Animal imagery

Työni tavoitteena on selvittää, miten Gary Snyder käyttää eläinkuvastoa runokokoelmissaan. Lähestyn ongelmaa poikkitieteellisesti käyttäen ekokriittistä näkökulmaa yhdistettynä buddhalaiseen uskonnolliseen teoriaan.

Aineistoni muodostuu Gary Snyderin runotuotannosta. Tämän lisäksi myös Snyderin proosateoksia käsitellään viitekehyksen sitä vaatiessa. Koska buddhalaiset elementit ovat niin vahvasti läsnä Snyderin tuotannossa, olen myös käyttänyt buddhalaista uskontoteoriaa ja klassisia sutra-tekstejä tutkimuksessani, yhdessä ekokritisismiä ja Beat-sukupolvea käsittelevien teosten kanssa.

Varsinaisessa analyysiosassani jaan Gary Snyderin tuotannon eläinaiheiset runot kolmeen luokkaan: interpenetraatiota ilmentävät runot, toteemieläimiä käsittelevät runot ja eläinten elinympäristön tuhoamista käsittelevät runot. Näiden luokittelujen avulla lähestyn tutkimusongelmaani, eli miten eläimet on esitetty Snyderin runotuotannossa ja mikä niiden funktio on. Analyysiosuudessani käytän hyväkseni sekä aiempaa Gary Snyderiin kohdistuvaa kriittistä tutkimusta että ekokriittisiä ja buddhalaisia prinsiippejä. Työni osoittaa, miten eläimet Gary Snyderin tuotannossa usein ilmentävät ekokriittisiä ja buddhalaisia näkökantoja.

Sembol ile mitoslar arasındaki ilişkiye en iyi örnek, yazının bulunu-şundan önce gücün sembolü olan öküz veya boğa yerine kullanılan Alf/Alfa olarak isimlendiren üçgen şeklindeki sembolün, Akdeniz kültürlerinde zamanla alfabedeki A harfine dönüşmesidir. Kısacası sembol, geniş bir olgunun insan tarafından anlaşılmasını sağlamak üzere basitleştirilmiş bir kavrama şekline bürünmüştür. Mitoslar-la simgeler arasındaki ilişki de bu örneğe benzer biçimde birbirine bağlı olarak gelişmiştir. Keza mitolojik inanç, bir semboller toplamı-nın oluşturulmasıdır ki, esinlenme denen olayın çıkış noktasında da yatan bu sembollerdir ve bunlar geleneksel mitolojiler çerçevesinde sunulmuştur. Varoluşunun başından beri çevresiyle bağ kurmaya çalışan, gerçek ve hayal arasındaki düşüncelerini görsel bir metafor kullanarak an-latan insanın, bu konudaki zengin ve renkli deneyimleri sanat tarihi içeriğini zenginleştirmiştir. Bu noktada, çağlar boyunca gösterilen olağanüstü çaba ve gayretin yetenekle sınandığı bir alanı değerlen-diren sanat tarihçisinin rolü de çok önemlidir. Çünkü yüklendiği so-rumluluk sadece bireysel veya toplumsal değil, tarihe karşıdır. Zaten kendi başına zor bir disiplin olan sanat tarihi yazıcılığının bu bakım-dan diğer sosyal bilimlerden ayrı bir yere sahiptir. İnsanın mitlerle destanlarla anlattığı geçmişindeki imgeler ve sanat yaratıcılığının anlatıldığı bu kitap, bu sorumluluğunu fazlasıyla yerine getirmektedir. Zahmetli bir süreçte hazırlandığı şüphe götürmeyen, meslektaşım Dr. Mustafa Gürbüz Beydiz'in ciddi emek ve çabaları-nın ürünü olan bu eser, betimlemeci bir yaklaşımla yetinmeyen, insan zihninde ve ruhundaki soru merkezlerine de temas eden bir incelemedir. Doğudan Batıya Asya'dan Anadolu'ya mitlerle anlatılan dönemlerin fantastik yaratıcılığının anlatıldığı bu kitap yazarının çok yönlü, araştırmacı kişiliğinin yansımalarını her satırında taşımaktadır.

