Work and purpose: A return to Sisyphus and Bartleby

2021 ◽  
pp. 1354067X2110474
Author(s):  
Pedro F Bendassolli
Keyword(s):  
Herman Melville ◽  
Cultural Psychology ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Meaning Of Work ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Classical Literature ◽  
Work Relationship ◽  
Bartleby The Scrivener ◽  
Oriented Activity ◽  
The Relationship

Work is a semiotically oriented activity, that is, when working, individuals anticipate aspects of their activity using a network of signs and meanings and project themselves in time with the aim to achieve certain goals. This study proposes a discussion on the relationship between purpose and work and distinguishes purpose as objective, related to actions aimed at goals, and purpose as a glimpse or a hyper-generalized sign. Both of these purposes are related to other dimensions of an individual’s relationship, with their work that are not contained in their actions aimed at situated ends. From a methodological viewpoint, the arguments are developed based on the analysis of two fictional characters, inspired by the cultural psychology of semiotic orientation: Sisyphus, extracted from classical literature, and Bartleby, the scrivener of the novel of the same name written by Herman Melville. Based on this analysis, we propose considering the purpose–work relationship on two axes: (1) what articulates sense-meaning in the process of meaning-making, and (2) the axis of action potency and its relationship with the concepts of emptiness and contingency based on a human agent’s experiences in culture. The paper aims to contribute both to the cultural psychology of semiotic orientation and to the literature on the meaning of work.

The Call of Classical Literature in the Romantic Age

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Herman Melville ◽  
Henry David Thoreau ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Margaret Fuller ◽  
Classical Literature ◽  
Language Play ◽  
Phillis Wheatley ◽  
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ◽  
Classical Language ◽  
Considerable Work

The book reveals the extent to which writers we call “romantic” venerate and use the classics to serve their own ends in transforming poetry, epic, the novel, mythology, politics, and issues of race, as well as in practicing translation and reshaping models for a literary career and personal life. On both sides of the Atlantic the classics—including the surprising influence of Hebrew, regarded then as a classical language—play a major role in what becomes labeled Romanticism only much later in the nineteenth century. The relation between classic and romantic is not one of opposition but of a subtle and deep interpenetration. Classical texts retain an enduring, but newly transformational presence. While romantic writers regard what they are doing as new, this attitude does not prompt them to abjure lessons of genre, expression, and judgment flowing from classical authors they love. Their view is Janus-faced. Aside from one essay on Coleridge, the volume does not address major canonical British poets. Considerable work on their relation to the classics exists. Writers treated in detail include William Gilpin, Phillis Wheatley, Robert Lowth, Walter Savage Landor, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, James McCune Smith, Herman Melville, S. T. Coleridge, and Edward Gibbon. Four chapters each treat multiple authors from both sides of the Atlantic. Topics include the picturesque, political rhetoric, epic invocation, mythology, imitation, ekphrasis, slavery, feminism, history and historiography, and the innovative influence of ancient Hebrew, especially its poetry.

Case Study #5: Bartleby, the Scrivener, a Story of Wall Street by Herman Melville

Public Voices ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 162
Author(s):  
Ken Nichols
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Short Story ◽  
Herman Melville ◽  
Carbon Paper ◽  
Law Firm ◽  
Wall Street ◽  
Principal Character ◽  
Bartleby The Scrivener ◽  
The Relationship

“Bartleby” is the name of the principal character in Herman Melville’s short story about the relationship between a manager and an employee. Bartleby is the employee. His job is to be a scrivener, or a copyist.The setting is a small law firm on Wall Street a century and a half ago — long before computers and photocopy machines, or even typewriters and carbon paper. A scrivener’s job was to copy a document clearly and accurately using the information technology of the day: paper, a bottle of ink, and a sharpened quill.You’ll find that the office technology may be different now than it was in Bartleby’s time, but people are much the same as ever. As you read this story, ask yourself what kind of employee Bartleby is. What kind of boss does the attorney make? Does the story have to end the way it does?

The meaning of work and cultural psychology: Ideas for new directions

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro F Bendassolli ◽  
Luca Tateo
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Psychology ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Meaning Of Work ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Meaningful Activity ◽  
New Directions ◽  
Psychology Perspective ◽  
Definition Of

Work is one arena in which human beings constitute their identities and participate in collective-cultural enterprises. But research on factors affecting the meaning of work and its outcomes focuses mostly on individual-level variables related to workers’ experience. However, scholars have recently proposed a shift towards a more collective dimension of meaningfulness, in particular, the cultural level. This article discusses and expands on this recent trend, demonstrating how growing attention to cultural factors of work’s meaning raises some problematic, crucial issues about the very definition of culture and its role in meaning-making. A particular issue is the assumption that culture is transmitted to people, that it is primarily a collective endeavour based on shared values and that culture can endow work with meaning. Based on a cultural psychology perspective, we revisit both the relationship between person and culture and the idea of work as a cultural phenomenon. We argue that work is inherently a meaningful activity, mediating between personal and collective culture. We end by proposing some potential new directions to explore.

scholarly journals The Accursed Economy of Literature

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Michał Sowiński
Keyword(s):  
Herman Melville ◽  
Literary Studies ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Global System ◽  
Bartleby The Scrivener ◽  
Everyday Reality

In this article, the author explains the connection between literature and economy on a philosophical level, especially in case of logic of exchange and concept of mimesis in novels. Basic tools for his arguments are derived from Georges Bataille’s concept of Accursed Economy (from the essay “The Accursed Share”). The French philosopher argues that in our everyday reality we use logic imposed on us by capitalism, which means that the value of everything is measured by its utility and, at the same time, values of all things can easily be accumulated. Because of that blind belief something important is omitted – surplus, a particle which does not fit into the global system of exchange. In the author’s opinion this phenomenon (and all its consequences) can be used to interpret the novel Bartleby, the Scrivener by Herman Melville, showing the main character’s activities (or their lack) in different contexts. This interpretation also proves the usefulness of applying some tools and terms from the language of economics into literary studies.

