I really enjoyed both the preparatory reading and the discussion at the seminar looking at 'the moving image'. I remember Walter Benjamin's essay 'The Work of Art in an Age of Mechanical Reproduction' from second year 'Aims and Methods seminars in Manchester back in 1975; how edgy it seemed back then in a somewhat stuffy, conservative 'Red-brick' Arts and Humanities Faculty at that time immune from any jumped-up continental notions around semiotics and structuralism which had yet to leap the confines of 'The Sixties' campuses and rattle the cage of institutions still content to pedal the received canon.
I think Teresa set-up the preparatory reading well basing it around Benjamin's seminal work from the 1930's and then contrasting it with Nick Peim's more recent 're-reading' of it which seeks to explore its influence on later thinkers such as Derrida and emergent theories in media studies relating to audience theory.
So, what about Benjamin's essay? Aalmost eighty years from its first publication it remains thought-provoking and infuriating in equal measure. Clearly there are aspects of the work that are prescient - the claim for 'popular art' to be given equal status to 'high art' as something worthy of study and of equal cultural significance; the assertion of art as a political as well as a cultural act, a clutch of thought-provoking dialectics - 'cult versus exhibition value'; contemplation versus absorption; the analogy of a work of art being used like a building not as object, all these ideas in one way or another were developed by the later pioneers of Cultural Studies. Above aall, the exploration audacious analogies such as likening a painter to a magician and the cameraman to a surgeon; even if they don't quite work on closer analysis, nevertheless they challenge the reader to think in a different way. Its no surprise that the work became so influential.
The infuriating aspects are how much of it does not really stand-up to close scrutiny. The central contrast between 'a work of art' (that is a visual work of art) and film rests on a simplification of both. Film's unique aspects are seen to be based on its reductibility - the fact there is no 'original' and on the basis that as a work of art it is constructed from clips afterwards rather than being 'performed' one off like a play. The contrast holds up partially if you adopt the Romantic notion of a work of art being the product of a lone genius, but step back towards the workshop production of Titian and Ruben's and in fact the modes of production were very similar to a film studio and the question of 'originality' is far from clear. The issue of originality in relation to drama is equally suspect,mainly because it ignores the fact that theatrical performance is the result of painstaking rehearsal before the production analogous to the careful 'editing' of a film which takes place after the shoot. The former is the product of pre-production, the latter of post production but each are constructs.
However, to criticise Benjamin's argument this way is to use the tools of an essentially rationalist approach to challenge a mode of discourse which is Marxist. The more you look at way the key points are argued the more the Marxist nature of the dialectic becomes clear.
Here we must now consider the question of how Benjamin viewed the notion of 'aura'. One one side of the dialectic are 'traditional' works of art which achieve an aura through originality which results in them being revered as 'cult objects' whose status is reinforced through subsequent veneration, Benjamin differentiates between 'cult status' and 'exhibition' status either of which invests a certain capital value to the object. This is contrasted with new forms such as film which, according to Benjamin lack 'aura' because they are easily reproduced and can have mass appeal, breaking down barriers between 'high art' and 'popular art'. The traditional artist is seen as a magician the new artist as a surgeon, a cultural scientist who creates through analytical means (such as film editing) rather than a mysterious creative process.
Benjamin speculates that whereas traditional art places the audience in a contemplative position, new art absorbs its consumers, it is a startlingly prescient notion; not surprisingly pioneers in the area of mass media have frequently cited the essay. The final image for the work of art in the modern world sees the artist as architect, the audience inhabiting cultural space in the same way people live in a building.
Nick Pein's re-reading traces the influence the essay had on later thinkers whilst acknowledging that the central assertion of the piece, that 'mass produced art' would see the end of works of art being 'revered' simply never happened. In reality nothing could be further from the truth, in film the 'auteur' emerged, TV programmes from 'Fawlty Towers' to 'Dad's Army were revered as 'national treasures' and 'celebrities' are worshiped though some kind of inter-textual media feeding frenzy.
What I have gained from looking again at the essay is a better understanding of different types of argument and a realisation that my irritation with the essay in the first place has as much to to with an erroneous approach to it as inherent flaws in the work itself. My natural way of constructing argument tends to be a conventional empirical approach, looking at evidence' and thinking about what can be drawn from them on a rational basis. Marxist and post-modern debates can work differently, the starting point can be a metaphor or analogy, other interesting assertions are considered in relation to that, then new analogies or metaphors are proposed. In some ways this concerns the broad inter-relationship of ideas rather than a consideration of logical connections between them. In a sense the resultant 'insight' - Benjamin's 'aura', Foucault's 'toolbox', Braudilliard's 'simulcra' remain thought provoking, and 'claim validity irrespective of whether the premise upon which they were built was logically suspect or not.
Monday, 21 October 2013
Monday, 14 October 2013
A New Kind Of Bleak - Owen Hatherley
A New Kind of Bleak: Journeys Through Urban Britain, Owen Hathersley, London, Verso, 2012.
Li + 382 pp., £12.99 (paperback), ISBN-13: 978-178168-075-9
Polemical, ideologically-driven, episodic - all terms which might be
levelled at Owen Hathersley's latest book, A New Kind of Bleak. Usually in any work of serious
academic intent such a description would be regarded as pejorative; however, in
Hathersley's case, his relish for radical argument and poise in taking an
audacious, partisan stance form a key part of the book's strength.
Hathersley summarises the purpose of the book in his extended
introductory essay, 'this is a book [....] about architecture and town planning
that uses these as a way to talk about politics (or vice versa).' (p.xxiii). It is illuminating to reflect on this
statement momentarily, for Hathersley takes a particular stance in relation to
politics and architecture and has an interesting and innovative approach when
talking about them.
