues that brain-based disorders primordially decenter the conventional notions of voice, identity and subjectivity. Based on V.S.Ramachandran's Phantoms in the Brain, the paper explores conditions like anosognosia, phantom limb syndrome and Capgras delusion. These conditions are examined to posit that the first-person voice is fragmented, unreliable and internally contradictory. These neurological dynamics reveal that ‘I’ is not a stable centre of consciousness but a construct that is perpetually produced and occasionally disrupted again due to neural dynamics.The study adopts an interdisciplinary merge of cognitive neuroscience and literary theory. It examines how the voice functions when the brain’s signifying system malfunctions. It explores how brain based narratives are split between experience and articulation, where there is a conflict between the reality and the subject’s (‘I’) beliefs, thereby decentering the credibility that the first-person narration owns. ‘I’ therefore is claimed to be a construction of negotiating neural signals and not a site of certainty. The study refers to the theoretical perspectives of Michel Foucault and Jacques Lacan, arguing that subjectivity is constructed through discourse and perception. The study thereby calls for a rethinking of the voice, identity and subjectivity through neurological mediation.

Authors:
Sharon Vethamanickam, The American College, India

About the Presenter(s)
Ms. V. Sharon Susannah is currently an Assistant Professor of English at The American College, Madurai, India. My current interests in literature constitute an interdisciplinary reading and interpretation especially with medicine.

See this presentation on the full schedule – Sunday Schedule

Bookmark