Whose life is it anyway? Practice-based research into performed fictional-autobiography and the paradox of fiction

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 61-75
Author(s):  
Simon Lovat

This article explores the notion of ‘self’ as it pertains to autobiographical writing, and its repercussions for the fact/fiction dichotomy inherent in autobiographical praxis. The mode of articulation is a discussion of the reception of two one-man plays: Memoires of a Confused Man (2016) and Are Strings Attached? (2017). Both plays are written and performed by this writer. Drawing on philosophical, cognitive and spiritual discourses, I show that ‘selfhood’ is not a transparent and unproblematic proposition. I then re-examine the so-called paradox of fiction. I argue that it is common experience to care about notional entities and suggest that this comes about by way of ‘transfictional disavowal’ and ‘affective metalepsis’. Finally, I offer an exemplary text, read first as ‘fiction’, and then as ‘autobiography’. I then propose a new modality of the ‘paradox of fiction’, which offers a satisfactory reading position of autobiographical writings based on a re-evaluation of ‘selfhood’.

Romanticism ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Lansdown

Berlioz’ Mémoires (1870) and Delacroix's Journal (1893) are commonly seen as two of the greatest records of Romantic creativity. They also share a common background in French Romanticism, and are powerful instances of two great forms of autobiographical writing. This essay takes these features into account, but also contrasts the two Romantic artists — and human individuals — recorded in these books.


Author(s):  
Susan Juster ◽  
John D. Barbour ◽  
Gary Comstock ◽  
Richard Rabinowitz

Mousaion ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 140-154
Author(s):  
Elma De Kock

Peter and the wolf is an intermedial work based on a folk tale originally written and composed by the Russian composer Sergey Prokofiev in 1936 (Hanson and Hanson 1964). Since few recent adaptations of the work in Afrikaans exist, a combined intermedial project was undertaken to recreate the work using practice-based research. The stages of this research method have brought forth a poetic text, the realisation of the original music, illustrations, and a voice artist to read the created text. To accomplish the final artistic product, it was important to obtain a theoretical foundation of practice-based research, intermediality, adaptation and the different media involved in the created word. The intermedial effects between the different media in the project provided the results of the study, stemming not only from the readers’ simultaneous experiences of the media as they read or listen to the work but, as it also became clear, from the mutually complementary effects between the different media of which their combination provided a richer final product.


Author(s):  
Ashraf M. Salama

With an acceptance rate that does not exceed 25% of the total papers and articles submitted to the journal, IJAR – International Journal of Architectural Research is moving forward to position itself among the leading journals in architecture and urban studies worldwide. As this is the case since the beginning of volume 5, issue 1, March 2011, one must note that the journal has been covered by several data and index bases since its inception including Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals, EBSCO-Current Abstracts-Art and Architecture, INTUTE, Directory of Open Access Journals, Pro-Quest, Scopus-Elsevier and many university library databases across the globe. This is coupled with IJAR being an integral part of the archives and a featured collection of ArchNet and the Aga Khan Documentation Centre at MIT: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.In 2014, IJAR was included in Quartile 2 / Q2 list of Journals both in ‘Architecture’ and ‘Urban Studies.’ As of May 2015, IJAR is ranked 23 out of 83 journals in ‘Architecture’ and 59 out of 119 in ‘Urban Studies.’ Rankings are based on the SJR (SCImago Journal Ranking); an Elsevier- SCOPUS indicator that measures the scientific influence of the average article in a journal. SJR is a measure of scientific influence of scholarly journals that accounts for both the number of citations received by a journal and the importance or prestige of the journals where such citations come from. See here for more information (http://www.scimagojr.com/index.php) and (http://www.journalmetrics.com/sjr.php). While the journal is now on top of many of the distinguished journals in Elsevier- SCOPUS database, we will keep aspiring to sustain our position and move forward to Q1 group list and eventually in the top 10 journal list in the field. However, this requires sustained efforts and conscious endeavours that give attention to quality submissions through a rigorous review process. This edition of IJAR: volume 9, issue 2, July 2015 includes debates on a wide spectrum of issues, explorations and investigations in various settings. The issue encompasses sixteen papers addressing cities, settlements, and projects in Europe, South East Asia, and the Middle East. Papers involve international collaborations evidenced by joint contributions and come from scholars in universities, academic institutions, and practices in Belgium; Egypt; Greece; Italy; Jordan; Malaysia; Palestine; Qatar; Saudi Arabia; Serbia; Spain; Turkey; and the United Kingdom. In this editorial I briefly outline the key issues presented in these papers, which include topics relevant to social housing, multigenerational dwelling, practice-based research, sustainable design and biomimetic models, learning environments and learning styles, realism and the post modern condition, development and planning, urban identity, contemporary landscapes, and cultural values and traditions.


Author(s):  
Anna Peterson

This book examines the impact that Athenian Old Comedy had on Greek writers of the Imperial era. It is generally acknowledged that Imperial-era Greeks responded to Athenian Old Comedy in one of two ways: either as a treasure trove of Atticisms, or as a genre defined by and repudiated for its aggressive humor. Worthy of further consideration, however, is how both approaches, and particularly the latter one that relegated Old Comedy to the fringes of the literary canon, led authors to engage with the ironic and self-reflexive humor of Aristophanes, Eupolis, and Cratinus. Authors ranging from serious moralizers (Plutarch and Aelius Aristides) to comic writers in their own right (Lucian, Alciphron), to other figures not often associated with Old Comedy (Libanius) adopted aspects of the genre to negotiate power struggles, facilitate literary and sophistic rivalries, and provide a model for autobiographical writing. To varying degrees, these writers wove recognizable features of the genre (e.g., the parabasis, its agonistic language, the stage biographies of the individual poets) into their writings. The image of Old Comedy that emerges from this time is that of a genre in transition. It was, on the one hand, with the exception of Aristophanes’s extant plays, on the verge of being almost completely lost; on the other hand, its reputation and several of its most characteristic elements were being renegotiated and reinvented.


Author(s):  
Beth M. Robertson

This article strives to answer the question of whether oral history can survive the funding crisis that rages archival institutions. The cost and complexity of managing archival collections in libraries and archives are increasing at unprecedented rates. Collecting institutions are expected to do more with less, a common experience for most publicly funded repositories since the 1980s. Institutions struggling with backlogs of physical collections are now responsible for electronic collections that grow exponentially and require new formats with astonishing frequency. Archives must provide online as well as on-site services to satisfy researchers, and those who allocate funding. In some ways, oral history is well adapted to survive in this tumultuous environment. Many archival institutions have been educating local practitioners since the 1970s about the standards required by their repositories. The pragmatism required for preservation strategies will be anathema to some curators, just as the underlying principles have been to some archivists in recent years.


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