Politically the author is firmly rooted in a Marxist tradition
writing regularly for the Socialist
Review and Socialist Worker as well as the mainstream press. As an
architectural historian Hathersley has a particular interest in a re-evaluation
of post war modernist architecture in Britain and its position as part of a
broader movement in Scandinavia, Germany and The Soviet Bloc. Militant Modernism (2008),
Hathersley's previous book on the subject, described by a Guardian reviewer as trying to ''excavate
utopia' from the ruins of modernism,' took an essentially academic stance. In
some senses A New Kind of
Bleak adopts a more
accessible, popularist approach. It is structured, as the sub-title intimates,
around eighteen walks through the cities of Britain. It is not a travelogue however,
but political analysis masquerading as architectural commentary. How Hathersley
uses an essentially Marxist dialectic to unpick the politics of the urban
landscape is worthy of more detailed consideration.
Although the book opens and closes with his reflections on buildings in London, most of it concentrates on 'some extremely unlovely places, [....] potential new worlds in Leicester, Cumbernauld, Lincoln and Coventry,' (p. L) each place seemingly a topographical manifestation of Auden's assertion that 'we can twig from what we are not/what we might be next. Every journey can be read as a separate essay as each one takes the particular tack hinted at in their subtitles: BRISTOL, The Tyranny of Structurelessness; TEESIDE, Infantalised Hercules; OXFORD, Quadrangle and Banlieue. Thought-provoking each essay may be, but to read each section of the book as separate statements would be to miss Hathersley's broader discourse which is revealed by a dialectic between, and within each chapter.
Buildings themselves are used as ciphers for political analysis. Compare the consideration in the introductory essay of Unison's new building in Kings Cross - dubbed by Hathersley as 'A Corporate Headquarters for Collectivists', (p. xxxii).- with the critique of Richard Rogers' iconic Lloyds building in the City in the final chapter. (p. 348). The former is seen as what 'Blairite' architecture may have resembled if New Labour had remained socialist; the latter is presented as a subversion of the 'inside out' architecture of Rogers' Pompidou Centre in Les Halles. Paris, where an aesthetic developed for a 'People's Culture Palace' is adapted to the needs of hyper-capitalism by purloining the collectivist style but retaining at its post-modernist heart a 'palladian bunker',in the guise of a perfect re-creation of Lloyd's original Georgian, Adam-style board-room. Each building is analysed as a metaphor for the politics which produced it.
Whole cities, and districts within them, are treated as socio-political products. In chapter sixteen the Glasgow shipbuilding district of Govan is compared with the nearby new-town of Cumbernauld. The question posed - is the solution (a Scandinavian-styled new-town) actually worse than the problem (a de-industrialised Victorian subub). Hathersley sees merit and challenge in both. As the book progresses a challenging argument emerges from the apparently disparate earlier 'urban trawls'.
The penultimate chapter concerns
Belfast, exploring the peculiarities of the city's recent development as a
reflection of its sectarian history. What Hathersley asserts, is not Belfast's uniqueness but
its parallels with other
British cities - 'rampant inequality, de-industrialisation, social division and
poverty’. 'Peace lines in Clapham are not implausible' the author wryly comments.
(p. 330). It is clear that the chapter on Belfast is deliberately juxtaposed with the concluding section on London. Here the creation of a 'riverside
yuppiedrome' and the resultant displacement of the East End's ethnically diverse
working class residents is presented as a covert struggle no less 'sectarian'
than the more overt Northern Irish 'Troubles'.
A New Kind of Bleak is a radical, thought provoking book whose travelogue format make it accessible to a wider readership than the students or architecture, planning or politics more normally associated with the subject matter. The book has flaws, there is no attempt whatsoever to avoid a partisan stance and to enjoy it one must accept this polemical intent. In terms of design, the black and white photographs are so poorly reproduced as to render them incomprehensible and the line drawings by Laura Oldfield Ford simply illustrate rather than enlighten the text. However, these are small matters in an overall impressive work which succeeds in to outlining the untold story of New Labour's vain attempt to create in cities across Britain, 'a Barcelona or Berlin using the methods of Canary Wharf'.
Thursday, 10 October 2013
What is a text?
That was the question posed in last night's methodology session with Jo Bishton. My initial private thought - 'something sent to you by your teenage daughter just after you've gone to bed, asking you to pick her up from the pub' was probably not a correct or appropriate response. Equally scurrilous - Sarah, my elder daughter commented when she phoned me in the middle of my struggle with the preparatory reading; - Foucault's essay, What is an author? 'Oh. I studied that, it's the one about author function isn't it?' When I agreed, she advised me 'I've just come back from an author function,' then assured me that the author seemed far from dead as he'd bought a nice bottle of Veneto to share with his editors.
So what does this tell you apart from the Turpies' penchant for puerile jokes. Well, it also probably says something about aspects of Britishness - a discomfort concerning grandiose ideas, that far from being some distant, historical theory discussed among the 'Dreaming Spires', empiricism is alive and kicking and hard-wired into, if not our mode of thinking, then at least into our attraction towards notions of 'common sense'. This can, at least in my case, present barriers to fully engaging with post modernist theoretical writing whose purpose is to subvert assumptions and, in Foucault's case, reveal hitherto hidden power relationships within cultures and institutions.
Not that I don't enjoy reading such works, the virtuoso twists and turns of argument, the audacious re-invention or re-definition of commonplace terms such as 'author' or 'text' can seem exciting and does invite a fundamental reassessment of assumptions about art, culture and society. However, it is all too easy to be dazzled by this and fail to ask straightforward questions such as in simple terms, does Foucault's argument stack-up? To my mind, the answer is, not always.
A good example of this occurs where four characteristics of the 'author function' are discussed. According to Foucault the second characteristic is that the 'author function' changes over time and such things as anonymity are regarded differently within different disciplines. He goes on to give the example that before the seventeenth century literary works were put into circulation with no problem being attached to anonymity but scientific works had no validity unless associated with a named, ancient author. He then asserts that subsequently the position reversed. Is that true? Across all of Europe? The assertion is open to all kinds of challenge at a more detailed level, yet the allure of the big idea of 'author function' tempts one to put aside what can seem nit-picking in the grand scheme of his argument.
