This lecture focused upon abjection. It had a lot in common with the lecture series I did last year on the uncanny so I had more background knowledge of this subject than the others. Despite this it was very difficult to apply the principles and notions around abjection to my own practice. It does however n some ways link to other ideas. The 'edge' something discussed by Delueze is a feature of abjection. The abject sits on the edge of our understanding. It acts almost as a safeguard to what is beyond.
It could be used loosely, to help explain why there is negative feeling towards the digital in the publishing industry. Kristeva explains that the abject crosses boundaries and categorization. This disruption of our understanding of the world upsets us. This is why things like the digital world, which is in flux and very confusing. Can meet with such hostility and fear, we don't like the upsetting of a hierarchy. It's a fear of 'the other' the foreign technology invading the publishing world. Kristeva points out that is not the thing itself which upsets us, but the animal feeling inside ourselves that has responded to it. The abject can also be a fear of loss, and the fear of no longer reading is very real to some people in the face of digital.
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