In Clouds 340–355 the deified Nephelai are described as shape-shifters, i.e. marvellous beings able to change their appearance at will. This fabulous concept was widespread in ancient Greek and Near Eastern myth and folklore; shape-shifting qualities are attributed to Olympian gods (Zeus, Dionysus), lesser demons (Proteus, Nereus, Thetis, Nemesis), heroic mortals (Periclymenus, Mestra), but also personages of the folk imagination, such as bogeys, wizards, and witches. Aristophanes loved this magical motif, which ultimately expresses the inexhaustible transformations of comic art. Philocleon in the Wasps, a paragon of vitality, performs a long series of simulated metamorphoses in the scenic space, imitating the movements and gestures of various animals or natural elements. The personified Nephelai, however, do not simply turn into anything they like. Rather, they select their form each time in such a way as to reflect the vices of the particular person they meet; they become e.g. deer before a coward, wolves in front of a greedy embezzler, or Centaurs before a lustful man. The Clouds’ serial metamorphoses are thus subjected to an ethical typology of the animal world, similar to the one found in animal fables. Aristophanes combines the magical motif of the shape-shifter with the moral allegory of the Aesopic corpus, and thus turns the folktale patterns into satirical weapons against contemporary politicians. The shape-shifting Nephelai represent the polymorphous poetics of comedy, which uses mimetic forms to visibly criticize the evils of Athenian public life.

NB. The new volume (7, 2017) of the Logeion, our journal on ancient theatre and drama, is now in print. It will be gradually uploaded in the journal website, http://logeion.upatras.gr/. Check regularly the site, in order to read online a range of stimulating papers on ancient drama and its modern performance and reception: from Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes to George Cram Cook, Sikelianos, the Karagiozis shadow theatre, and the American avant-garde. Authors include renowned university scholars, such as Stavros Tsitsiridis, Theodoros Stephanopoulos, Vayos Liapis, Savvas Patsalidis (all from the editorial board), Michael Tiverios (of the Academy of Athens), Stella Drougou, Katerina Arvaniti, Helen Gasti; dynamic researchers of the calibre of Anthi Hotzakoglou, Constantina Ziropoulou, Agis Marinis; and notable representatives of the younger generation, such as Milo Rengel, G. Seferiadi, and above all two brilliant former students of ours in the University of Athens, Dimitrios Kanellakis and Nikos Manousakis, whose contributions would make any department of classical philology extremely proud.

J. L. Austin's claim that language ‘used not seriously’ is ‘parasitic’ upon ‘normal use’ has proved a puzzle to literary scholars, who have often taken this to mean that they are not allowed to apply the insights of speech-act theory to their own object of research. This article explores how, when read together, Michel Serres’ definition of the parasite as a ‘thermal exciter’ and Deleuze's concept of ‘minor literature’ bring out the hidden potential inherent in Austin's claim. More specifically, the article argues that Austin's reference to literature as a parasitic entity might become a promising conceptual gift, allowing us to generate a new model for approaching the world-shaping potential of literary texts.

Elk are common in forager archaeological artwork of northern Eurasia. During the Middle Holocene, the peoples of Cis-Baikal produced numerous elk depictions in rock art and mobiliary items. Most of the rock art has now been destroyed. However, Cis-Baikal’s cemeteries and habitation sites are increasingly well documented, with the former generating numerous elk images. To better understand this imagery, we first discuss elk biology and behavior. We then contextualize the imagery within other forms of archaeological data, including cemetery location, dietary patterns, and human population changes and dispersals. We integrate these findings with a model of northern Eurasian forager cosmologies and ideologies. Elk were not a dietary stable in Cis-Baikal. Instead, diets often had a substantial aquatic component, and red deer and roe deer were the most commonly used ungulates. All of Cis-Baikal’s Middle Holocene cemeteries were located near bodies of water. Elk’s ability to cross a fundamental boundary, that between the terrestrial and aquatic worlds, resulted in these animals being considered liminal beings. The elk depicted perhaps were cosmological forces, transporting the souls of the dead to the underworld. They also may have been constituted a generative life force and assisted souls in returning to the living world.

The exhibition of the Anglo-Saxon Staffordshire Hoard at Birmingham Museum and Gallery is reviewed along with the accompanying publications ‘The Staffordshire Hoard’ and ‘Beasts, Birds and Gods: Interpreting the Staffordshire Hoard’ and the dedicated Staffordshire Hoard website. The exhibition is praised for its innovative approach in developing flexible displays, which can adapt to the findings of ongoing research, but criticized for the unclear juxtaposition of reconstructed and original artefacts, and cramped space within the ‘Treasury’. The publications are considered excellent, combining beautiful photography with modest cost, whilst the website is a useful additional resource containing a detailed gallery of photographs of use to both the serious scholar and student.

