What Is An Author?

Unit: Cultural Identities in Texts 212 - Implications of Modernity
Reading Notes for Teaching Week 7 (250 word limit)

This article argues the function of the author in regards to their work and vice versa. The “death of the author” can only be understood in the context of the time that saw the emergence of an author's popularity, as opposed to the focus on heroes. This follows in the ideas of secular thought and of individualisation. However, by simply writing a work, the author cancels out his individuality, while the writing becomes free to function as a discourse and thus holds power over its author.

The contents of a work also help to define an author or an author's name. It is understandable that the very nature and meaning of the name Shakespeare would be changed if it was discovered he had not written all of his attributed plays, perhaps even adding a subtle bitterness that one considered a master of literature is now considered somewhat of a fraud.

The actual content of an author's work is arguable. What defines a work? Everything that was written, or only published works? And where then fall unfinished notes? It is also argued that to be considered part of an author's work, such writing must be consistent in style. How can this be held true, though, of a fiction author who changes style in order to employ a different genre? What is written must still be considered part of the author's work. (not only written work, but of any author [painter, musician, etc] who employs a different style, even for experimentation purposes, all should really be accepted as part of that “author's” collection of work)

Reading
Rabinow, Paul. (ed.) Foucault Reader. 1984 pp 101-120

although, quite simply I would like to say the answer to the question is "me"

Siren's Call

Finally, I get back to putting up my journals. I didn't forget, I just haven't been writing them. But, its a tute free week, which means I should be doing some catching up and getting in front. I have done some.
But admittedly, I've spent most of my time doing... something else. Silly me, I bought Oblivion in the middle of the semester, so I've spent the last 4 days in a chocolate fuelled expedition through Tamriel. Found about 6 Oblivion gates and closed 1. Busy fulfilling my duties with the Dark Brotherhood (hmm, assassinating is so much fun, if only I didn't break so many lockpicks)
And Neverwinter Nights 2 is out soon...
I love Galadriel (my computer) I look upon her and fall under her spell, and was never seen again.

Who We Are

Unit: Professional Writing and Presentation 212 - Fakes, Frauds and Fictions
Journal for Teaching Week 7 (300 word limit)
Aboriginality

It is a strange thing to consider that you can claim Aboriginality,or any ethnicity. It makes sense, sure enough, to apply for citizenship and to then be considered of that country, but do you ever lose your background? I don't think so. I think the most curious thing about claiming Aboriginality is the requirement of having lived the Aboriginal experience. What is that? One could say that Colin Johnson did in fact have this experience because he was treated like an Aboriginal by the wider community. But to say that he has lived the experience because he had been separated from his family and had been in jail, I don't believe covers it. I'm sure there are many non-Aboriginal people who have had this life, but that hardly allows them to claim an Aboriginal experience. It was curious that, even though Fielder stated in his lecture that he was not Aboriginal, he did identify himself through Aboriginality, as a whitefella. Fielder also noted that when he attended the rallies over the Old Swan Brewery, he already had in place ideas about the Aboriginality that he would discover while he was there. Surely this perception infers what we think that Aboriginal experience should include – which, from I recall, included rallying for the land that had been taken from them. Did Johnson undertake this experience as well?

And what then, about those people who have Aboriginal blood, but no “experience?” Personally, I have too many different bloodlines to mention, and I don't follow the culture, religion or language of most of them, but I still have those bloodlines. I still appear on a myriad of family trees.

Ethnic identification is such a strange thing. To others we are identified as one or other, and it seems often that people have to choose one background, one bloodline, probably only for the ease of identification for statistics. Hell, even migrant citizens are told to either be real Australians or go home.

Anonymity

Unit: Professional Writing and Presentation 212 - Fakes, Frauds and Fictions
Journal for Week 6 (300 word limit)

I admit that I was surprised how strongly some people feel about the use of “anonymous” or pseudonyms for publishing. To continue using Nikki Gemmel, I'm still unsure as to what the problem of her publishing anonymously is, although writing her name in a letter at the book's end does seem somewhat defeatist. I suppose that there is always a fear for authors that those around them are going to get caught in whatever crossfire their works produce. I know myself that my family would be quite surprised to read some of my material and attribute it to me. As Burke also says, an author's name immediately attaches something else to the work. More often than not, especially in terms of fiction, people (at least the ones I know) take or leave and judge a book against who it was written by. Publishing anonymously takes away these judgements and leaves only the written work itself, which is not exactly a bad thing.

