Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 2002. Vol. 8. Eger Journal of American Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 28)
Studies - Lenke Németh: Academia as a Carnivalized Space: A Bakhtinian Reading of David Mamet's Oleanna
Oleanna), or may engender the women characters' revolt against the corrupt occurrences and practices in the patriarchal order (Carol in Oleanna). The operational force of this new image, however, is not restricted to merely dramatic works that are conventionally labeled as "business plays." Assuming a protean nature, this image tends to intrude both the public and private realms of the characters' lives in Mamet's dramatic oeuvre. For instance, imprints of this image are inscribed in the love relationships of the couples in Sexual Perversity in Chicago (1974), in The Woods (1977), and in House of Games (1987). Thereby business space seems to acquire a sense of quasi-transcendence that can substitute for the lack of transcendence conspicuously absent from Mamet's plays. The uneasy welding of the Academia and business space and its effects on human relationships as thematized in Oleanna can serve as a blatant example of the degenerating influence of business space. What on an archetypal level may seem to be an "unending struggle for power between male and female" (Holmberg 95), from the perspective of carnivalization, the conflict between the university professor and his female student dramatizes the destructive effect of business space on human values and relationship. Influenced by business space pervading the "Groves of Academe," both John and Carol view their careers in a purely business framework. The negative side of the carnival image of business space gives rise to the emergence of their business-oriented selves , which means that for both John and Carol, a drive for existential security has replaced a genuine and devoted interest in teaching and pursuing studies in college, respectively. "Critical carnivalistic situations" illuminate to what extent their business-oriented selves have gained control over their acts. By studying for a college degree, Carol is planning to make herself marketable. Her ambition is perfectly in tune with the American ethos of vertical mobility and, clearly, this pragmatic understanding of education seems to be the best chance for her social advancement and economic betterment. Yet, the system that takes her money in tuition cannot "guarantee" her education. The problem Carol confronts at the college can be translated into business terminology: she does not get good value for her money. As her complaints below reveal, apparently, besides her money, she invests her energy into 239
