Catastrophe & Spectacle

Catastrophe & Spectacle PDF Author: Martina Bengert
Publisher: Neofelis Verlag
ISBN: 3958081738
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description
From epidemics in the 17th century and the Lisbon earthquake in 1755 to Guernica in World War II, the essays in this volume trace the development of the catastrophic imagination, relying heavily on pictorial media and different forms of staging. Catastrophe in its modern sense seems to be inextricably linked to its spectacular representation, be it on the stage, on screen or in popular amusement parks. But the modern relationship between catastrophe and spectacle is also increasingly confronting us with the unimaginable side of catastrophe, particularly with regard to the Holocaust and in more recent times to the daily experience of refugees. The essays in this volume elucidate images of the catastrophes that have inspired them by providing a textual commentary that makes it possible to reconsider how the spectacular and the catastrophic are interrelated. Thus, the essays not only deal with the emergence of the modern spectacular imagination of catastrophe in terms of the history of both discourse and media, they also present themselves as a critique of catastrophe, one based on close readings of the scenes and images in question.

Catastrophe & Spectacle

Catastrophe & Spectacle PDF Author: Martina Bengert
Publisher: Neofelis Verlag
ISBN: 3958081738
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 209

Get Book Here

Book Description
From epidemics in the 17th century and the Lisbon earthquake in 1755 to Guernica in World War II, the essays in this volume trace the development of the catastrophic imagination, relying heavily on pictorial media and different forms of staging. Catastrophe in its modern sense seems to be inextricably linked to its spectacular representation, be it on the stage, on screen or in popular amusement parks. But the modern relationship between catastrophe and spectacle is also increasingly confronting us with the unimaginable side of catastrophe, particularly with regard to the Holocaust and in more recent times to the daily experience of refugees. The essays in this volume elucidate images of the catastrophes that have inspired them by providing a textual commentary that makes it possible to reconsider how the spectacular and the catastrophic are interrelated. Thus, the essays not only deal with the emergence of the modern spectacular imagination of catastrophe in terms of the history of both discourse and media, they also present themselves as a critique of catastrophe, one based on close readings of the scenes and images in question.

Catastrophe and Catharsis

Catastrophe and Catharsis PDF Author: Katharina Gerstenberger
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
ISBN: 157113901X
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 246

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Book Description
Destroying human habitat and taking human lives, disasters, be they natural, man-made, or a combination, threaten large populations, even entire nations and societies. They also disrupt the existing order and cause discontinuity in our sense of self and our perceptions of the world. To restore order, not only must human beings be rescued and affected areas rebuilt, but the reality of the catastrophe must also be transformed into narrative. The essays in this collection examine representations of disaster in literature, film, and mass media in German and international contexts, exploring the nexus between disruption and recovery through narrative from the eighteenth century to the present. Topics include the Lisbon earthquake, the Paris Commune, the Hamburg and Dresden fire-bombings in the Second World War, nuclear disasters in Alexander Kluge's films, the filmic aesthetics of catastrophe, Yoko Tawada's lectures on the Fukushima disaster and Christa Wolf's novel St rfall in light of that same disaster, Joseph Haslinger and the tsunami of 2004, traditions regarding avalanche disaster in the Tyrol, and the problems and implications of defining disaster. Contributors: Carol Anne Costabile-Heming, Yasemin Dayioglu-Y cel, Janine Hartman, Jan Hinrichsen, Claudia Jerzak, Lars Koch, Franz Mauelshagen, Tanja Nusser, Torsten Pflugmacher, Christoph Weber. Katharina Gerstenberger is Professor and Chair of the Department of Languages and Literature at the University of Utah. Tanja Nusser is DAAD Visiting Associate Professor of German at the University of Cincinnati.