Of course, if the author is meant to provide a sense of authority on their chosen topic, be it fiction or non-fiction, I can see where anonymous publishing can be harmful. But then, I do have to wonder how much of this harm really lies with the author, or with public assumptions. We are hurt that a man writes about the experiences that his sister/mother/spouse have been through only because we wanted it to be a woman's perspective. I suppose that this runs along the same lines as the idea that authors should be obligated to provide a moral core to their work – absolutely not. The reading public should be able to (should be made to, even) think for themselves every once in a while.

The Emergence Print Culture

Unit: Cultural Identities in Texts, 212 - Implications of Modernity
Reading Notes, week 5 (I think... tute free weeks muck up my count) (250 word limit)

This article argues that the emergence of print culture aided in changes to modern Western culture. Such a change could be considered in the eventual rising of literacy rates, although Eisenstein also argues that the advent of print did not cause an instant increase in literacy. Later, printed books are seen as a feature that helped divide genders and age groups, as books catering for the differing tastes of these groups become more prominent. This also led to changes in schooling, with an introduction of a peer group learning system, based on the reading abilities of each age group. The introduction of printing technology and therefore widespread knowledge helped to make changes to the holding of power in society – the church was no longer the sole keeper of knowledge and thus began to lose its grip on the power that it held. Moving out of a time where books were constructed by scribes, there is an increase on the skills required to make books – editors, publishers, printers, so on. The use of cross-skills increases as those whose professions lie in such places as engraving, medicine, astronomy and so forth, lend their knowledge to the printing industry to produce books that cover these areas. The emergence of printing also means that a cultural language needs to be chosen, defining which version of a language becomes the “official” printed version, and which must become dialects.

Reading

Eisenstein, Elizabeth L. “Defining the Initial Shift; Some Features of Print Culture” The Printing Press as an Agent of Change: Communications and Cultural Transformations in Early – Modern Europe. Cambridge University Press, 1979. 43-159

It is quite strange to be studying the emergence of print culture in one class, then moving on to the implications of current printing method in another, and then going straight to the class that is talking about the future of print... all in one day. Very confusing, because half the time I can't keep track of which class is teaching which part, or what I've read where. Alas.

Fact? What Fact?

Unit: Professional Writing and Presentation 212 - Fakes, Frauds and Fictions
Journal Teaching Week 5 (300 word limit)

What an awful prospect. While amusing, the Wag the Dog movie was also quite terrifying. Where do I start on conspiracy theories? In relation to the debate on spin, I suppose the greatest question that the movie raises is, wouldn't it simply be easier for the President to face up to the charges. Hiding behind the fabricated war not only causes a whole range of other problems, but also gives the public a reason to think that he has something worth hiding. Perhaps to face the music would be to gain a politician a little more respect for actually doing the right thing for once. Who will ever know?

It is amazing to realise the extent to which certain media has the public attention and trust. News is such an official channel that it seems unlikely that anyone would question a war that news channels (papers included) are declaring is happening. In reasearching Orson Welles' War of the Worlds incident, it does become clear that the presentation of an event is everything to the public. The authority of the news, of the spokespeople, the grainy appearance of film (or marred clarity of a radio broadcast, enough to prove that the broadcasting area is under attack) all works to define for the public what is real.

I think that there is some sense of cynicism regarding the news today, some realisation that most stories are in fact taken from a side and the whole story not given. However, television still holds more credibility than other news channels, as the public can see what is happening.

Take the emergence of the internet and it's ability to circulate news “as it happens,” even faster than television channels. The announcement of Steve Irwin's death, for example, was considered by many to be someone's idea of a sick joke when it was circulated on the internet. It was only television news broadcasts that convinced these people that it was, in fact, truth.

Reading
Movie, Wag the Dog.

The Commodification of Nature

Unit: Cultural Identities, Texts 212 - The Implications of Modernity
Discussion questions generated for tutorial presentation for teaching week 5.
Answers (as required for submission) attached.

Question 1 - What are the ‘Three natures’? What do these imply about the ways we process nature, especially in terms of ways of seeing? Is it possible to experience first nature?
We can think of the first nature as being a primal nature, the wilderness as it is and was before being altered by human consumption. While he defines the latter two natures, Cicero does not outline what the first nature is, does not even name it as being “first nature.” It is left for us to assume, from the definitions of second and third nature what exactly the first may be.

Cicero defines the second nature as a nature altered by humans to make it more habitable, which can include roads, houses and agricultural land. We may understand that the second nature can be culturally understood to retain its element of “nature” in that these changes are required to make the world “natural” for human existence.

The third nature brings the natural world and art together. It is the alteration of the natural world, not for basic existence, but for aesthetic pleasure.

