Zukofsky, Riffaterre, and Radical Feminism

Modernism -
We're reading Louis Zukofsky's "A". I focused my paper around this passage:

The fugue a music heap,
only by the name's grace music
(Fate -- fate -- fate -- void unable to write
a melody --
Ludwig and Goethe of one century,
Forms only in snatches,
Words rangeless, melody forced by writing,
Walk, as arms beat in circles, past each other) --
-- from "A-6"

My basic argument was that Zukofsky composes poetry in the same way that musical composers compose fuges. Fugues are contrapuntal, operating via the logic of counterpoint. There are multiple melodies and themes throughout the piece which overlay, turn, reference each other, etc. It is a kind of fury and jumble of notes. Well, Zukofsky's work is a fury and jumble of words. But enough of that.
In class we talked about this guy, Michael Riffaterre. From what I know, he had a theory that every poem was written around a single word of phrase. This is how he accounted for awkward grammar in poetry. He believe that when the poem was gramatically strained it was a manifestation of the author trying to say a certain word without actually saying it. In a way, the poem begins to "protest too much." The poem always approaches an unwritten word much like a graph with a limit in calculus.
Although Craig does not agree that all poems operate in the fashion outlined by Michael Riffaterre, he does think that Zukofsky's do. He also doesn't believe "A" is certained around one central word, but that there are some "hyprograms" that are indeed part of other "matrices" themselves. (If any one is interested in this idea, I will flesh it out more for you.) I do agree with Craig that it functions in this poem, but I think that it is only one of the many logics that are at work within it. Here is his strongest example:

"Ripped up pebblestones of our tessellation,
Split cedar chest of our law"

"weird's lettered pebble
a paw plinth table of law"

The missing word here is mosaic (Mosaic law as well as the art medium) which explains the connection.

Shakespeare -
Another boring day with Macbeth on Tuesday. On Thursday I skipped class to read Craig Dworkin's "Whereof One Cannot Speak," a forthcoming article in Grey Room. Since it's not in print yet, we weren't technically supposed to read it, but I love litlle intellectually rebellious thrills like this. What can I say?

Feminist Theory -
We had our first discussion on Radical Feminism. Radical feminists basically believe that the sex/gender system is the primary source of women's oppression, and is in fact the model for all forms of oppression. The author of our reader separated radical feminists into two main categories: liberarian and cultural. Radical libertarian feminists basically believe that androgyny is the best way to conquer the sex/gender system. People in this category range from mild thinkers like Millet, who believe that all people need to cultivate the "best" masculine and feminine characteristics. Others, such as Firestone, are more radical. Firestone believes that people should incorporate whatever mixture of masculine and feminie qualities they want. The way to break down the sex/gender system is to completely separate reproduction from sex and dissolve the notion of a biological family. She believes in polymorphus perversity. Everyone should be able to have any sexual encounter they want, nothing should be taboo. Radical cultural feminists basically believe that traditionally feminine characters are better than traditionally male characteristics, and women should play these up and cultivate them more.
My feeling is this: I am a radical feminist in that I agree that the sex/gender system plays a major role in oppression. It is probably a bigger factor than any other one thing, although I don't think it is the sole source. But what radical feminists, as well as many other types do, is keep telling women how they should be. Women need to change. To me, this is just as oppressive as a patriarchy telling us how to behave, act, look, etc. It doesn't make any difference that this way the authority would be coming from females. Women aren't the problem, the system is.