Ink, Mass Culture, and the Unconscious

2018 ◽  
pp. 87-128
Author(s):  
Susan Zieger
Keyword(s):  
Cultural History ◽  
Mass Culture ◽  
Scientific Practice ◽  
Wilkie Collins ◽  
Psychological Tests ◽  
The Unconscious ◽  
Psychological Performance ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Moonstone ◽  
Media Storage

Chapter three studies ink, an ephemeral material of mass print, because its cultural history reveals a mystified model of the unconscious as media storage that still has currency. For tens of millions of new writers, ink was a flawed technology; its blots and splashes signified the chaos of unreason. At the same time, gazing at pooled ink to see remote events or the future became a well-known pastime and cultural referent; from an older model of divination, it emerged as a psychological performance. Later in the century, deliberately spilling and spattering ink to make random forms became a social, aesthetic, and scientific practice. Inkblot games, art, and psychological tests formalized and standardized the quotidian ink accident; ink began to materialize the unconscious. Wilkie Collins, in his novel The Moonstone (1868), represented ink-gazing as a nascent figuration of the unconscious – not the deep, Freudian subjectivity of hidden, conflicting drives, but as information stored and hidden out of sight.

Acta Fluens – Generatives Handeln und Improvisation im Jazz

2014 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-60
Author(s):  
Davide Sparti
Keyword(s):  
Walter Benjamin ◽  
History Of Philosophy ◽  
Human Existence ◽  
The Unconscious ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Future ◽  
History Of

Obwohl jede menschliche Handlung mit einem gewissen Grad an Improvisation erfolgt, gibt es kulturelle Praktiken, bei denen Improvisation eine überwiegende Rolle spielt. Um das Risiko zu vermeiden, einen zu breiten Begriff von Improvisation zu übernehmen, konzentriere ich mich im vorliegenden Beitrag auf den Jazz. Meine zentrale Frage lautet, wie Improvisation verstanden werden muss. Mein Vorgehen ist folgendes: Ich beginne mit einem Vergleich von Improvisation und Komposition, damit die Spezifizität der Improvisation erklärt werden kann. Danach wende ich mich dem Thema der Originalität als Merkmal der Improvisation zu. Zum Schluss führe ich den Begriff affordance ein, um die kollektive und zirkuläre Logik eines Solos zu analysieren. Paradigmatisch wird der Jazzmusiker mit dem Engel der Geschichte verglichen, der nur auf das Vergangene blickt, während er der Zukunft den Rücken zugekehrt hat, und lediglich ihr zugetrieben wird. Weder kann der Improvisierende das Material der Vergangenheit vernachlässigen noch seine genuine Tätigkeit, das Improvisieren in der Gegenwart und für die Zukunft, aufgeben: Er visiert die Zukunft trotz ihrer Unvorhersehbarkeit über die Vermittlung der Vergangenheit an.<br><br>While improvised behavior is so much a part of human existence as to be one of its fundamental realities, in order to avoid the risk of defining the act of improvising too broadly, my focus here will be upon one of the activities most explicitly centered around improvisation – that is, upon jazz. My contribution, as Wittgenstein would say, has a »grammatical« design to it: it proposes to clarify the significance of the term »improvisation.« The task of clarifying the cases in which one may legitimately speak of improvisation consists first of all in reflecting upon the conditions that make the practice possible. This does not consist of calling forth mysterious, esoteric processes that take place in the unconscious, or in the minds of musicians, but rather in paying attention to the criteria that are satisfied when one ascribes to an act the concept of improvisation. In the second part of my contribution, I reflect upon the logic that governs the construction of an improvised performance. As I argue, in playing upon that which has already emerged in the music, in discovering the future as they go on (as a consequence of what they do), jazz players call to mind the angel in the famous painting by Klee that Walter Benjamin analyzed in his Theses on the History of Philosophy: while pulled towards the future, its eyes are turned back towards the past.

Man and Wife

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wilkie Collins
Keyword(s):  
Legal Status ◽  
Wilkie Collins ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Country House ◽  
Radical Critique ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Marriage Laws ◽  
Woman In White ◽  
The Moonstone ◽  
Status Of Women

This time the fiction is founded upon facts' stated Wilkie Collins in his Preface to Man and Wife (1870). Many Victorian writers responded to contemporary debates on the rights and the legal status of women, and here Collins questions the deeply inequitable marriage laws of his day. Man and Wife examines the plight of a woman who, promised marriage by one man, comes to believe that she may inadvertently have gone through a form of marriage with his friend, as recognized by the archaic laws of Scotland and Ireland. From this starting-point Collins develops a radical critique of the values and conventions of Victorian society. Collins had already developed a reputation as the master of the 'sensation novel', and Man and Wife is as fast moving and unpredictable as The Moonstone and The Woman in White. During the novel the atmosphere grows increasingly sinister as the setting moves from a country house to a London suburb and a world of confinement, plotting, and murder.

scholarly journals SCIENCE IN HISTORY

2018 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-242
Author(s):  
JAMES POSKETT
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
History Of Political Thought ◽  
Historiography Of Science ◽  
The Future ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
History Of ◽  
Anglophone World

