| Publication |
2009.
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| Summary/Abstract |
When Ralph Ellison said that "the
joke [is] at the center of the American
identity," he also meant that the joker is
at the center of American life. In a rapidly
changing liberal society, with fluctuating
standards and values, the joker is
an "American virtuoso of identity who
thrives on chaos and swift change."1
For the joker, identity is not a ½xed principle,
established once and for all, but
a fluid masquerade, an ironic display
of masks and styles, gestures and titles,
which accrue around a space that comes
to be known as the "self."
A great deal of work on identity politics
has focused on similar constructions
of racial identity through complex
cultural appropriations linked to
masking, minstrelsy, and passing. But
Ellison is more optimistic about these
dynamics: he sees the absurd mix of
styles that emerges from what he calls
"pluralistic turbulence" as the only appropriate
response to the absurdities
of American politics and history.2 Accordingly,
anyone who assumes too
serious a relationship with his own
identity-anyone who refuses to play
the joker-will likely be duped by more
powerful jokers still.
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