scholarly journals When a Coterie Becomes a Generation: Intellectual Sociability and the Narrative of Generational Change in Sayyid Qutb’s Egypt

2021 ◽  
pp. 187-210
Author(s):  
Giedrė Šabasevičiūtė
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Public Intellectual ◽  
Generational Change ◽  
Cultural Renewal ◽  
Sayyid Qutb ◽  
Concrete Action ◽  
Intellectual Networks ◽  
The Moment ◽  
New Generation

AbstractDeparting from the case study of Egyptian intellectuals, focusing particularly on Sayyid Qutb, this chapter explores the relationship between narratives of generational change and cultural renewal. It argues that the observation of intellectual sociability is a productive angle from which to understand the conditions under which generational claims result in the effective reshuffling of the intellectual leadership, aesthetic norms, and principles of intellectual authority. The biography of Qutb (1906–1966), a poet and literary critic who abandoned his literary activity in the mid-1950s to pursue a career in Islamic activism—allows us to observe how the generational narrative articulates with his shifting intellectual networks. As a public intellectual, Qutb was at the forefront of two literary confrontations in early- to mid-twentieth century Egypt in which he made generational claims in order to place himself in the literary tradition that emerged at the beginning of the twentieth century, and later to cut himself off from that tradition by announcing the emergence of a new generation dedicated to political Islam. At the core of these competing uses of generational rhetoric, this chapter argues, is Qutb’s shifting relationship with the senior literary generation, some of whom he had considered his mentors. Departing from the case study, the chapter then argues that collectives defined as generational tend to emerge in tandem with the reshuffling of social bonds that a writer maintains with his seniors, switching from a bond of transmission to one of confrontation. The change announced in the generational narrative is effective when followed by the concrete action of shifting one’s intellectual solidarities from masters to peers, as this is the moment when the masters are abandoned to history and peers are promoted as the new literary generation. Depending on the particular set of relationships in which a writer finds himself, the notion of generation may act as a narrative of either change or tradition.

A Machine for Feeling: Ping's Posthuman Affect

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-102
Author(s):  
Alys Moody
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Scholarly Work ◽  
Active Involvement ◽  
Affective Quality ◽  
Contemporary Perspective ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Natural Emotion ◽  
Archival Quality ◽  
Historical Moment

Beckett's famous claim that his writing seeks to ‘work on the nerves of the audience, not the intellect’ points to the centrality of affect in his work. But while his writing's affective quality is widely acknowledged by readers of his work, its refusal of intellect has made it difficult to take fully into account in scholarly work on Beckett. Taking Beckett's 1967 short prose text Ping as a case study, this essay is an attempt to take the affective qualities of Beckett's writing seriously and to consider the implications of his affectively dense writing for his texts’ relationship to history. I argue that Ping's affect emerges from the rhythms of its prose, producing a highly ‘speakable’ text in which affect precedes interpretation. In Ping, however, this affective rhythmic patterning is portrayed as mechanical, the product of the machinic ‘ping’ that punctuates the text and the text's own mechanical rhythms, demanding the active involvement of the reader. The essay concludes by arguing that Ping's mechanised affect is a specifically historical feeling. Arising from a specifically twentieth-century anxiety about technology's tendency to evacuate ‘natural’ emotion in favour of inhuman affect, it participates in a tradition of affectively resonant but curiously blank or indifferent performances of cyborg embodiment. Read in this historical light, Ping's implication of the reader in the production of its mechanised affect grants it, from our contemporary perspective, an archival quality. At the same time, it asks us to broaden the way in which we understand the Beckettian text's relationship to history, pointing to the existence of a more complex and recursive relationship between literature, its historical moment, and our contemporary moment of reading. Such a post-archival historicism sees texts as generated by but not bound to their historical moments of composition, and understands the moment of reception as an integral, if shifting, part of the text's history.

Dancing the Symphonic: Beethoven-Bochsa's Symphonie Pastorale, 1829

2003 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Q. DAVIES
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Musical Performance ◽  
Musical Work ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Contextual Meaning ◽  
Musical Forms

Abstract . On 22 June 1829, the legendary French harpist, convicted forger and escaped felon, Robert Nicolas Charles Bochsa performed his most infamous musical offense: a rendition of Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony with stage action. Since Grove, this surprisingly early reworking of the Sixth as a ballet-pantomime has not gone down well in the literature. As the twentieth century unfurled, the moment steadily receded into obscurity, losing all cultural and contextual meaning to the point where it is now remembered (if at all) as a lesson in the rogue potential of performance——a pockmark on the historical map. This article will reverse the general slide into amnesia by first excavating this vanished but important moment of the musical past, and then recuperating its seriousness. Enough evidence from the 1820s and 30s suggests that Bochsa's Symphonie (performed at London's King's Theatre) was representative of much more than itself. Far from historically inexplicable, it can be read as an extreme manifestation of a strongly defined ballet-concert exchange that characterized the artistic trends of the late 1820s. By taking on abstract and ““musical”” forms, dance was becoming more concertlike. Concerts, meanwhile, were developing balletic traits in their increasing use of picturesque effects, and their growing fascination for the visual or bodily aspects of musical performance. A rapprochement took place that reshaped the nature of listening and figured the emerging concept of the musical work in a curiously plastic, objective way——as the case study exemplifies.