AbstractWhat is the history of science? How has it changed over the course of the twentieth century? And what does the future hold for the discipline? This ‘Retrospect’ provides an introduction to the historiography of science as it developed in the Anglophone world. It begins with the foundation of the Cambridge History of Science Committee in the 1940s and ends with the growth of cultural history in the 2000s. At the broadest level, it emphasizes the need to consider the close relationship between history and the history of science. All too often the historiography of science is treated separately from history at large. But as this essay shows, these seemingly distinct fields often developed in relation to one another. This essay also reveals the ways in which Cold War politics shaped the history of science as a discipline. It then concludes by considering the future, suggesting that the history of science and the history of political thought would benefit from greater engagement with one another.

scholarly journals A Economia Doméstica e Rural Presente no Capítulo XII da Obra Rechenbuch für Deutsche Schulen in Brasillien 2º Heft, de Matheus Grimm

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-110
Author(s):  
Silvio Luiz Martins Britto ◽  
Arno Bayer
Keyword(s):  
Mathematics Education ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Rural Economy ◽  
History Of Mathematics ◽  
Financial Education ◽  
Porto Alegre ◽  
History Of Mathematics Education ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Future ◽  
History Of

O artigo analisa a obra Rechenbuch für Deutsche Schulen in Brasillien 2º Heft[1], de Matheus Grimm[2], com ênfase na seção XII, que aborda cálculos de economia doméstica e rural. Como o tema se insere na História da Educação Matemática, este estudo qualitativo e documental ampara-se na história cultural. A obra editada pela livraria Selbach, de Porto Alegre, teve sua primeira edição em 1900. O público-alvo eram os alunos do 3º e 4º ano elementar das escolas rurais teuto-brasileiras, unidocentes e mistas. A ideia era orientar os futuros colonos em suas receitas e despesas para administrar corretamente o orçamento familiar e gerenciar a produção na propriedade rural. Essa prática era comum nessas comunidades, pois havia o intuito de preparar as crianças para o futuro, com condições de realizar transações comerciais e dar continuidade aos negócios da família. Tais ações, contemporaneamente, fariam parte da denominada Educação Financeira, como objeto de conhecimento indispensável a ser trabalhado nas escolas brasileiras. As atividades desenvolvidas, a partir de situações-problema, estão relacionadas aos diferentes conteúdos matemáticos, envolvendo a aritmética, desenvolvendo habilidades para o manejo do cálculo escrito e mental por meio da resolução de problemas do cotidiano.   Palavras-chave: História da Educação Matemática. Ensino. Economia Doméstica e Rural.   Abstract The article analyzes the book Calculation for German schools in Brazil 2nd notebook, by Matheus Grimm, with an emphasis on section XII, which addresses household and rural economy calculations. As the theme is inserted in the History of Mathematics Education, this qualitative and documentary study is based on cultural history. The book published by the bookstore Selbach, Porto Alegre, had its first edition in 1900. The target audience were the students of the 3rd and 4th elementary year of the rural schools in Brazil, unidocentes and mixed. The idea was to guide the future settlers in their income and expenses to properly manage the family budget and manage the production in the rural property. This practice was common in these communities, since it was intended to prepare the children for the future, able to carry out commercial transactions and give continuity to the family business. Such actions, at the same time, would be part of the denominated Financial Education, as an object of knowledge indispensable to be worked in Brazilian schools. The activities developed, based on problem situations, are related to different mathematical contents, involving arithmetic, developing skills for the management of written and mental calculation through the resolution of everyday problems.   Keywords: History of Mathematics Education. Teaching. Domestic and Rural Economy.  

scholarly journals Simono Daukanto BUDĄ Senowęs-Letuwiu Kalnienu ĩr Ƶamajtiu (1845) šaltiniai

2020 ◽  
pp. 217-248
Author(s):  
Roma Bončkutė
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Comparative Linguistics ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Future ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Regional Historiography

SOURCES OF SIMONAS DAUKANTAS’S BUDĄ SENOWĘS-LËTUWIÛ KALNIENÛ ĨR ƵÁMAJTIÛ (1845) The article investigates Simonas Daukantas’s (1793–1864) BUDĄ Senowęs-Lëtuwiû Kalnienû ĩr Ƶámajtiû (The Character of the Lithuanian Highlanders and Samogitians of the Old Times, 1845; hereafter Bd) with regards to genre, origin of the title, and the dominant German sources of the work. It claims that Daukantas conceived Bd because he understood that the future of Lithuania is closely related to its past. A single, united version of Lithuanian history, accepted by the whole nation, was necessary for the development of Lithuanian national identity and collective feeling. The history, which up until then had not been published in Lithuanian, could have helped to create the contours of a new society by presenting the paradigmatic events of the past. The collective awareness of the difference between the present and the past (and future) should have given the Lithuanian community an incentive to move forward. Daukantas wrote Bd quickly, between 1842 and May 28, 1844, because he drew on his previous work ISTORYJE ƵEMAYTYSZKA (History of the Lithuanian Lowlands, ~1831–1834; IƵ). Based on the findings of previous researchers of Daukantas’s works, after studying the dominant sources of Bd and examining their nature, this article comes to the conclusion that the work has features of both cultural history and regional historiography. The graphically highlighted form of the word “BUDĄ” used in the work’s title should be considered the author’s code. Daukantas, influenced by the newest culturological research and comparative linguistics of the 18th–19th centuries, propagated that Lithuanians originate from India and, like many others, found evidence of this in the Lithuanian language and culture. He considered the Budini (Greek Βουδίνοι), who are associated with the followers of Buddha, to be Lithuanian ancestors. He found proof of this claim in the language and chose the word “būdas” (character), which evokes aforementioned associations, to express the idea of the work.

