‘A polyphonic tale’: Arendt, Cavarero and storytelling in Sarah Polley’s Stories We Tell (2012)

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-89
Author(s):  
Silvia Angeli
Keyword(s):  
Personal Identity ◽  
Hannah Arendt ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Close Link ◽  
Continuity And Change ◽  
Dynamic Relationship ◽  
Adriana Cavarero ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Way

This article proposes a reading of Sarah Polley’s Stories We Tell (2012) through the work of Hannah Arendt and Adriana Cavarero. Far from being a simple homage to her late mother Diane, Polley’s film is a ‘polyphonic tale’, a complex and multi-layered narrative which allows for an exploration of the many functions of (cinematic) storytelling. Highlighting the close link between relating narratives and personal identity, the film sheds light on both the innate desire for biography that characterizes us as human beings and the complex and dynamic relationship between storytellers and listeners. The way we tell stories affects the narrator(s), their audience and the fabric of the story itself in a process that ensures both continuity and change. Referring to Arendt’s notion of political storytelling, I conclude by suggesting that Stories We Tell, like the Greek polis, functions as an ‘organized remembrance’, a community whose purpose is to preserve fragile human deeds and words from oblivion.

Tocqueville and Nietzsche on the Problem of Human Greatness in Democracy

2014 ◽  
Vol 76 (3) ◽  
pp. 439-467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Franco
Keyword(s):  
Human Beings ◽  
Common Concern ◽  
The Many ◽  
Democratic Life ◽  
The Way

AbstractNietzsche and Tocqueville share a common concern with the tendency to mediocrity and loss of human greatness in democratic life. This essay explores the many similarities in their diagnoses of this problem, which they both view from the distinctive standpoint of aristocracy. Both thinkers focus on the way in which the individualism, preoccupation with material comfort, restlessness, and valorization of compassion that belong to democracy undermine human aspiration, intellectual excellence, and spiritual depth. Nevertheless, they differ sharply in their responses to the problem of human greatness in democracy. Tocqueville calls chiefly upon religion to elevate democratic citizens but otherwise resigns himself to the mediocrity that comes with democratic life. Nietzsche starts from the pessimistic premise that God is dead but more optimistically affirms the possibility of reestablishing aristocracy and finding a new greatness for human beings. The essay ultimately finds Nietzsche's solution more convincing but not without difficulties.

scholarly journals Marilynne Robinson, Gilead, and the Battle for the Soul

Perichoresis ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 41-58
Author(s):  
Annette Aronowicz
Keyword(s):  
The Novel ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Marilynne Robinson ◽  
Works Of Art ◽  
The Many ◽  
Widespread View ◽  
The Way

Abstract A widespread view among contemporary philosophers and scientists is that the soul is a mystification. For Marilynne Robinson, American essayist and novelist, the crux of the matter is not the existence of the soul in itself, since this cannot be settled by debate. Rather, she challenges the sort of evidence that her opponents—mostly basing themselves on the work of neuroscientists, and evolutionary biologists—deem to be decisive in determining the question. The soul, she claims, does not appear at the level of our genes and neurons. Rather it is encountered in the many works of art and reflection that human beings have produced from the earliest times. This paper will focus on one such document, Robinson’s novel Gilead (2004), in which she proposes a vision of the soul closely allied to the notion of blessing. Blessing, in turn, is inseparable from metaphor, pointing us to mystery, an elusive reality whose presence we experience only intermittently, although it is always there. Although Robinson’s several collections of essays provide needed context for the view of the soul displayed in the novel, it is our claim that it is the novel that truly turns the tables in the debate, inviting the reader to affirm or deny the soul’s reality not on the basis of the pronouncement of experts but on the basis of the way a given language aligns with experience. The internalization that such a process requires reveals the soul in action. This paper is thus a reading of Robinson’s writings on the soul.

scholarly journals JUDITH BUTLER E HANNAH ARENDT VÃO AO CINEMA: narrativa, psicanálise e subjetivação no filme “Eu, Mamãe e os Meninos”