Overall though, yesterday's session was thought provoking and challenging, which is why I signed up for this in the first place. Over the course of the evening a number of slightly discomforting issues emerged. Firstly, I am spectacularly badly read so far as the novel is concerned. No surprise really, every time I have had the chance to study literature I've always plumped for the poetry option. Added to that, the time pressures of my job over the past ten years or so - 60 hour week norms - reduced time for reading. Since at the same time I was trying to develop my writing to a publishable standard that 'split' time for reading further, to the point where I only read for 'utilitarian' purposes, when it related specifically to what I was writing. It's a process that might be described as part critical reading, part cultural vandalism. So, my reading consisted mainly of twentieth century British and American poetry and the work of the contemporary poets I happened to be hanging out with on the web.
The second discomforting thought is that I have no grasp of literary theory whatsoever. The only time I can make head and tail of things is when I can translate some terms into art-history-speak - so once I'd grasped that the way 'text' was being used by post- modernists was really an amalgam of the way terms such as 'work' or 'millieu' might be used in an art history context, then I started to make headway. This probably means that my starting point is too basic to attempt to do the literature case-study.
That being said, the discussion around polyphony, suppressed voice, feminism and the relationships between author and reader contrasted with reader and text all provide an interesting framework for a research project based on the 're-invention' of M A Griffiths - in some respects its a case study in how a writer becomes 'authored'. At some point when I've formulated my ideas more, then I'll have to speak to Jo.
Finally, since most of the discussion concerned novels - and the emergence of genres such as magic realism, neo-Victorianism, lesbian fiction, post-colonialism and the like, I began to speculate on how all of that played out so far as poetry was concerned. There are some obvious parallels - how post-colonial developments have brought a wider range of 'Englishes' into play and crossover such as rap, dub and slam poetry are becoming mainstream. Feminism too - having a lesbian Poet Laureate is as radical a cultural shift in the UK Arts as having an Black American president is to US politics, though I think it will be a long time before we find a lesbian in number 10!
In other respects poetry is different. As you might expect from an art form which Lewis Turco calls 'the art of written language' (differentiating it from the novel which he defines as 'the art of written narrative') then 'language' poets such as Jorie Graham have been influenced more by linguistics and semiotics rather than the more 'cultural' aspects of post modernism associated with structuralism and post structuralism.
Another difference in poetry is that modernism has persisted, like a comet with a very long tail. Some feminist poets have strong allegiances to the confessional mode associated with Plath, Sexton and Fainlight. In some ways the confessional genre is linked to post-Freudian notions of self, and as such is firmly rooted in the Modernist tradition.
The 'long tail' of landscape and 'nature' poetry stretches back even further and has a continuity right back to Romanticism. Even during the the most rampant decades of Modernism writers as diverse as Elizabeth Bishop and Garry Snyder continued to use place and the natural world as a basis of their work. The burgeoning Green movement during the final quarter of the last century is reflected in the work of poets such as Jane Kenyon and Seamus Heaney, or even, taking an elemental and mythic stance, Ted Hughes.
Another difference with poetry is that in relation to both Modernism and Post Modernism in America it has experienced an attempted counter-revolution in the guise of New Formalism, associated with Wilbur, Nemerov, X J Kennedy and Mark Jarman, among others. Although the early adherents to the movement were academically grounded, often stylistically, and sometimes politically conservative, however, the advent of the internet 'internationalised' the movement and since the millennium it has developed into a broader church. More recently newer associates have been more bold and used received form in a ways akin to the Neo-Victorian novel uses realism, and as such could be seen within rather than in opposition to post-modern developments.
This latter point could be developed into a research proposal for a dissertation if I decide that the creative writing related project appears to be a hazardous enterprise.
So what does this tell you apart from the Turpies' penchant for puerile jokes. Well, it also probably says something about aspects of Britishness - a discomfort concerning grandiose ideas, that far from being some distant, historical theory discussed among the 'Dreaming Spires', empiricism is alive and kicking and hard-wired into, if not our mode of thinking, then at least into our attraction towards notions of 'common sense'. This can, at least in my case, present barriers to fully engaging with post modernist theoretical writing whose purpose is to subvert assumptions and, in Foucault's case, reveal hitherto hidden power relationships within cultures and institutions.
Not that I don't enjoy reading such works, the virtuoso twists and turns of argument, the audacious re-invention or re-definition of commonplace terms such as 'author' or 'text' can seem exciting and does invite a fundamental reassessment of assumptions about art, culture and society. However, it is all too easy to be dazzled by this and fail to ask straightforward questions such as in simple terms, does Foucault's argument stack-up? To my mind, the answer is, not always.
A good example of this occurs where four characteristics of the 'author function' are discussed. According to Foucault the second characteristic is that the 'author function' changes over time and such things as anonymity are regarded differently within different disciplines. He goes on to give the example that before the seventeenth century literary works were put into circulation with no problem being attached to anonymity but scientific works had no validity unless associated with a named, ancient author. He then asserts that subsequently the position reversed. Is that true? Across all of Europe? The assertion is open to all kinds of challenge at a more detailed level, yet the allure of the big idea of 'author function' tempts one to put aside what can seem nit-picking in the grand scheme of his argument.
Overall though, yesterday's session was thought provoking and challenging, which is why I signed up for this in the first place. Over the course of the evening a number of slightly discomforting issues emerged. Firstly, I am spectacularly badly read so far as the novel is concerned. No surprise really, every time I have had the chance to study literature I've always plumped for the poetry option. Added to that, the time pressures of my job over the past ten years or so - 60 hour week norms - reduced time for reading. Since at the same time I was trying to develop my writing to a publishable standard that 'split' time for reading further, to the point where I only read for 'utilitarian' purposes, when it related specifically to what I was writing. It's a process that might be described as part critical reading, part cultural vandalism. So, my reading consisted mainly of twentieth century British and American poetry and the work of the contemporary poets I happened to be hanging out with on the web.
The second discomforting thought is that I have no grasp of literary theory whatsoever. The only time I can make head and tail of things is when I can translate some terms into art-history-speak - so once I'd grasped that the way 'text' was being used by post- modernists was really an amalgam of the way terms such as 'work' or 'millieu' might be used in an art history context, then I started to make headway. This probably means that my starting point is too basic to attempt to do the literature case-study.
