Language Revitalized

[Strangely, this blog is first though it should be the last]

Finally, we come to the End. Is it truly the End Times or is there hope for our humanity? Is there hope for the Late Age of Print, our technological predecessors and the Book? How can we as writers and authors make creative and intellectual use of this new medium, the World Wide Web and the Age of Technology? At the end of Bolter’s book he discusses “writing the self.” The dichotomy of the mind and body mirrors the division of nature and technology. Suddenly, writing of the self is not just about the written word bound and twined with a spine but it is about the visual creation and utilization of a new and intangible medium. According to Bolter, “the electronic technology can free human discourse and even human interaction from the body” (201) therefore, we have come full circle with the (written) freedom of voice and choice. We are in a phase theorists have deemed the Postmodern Era; for Bolter and his concepts of hypertext we are creating and experimenting with our “electronic selves” (203). The internet exists as not only an omnidirectional means of communication but also a way for us to “rewrite our culture” (204). As our knowledge mutates and grows we are both destroying and creating parts of our humanity. We venture into the abyss in hopes that we can retreat when needed. Maybe we will destroy ourselves in the process of progress; maybe we already have. But if we implode ourselves will not books go up in the flames anyways? Print is not dead. God is not in the machine. The only thing we can do now is watch, wait and keep writing in any fashionable way we chose. Viva la pluma!

Irony and Our Post Human Existence

"Alike for those who for today prepare,
And those that after a tomorrow stare,
A Muezzìn from the Tower of Darkness cries
'Fools! your Reward is neither Here nor There.'"
-Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

Most everything in our daily universe balances on the edge of advancement and change. Our very humanity remains in a crucial state of technological progress. How bizarre to be our grandparents living in this futuristic wormhole! Donna Haraway, an esteemed literary theorist and writer, takes us on a journey through the mysterious reality of becoming "post human." Her prodigious manifesto breaks new ground as she philosophizes about “cyborgs” and “the machine.” Haraway seeks to help the reader understand the synthesis of human nature and technology. As she makes her way through some of the history behind the idea and creation of cyborgs an ironic concept emerges. The barrier between social reality (150) and science fiction no longer exist; as humans delve further and further in to the unknown we are reverent (149) yet terrified.


Is the creation of the perfect machine the end to our humanity or is it merely the evolution of our species? Haraway’s literary theories coupled with her ideas of a “cyborg world” allow the reader to understand that suddenly boundaries no longer exist. In the beginning, the separation between (wo)man and machine was vivid yet as our technology progresses (at an alarming rate) we must accept our fate. What once was our organic biology of flesh and blood is being integrated with a mechanical organism (150). Haraway questions the veracity of our reality and the irony is that we reap this havoc upon ourselves. There is no turning back. Only literature and history will tell the tale of humanity pre-machine. Her literary theories of Marxism and feminism are distributed throughout the chapter. She claims there is suddenly a lack of social unity due to the onset of the cyborg revolution and she fears that gender issues will take a backseat to the technological explosion. Ironically, the Marxist ideal of community and social progress is what propelled these advancements in science. The feminine half of the species is the original example of organic reproduction. Haraway deals with the idea that because cyborgs and humans share a respective brain our very nature is being compensated. “Nature and culture are reworked; the one can no longer be the resource for appropriation or incorporation by the other” (152).

Literary Theory & the New Medium

“Having seen a small part of life, swift to die, men rise and fly away like smoke, persuaded only of what each has met with…Who then claims to find the whole?”
- Empedocles, On Nature
Jay David Bolter’s book, Writing Space: Computers, Hypertext, and the Remediation of Print, remains an essential read for one pursuing both a career in English and vast knowledge of the intricacies of web text and hypermedia. He gives his reader not only a history lesson of the writing process but also a torrent of new information involving technology. To begin with, Bolter’s explanation of Ekphrasis incorporates the history of the actual term. Ekphrasis is an ancient method for conveying visual ideas with the first attempts at a written language. Indeed, the Greeks had forms of written communication though spoken thought prevails their ancient time period. They had stubborn difficulty perfecting a lateral and linear scale for writing. Pictorial presentation presented the Greeks with an anomaly; and frankly they were less than thrilled with the challenge. (This is not to say that the Greeks didn’t relish a good quarrel; they just preferred control and tradition a great deal more.) Basically, writing was a means to remember what to say. “The word myth, taken from the Greek mythos, literally means ‘utterance’ or ‘something one says’… [g]reek myth was originally an oral phenomenon, transmitted by word of mouth’ (Harris 11).

