Weltinnenraum and Fantastic Destructiveness in Yoko Ono’s Grapefruit

• Main Authors: Hsiang-Lan Tsui, 崔香蘭
• Other Authors: Lili Hsieh
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2011
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/58020334097215781252

碩士 === 國立中央大學 === 英美語文學研究所 === 99 === Peace is the main pursuit of Yoko Ono’s work. Instead of taking the artist’s work seriously, the public often focuses on her personal life. Ono’s artworks are worth exploring since they transcend the boundaries of human forms and bring viewers into a conceptual realm called weltinnenraum. Even today, almost in her 80s, the artist still works hard in sending her message of peace to the world. This thesis discusses the idea of weltinnenraum in Yoko Ono’s distinguishing work grapefruit. In Ono’s context, part of the essence of weltinnenraum could stay away from being imaginary as long as outside destructive force initiates it. Using her unique narration, Ono instructs readers to join her community of initiating one’s fiction into reality. To reveal the message of peace in Ono’s weltinnenraum is the motivation of my thesis. This thesis is divided into two chapters, with an introduction and a conclusion. In Chapter One “The Playfulness of the Individual and the Subject in Weltinnenraum,” I will focus on the differentiation between the original Rilkian and Onoian weltinnenraum. Then, using Card Piece from grapefruit as an example, I interpret the transformation the subject experiences within this imaginary realm. Chapter two “Cut Peace” focuses on the destructive force in both Ono’s work and fantastic literature. The destructiveness of the weltinnenraum as a fantastic interval is discussed through Ono’s pieces and Rosemary Jackson’s theory of the fantastic interval. Multiple layers of the destructiveness will also be discussed by using different aspects of the term “cut peace”: the destructiveness of outside force, the destructiveness of the conceptual realm and concrete realm, and the destructiveness within the conceptual realm. Ono’s messages in the artwork will be interpreted in the discussion.