That being said, the discussion around polyphony, suppressed voice, feminism and the relationships between author and reader contrasted with reader and text all provide an interesting framework for a research project based on the 're-invention' of M A Griffiths - in some respects its a case study in how a writer becomes 'authored'. At some point when I've formulated my ideas more, then I'll have to speak to Jo.
Finally, since most of the discussion concerned novels - and the emergence of genres such as magic realism, neo-Victorianism, lesbian fiction, post-colonialism and the like, I began to speculate on how all of that played out so far as poetry was concerned. There are some obvious parallels - how post-colonial developments have brought a wider range of 'Englishes' into play and crossover such as rap, dub and slam poetry are becoming mainstream. Feminism too - having a lesbian Poet Laureate is as radical a cultural shift in the UK Arts as having an Black American president is to US politics, though I think it will be a long time before we find a lesbian in number 10!
In other respects poetry is different. As you might expect from an art form which Lewis Turco calls 'the art of written language' (differentiating it from the novel which he defines as 'the art of written narrative') then 'language' poets such as Jorie Graham have been influenced more by linguistics and semiotics rather than the more 'cultural' aspects of post modernism associated with structuralism and post structuralism.
Another difference in poetry is that modernism has persisted, like a comet with a very long tail. Some feminist poets have strong allegiances to the confessional mode associated with Plath, Sexton and Fainlight. In some ways the confessional genre is linked to post-Freudian notions of self, and as such is firmly rooted in the Modernist tradition.
The 'long tail' of landscape and 'nature' poetry stretches back even further and has a continuity right back to Romanticism. Even during the the most rampant decades of Modernism writers as diverse as Elizabeth Bishop and Garry Snyder continued to use place and the natural world as a basis of their work. The burgeoning Green movement during the final quarter of the last century is reflected in the work of poets such as Jane Kenyon and Seamus Heaney, or even, taking an elemental and mythic stance, Ted Hughes.
Another difference with poetry is that in relation to both Modernism and Post Modernism in America it has experienced an attempted counter-revolution in the guise of New Formalism, associated with Wilbur, Nemerov, X J Kennedy and Mark Jarman, among others. Although the early adherents to the movement were academically grounded, often stylistically, and sometimes politically conservative, however, the advent of the internet 'internationalised' the movement and since the millennium it has developed into a broader church. More recently newer associates have been more bold and used received form in a ways akin to the Neo-Victorian novel uses realism, and as such could be seen within rather than in opposition to post-modern developments.
This latter point could be developed into a research proposal for a dissertation if I decide that the creative writing related project appears to be a hazardous enterprise.
Tuesday, 8 October 2013
Research Ideas
I've a few decisions to make over the month or two
There are two research pathways within the M.A: an extended dissertation of 80 credits or a research project of 20 credits and a dissertation worth 60 credits. At the moment I am leaning towards this latter route for two reasons.
Firstly, although I have written and published both prose and poetry independently and acted as 'critical friend' to my two eldest two offspring helping them to navigate 'their Humanities M.A.'s, the last time I produced anything myself within the humanities was the extended essay I produced for the children's literature module within my PGCE. That was over 30 years ago. So being able to undertake a research project of 5000 words before commencing a full dissertation seems less daunting and gives me time to gradually acquire the required skills.
Secondly, if I do want to at least explore a creative element within the larger dissertation and that work is likely to involve poetry, then having a lower word count overall would help. I really need to discuss with a tutor how more creative aspects, particularly in relation to poetry, are 'measured' in terms of word count - I mean, The Waste Land is only 4320 words long, what amounts to a short story in prose terms is an epic in relation to poetry.
So, back to the question - if I was going to develop some ideas for a short research project what might they be?
1. M A Griffiths - an inadvertent post modernist?
Of course that should be impossible. The whole thing about taking a post- modern stance is that you are savvy about cultural constructs. There are some aspects, however, of M. A, Griffiths poetry that have elements of the postmodern about them; for example, her multiple voices, the parallel, simultaneous appearance of work in radically differing styles on a variety of web-boards, at times taking a radical feminist stance then swapping to a voice that seems consciously anachronistic - experiments in sci-fi and pulp fiction modes - to what extent were these simply a product of being isolated and able to 'do what she liked' - or was there an element of conscious cultural positioning?
In particular it may be interesting to look at historicism in her work in relation to emerging genres such as the Neo Victorian novel or Steampunk. To my knowledge there are few poets operating in that field, the only example I can think of is the poetry within A S Byatt's Possession. The post-modern response in poetry seems more to lean towards linguistics - like the 'language poetry' of Jorie Graham for example.
Or possibly consider questions of textual ownership - how her body of work was resurrected by friends and supporters from internet archives after her death; the construction of a 'legacy' it's positioning within broader cultural trends i shaped by others, not the author herself.
Could some of these ideas be worked up into a credible research piece?
2. Sonnet Boom.
The sonnet as a popular internet art form.
It may be interesting to look at how the internet, by breaking down barriers of geography, divides between academics, professional and 'amateur' writers. resulted in an upsurge of interest in writing sonnets. How the emergence of self governing poetry boards supported that development, and how the opportunity for on-line work-shopping and co-creation enabled writers to share ideas and develop professional attitudes to their work. A side issue relates to identity and anonymity, the activities of 'trolls' and literary hoaxes which be-devilled sites, and emerging netiquette and moderation responded to those challenges.
What, if any have been the longer term consequences of this, - how did the open democratic nature of the internet enable a minority interest in traditional forms derided by the modernist literary establishment to flourish across the English speaking world to the extent impossible in a purely print dominated publishing environment. Was the result simply the development of 'neo-genres' of previous styles enjoying a revival for a niche audience (the sealed knot syndrome) or did new forms and subjects for the sonnet arise, responsive and relevant to contemporary trends, issues and events.
3. Wordsworth's Duddon Sonnets - A re-evaluation
Wordsworth published 'The River Duddon, A Series Of Sonnets in 1820, The poems themselves were written over a fourteen year period. What kind of over-arching framework lies behind the series, if any. How and when were the individual poems 'worked-up into a series, when was the published order established.
In terms of the way the River Duddon itself is used as a connecting metaphor, what is its meaning and how does this relate to the later work of the poet to an earlier, more celebrated use of the river as a metaphor within 'Tintern Abbey'.
