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PARTISAN REVIEW
mos t workers in modern sta tes to just such a condition of resigned
torpor. But
Escape A ttemp ts
argues tha t unrefl ec tive accommoda tion
plays a minor ro le in da ily conscio usness, reserved fo r such bas ic tasks
as persona l hygiene. For it is o f the very essence of modern socie ty that
each member of it is constantl y reminded tha t her pa rticula r ro le is
contingent, tha t she could in theo ry have a different and perhaps better
jo b, ho use, ca r, o r ma te. Our predominant a ltitude is therefore "self–
awareness, " whereby we simul taneously affirm our soc ia l identities
and call them into ques tio n . "Th roughout the land," no te Cohen and
Tay lo r, " prev io usly di senchanted individua ls a re busil y assuring
o thers tha t they are more tha n they do; 'I'm no t rea ll y a uni vers ity
lecturer,' they confide 'no t like the o thers a re .. . I see the who le thing
as ra ther a n elabora te game.''' So we protec t our fragile core of se lf–
hood . In sturdier moments we may risk a move to the third leve l, " se lf–
conscio us reinves tment" : the feeling tha t, in an oversophistica ted
world, mindless ly conventiona l behavio r may achieve the closest thing
to sponta neity. " I find the who le situa tion absurd ," their exemplary
g ues t procla ims
to
the pa rty's hos tess, " no one seems
to
rea lize the
silliness, the gro tesque a rtificia lity o f their behav io ur. " "Ah," said the
hos tess, "you must jo in the soc io log ists in the fa r corner. T he res t o f us
rea lized a ll tha t long ago but dec ided to ignore it and enj oy the party."
T here must be more
to
life, however, than mere routine and " the
nightma re of repetitio n ." Doesn 't everyone have surplus energy to
spend on " Free Areas, Escape Ro utes and Identity Sites" ? Isn ' t there, in
modern socie ty, a rich cho ice of ways to "ge t away from it a ll "? No t
rea ll y, Cohen and T ay lor a rgue; fo r human conduc t, in order
to
count
as such , must inexorably be governed by a
script:
an implicit scenario
tha t defines our ac ts a nd makes them intelligible
to
fe llow members of
our culture. Like the Saussurean
langue,
scripts con stitute a radically
impersona l and forma l system, a nd no conce iva ble script can be
"outside o f socie ty. " We may choose the script tha t suits our fancy–
playboy, ma rg ina l J ewish intellec tua l, libera ted woman , etc. -but
their conventiona lity a ttaches them seamless ly to the realm of pa ra–
mount rea lity. Emma Bova ry is driven towards suicide by her di s–
covery, in adultery, of "a ll the cliches of marriage"; she might have
survived , though, if she had seen tha t up till then she had been ac ting
out a ll the cliches o f adultery.
T he des ire for spon ta neity conflic ts mos t pa infull y with the
hegemony of sc ripts in sexua l life, where Freud and the roma ntics have
encouraged us to experience sex as an invas ion by vita l, instinctual
forces that sweep as ide the soc ia l se lf. Here
Escape A ttempts
leans on