scholarly journals Hacia Arts & Architecture La revolución editorial de John Entenza (1938-1945)

2018 ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Daniel Díez Martínez
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Modern Architecture ◽  
Important Place ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
Intellectual Discourse ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Architecture And Design ◽  
Siglo Xx

Resumen En enero de 1945 Arts & Architecture puso en marcha el programa CaseStudy House, un experimento ideado por John Entenza que les reservaríaa él y a su revista un lugar importante en la historia de la arquitectura moderna del siglo XX. Desde que asumió la dirección de Arts & Architectureen 1940, Entenza supo rodearse de creadores y artistas como Alvin Lustig,Ray y Charles Eames, Herbert Matter o Julius Shulman, que contribuyerona elevar el estándar gráfico de su publicación y le confirieron una identidadinnovadora que respaldaba visualmente el discurso intelectual vanguardista de compromiso con la arquitectura y el diseño modernos que defendía en sus páginas. Este artículo analiza los orígenes, las estrategias de trasformación y los nombres propios que hicieron realidad una revista que, cincuenta años después de su desaparición en 1967, sigue resultando tan atractiva y radical como cuando se editaba.AbstractIn January 1945 Arts & Architecture launched the Case Study House program, an experiment devised by John Entenza that would reserve for him and his magazine an important place in the history of modern architecture of the twentieth century. From the moment he took over the direction of Arts & Architecture in 1940, Entenza knew how to seduce creators and artists such as Alvin Lustig, Ray and Charles Eames, Herbert Matter and Julius Shulman, who contributed to raise the graphic standard of his publication and gave it an innovative identity that visually supported the avant-garde intellectual discourse of commitment to modern architecture and design that it defended in its pages. This article analyzesthe origins, the strategies of transformation and the proper names that made the magazine a reality that, fifty years after its disappearance in 1967, continues to be as attractive and radical as when it was published.

Exhibiting Antimodernism: History, Memory, and the Aestheticized Past in Mid-twentieth-century America

2001 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 39-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart D. Hobbs
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Decorative Arts ◽  
History Museum ◽  
House Museums ◽  
Cultural Renewal ◽  
Museum Professionals ◽  
Historic House ◽  
American Society ◽  
Twentieth Century America

In "Exhibiting Antimodernism: History, Memory and the Aestheticized Past in Mid-Twentieth-Century America," Stuart D. Hobbs explores the reasons why aesthetic concerns have trumped history and turned too many historic house museums into decorative arts museums. Hobbs uses the 1950s restoration of a house designed by Benjamin Henry Latrobe as a case study. He argues that the painstaking research required for the restoration created a momentum of its own, and the story of the house as architecture and the story of the interior as decorative arts became the story at this and other historic sites. More fundamentally, though, he maintains that the antimodernism of many history museum professionals drew them to decorative arts interpretations. These antimodernists rejected twentieth century urbanism, mass production, and perceived cultural homogeneity. Anxious about a contemporary American society they interpreted as in decline, antimodernists celebrated an idealized artisan past as a means to cultural renewal.

scholarly journals COMMENTARY ON THE UKRAINIAN TRANSLATION OF “INNER EXPERIENCE” BY GEORGES BATAILLE

Doxa ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 24-31
Author(s):  
Yevheniia Butsykina
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Georges Bataille ◽  
Initial Condition ◽  
Inner Experience ◽  
Short History ◽  
Phenomenological Tradition ◽  
Key Characteristics ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Moment ◽  
New Generation

The commentary is devoted to the Ukrainian translation of «Inner Experience» work by Georges Bataille, the famous French intellectual of the twentieth century. The paper outlines a short history of publications and extensions of «Inner Experience», which is a certain difficulty for the translator and the initial condition for incomplete translation of the work, which was not published in full while its author was alive. The paper is devoted to analysis of the key philosophical terms, the translation of which was problematic: in particular, such concepts as «angoisse» (anxiety), «supplice» (torment), «communication» (communication), «discourse» (discourse), «esprit» (mind),» entendement (understanding), «intelligence» (intelligence), «savoir» (knowledge), «connaissance» (knowledge), «ipse» (not translated) and «ipseité» (self). The concept of «anguish» provides an opportunity to fit Bataille into the existing existentialist-phenomenological tradition (understanding «anguish» as the «anxiety», a key concept in Kierkegaard, Heidegger and Sartre works). The concept of supplice is also rich in connotations: it is primarily about the experience of the crucified Christ at the moment of his cry «in eli lama sabachtani» («why have you forsaken me?»). Bataille refers to this biblical story in order to illustrate the inner experience, but not of Christ himself, but of the Christian, who is filled with the Savior’s suffering, both physical and spiritual. Emphasis was placed on anti-discoursiveness and poeticism as key characteristics of Bataille’s writing, which also contributed to the complication of such a task as the translation of the work «Inner Experience». It is stated that both the translator and the reader of «Inner Experience» should come to terms with the style of wasting words, terms, and connotations in this work. This sacrifice was performed by Bataille repeatedly, and not aimlessly: after all, a new generation of philosophers (among whom J. Baudrillard, J. Derrida, J. Kristeva and M. Foucault) found in him a source of inspiration.