KEYWORDS
ANGLO-SAXON, EARLY MEDIEVAL, STAFFORDSHIRE HOARD, HOARDS, MATERIAL CULTURE, ANGLO-SAXON ICONOGRAPHY, MUSEUM STUDIES

From holy to base and comic, and then to degenerate and utterly worthless, fit for nothing but extinction: few examples show the extreme flexibility, adaptability and changing fortunes of concepts as well as that of the parasite. What’s more, this strange historical trajectory has turned the parasite into a key term for understanding the exclusionary mechanisms at the heart of modern Western societies, coming to function as a name for a class of beings not entitled to the same basic rights as others. While such mechanisms have historically found their clearest expression in totalitarian regimes, there is no doubt that milder versions are at work in even the most advanced liberal democracies, helping create and secure their borders through separating inside from outside, as well as marking that which is spatially located inside the borders, but which is thought not to properly belong. This article will argue that reconceptualising the parasite is a necessary step if one wants to disrupt and move beyond the workings of such a logic of exclusion and dehumanization.

This article means to give the reoccurrence of animal imagery in Statius’ Thebaid
a satisfying, literary interpretation. Instead of denouncing the poet’s imitation of
epic predecessors, we try to uncover his own distinctive voice. It is our argument
that in the Thebaid the presence of animal imagery is connected to the transgression
of gender-specific qualities or expectations. For men this means the corruption
of male virtus, and for women the denunciation of their motherly role and a
rebellious infringement of the text. Ultimately, the destabilization of gender
boundaries through animal imagery can establish a convergence of the male and
female realm, causing the animal imagery to become quite literally a “common
place” for man and woman.

Dream interpretation during early psychoanalysis elicited associations from the patient but also involved authoritarian interpretations focused on whatever the analyst believed to be the key human drives—sex, power, transcendence, etc. Modern dream interpretation relies on non-leading questions to help the dreamer through an associative process to discover their own meaning for the dream. Research finds that patients rate therapy sessions utilizing dreams more highly in terms of session quality, mastery, and insight gained.

This article means to give the reoccurrence of animal imagery in Statius’ Thebaid a satisfying, literary interpretation. Instead of denouncing the poet’s imitation of epic predecessors, we try to uncover his own distinctive voice. It is our argument that in the Thebaid the presence of animal imagery is connected to the transgression of gender-specific qualities or expectations. For men this means the corruption of male virtus, and for women the denunciation of their motherly role and a rebellious infringement of the text. Ultimately, the destabilization of gender boundaries through animal imagery can establish a convergence of the male and female realm, causing the animal imagery to become quite literally a “common place” for man and woman.

In this contribution I would like to consider criticism of popular animal imagery and in particular of Walt Disney-animals from a literary and aesthetic perspective. The well-known Dutch writer and artist Charlotte Mutsaers (1942) voices for instance critical opinions about Walt Disney in one of her essays. Many figures ‘such as Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and the Bad Wolf’ which she had been attracted to as a child are according to her sadly just bland humans in animal form (Seapine, 1999: 173). This statement is also to be found in other texts of Mutsaers and in her series of paintings The Beauty and the Beast. How do these references to popular art in Mutsaers’s work throw into question some cultural representations of the animal? And, how do these intertexts and her own zoopoetics shed new light on recent developments in the way of approaching the animal? These questions will be addressed both from a philosophical viewpoint and from recent Human-Animal paradigms. Steve Baker’s views on anthropomorphism (1993) and Kari Weil’s concept of ‘critical anthropomorphism’ (2012) will be discussed. In parallel with these strategies of ‘feeling for’ and seeing the animal, the notions of ‘animal gaze’ by Jacques Derrida (2006) and of ‘the open’ of the animal by Giorgio Agamben (2002) will also be considered. By an intertextual, c.q. intermedial, and both philosophical as political approach, this contribution aims - starting from Mutsaers’s artistic practice - to gain insight into zoopoetical configurations with respect to figurative and performative animals.