Caderno CRH ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 020015
Author(s):  
Ingrid Cyfer
Keyword(s):  
Key Words ◽  
Hannah Arendt ◽  
Judith Butler ◽  
Relational Perspective ◽  
Jean Laplanche ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Adriana Cavarero ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Way ◽  
Ethics And Politics

<div class="trans-abstract"><p class="sec">Neste artigo, proponho uma análise do filme Eu, Mamãe e os Meninos (Les garçons et Guillaume, à table! Direção: Guillaume Gallienne. França, 2013) tendo-se em vista uma perspectiva política e relacional das conexões entre psicanálise, narrativa e processo de subjetivação. Minha inspiração para isso está no modo como Judith Butler articula essas dimensões em seu livro Relatar a Si Mesmo: Crítica da Violência Ética ([2005], 2015), no qual a autora propõe uma teoria da formação do sujeito em que a concepção de narrativa de Hannah Arendt cumpre um papel fundamental, depois de ser reformulada pela concepção de self narrável de Adriana Cavarero e combinada à metapsicologia relacional de Jean Laplanche. Desse modo, meu objetivo é convidar Butler e Arendt ao cinema para depois discutir a relação entre narrativa, psicanálise e subjetivação tendo em vista o vínculo entre ética e política que a estória que o personagem Guillaume nos conta sobre quem é pode inspirar.</p><p><strong>Palavras-Chave: </strong>Hannah Arendt; Judith Butler; Subjetivação; Psicanálise; Narrativa</p></div><div class="trans-abstract"><p class="sec"><span>JUDITH BUTLER AND HANNAH ARENDT GO TO THE MOVIES: narrative, psychoanalysis and subjectification in the film Me, Myself and Mum</span></p><p class="sec">ABSTRACT</p><p>In this article, I propose an analysis of the film Me, Myself and Mum (Les garçons et Guillaume, à table! Directed by Guillaume Gallienne. France 2013) with a view to a political and relational perspective of the connections between psychoanalysis, narrative and subjectivation process. My inspiration for this is in the way Judith Butler articulates these dimensions in her book Giving an Account of Oneself (2005). In this work, Butler proposes a theory of the formation of the subject in which Hannah Arendt’s conception of narrative plays a fundamental role, after being reformulated by Adriana Cavarero’s conception of narrable self and combined with Jean Laplanche’s relational metapsychology. In this text, my goal is to invite Butler and Arendt to the movies to later discuss the relationship between narrative, psychoanalysis and subjectivity in view of the link between ethics and politics that the story in which Guillaume tells us about who he is can inspire.</p><p><strong>Key words: </strong>Hannah Arendt; Judith Butler; Subjectivation; Psychoanalysis; Narrative</p></div><div class="trans-abstract"><p class="sec"><span>JUDITH BUTLER ET HANNAH ARENDT VONT AU CINÉMA: narration, psychanalyse et subjectivation dan le film Les Garçons et Guillaume, à table!</span></p><p class="sec">ABSTRACT</p><p>Dans cet article, je propose une analyse du film Les Garçons et Guillaume, à la Table (Realisation Guillaume Galliene, France, 2013) en vue d’une perspective politique et relationnelle des liens entre psychanalyse, narration et processus de subjectivation. Mon inspiration pour cela réside dans la façon dont Judith Butler articule ces dimensions dans son livre Le Récit de Soi (2005). Dans ce travail, Butler propose une théorie de la formation du sujet dans laquelle la conception de la narration d’Hannah Arendt joue un rôle fondamental, après avoir été reformulée par la conception d’Adriana Cavarero du soi narrable et combinée avec la métapsychologie relationnelle de Jean Laplanche. Dans ce texte, mon objectif est d’inviter Butler et Arendt au cinéma pour discuter plus tard de la relation entre narration, psychanalyse et subjectivité au vu du lien entre éthique et politique que l’histoire dans laquelle Guillaume nous raconte qui il est peut inspirer.</p><p><strong>Key words: </strong>Hannah Arendt; Judith Butler; Subjectivation; Psychanalyse; Narrative</p></div>