So the study might look at:
There are two research pathways within the M.A: an extended dissertation of 80 credits or a research project of 20 credits and a dissertation worth 60 credits. At the moment I am leaning towards this latter route for two reasons.
Firstly, although I have written and published both prose and poetry independently and acted as 'critical friend' to my two eldest two offspring helping them to navigate 'their Humanities M.A.'s, the last time I produced anything myself within the humanities was the extended essay I produced for the children's literature module within my PGCE. That was over 30 years ago. So being able to undertake a research project of 5000 words before commencing a full dissertation seems less daunting and gives me time to gradually acquire the required skills.
Secondly, if I do want to at least explore a creative element within the larger dissertation and that work is likely to involve poetry, then having a lower word count overall would help. I really need to discuss with a tutor how more creative aspects, particularly in relation to poetry, are 'measured' in terms of word count - I mean, The Waste Land is only 4320 words long, what amounts to a short story in prose terms is an epic in relation to poetry.
So, back to the question - if I was going to develop some ideas for a short research project what might they be?
1. M A Griffiths - an inadvertent post modernist?
Of course that should be impossible. The whole thing about taking a post- modern stance is that you are savvy about cultural constructs. There are some aspects, however, of M. A, Griffiths poetry that have elements of the postmodern about them; for example, her multiple voices, the parallel, simultaneous appearance of work in radically differing styles on a variety of web-boards, at times taking a radical feminist stance then swapping to a voice that seems consciously anachronistic - experiments in sci-fi and pulp fiction modes - to what extent were these simply a product of being isolated and able to 'do what she liked' - or was there an element of conscious cultural positioning?
In particular it may be interesting to look at historicism in her work in relation to emerging genres such as the Neo Victorian novel or Steampunk. To my knowledge there are few poets operating in that field, the only example I can think of is the poetry within A S Byatt's Possession. The post-modern response in poetry seems more to lean towards linguistics - like the 'language poetry' of Jorie Graham for example.
Or possibly consider questions of textual ownership - how her body of work was resurrected by friends and supporters from internet archives after her death; the construction of a 'legacy' it's positioning within broader cultural trends i shaped by others, not the author herself.
Could some of these ideas be worked up into a credible research piece?
2. Sonnet Boom.
The sonnet as a popular internet art form.
It may be interesting to look at how the internet, by breaking down barriers of geography, divides between academics, professional and 'amateur' writers. resulted in an upsurge of interest in writing sonnets. How the emergence of self governing poetry boards supported that development, and how the opportunity for on-line work-shopping and co-creation enabled writers to share ideas and develop professional attitudes to their work. A side issue relates to identity and anonymity, the activities of 'trolls' and literary hoaxes which be-devilled sites, and emerging netiquette and moderation responded to those challenges.
What, if any have been the longer term consequences of this, - how did the open democratic nature of the internet enable a minority interest in traditional forms derided by the modernist literary establishment to flourish across the English speaking world to the extent impossible in a purely print dominated publishing environment. Was the result simply the development of 'neo-genres' of previous styles enjoying a revival for a niche audience (the sealed knot syndrome) or did new forms and subjects for the sonnet arise, responsive and relevant to contemporary trends, issues and events.
3. Wordsworth's Duddon Sonnets - A re-evaluation
Wordsworth published 'The River Duddon, A Series Of Sonnets in 1820, The poems themselves were written over a fourteen year period. What kind of over-arching framework lies behind the series, if any. How and when were the individual poems 'worked-up into a series, when was the published order established.
In terms of the way the River Duddon itself is used as a connecting metaphor, what is its meaning and how does this relate to the later work of the poet to an earlier, more celebrated use of the river as a metaphor within 'Tintern Abbey'.
So the study might look at:
- The chronology of the poems composition
- It's reception
- Compare the representation of The River Duddon with Tintern Abbey/
Sunday, 6 October 2013
What is History?
That was the question that Paul posed yesterday evening in the 'methodology' module session. Clearly one of the challenges for a humanities course which aims to make connections between disciplines is that we all have different areas of subject knowledge and expertise, consequently the lecturers have to try to fill knowledge gaps as best as possible by providing a cross between a route-map and a whistle-stop tour o their subject discipline.
I enjoy these big picture, big idea sessions. They get you thinking and trying to fit your previous knowledge into a different frame. Paul was good, ushering us through the development of History as a discipline from the Nineteenth Century through to post -modern challenges to history's claims to an objective, evidence based analysis of the past. On the way we touched on political history, economic history, social and local history, cultural history and urban history...phew!
And I did learn some new stuff, certainly relating to Whig History and more practically, some of the approaches developed by scholars involved with urban history who have used the fabric of the city itself to analyse, explain and elaborate historical developments. These could well have applications to the heritage theme I am considering as an aspect of a 'creative project'. What I need to track down is an equivalent to Mumford's The City in History' relating to the development of roads. Mumford's book itself might be a useful read too, just to get some creative juices flowing so far as the historical studies is concerned.
The latter part of the session was given over to considering the impact of post-modernism on history and its assertions concerning the pre-eminence of narrative and how rationalist tools such as categorisation and evaluative hierarchies could be challenged as being reflections of cultural, social; and political constructs. I do find many of these ideas fascinating and see how they guard against overly simplistic notions about objective truth. I also find myself frustrated and slightly annoyed by the effects of some ideas - Braudilliard's Precession of Simulacra for example. OK, lets for a moment agree that any notion of external truth has been replaced by simulations and that any attempt to change things just ends up with an adapted simulation. I can see how that is an insightful and powerful approach might help us to understand the operation of virtual realities within culture enabled by social networking. But now what?
I am left with no resonable argument to explain my frustration, instead a flurry of analogies which occur to me all prefaced by the phrase...the trouble with post modernism is:
I got back home just in time to watch Brian Cox's programme Science Britannica. No post-modern anguise here! With an enthusiasm bordering on the naive, Professor Cox asserted the pre-eminence of Britain right now and in the past in both the fields of applied and 'blue sky' science. Having just learned about Whiggish history, then here we have its scientific counterpart, Professor Cox seems almost gleeful in his pursuit of ethnocentrism. I realise the programme sets out to argue a political point, it is polemical, but it does assert a view that it is possible to change things for the better.