Bolter also offers the reader the idea that the Renaissance marks the cross-over of the oral tradition. Thus we have the Age of Print, etc. But, let’s get back to Ekphrasis. The actual concept chimes primitive ways of Deconstruction (i.e. the loveliest and most chaotic way to interpret a text). In layman’s terms, Ekphrasis swallows itself and emerges later as butterfly. Visual representation sculpted a written pattern. The pattern gave way to the basis of a written language yet continued to flutter and fluctuate until our humanism allowed for the inevitable evolution to pollinate. Like Deconstruction, Ekphrasis must first “undermine” itself and mean absolutely nothing; leaving only the visual symbol (icon) as an open portal for interpretation. And then Voila! A playful art slithers forth; a colorful way to be! Oh! Drat this blog attention span!! I’m getting carried away…

To sum up the dither and the blather, Bolter jives on meshing our roots with the idea that print has most definitely morphed into an entirely new creature.

The Unamerican

Void.
Devoid.
Temporary anguish reveals a weakness that is revered by the bothers of reality.
And our godless government.
The miscellaneous, make-shift monsters who listen,
watch and teach through today's technology.
Unloved and rendered ugly in our collective unconscious.
Everyone has "learned" to operate beneath their individual potential,
All humanistic attributes forsaken and plainly (self) belittled.
We stink of the masses.
We are sickened by our desire for social validation-
Or luscious "lifestyle."
The American Dream.
An unattainable status quo of vapid virtues and monetary value.
Eclipsed by a haunted society,
Rushing into the unknown.
~C.R.G
"The oppressed love the oppressors, and cannot wait to follow their example."
-J.M. Linsner

The Salvation of Generation "Y Bother"

“Longing for solitude, the hermits have been chained to their grumpy fellows and set among others given to indiscriminate and voluble amiability.” Carl Sagan, Cosmos

In 1991, Douglas Coupland published a novel called Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture. I read this gem and although the story reigns supreme, I have not pondered the plot much in the last millennium. I remember being knocked off my feet as a teenager, mesmerized by the concepts and candid veracity within the text. (Alas, I scoured my bookshelf with no luck of having held fast to the book itself… bullocks.) The story is about four 20-something friends who each tell their tale/version of creation and their current rotting society. So, in search of truth or at least a modicum of interesting blog babble, I Googled my heart out. Not much exists in the way of viable criticism for this particular genre-iffic book. Although, I did find one chap who erroneously claims the title of the book spawned the name of the generation. Let me clarify, Generation X is an actual categorization of people “born between approximately 1965 to 1980, and connected to the pop culture of the 1980s and 1990s they grew up in. Other names used interchangeably with Generation X are Reagan Generation, 13th Generation, and Baby Busters” (Wikipedia source). Onward, shall we?

To say the least, I suppose curiosity and exploration is tethering me to a nouveaux medium. During the course of my media literacy class I have begun to search for answers and a grave understanding of this new technological territory we are breaching. I seek answers and knowledge yet still shy from the advancing conformity- a catechism for the future. However, I guess I am classified as Generation X. Therefore, I divine the obnoxious rite to blithely bitch about those my junior. Ha Ha. Generation Y, the precipitous mass of unholy technological bums... Man, that sounds so bitter but really it’s more the green-eyed monster of envy rearing its ugly head. “Ah! Kids these days!” What the hell are we going to do? The generation of decoded, near technological perfection is here! These babes are now graduating high school and college. They rule this dynamic now. Cell phones instead of sippy cups and ipods instead of turntables, we ARE (NOT) doomed. Joking aside, I am at an impasse with the virile and computer-savvy youth. Society mocks their relentless laziness and broad-ban boredom yet we revere their knowledge! I am equally shocked and impressed by their inherent nature and ability to navigate “the system.” To whom do I owe my admitted gratitude and faithless abandon of OUR future to? I guess, in short, inevitability and (darn that) Charles Darwin. Dearest Gen Y, set forth and dominate during this critical hour. For goodness sake, remove those micro headphones and listen for your destiny. I bid you, wake up from your cyber-induced coma and connect those USB ports to a greater and more tangible reality. Your silence proves either numbness or genius- let it be the latter! We need more from you than humble disregard! We need to know the brightest and most innovative generation is upon us. You remain a generation consecrated with both humanity AND raging technology. Pivot or watch this thing end.