ABSTRACT
This essay approaches one of Schubert’s songs, “Die Liebe hat gelogen,” from a poststructuralist position using Jacques Derrida’s discussion of parerga as a point of departure. I will attempt to show how a parergon, an apparent remainder or supplement to a work of art that emerges from the act of framing, can call into question a song’s signifying processes in ways that problematize self-description and self-possession. The objective of this exercise is twofold: (1) to further contemplate the conditions that enable us to devise stable conclusions about the meaning of text-music relationships and (2) to suggest that, similar to the poet’s linguistic assertions, analytical discourse (including my own) might be conceived of as a form of epideixis, a literary performance that invites readers to contemplate an author’s representation of phenomena that have been deemed praiseworthy (or blameworthy).