In the end, I suspect the odd amalgam of the utilitarian and libertarian, the bureaucrat and the poet which pervades my way of thinking, are, no doubt culturally conditioned by a non-conformist, working class background which valued hard work and self improvement, yet engendered equally a burning sense of social injustice and inner rebellion. So, there is one post modernist that I would quote because his approach appears to be a call to arms, a rallying cry:
I enjoy these big picture, big idea sessions. They get you thinking and trying to fit your previous knowledge into a different frame. Paul was good, ushering us through the development of History as a discipline from the Nineteenth Century through to post -modern challenges to history's claims to an objective, evidence based analysis of the past. On the way we touched on political history, economic history, social and local history, cultural history and urban history...phew!
And I did learn some new stuff, certainly relating to Whig History and more practically, some of the approaches developed by scholars involved with urban history who have used the fabric of the city itself to analyse, explain and elaborate historical developments. These could well have applications to the heritage theme I am considering as an aspect of a 'creative project'. What I need to track down is an equivalent to Mumford's The City in History' relating to the development of roads. Mumford's book itself might be a useful read too, just to get some creative juices flowing so far as the historical studies is concerned.
The latter part of the session was given over to considering the impact of post-modernism on history and its assertions concerning the pre-eminence of narrative and how rationalist tools such as categorisation and evaluative hierarchies could be challenged as being reflections of cultural, social; and political constructs. I do find many of these ideas fascinating and see how they guard against overly simplistic notions about objective truth. I also find myself frustrated and slightly annoyed by the effects of some ideas - Braudilliard's Precession of Simulacra for example. OK, lets for a moment agree that any notion of external truth has been replaced by simulations and that any attempt to change things just ends up with an adapted simulation. I can see how that is an insightful and powerful approach might help us to understand the operation of virtual realities within culture enabled by social networking. But now what?
I am left with no resonable argument to explain my frustration, instead a flurry of analogies which occur to me all prefaced by the phrase...the trouble with post modernism is:
- it's like a health service that only doles out diagnoses, but refuses to discuss treatments because we're all going to die anyway.
- it can only explore a concept such as 'dancing for joy' by considering the instances of joy dancing in differing cultures aiming to 'de-construct' the notion of joy and understand how it is culturally constructed and may reveal hitherto hidden gender based power games within outbursts of joy. A joyless way of thinking!
- it tends towards being self-referencing and hermetic - poetry becomes 'language poetry' interested in the structures and nature of language itself rather than engaging with situations
- it's associated in my head with a manufactured language of faux scholarly debate: I know, its my WASPish prejudice, but when faced with a book entitled 'Post-colonial, Queer Theory - Theoretical Intersections - I just know is going to be brimming with earnest essays jam-packed with gobbledygook - like 'heteronormativity', 'gendered', 'stituatedness', 'historical positioning' and 'homoerotic codings'.
I got back home just in time to watch Brian Cox's programme Science Britannica. No post-modern anguise here! With an enthusiasm bordering on the naive, Professor Cox asserted the pre-eminence of Britain right now and in the past in both the fields of applied and 'blue sky' science. Having just learned about Whiggish history, then here we have its scientific counterpart, Professor Cox seems almost gleeful in his pursuit of ethnocentrism. I realise the programme sets out to argue a political point, it is polemical, but it does assert a view that it is possible to change things for the better.
In the end, I suspect the odd amalgam of the utilitarian and libertarian, the bureaucrat and the poet which pervades my way of thinking, are, no doubt culturally conditioned by a non-conformist, working class background which valued hard work and self improvement, yet engendered equally a burning sense of social injustice and inner rebellion. So, there is one post modernist that I would quote because his approach appears to be a call to arms, a rallying cry:
I would like my books to be a kind of tool-box which others can rummage through to find a tool which they can use however they wish in their own area... I would like the little volume that I want to write on disciplinary systems to be useful to an educator, a warden, a magistrate, a conscientious objector. I don't write for an audience, I write for users, not readers.'
Michel Foucault. (1994) [1974]. 'Prisons et asiles dans le mécanisme du pouvoir'. In Dits et Ecrits vol. 11. Paris: Gallimard, pp. 523-4. (This passage trans. Clare O'Farrell).
'I dream of a new age of curiosity. We have the technical means for it; the desire is there; the things to be known are infinite; the people who can employ themselves at this task exist. What are we suffering from? From too little: from channels that are too narrow, skimpy, quasi-monopolistic, insufficient. There is no point in adopting a protectionist attitude, to prevent "bad" information from invading and suffocating the "good". Rather we must multiply the paths and the possibility of comings and goings... Which doesn't mean, as is often feared, the homogenization and leveling from below. But on the contrary, the differentiation and simultaneity of different networks.'
Michel Foucault. (1996) [1980]. 'The Masked Philosopher'. In Sylvère Lotringer (ed.) Foucault Live (Interviews, 1961-1984). Tr. Lysa Hochroth and John Johnston. 2nd edition. New York: Semiotext(e), p.305
Tuesday, 1 October 2013
Homework!
Two short pieces of 'formative assessment' are due in in the next few weeks. For the research skills module a 500 word academic book review, and for the methodology module a similar length reflective essay outlining research skills acquired to date, gaps in skills and knowledge and how the course in the first few weeks may have broadened or deepened those skills.
So far as the book review is concerned I am thinking about basing it on Owen Hatherley's A New Kind of Bleak. The review is due in on the 18th October, not so long ahead; I'd better start re-familiarising myself with Hatherley's book straightaway as well as reviewing a few reviews to see how they are structured and how they are pitched in terms of tone and style.
Last Wednesday, Jo dished out two sheets of self assessment questions to get us thinking about research interests and a personal development portfolio. Even though the reflective essay is not due in until the end of November, I'm going to be diligent - so let's have a look at them.