9/11: Culture, Catastrophe and the Critique of Singularity

9/11: Culture, Catastrophe and the Critique of Singularity PDF Author: Diana Gonçalves
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110477246
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 239

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Book Description
Even though much has been said and written about 9/11, the work developed on this subject has mostly explored it as an unparalleled event, a turning point in history. This book wishes to look instead at how disruptive events promote a network of associations and how people resort to comparison as a means to make sense of the unknown, i.e. to comprehend what seems incomprehensible. In order to effectively discuss the complexity of 9/11, this book articulates different fields of knowledge and perspectives such as visual culture, media studies, performance studies, critical theory, memory studies and literary studies to shed some light on 9/11 and analyze how the event has impacted on American social and cultural fabric and how the American society has come to terms with such a devastating event. A more in-depth study of Don DeLillo’s Falling Man and Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close draws attention to the cultural construction of catastrophe and the plethora of cultural products 9/11 has inspired. It demonstrates how the event has been integrated into American culture and exemplifies what makes up the 9/11 imaginary.

The End of Meaning

The End of Meaning PDF Author: Matthew Gumpert
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1443839434
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 565

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Book Description
The specter of the apocalypse has always been a semiotic fantasy: only at the end of all things will their true meaning be revealed. Our long romance with catastrophe is inseparable from the Western hermeneutical tradition: our search for an elusive truth, one that can only be uncovered through the interminable work of interpretation. Catastrophe terrifies and tantalizes to the extent it promises an end to this task. 9/11 is this book’s beginning, but not its end. Here, it seemed, was the apocalypse America had long been waiting for; until it became just another event. And, indeed, the real lesson of 9/11 may be that catastrophe is the purest form of the event. From the poetry of classical Greece to the popular culture of contemporary America, The End of Meaning seeks to demonstrate that catastrophe, precisely as the notion of the sui generis, has always been generic. This is not a book on the great catastrophes of the West; it offers no canon of catastrophe, no history of the catastrophic. The End of Meaning asks, instead, what if meaning itself is a catastrophe?

A Philosophy of Catastrophes or a Catastrophe of Philosophies

A Philosophy of Catastrophes or a Catastrophe of Philosophies PDF Author: Jacques Richard
Publisher: Ethics International Press
ISBN: 1804415677
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 279

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Book Description
There are many currents in philosophical writings, that deal with today's serious ecological problems and the catastrophes they engender. The aim of this book is to show the diversity of these currents and to judge them on the basis of their ability to provide us with concrete tools for getting out of the ecological impasse in which we find ourselves today, notably the urgency to find new types of ecological and human management. Some of these currents are hopeless: they only offer the prospect of a mental adaptation to these catastrophes, or invite us to leave planet earth and take refuge on other planets. Others, of a cynical bent, openly support the forces that have led to the current situation of 'ecological bankruptcy', arguing that the same economic system that has led us to the current ecological impasse will be able to provide us with miraculous technical solutions for our salvation. Still others, the vast majority, are so cut off from the realities of today's economic world, and in particular from the problems of practical business management, that their very general views offer very few operational solutions for changing the situation. And yet there are some philosophies, admittedly very few in number, that seem appropriate to the radical transformation that is needed of the management of capitalist firms: the philosophy of catastrophes is not necessarily synonymous with a catastrophe of philosophies. The author draws on philosophy , economics, accounting, and history to address what many consider humanity’s most serious challenge.

Hazardous Future

Hazardous Future PDF Author: Isabel Capeloa Gil
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110406802
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 335

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Book Description
Since culture, the media and the arts deal with the perception and the processing of catastrophe, what kind of social knowledge does this process produce and how does it contribute to the sustainable development of societies? The book seeks to understand how societies and cultures deal with disaster and the rhetorical means they resort to in order to represent it. It is situated on the cusp between the response to natural catastrophe, the renewed awareness of human vulnerability in the face of environmental hazard and irresponsible policies and the social role of traditional knowledge and humanistic ideas for the preservation of human communities. It aims to be diverse, in disciplinary allegiance and cultural situation, and relevant, by bringing together articles by well-known scholars and policy makers to jointly discuss the possibilities of reframing hazard for the future, so that one may learn from restored behavior instead of repeating the mistakes of the past.