Since ways of viewing nature are culturally mediated, it is impossible to experience first nature Even if the observed natural landscape is untouched by humans, the act of viewing and processing it instantly alters the way it is viewed. Upon observation, first nature becomes third nature, and the primal land is seen as ‘landscape’ – it is framed within cultural expectations of nature. As Cicero says “we start talking about the grandeur of mountains... first nature has now been subsumed and managed culturally (and arguably has ceased to be a pure form of first nature, slipping into a version of the second.)" (4)

Question 2 - How did gardens (and landscaping in general) shape the ways that people view nature?
Landscaping helps to make the distinction between the first and third natures. It is only through the alteration and management of the natural world through landscaping and gardens that we can understand what the “primal” is. For example, mountains, which still remain largely untouched by human interference, are viewed in the same ways that a landscape painting may be. They are reduced to the grandeur and majesty of the natural world, culturally mediated through the frame placed around them.

It is through the understanding that gardens are the property of an individual or organisation, that ownership of nature itself can be grasped. Landscaping, after all, is little more than human alteration (and thus mastery) of the natural world, far more than second nature. The creation of houses and roads entails the destruction and removal of the natural world, whereas landscaping means its manipulation and continued existence. It is not only proof of human power over the natural environment that exists prior to human alteration, but human power of the living, through the maintenance of introduced elements.

Question 3 - Gardens and theatre have influenced each other’s development. Why were gardens (such as Vauxhall and Ranelaugh) designed the way they were? What function did they serve?
Those entering such gardens were automatically positioned to see the scenery around them in a certain way – that as desired by the creators and owners of the gardens themselves. These perspective illusions were created through the use of what would have been considered conventions of theatre.

If we also consider the idea that the world is a stage, then we can see that certain gardens were used as stages, and the patrons within were nothing more than actors in the play. This can be seen through the construction of gardens that had their own amphitheatre spaces, and areas that could clearly view others while not being a direct part of them. Social relations could be played out within the garden setting, and viewed for all as a sort of “play.” Some garden areas were, and still are, used for actual theatre settings. King's Park, for example, uses its botanical gardens as a stage for A Midsummer Night's Dream. Gardens allow the use of nature in theatre without the need for a use of set pieces.

Scenes of nature were also presented to garden patrons, through the use of painted scenery. Further than this, gardens presented an idea of nature – were a stage on which nature was placed, on which it acted and was presented to those within it. It made the transition between first and third natures, making the wilderness an art form that can be appreciated by humans within their cultural positioning.

Question 4 - What is the fourth nature and where can it be seen?
One version of the fourth nature could be the simulation of the natural world through human constructions. This could be for the replacement of a natural world that is slowly being overtaken by human consumption. It is second nature taken a step further: it is not simply that altered nature is ‘natural’ for human existence, but rather that nature must become and exist as the manipulated, most likely through complete decimation of the actual natural habitat.

We may see it in examples even around Perth – the Convention Centre, built to look like a gum leaf from above, the Bell Tower which is meant to imitate the appearance of a swan, and many more besides. The emergence of such a nature could have come about as the world moves into a more technological stage that retains no place for the natural environment, but instead a human longing for the wilderness that once was.

Reading
Hunt, John Dixon. Gardens and the Picturesque: Studies in the History of Landscape Architecture. Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1992. 3-16, 49-73.

The World Is A Stage

Unit: Cultural Idenities, Texts 212 - Implications of Modernity
Reading Notes for Teaching Week 5 (250 word limit)

This article argues that gardens and landscaping play an important part in the way we view the natural world. Cicero outlines three natures, although he does not specify what the first nature is. From his definitions of the second and third natures (an altered nature fit for human survival through the construction of roads and buildings & the construction of gardens and landscaping) we must understand that there must exist a first nature which is implied to be a “primal nature,” or the land untouched by humans. Threatening aspects of nature (such as mountains, sea, etc) are removed to the “sublime” where they can be identified artistically (“grandeur of mountains) – so that primal nature moves into the definitions of the second nature and is thus culturally managed. Gardens make the physical world pleasurable and also determine the “current” culture's way of seeing nature. The connection to theatres encompasses the idea that the world is a stage and that all are performers in a play. Hence gardens began to be constructed in the same way that theatres were – not only stages but areas from which to view the “performance.” Such garden constructions also strengthen notions of space as a form of power, as the owner may force his visitors to partake in the play through the composition of their garden. He could also choose who observed who through the garden arrangement, which favoured a particular space as the proper viewing position.

Readings
Hunt, John Dixon. Gardens and the Picturesque: Studies in the History of Landscape Architechture. The MIT Press: Masachussets, 1992. 3-16. 49-73.