Introduction

Picture World ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Rachel Teukolsky
Keyword(s):  
Visual Culture ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Mass Culture ◽  
Literary History ◽  
Media History ◽  
Culture Studies ◽  
Visual Culture Studies ◽  
Cross Media ◽  
Cultural Field ◽  
Words And Images

The introduction explores both Victorian and contemporary theories of visual culture, while developing the book’s own interdisciplinary methodology. Visual culture studies, media history, art history, literary history, and cultural history number among the book’s disciplines. The chapters move across media to study novels and poems alongside photographs and illustrations. Weaving together both visual and textual strands, the book presents a revisionist, multidisciplinary approach to “culture” as it was lived and experienced in the nineteenth century. Academic divides between the disciplines today have obscured the cross-media connections studied in the book. The book’s approach captures the historical reality of the nineteenth century’s turbulent media moment, when the bounds of high art and mass culture were not yet fixed, and words and images mingled indiscriminately in the cultural field.

‘Is This an Hotel? Are There Thieves in the House?’

2020 ◽  
pp. 204-239
Author(s):  
Ushashi Dasgupta
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Detective Fiction ◽  
Wilkie Collins ◽  
Criminal Behaviour ◽  
Bleak House ◽  
Social Discourses ◽  
The Moonstone ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Aesthetic Forms

This chapter suggests that tenancy plays a major role in nineteenth-century detective fiction, an emerging genre that counted Dickens, Wilkie Collins, and Charles Warren Adams as enthusiastic early practitioners. The chapter starts by investigating the relationship between geography, class, and morality in contemporary social discourses, focusing on the ‘low’ or ‘common’ lodging house in London. Low lodging houses were widely associated with criminal behaviour, and Dickens and Collins were interested in the function they could perform in their fiction. The chapter moves on to examine the murders that take place in Bleak House, The Moonstone, and The Notting Hill Mystery, and argues that rented space becomes a tool in the battle between detective and criminal. The chapter ends with an extended reading of Krook’s lodging house and rag-and-bone shop in Bleak House. Here, a mystery narrative intersects with farce and the Gothic, attesting to the porosity between aesthetic forms.

A (Very) Few Concluding Thoughts

2021 ◽  
pp. 261-270
Author(s):  
R. Barker Bausell
Keyword(s):  
False Positive ◽  
Scientific Inquiry ◽  
Scientific Practice ◽  
Substantial Reduction ◽  
The Future ◽  
Scientific Results

In this chapter, educational recommendations for future scientists are suggested followed by possible scenarios that may characterize the future of the reproducibility initiatives discussed in previous chapters. One such scenario, while quite pessimistic, is not without historical precedent. Namely, that the entire movement may turn out to be little more than a publishing opportunity for methodologically oriented scientists—soon replaced by something else and forgotten by most—thereby allowing it to be reprised a few decades later under a different name by different academics. Alternately, and more optimistically, the procedural and statistical behaviors discussed here will receive an increased emphasis in the scientific curricula accompanied by a sea change in actual scientific practice and its culture—thereby producing a substantial reduction in the prevalence of avoidable false-positive scientific results. And indeed recent evidence does appear to suggest that the reproducibility initiatives instituted by the dedicated cadre of methodologically oriented scientists chronicled in this book have indeed begun the process of making substantive improvements in the quality and veracity of scientific inquiry itself.

scholarly journals Strategies for preserving memes as artefacts of digital culture

2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 895-904
Author(s):  
Fátima García López ◽  
Sara Martínez Cardama
Keyword(s):  
Mass Culture ◽  
Digital Culture ◽  
The Internet ◽  
British Library ◽  
National Library ◽  
The Future ◽  
Specific Assessment ◽  
New Type ◽  
Expression Characteristic ◽  
Web Archive

The Internet archives kept by heritage libraries are analysed, focusing specifically on that new type of expression characteristic of web culture and digital folklore, the meme. Five paradigmatic examples of heritage institutions engaging in web archive initiatives are explored: the Library of Congress, British Library, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Biblioteca Nacional de España and National Library of Australia. Specific assessment categories are defined for the study. The findings reveal a lack of collection policies for such representative objects of today’s mass culture and identify the challenges both for the custodial institutions and for research in the future.

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