MA Knowledge Analysis
1. What is it about the Humanities that interests you?
Two aspects I suppose. Firstly, as a field it attempts to draw together themes across related subject disciplines linking the arts with philosophy history and geography as well as newer subjects such as cultural studies and socio-linguistics which, when I did my first degree in the 1970's were barely recognised as separate diciplines. In a sense even back then I was drawn to mixed disciplines which is why the modular structure of the Open University suited me better than the more traditional approach at Manchester. So, more by accident than design I suppose you could say that my undergraduate degree these days would probably be regarded as a joint honours in history of art and English.
The second aspect of why I wished to join the degree at Derby is that it allows for the possibility of combining academic research with a creative writing project. Since I began writing poetry again about twelve years ago, with increasingly serious intent, then a considerable number of poems have explored ideas and various aspects of culture. Although I live in the middle of a National Park, enjoy walking and nature, I'm not a 'nature poet', actually, I suppose, I'm a 'culture poet'!
A couple of weeks ago I was listening to Laurie Taylor's Radio 4 programme, 'Thinking Allowed'. Usually it takes a magazine format dipping into three or four interesting snippets of current thinking from the social sciences. This particular week, unusually, it concentrated on just one topic - the work of Michel Foucault. I was particularly taken by the discussion around Foucault's notion that his theoretical work provided a 'tool box' for others to use. Afterwards I was straight into Google to try to re-capture the original thought:
2. What fields of research are you most drawn to?
In terms of subject areas, then my knowledge base is strongest in literature, particularly English and American poetry, and history of art. Recently through research relating to the PgCert in Education, I have become interested in how mass connectivity through social media is having an impact upon the development of a sense of self, particularly notions about the 'co-creation' of self being put forward by theorists such as Amber Case, who describes herself as a cyborg-anthropologist. Lastly, I am a traveler, I enjoy going on journeys and reading other people's accounts of their own journeys. I'm interested in what is going to happen to travel in the age of global, electronic interconnection. What is going to be the fate of all our elsewheres?
3. What do you know about the methodologies of that area of research?
One of the challenges in doing the MA is that in terms of methodology I am actually more familiar with research approaches in the area of education rather than the humanities. My awareness of key theorists and current thinking in the humanities is a tad amateurish, derived from listening to 'In Our Time' or being co-opted as a 'critical friend' when my two elder children pursued MA research in History and English Literature. I have not undertaken the kind of sustained, structured 'reading around' the subject that would equip me with a comprehensive grasp of different methodologies.
That said, the reading I have undertaken over the past ten years or so has not been without purpose. In fact you might assert that it has had too narrow a purpose. Given the demands on my time from my work as a senior manager, then what little time for reading I have had was spent almost exclusively supporting my development as a writer. So I've mainly read poetry, particularly British and American poetry from the last century. During this time I have enjoyed being connected to fellow writers through the internet, at first through web-boards such as the Sonnet Board and Eratosphere, then more latterly through Facebook. As a moderator at the Sonnet Board I supported the workshop aspect of the site encouraging positive critical comment and feedback on the work posted, and this activity has encouraged me to develop a more self critical and developmental approach to my own writing.
4. What new areas/fields interest you?
The ones outlined above - poetry, creative writing, travel writing for a digital age and the impact of social media on the private realm and the development of self.
MA PDP
1. How confident are you at communicating with others (orally and written)?
I am confident communicating both in writing and orally. One issue which I touched upon in a previous post is that I need to develop prose writing skills to a professional academic standard. Just glancing at various academic 'style guides' leads me to conclude that I have a bit of a technical challenge on my hands to acquire the skills to enable me to conform to accepted subject specific conventions and to reference correctly and consistently.
2. How comfortable are you working with others?
An interesting question! In terms of my work, being successful in a senior leadership role is all about working positively with others. What happens though, is you get used to being in charge! In the course of professional development over a long career I have ended up having 'Belbins' done to me on more occasions than I care to remember. What is interesting is how my profile changed over time. In the first half of my career I very much came out with 'plant' and 'resource investigator' as dominant roles. More recently, after a few years in a leadership role, 'shaper' replaced 'resource investigator' as an imperative. I'm hoping that seven months of self imposed solitude since I left work may have blunted my enthusiasm for trying to take charge of any situation I find myself in. I need to rediscover the collaborator in myself.
3. How able are you to work independently and take responsibility for your own learning and performance?
I think this is an area of strength. As Director of Curriculum and Quality it was my job to shape the college's curriculum offer in Higher, Further and Community Education, balancing the sometimes conflicting demands of funding and finance, educational policy and market and community need. There was no 'template' to do this or framework to follow, so it was up to me to develop the policies, systems and procedures to deliver a vibrant, inclusive and successful curriculum for the people of the Staffordshire Moorlands. There was no option but to take responsibility for this as its performance was measured systematically by both Ofsted and QAA, giving plenty of opportunity for reflection and improvement!
One of the delights of involving myself in the MA is the opportunity it offers to develop something innovative and original in a discipline which is is more in tune with my personal rather than professional interests.
4. How do you anticipate that this module will help you (in relation to 1, 2, & 3)?
I hope with the support of my tutors I will be able to use the transferable skills acquired in teaching and senior management to develop a high standard of professionalism in relation to academic research and writing.
So far as the book review is concerned I am thinking about basing it on Owen Hatherley's A New Kind of Bleak. The review is due in on the 18th October, not so long ahead; I'd better start re-familiarising myself with Hatherley's book straightaway as well as reviewing a few reviews to see how they are structured and how they are pitched in terms of tone and style.
Last Wednesday, Jo dished out two sheets of self assessment questions to get us thinking about research interests and a personal development portfolio. Even though the reflective essay is not due in until the end of November, I'm going to be diligent - so let's have a look at them.
MA Knowledge Analysis
1. What is it about the Humanities that interests you?
Two aspects I suppose. Firstly, as a field it attempts to draw together themes across related subject disciplines linking the arts with philosophy history and geography as well as newer subjects such as cultural studies and socio-linguistics which, when I did my first degree in the 1970's were barely recognised as separate diciplines. In a sense even back then I was drawn to mixed disciplines which is why the modular structure of the Open University suited me better than the more traditional approach at Manchester. So, more by accident than design I suppose you could say that my undergraduate degree these days would probably be regarded as a joint honours in history of art and English.
