Academia.edu just found this paper that might be by me, so its algorithm would have me believe:
FRUIT-Strawberries and vision-Jim Wilson looks into
the future with Tim Morton, the Albert Fisher Soh Fruit Grower of the
Year 1998
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
How to Read Any Poem, Anywhere Class 11: Imagery (Brightness) (MP3)
A trope is an algorithm, and more.
Disappointed
Two very bright students have just failed to get in to study OOO with me at UC Davis. One tried for English Lit., the other for American Studies. I've taught about 500 graduate students and currently I'm supervising about 15 Ph.D.s, and have a 100% success rate with those scholars getting jobs. In other words I know what I'm doing.
These applicants were awesome. But somehow what they did was not visible to the powers that be.
I'm hoping that in the next few years there is a tectonic shift in how humanities Ph.D. work is thought. In particular, people had better get used to the speculative realism explosion. For now I'm pretty sad.
I encountered some obstacles when I first started out. I remember my Ph.D. qualifying chapter was rejected because it “wasn't English literary criticism.” Terry Eagleton (bless him) went to the mat for me on that and I got past the censor, having submitted a chapter that another professor (Stephen Gill) said was the best qualifying chapter he'd ever seen. It was a tough week—yes that's right I had to write a chapter in a week!
There are very real very ideological roadblocks in this business.
These applicants were awesome. But somehow what they did was not visible to the powers that be.
I'm hoping that in the next few years there is a tectonic shift in how humanities Ph.D. work is thought. In particular, people had better get used to the speculative realism explosion. For now I'm pretty sad.
I encountered some obstacles when I first started out. I remember my Ph.D. qualifying chapter was rejected because it “wasn't English literary criticism.” Terry Eagleton (bless him) went to the mat for me on that and I got past the censor, having submitted a chapter that another professor (Stephen Gill) said was the best qualifying chapter he'd ever seen. It was a tough week—yes that's right I had to write a chapter in a week!
There are very real very ideological roadblocks in this business.
Philosophy and Art Criticism
I think I just read the best writing on Rothko I think I've ever seen, in Jean-Luc Marion's book on saturated phenomena. It's truly brilliant. Why?
I believe it's because of the intimacy required for a powerful philosophical engagement. The philosopher isn't prepared to take anything for granted. In particular, phenomenology has a remarkably strong track record in art and literature criticism.
In another sense, it's because artworks are thinking by another means. Thinking when thinking as such is restricted, or blocked, or impossible. A dance happens between the artwork and the philosopher.
I believe it's because of the intimacy required for a powerful philosophical engagement. The philosopher isn't prepared to take anything for granted. In particular, phenomenology has a remarkably strong track record in art and literature criticism.
In another sense, it's because artworks are thinking by another means. Thinking when thinking as such is restricted, or blocked, or impossible. A dance happens between the artwork and the philosopher.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Some New Talks
One on a religious studies panel; the other at an anthropology conference. Stay tuned.
No Confidence in UC Davis Chancellor
...failed by a massive majority of the faculty. The confidence vote passed, by a fairly large majority. The police were condemned by a supermassive majority.
Oh No, Autotune
I promised myself I would never do this. But this one particular song I wrote with Mike Snyder seems ripe for it, since the chorus is “I'm integrated into the machine.” I still do really like the laconic quality, and the Robert Wyatt-ish “zang be dang ba diggety boing”s. I also kinda like the lyrics—on the edge of nonsense: “They know about lovin' if you know what I mean: / Lovin' Jesus and a small Dairy Queen.”
I can also imagine the video. It would have to do with the abject failure of a spacecraft powered by sparklers and roman candles to lift off.
Of course it means that I spent quite a lot of the last few days tweaking it when I could have been unloading philosophically : )
Sunday, February 19, 2012
The Weekend's Schedule
Editing an essay on psychoanalysis and ecology—did that yesterday. Today something for an art history journal on Aboriginal art. This one has some very very helpful comments in the margin by the editor, Nick Croggon.
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Fear! My Favorite Emotional State!
Oh, the levels, the levels: fear helps you to appreciate art. Jean-Luc Marion or Alphonso Lingis could've told you THAT!
Oh, and I note that he works at Chris Schaberg's place!
Oh, and I note that he works at Chris Schaberg's place!
The Horror of Interconnectedness
A good insight by Christine Skolnik from the post I mentioned earlier: “Maybe our romance with interconnectedness is at root a defense against
the horror of it. Not the horror of imagined freedom but of creeping
responsibility.”
Quantum Result versus Non-Contradiction
That precious post also means that LNC is in trouble. An object is (as I argue in Realist Magic) not in one single atomized now-point or place.
Automatic
As I was in Oakland yesterday, and as I'm always out for meditation instructions wherever I can find them, I offer you this. Anyone who has a good relationship with a teacher (devotion) will know what this is all about.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)