“Was not their mistake once more bred of the life of slavery that they had been living?—a life which was always looking upon everything, except mankind, animate and inanimate—‘nature,’ as people used to call it—as one thing, and mankind as another, it was natural to people thinking in this way, that they should try to make ‘nature’ their slave, since they thought ‘nature’ was something outside them” — William Morris


Thursday, December 23, 2010

Hymn to Him, and Him, and Him, and Him too

Oh I know, I've come over all soppy, but it's the holidays, what can you do? And MLA isn't until the second week of January—freedom! And in this space of Saturnalian pleasure what could a fellow want for who has now, at his side as the year comes to a close, three fine triple O-ists to share his intellectual adventures?

This has been the year of OOO—maybe it hasn't been for you but it sure has for me. Three fine young lads, led by Graham Harman, now have a fourth kind of fine kind of young lad, willing to drum and sing about octupus's gardens.

The year started with the Georgia Tech OOO sympsium, and ended with “Hello Everything” at UCLA. Then
Žižek endorsed Graham, not exactly hopping on the bus but definitely saluting its rowdy grandeur as it careened down the street. In the middle somewhere I jumped in.

I couldn't want for more with Levi powering away (he eats books and looks jolly good on them, if I may say so) in the center of America and Ian teching away with ludic fury in the East. We've got this continent covered. And Robert Jackson lends us his algorithmic stylings from the sunny vales of Plymouth, where Cornish pasties roam around the streets shouting “pepper me!”

Yes it's been a good year. I shall celebrate with some objects wrapped in objects.

2 comments:

daz hastings said...

I'm listening to Michael Pollan (on cannabis, via You Tube) and wishing RJ well in his snuffly, cold county. I'm the last horse that ran this year, stumbling into the OOOntological field tent, knackered and dizzy but pleasantly surprised. It made my year, seeing the buzz and feeling "Ah, I'm witnessing something again". Cheers mate. Thanks to you and Graham, I now know what I've been thinking about (from inside the darn circle) for the last ten years or more! My own leaning is with this turn, hyperobjects. I wish you well with it. It tickles me. My nose scents vast new expanses. I'm looking forward to the next Hyper-object talk; meanwhile i shall keep listening to your streams, and now that the books are here, de light, de light she shines for a new year. Mucho gracias amigo. Mucho gracias.

Bill Benzon said...

Can't say as I know much about OOO, and I not headed in that direction.

But Cornish pasties . . . I grew up on them, in Western Pennsylvania. My mother's folks were from Cornwall and she inherited a recipe.

Wonderful.