The second aspect of why I wished to join the degree at Derby is that it allows for the possibility of combining academic research with a creative writing project. Since I began writing poetry again about twelve years ago, with increasingly serious intent, then a considerable number of poems have explored ideas and various aspects of culture. Although I live in the middle of a National Park, enjoy walking and nature, I'm not a 'nature poet', actually, I suppose, I'm a 'culture poet'!
A couple of weeks ago I was listening to Laurie Taylor's Radio 4 programme, 'Thinking Allowed'. Usually it takes a magazine format dipping into three or four interesting snippets of current thinking from the social sciences. This particular week, unusually, it concentrated on just one topic - the work of Michel Foucault. I was particularly taken by the discussion around Foucault's notion that his theoretical work provided a 'tool box' for others to use. Afterwards I was straight into Google to try to re-capture the original thought:
'I would like my books to be a kind of tool-box which others can rummage through to find a tool which they can use however they wish in their own area... I would like the little volume that I want to write on disciplinary systems to be useful to an educator, a warden, a magistrate, a conscientious objector. I don't write for an audience, I write for users, not readers.'
Michel Foucault. (1994) [1974]. 'Prisons et asiles dans le mécanisme du pouvoir'. In Dits et Ecrits vol. 11. Paris: Gallimard, pp. 523-4. (This passage trans. Clare O'Farrell).
Reflecting on the way I have developed my writing through involvement in the Sonnet Board over the past decade, I have tried to utilise the sonnet's essentially dialectical, Hegelian capacities as an analytical tool. A good example of this was my attempt to analyse Manet's Olympia by purloining the rhyme scheme of Shakespeare's twentieth sonnet, his bold foray into the complexities of sexual identity, and applying it to a discussion of the ambiguities of being a male observer of the female nude.The poem was published in Shit Creek Review's edition themed around fetishism in 2010.
So, to conclude, it's the interdisciplinary nature of the humanities which interests me and the opportunity to explore ideas and theories through creative writing as well as academic research.
So, to conclude, it's the interdisciplinary nature of the humanities which interests me and the opportunity to explore ideas and theories through creative writing as well as academic research.
2. What fields of research are you most drawn to?
In terms of subject areas, then my knowledge base is strongest in literature, particularly English and American poetry, and history of art. Recently through research relating to the PgCert in Education, I have become interested in how mass connectivity through social media is having an impact upon the development of a sense of self, particularly notions about the 'co-creation' of self being put forward by theorists such as Amber Case, who describes herself as a cyborg-anthropologist. Lastly, I am a traveler, I enjoy going on journeys and reading other people's accounts of their own journeys. I'm interested in what is going to happen to travel in the age of global, electronic interconnection. What is going to be the fate of all our elsewheres?
3. What do you know about the methodologies of that area of research?
One of the challenges in doing the MA is that in terms of methodology I am actually more familiar with research approaches in the area of education rather than the humanities. My awareness of key theorists and current thinking in the humanities is a tad amateurish, derived from listening to 'In Our Time' or being co-opted as a 'critical friend' when my two elder children pursued MA research in History and English Literature. I have not undertaken the kind of sustained, structured 'reading around' the subject that would equip me with a comprehensive grasp of different methodologies.
That said, the reading I have undertaken over the past ten years or so has not been without purpose. In fact you might assert that it has had too narrow a purpose. Given the demands on my time from my work as a senior manager, then what little time for reading I have had was spent almost exclusively supporting my development as a writer. So I've mainly read poetry, particularly British and American poetry from the last century. During this time I have enjoyed being connected to fellow writers through the internet, at first through web-boards such as the Sonnet Board and Eratosphere, then more latterly through Facebook. As a moderator at the Sonnet Board I supported the workshop aspect of the site encouraging positive critical comment and feedback on the work posted, and this activity has encouraged me to develop a more self critical and developmental approach to my own writing.
4. What new areas/fields interest you?
The ones outlined above - poetry, creative writing, travel writing for a digital age and the impact of social media on the private realm and the development of self.
MA PDP
1. How confident are you at communicating with others (orally and written)?
I am confident communicating both in writing and orally. One issue which I touched upon in a previous post is that I need to develop prose writing skills to a professional academic standard. Just glancing at various academic 'style guides' leads me to conclude that I have a bit of a technical challenge on my hands to acquire the skills to enable me to conform to accepted subject specific conventions and to reference correctly and consistently.
2. How comfortable are you working with others?
An interesting question! In terms of my work, being successful in a senior leadership role is all about working positively with others. What happens though, is you get used to being in charge! In the course of professional development over a long career I have ended up having 'Belbins' done to me on more occasions than I care to remember. What is interesting is how my profile changed over time. In the first half of my career I very much came out with 'plant' and 'resource investigator' as dominant roles. More recently, after a few years in a leadership role, 'shaper' replaced 'resource investigator' as an imperative. I'm hoping that seven months of self imposed solitude since I left work may have blunted my enthusiasm for trying to take charge of any situation I find myself in. I need to rediscover the collaborator in myself.
3. How able are you to work independently and take responsibility for your own learning and performance?
I think this is an area of strength. As Director of Curriculum and Quality it was my job to shape the college's curriculum offer in Higher, Further and Community Education, balancing the sometimes conflicting demands of funding and finance, educational policy and market and community need. There was no 'template' to do this or framework to follow, so it was up to me to develop the policies, systems and procedures to deliver a vibrant, inclusive and successful curriculum for the people of the Staffordshire Moorlands. There was no option but to take responsibility for this as its performance was measured systematically by both Ofsted and QAA, giving plenty of opportunity for reflection and improvement!
One of the delights of involving myself in the MA is the opportunity it offers to develop something innovative and original in a discipline which is is more in tune with my personal rather than professional interests.
4. How do you anticipate that this module will help you (in relation to 1, 2, & 3)?
I hope with the support of my tutors I will be able to use the transferable skills acquired in teaching and senior management to develop a high standard of professionalism in relation to academic research and writing.
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