Studying Modern Arabic Literature

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Public Intellectual ◽  
Arabic Literature ◽  
Global Culture ◽  
The West ◽  
Teaching And Research ◽  
The Face ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Modern Arabic

This book is devoted to the life and academic legacy of Mustafa Badawi who transformed the study of modern Arabic literature in the second half of the twentieth century. Prior to the 1960s the study of Arabic literature, both classical and modern, had barely been emancipated from the academic approaches of orientalism. The appointment of Badawi as Oxford University's first lecturer in modern Arabic literature changed the face of this subject as Badawi showed, through his teaching and research, that Arabic literature was making vibrant contributions to global culture and thought. Part biography, part collection of critical essays, this book celebrates Badawi's immense contribution to the field and explores his role as a public intellectual in the Arab world and the west.

Educational Book and Book Publishing of Moscow Student Community at the Beginning of XX century: Libraries, Publishers, Book Trade

2015 ◽  
pp. 110-116
Author(s):  
A. V. Zaitseva
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Publishing House ◽  
Book Publishing ◽  
Book Trade ◽  
Library Service ◽  
Technical School ◽  
Student Community ◽  
Publishing Houses ◽  
Trading Activities ◽  
The Moment

The article focuses on the libraries and the publishing and book trading organizations established by Moscow students in the early twentieth century. These organizations were founded to make the textbooks more available, cheaper and less deficient than they were at the moment. As the resource of the textbooks, libraries of compatriots’ associations were widespread. At the Moscow University students publishing commissions (parts of benefit societies) printed lecture notes and examination programs. Library, publishing, and trading activities were tightly bound in these societies. In the Moscow Technical School and the Moscow Women High Courses the libraries and publishing houses functioned independently of each other and of economical organizations of students. The students Library of textbooks at the Moscow Agricultural Institute was really unique, as it combined library service with book publishing for a while. Book trade was usually managed by publishers. Besides students organizations within educational institutes, there functioned a cooperative bookstore and a publishing house at the same time, common for all Moscow students. A dream, that never came true, was a Students House and united library collections of textbooks in it. In spite of many complications, the cooperation was successful, and due to it, access to the textbooks was facilitated for many students.

Ethnic Enterprises, Class Resources and Market Conditions: Indian owned SMEs in Malaysia

2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 5-29
Author(s):  
JESRINA ANN XAVIER ◽  
EDMUND TERENCE GOMEZ
Keyword(s):  
Food Industry ◽  
Case Study Method ◽  
Market Conditions ◽  
New Generation ◽  
Insight Into

This article investigates changes in the conduct of ethnic enterprises followingthe emergence of a new generation of owners with varying class resources andas market conditions transform. The case study method is used to examinethe impact of changing class resources and market conditions on ethnicallybasedenterprises, exploring the effects of generational transitions among smallIndian owned companies in the food industry in Malaysia. The results providean insight into key changes in the evolution of Indian owned enterprises. Theyindicate that changes in class resources and market conditions have enabledIndian owned food-based companies to alter their products to fit a largermarket, while responding to the demands of a rapidly modernizing society.

The transfer of European intercultural discourse towards Latin American educational actors: a Mexican case study

2011 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Mateos
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
Indigenous Education ◽  
The State ◽  
Intercultural Education ◽  
Bilingual Teachers ◽  
Ethnographic Data ◽  
Intellectual Networks ◽  
State Educational ◽  
Intercultural Discourse

This paper analyses the ways transfer of the discourse on interculturality and intercultural education, as it has been coined and shaped by European anthropologists and pedagogues, towards educational actors and institutions in Latin America. My ethnographic data illustrate how this intercultural discourse is currently transferred through intellectual networks to different kinds of Mexican actors who are actively “translating” this discourse into the post-indigenismo situation of “indigenous education” and ethnic claims making in Mexico. On the basis of fieldwork conducted in two different institutions in the state of Veracruz, the appropriation and re-interpretation of, as well as the resistance against, the European discourse of interculturality are studied by comparing the training of “intercultural and bilingual” teachers through the state educational authorities and the notion of intercultural education, as applied within the so-called “Intercultural University of Veracruz”.

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