scholarly journals “Atmos-fear”: A psycho-semiotic analysis of messages in New York everyday life

Semiotica ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 (226) ◽  
pp. 169-184
Author(s):  
Luca Tateo
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Cultural Psychology ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Semiotic Analysis ◽  
Affective Meaning ◽  
Dialogical Relationship ◽  
The World ◽  
Affect And Cognition ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Semiotic Process

AbstractWe live in societies emphasizing security and its complementary side of fear. In this work, I analyze the peripheral messages disseminated in the urban environment, whose function is that of regulating human and collective conduct through orienting specific forms of affective meaning-making. According to the perspective of Cultural Psychology of Semiotic Dynamics, affect and cognition work always together. Affect has the primacy in the relationship with the world and on top of affective distinctions we build conceptual distinctions. Thus, I describe a type of semiotic process I have called “atmos-fear,” that works through the production of empty representamen that frames meaning. The concept of “atmos-fear” could be fruitfully developed to understand phenomena of politics, communication and construction of the Other in contemporary societies, where the dialogical relationship between security and fear is at stake.

The role and relationship of mindreading and social attunement in HRI – position statements of interdisciplinary researchers. Workshop HRI'20

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Wykowska ◽  
Jairo Pérez-Osorio ◽  
Stefan Kopp
Keyword(s):  
Mental States ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Human Interaction ◽  
Artificial Agents ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

This booklet is a collection of the position statements accepted for the HRI’20 conference workshop “Social Cognition for HRI: Exploring the relationship between mindreading and social attunement in human-robot interaction” (Wykowska, Perez-Osorio & Kopp, 2020). Unfortunately, due to the rapid unfolding of the novel coronavirus at the beginning of the present year, the conference and consequently our workshop, were canceled. On the light of these events, we decided to put together the positions statements accepted for the workshop. The contributions collected in these pages highlight the role of attribution of mental states to artificial agents in human-robot interaction, and precisely the quality and presence of social attunement mechanisms that are known to make human interaction smooth, efficient, and robust. These papers also accentuate the importance of the multidisciplinary approach to advance the understanding of the factors and the consequences of social interactions with artificial agents.

Oleanolic Acid Derived from Plants: Synthesis and Pharmacological Properties of A-ring Modified Derivatives

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (9) ◽  
pp. 1084-1101
Author(s):  
Tingjuan Wu ◽  
Xu Yao ◽  
Guan Wang ◽  
Xiaohe Liu ◽  
Hongfei Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drug Design ◽  
Oleanolic Acid ◽  
Water Solubility ◽  
Future Application ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Pharmacological Effects ◽  
Framework Structure ◽  
Design And Synthesis ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Relationship

Background: Oleanolic Acid (OA) is a ubiquitous product of triterpenoid compounds. Due to its inexpensive availability, unique bioactivities, pharmacological effects and non-toxic properties, OA has attracted tremendous interest in the field of drug design and synthesis. Furthermore, many OA derivatives have been developed for ameliorating the poor water solubility and bioavailability. Objective: Over the past few decades, various modifications of the OA framework structure have led to the observation of enhancement in bioactivity. Herein, we focused on the synthesis and medicinal performance of OA derivatives modified on A-ring. Moreover, we clarified the relationship between structures and activities of OA derivatives with different functional groups in A-ring. The future application of OA in the field of drug design and development also was discussed and inferred. Conclusion: This review concluded the novel achievements that could add paramount information to the further study of OA-based drugs.

The Novel of Sensibility in the 1780s

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Franklin
Keyword(s):  
John Locke ◽  
Adam Smith ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Francis Hutcheson ◽  
Literary Movement ◽  
Epistolary Novels ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter studies the novels of sensibility in the 1780s. The philosophy of John Locke, Anthony Ashley Cooper, third Earl of Shaftesbury, Adam Smith, and Francis Hutcheson had influenced the first wave of epistolary novels of sensibility beginning in the 1740s. These explored the interaction between emotion and reason in producing moral actions. Response to stimuli was minutely examined, especially the relationship between the psychological and physiological manifestations of feelings. Later in the century, and, in particular during the late 1780s when the novel enjoyed a surge in popularity, the capacity for fine feeling became increasingly valued for its own sake rather than moralized. Ultimately, sensibility should be seen as a long-lasting literary movement rather than an ephemeral fashion. It put paternal authority and conventional modes of masculinity under question.

Mary Barton

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Gaskell
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Elizabeth Gaskell ◽  
Class Conflict ◽  
The Novel ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Deep Sympathy ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Class Community

‘It's the masters as has wrought this woe; it's the masters as should pay for it.’ Set in Manchester in the 1840s - a period of industrial unrest and extreme deprivation - Mary Barton depicts the effects of economic and physical hardship upon the city's working-class community. Paralleling the novel's treatment of the relationship between masters and men, the suffering of the poor, and the workmen's angry response, is the story of Mary herself: a factory-worker's daughter who attracts the attentions of the mill-owner's son, she becomes caught up in the violence of class conflict when a brutal murder forces her to confront her true feelings and allegiances. Mary Barton was praised by contemporary critics for its vivid realism, its convincing characters and its deep sympathy with the poor, and it still has the power to engage and move readers today. This edition reproduces the last edition of the novel supervised by Elizabeth Gaskell and includes her husband's two lectures on the Lancashire dialect.

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