Freedom’s Poses

2017 ◽  
Vol 70 (4) ◽  
pp. 720-727
Author(s):  
Lori Jo Marso
Keyword(s):  
Hannah Arendt ◽  
Simone De Beauvoir ◽  
Adriana Cavarero ◽  
The Way

Kathy Ferguson’s anarchist women enact walking as freedom’s pose. In my response, I ask how the way we imagine poses and postures, comporting our bodies this way or that, alone or together, shapes the way we practice freedom. I worry that the focus on walking, a dominant and frequent metaphor for freedom in many diverse political registers, occludes our ability to see freedom in other poses, registers, and spaces. I argue that highlighting walking as freedom’s preferred pose hovers too close to the replication of the posture (and maybe the perspective too?) of the masculine self. These moves, and this movement, make it harder to discover other sites and kinds of freedom, and to fully appreciate contingency, non-necessity, and the unexpected possibilities available in every encounter. Drawing on the work of Adriana Cavarero, Simone de Beauvoir, and Hannah Arendt, I explore postures of inclination—Beauvoir’s housewives stooped over pots and pans—and consciously chosen inactivity—Arendt lying on her daybed thinking. These postures and poses open up our ability to see freedom in the encounter, an affective and agonistic freedom enacted only with others, and too easily hidden or missed.

Bad Dreams and Secret Artists: Translating Freud into Literature

2002 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Patterson
Keyword(s):  
Sigmund Freud ◽  
Ordinary Language ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Careful Attention ◽  
Popular Approach ◽  
English Reader ◽  
Creative Writer ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Way

This article addresses the increasingly popular approach to Freud and his work which sees him primarily as a literary writer rather than a psychologist, and takes this as the context for an examination of Joyce Crick's recent translation of The Interpretation of Dreams. It claims that translation lies at the heart of psychoanalysis, and that the many interlocking and overlapping implications of the word need to be granted a greater degree of complexity. Those who argue that Freud is really a creative writer are themselves doing a work of translation, and one which fails to pay sufficiently careful attention to the role of translation in writing itself (including the notion of repression itself as a failure to translate). Lesley Chamberlain's The Secret Artist: A Close Reading of Sigmund Freud is taken as an example of the way Freud gets translated into a novelist or an artist, and her claims for his ‘bizarre poems' are criticized. The rest of the article looks closely at Crick's new translation and its claim to be restoring Freud the stylist, an ordinary language Freud, to the English reader. The experience of reading Crick's translation is compared with that of reading Strachey's, rather to the latter's advantage.

Rangda and the Goddess Durga in Bali

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-77
Author(s):  
Sarah Weiss
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Binary Opposition ◽  
Dynamic Relationship ◽  
The Witch ◽  
Purity And Impurity ◽  
Good And Evil ◽  
Negative Attributes ◽  
The Way

This article examines Rangda and her role as a chthonic and mythological figure in Bali, particularly the way in which Rangda’s identity has intertwined with that of the Hindu goddess Durga— slayer of buffalo demons and other creatures that cannot be bested by Shiva or other male Hindu gods. Images and stories about Durga in Bali are significantly different from those found in Hindu contexts in India. Although she retains the strong-willed independence and decision-making capabilities prominently associated with Durga in India, in Bali the goddess Durga is primarily associated with violent and negative attributes as well as looks and behaviours that are more usually associated with Kali in India. The reconstruction of Durga in Bali, in particular the integration of Durga with the figure of the witch Rangda, reflects the local importance of the dynamic relationship between good and bad, positive and negative forces in Bali. I suggest that Balinese representations of Rangda and Durga reveal a flux and transformation between good and evil, not simply one side of a balanced binary opposition. Transformation—here defined as the persistent movement between ritual purity and impurity—is a key element in the localization of the goddess Durga in Bali.

