Fragments

(Notes from the graduate seminar: The Modern Aesthetics and Politics, professor Liou Liang-Ya) Week 2 Girl with Mandolin (1910) by Pablo Picasso Virginia Woolf, “Modern Fiction” (1925), The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Woolf breaks the assumption that modern practice of the art is an improvement upon the old. What is missing from the conventional novels - which she calls “materialist” - is the interiority of the characters. Writers like H. G. Wells, Arnold Bennet, and John Galsworthy are restricted by the conventions of plot, narrative, and description of realistic details. However, Woolf feels that their characters seem fake, lacking in vivacity. In contrast, Woolf holds James Joyce in high esteem. In Ulysses, Woolf argues, we have life itself. However, she still finds that Ulysses lacks certain rough and realistic details of life (comparing it to Tristram Shandy by Sterne). Hardy belongs to the Late-Victorian period; when she is already questioning certain concept...

(Notes from the graduate seminar: Postcolonial Studies, with Professor Guy Beauregard) Week 2 /*In the past week, the Japanese government has recognized the Ainu people as an indigenous tribe. */ Neology, “Culture in Transition”, Transition (1961) Soyinka, “Editorial”,  Transition  (1974) Transition  was a journal started in East Africa by Neology. It takes an ambitious interdisciplinary approach. Asking the question: What is East African Culture?  However, the juxtaposition of a coca cola advertisement tells the story of the transition from British colonialism to independence, which is then marked by the neo-colonialism of American capitalist markets. “Neocolonialism” is a term coined by Kwame Nkrumah, who Neology also mentions in his editorial.  Then, in 1974, Soyinka resurrected the journal. In Soyinka’s “Editorial” from Transition (1974), he tries to figure out a way from Neo-colonism to a truer form of decolonization. Amilcar Cabra was anothe...

Walking Man I (1960) by Alberto Giacometti (Notes from the graduate seminar: Existential Literature and the Ethics of Engagement, with Professor Kirill Ole Thompson) Week 1 Course Introduction We will screen Night Train to Lisbon (2013) and Mulholland Drive (2001) in class. Other recommended screenings include Woody Allen’s movies and the Before Sunset trilogy.  Textbooks:  Gordon Marino, Basic Writings of Existentialism (Modern Library Classics);  Robert Solomon, Existentialism , 2 Ed. Recommended books:  Kevin Aho, Existentialism:  An Introduction ;  Beauvoir, The Second Sex (2nd Ed);  Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist’s Café.   The Starting Point The recent situations of human beings can’t be reasonably represented by an abstract system.  Kierkegaard thinks that in the beginning, man is quite empty. When he makes his first decisions, his character starts to take shape, but this character is always changing....

(Notes from the lecture course: Twentieth-century English Literature, with Professor Duncan Chesney) Week 1 The name of the course is problematic. "England” was consolidated in 1284 (including Wales). However, what we’re talking about in this course is Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Because of the size of The British Empire, when we’re talking about 20th century British Literature, we’re talking about pretty much the entire world. When we talk about “English literature”, are we talking British, Anglophone, or English (and Wales)? The story of the 20th-century British literature is the ending of the British Empire. The Man Booker Prize: the most prestigious prize for the novel in the UK. From a rough survey of the prize recipients, we realize that not all of them consider themselves British (rather, English, Scottish, etc.). Having gone through the extensive colonialist history. No one is purely one thing anymore. By fiat, we will limit ourselves to a much smaller canonical vi...

(Notes from the graduate seminar: Comparative Methodology, with professor Patrick McGlynn) Week 1 When we study Sir Thomas Wyatt’s translation of Petrarch’s «Una candida cerva», it’s natural to compare it with Petrarch’s sonnet. We can also compare with the deer poem in Song of Songs . Because Wyatt’s has read and was influenced by the metaphors and expressions in Songs of Songs. Here, we can argue for genetic lines of commonality. But can we compare it to any poem with a deer in it?   How do we justify comparing 2 things? If we compare unlike things, is it still comparative literature? Does comparative literature assume likeness? Is contrast comparison? "Although thematics, or subject matter, is the starting point of many an investigation, it is never enough simply to discover the same themes appearing in different." (Saussy 13-14) What is the subject matter of Comparative literature? It’s more a way of thinking... What is the definition of comparative liter...

王梅霞教授說她在英國受訓練(劍橋大學社會人類學博士)，學科的理論結構被訓練得非常完整，所以才會寫出分門別類很清楚、要念很多民族誌的課綱。英國的學科發展只有evolution，不會revolution，都是根據原本的結構發展。我們透過民族誌來展現一個區域的特質，然後與當代慣習觀念對話。 梅霞說自己其實是對當代社會非常關心的人，很想探討當代社會的可能性。所以當代社會都在殖民、資本主義影響之下。在外來跟當地文化互動的過程裝，文化會不度轉化和再創造。人類學家對當代社會不同文化如何轉化形成特殊的樣貌很感興趣。 當代社會是很多套結構原則在競爭混雜。譬如，雖然當代資本主義好像影響力大，但網路反而讓一些前資本主義社會的交易方式、人際傳統變得可能。 本課程目的是在紛亂的當代社會中建構不同的思考架構，然後才有能力過濾資訊。上課模式是每個禮拜透過一個民族誌談一套結構原則 文化人類學分為：親屬、經濟、宗教、政治四方面，期末會補充歷史人類學和情緒人類學。人類學理論傳統從結構功能、象徵、馬克思假設有一套社會結構原則，人類在其中生活時，用自己的方式感受或影響這個結構。當代更重要的，反而是以個人主體，建立社會關係，創造人跟人之間的更多可能性。當代的主體性製造很多能跳出傳統結構原則的可能性。譬如都市青年跑去部落創業，與部落社群互動合作，挑戰原本國族或殖民的社群概念。 為什麼要開通識課？人類學很讓人感動，是個反身性很強的學科，對梅霞來說(在辛苦讀五六年文本以後)，人類學是能夠讓她安身立命的學科。 親屬的子題包含繼嗣原則與聯姻原則(以非洲民族誌為例)、人權(東南亞民族誌)、性別(新幾內亞)。經濟子題包含：交換、生產、消費。原本問題是，有甚麼資本主義以外的可能性？但這幾十年中，我們發現資本主義還是活格好好的，那麼問題成為，在既有的脈絡中，如何發展出不同形式的資本主義？ 宗教子題包含儀式與變遷(印尼)、人類思維的普同性與特殊性、意識形態等。政治子題包含權力、國族建構與全球體系。最後一周是歷史人類學和情緒人類學。 人類學的幾個重點觀念：田野工作、全貌觀(所以從四大分支開始)、儀式(讓人從社會中解放的過程)。透過比較研究，可以理解對方；不是把對方當作客體，而是透過不斷的對話，先是反省自己、辨識異同，最後看到彼此文化豐富的內涵。這是異文化溝通的基礎。 紀錄片觀賞 Heather Cr...