Spectacle

Spectacle PDF Author: Bruce Magnusson
Publisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN: 0295806168
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
Global media and advances in technology have profoundly affected the way people experience events. The essays in this volume explore the dimensions of contemporary spectacles from the Arab Spring to spectatorship in Hollywood. Questioning the effects that spectacles have on their observers, the authors ask: Are viewers robbed of their autonomy, transformed into depoliticized and passive consumers, or rather are they drawn in to cohesive communities? Does their participation in an event—as audiences, activists, victims, tourists, and critics—change and complicate the event itself? Spectacle looks closely at the permeable boundaries between the reality and fiction of such events, the methods of their construction, and the implications of those methods.

Catastrophe and Redemption

Catastrophe and Redemption PDF Author: Jessica Whyte
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438448546
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
Challenging the prevalent account of Agamben as a pessimistic thinker, Catastrophe and Redemption proposes a reading of his political thought in which the redemptive element of his work is not a curious aside but instead is fundamental to his project. Jessica Whyte considers his critical account of contemporary politics—his argument that Western politics has been "biopolitics" since its inception, his critique of human rights, his argument that the state of exception is now the norm, and the paradigmatic significance he attributes to the concentration camp—and shows that it is in the midst of these catastrophes of the present that Agamben sees the possibility of a form of profane redemption. Whyte outlines the importance of potentiality in his attempt to formulate a new politics, examines his relation to Jewish and Christian strands of messianism, and interrogates the new forms of praxis that he situates within contemporary commodity culture, taking Agamben's thought as a call for the creation of new political forms.

Tickle Your Catastrophe!

Tickle Your Catastrophe! PDF Author: Frederik Le Roy
Publisher: Academia Press
ISBN: 9038217226
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 229

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Book Description
A collection of essays that takes stock of the current impact of the image and imagination of the catastrophe in art, science and philosophy

Convergence of Catastrophes

Convergence of Catastrophes PDF Author: Guillaume Faye
Publisher: Arktos
ISBN: 1907166459
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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Book Description
The thesis of this book is a terrifying one: our present global civilisation will collapse within twenty years, and it is too late to stop it. We shall regress to a 'New Middle Ages' akin to the fall of the Roman Empire, only much more destructive. For the first time in the whole of human history, certain 'dramatic lines', giant crises and catastrophes of immense proportions - already tangible - have emerged. They are converging and will most likely reach their zenith by 2020. Up to that time, as we have already been witnessing, their effects will continue to get worse, until a breaking point is reached. Guillaume Faye rigorously examines these escalating crises one by one: environmental damage and climate change; the breakdown of a speculative and debt-ridden globalist economy; the return of global epidemics; the depletion of fossil fuels and of agricultural and fishing resources; the rise of mass immigration, terrorism and nuclear proliferation; the worsening of the rupture between Islam and the West; and the dramatic explosion of a population of the elderly in the wealthy countries - all of it leading to an unprecedented worldwide economic recession, an increase in localised and possibly large-scale armed conflicts...and perhaps worse. Still, Faye reminds us, we should not give in to pessimism: what we are experiencing is not an apocalypse, but a metamorphosis of humanity. We might have reached the end of what the Hindu traditions refer to as the Kali Yuga, the 'age of iron' marked by materialism and selfishness, but those who survive the catastrophe and chaos will perhaps build a new and better humanity... With a doctorate in political science from Paris' Institute of Political Science, the essayist Guillaume Faye was one of the principal theoreticians of the French Nouvelle Droite in the 1970s and '80s prior to his growing sympathy for the identitarian movement. He has also been a journalist at Figaro-Magazine, Paris-Match, Magazine-Hebdo, Valeurs Actuelles, and a radio commentator. For several years he was the editor of J'ai tout compris (I Understood Everything), a private newsletter.