Emerson's Memory Loss

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Hanlon
Keyword(s):  
William James ◽  
Memory Loss ◽  
Margaret Fuller ◽  
Final Phase ◽  
Important Work ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Many ◽  
The One ◽  
Do So ◽  
The Way

Emerson’s Memory Loss is about an archive of texts documenting Emerson’s intellectual state during the final phase of his life, as he underwent dementia. It is also about the way these texts provoke a rereading of the more familiar canon of Emerson’s thinking. Emerson’s memory loss, Hanlon argues, contributed to the shaping of a line of thought in America that emphasizes the social over the solipsistic, the affective over the distant, the many over the one. Emerson regarded his output during the time when his patterns of cognition transformed profoundly as a regathering of focus on the nature of memory and of thinking itself. His late texts theorize Emerson’s experience of senescence even as they disrupt his prior valorizations of the independent mind teeming with self-sufficient conviction. But still, these late writings have succumbed to a process of critical forgetting—either ignored by scholars or denied inclusion in Emerson’s oeuvre. Attending to a manuscript archive that reveals the extent to which Emerson collaborated with others—especially his daughter, Ellen Tucker Emerson—to articulate what he considered his most important work even as his ability to do so independently waned, Hanlon measures the resonance of these late texts across the stretch of Emerson’s thinking, including his writing about Margaret Fuller and his meditations on streams of thought that verge unto those of his godson, William James. Such ventures bring us toward a self defined less by its anxiety of overinfluence than by its communality, its very connectedness with myriad others.

Analysis and Interpretation of Test Beam Data

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Wigmans
Keyword(s):  
Energy Resolution ◽  
Particle Physics ◽  
Particle Beam ◽  
Test Beam ◽  
Term Energy ◽  
The Many ◽  
Physics Experiment ◽  
The Way

This chapter describes some of the many pitfalls that may be encountered when developing the calorimeter system for a particle physics experiment. Several of the examples chosen for this chapter are based on the author’s own experience. Typically, the performance of a new calorimeter is tested in a particle beam provided by an accelerator. The potential pitfalls encountered in correctly assessing this performance both concern the analysis and the interpretation of the data collected in such tests. The analysis should be carried out with unbiased event samples. Several consequences of violating this principle are illustrated with practical examples. For the interpretation of the results, it is very important to realize that the conditions in a testbeam are fundamentally different than in practice. This has consequences for the meaning of the term “energy resolution”. It is shown that the way in which the results of beam tests are quoted may create a misleading impression of the quality of the tested instrument.

The Atonement and the Solution to the Problems of Guilt and Shame

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleonore Stump
Keyword(s):  
Human Beings ◽  
The World ◽  
The Way

This chapter considers shame in its major varieties and shows that each of these kinds of shame has a defeat in the atonement of Christ. It then considers guilt in all its elements, including the brokenness in the psyche of the wrongdoer and the bad effects on the world resulting from his wrongdoing, and it shows that, on the interpretation of the doctrine of the atonement argued for in this book, the atonement can remedy all human guilt. Consequently, through the atonement of Christ, a person in grace is freed from guilt and reconciled with God and with other human beings as well, and his guilt is defeated in his flourishing. On this interpretation of the doctrine, one can see the way in which the atonement of Christ makes sense as a solution to the main problem that the atonement was meant to remedy.

Law as a Malleable Artifact

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederick Schauer
Keyword(s):  
Natural Kind ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Way ◽  
Concept Of Law

Law is not a natural kind, but is instead an artifact. Like all artifacts, the artifact of law is created by human beings. But what human beings create can be re-created, and thus the artifact that is law is always open to modification or revision. And if law is open to modification or revision, then so too is our concept of it. This chapter explores the way in which one form of jurisprudential scholarship is that which seeks not to identify what our concept of law now is, but, rather, what our concept of law ought to be, in light of any number of moral or pragmatic goals.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document