Friam

Burroughsian vs. Sontagian

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Steve Smith

Burroughsian vs. Sontagian

from this book review: https://www.bookforum.com/print/2702/searching-for-prophecy-in-the-midst-of-a-pandemic-24017

Whenever an incurable disease mounts a body count, there’s a corresponding linguistic crisis that can be expressed in these Burroughsian vs. Sontagian terms: Is language a metaphoric virus or a metaphoric antibody? Is language the proliferation of falsity or the protection against it, or can it be both, and what of its function is conscious?

and for those who aren't hooked by the linguistic aspects of it, there is a tidbit in here to feed those more hooked by morbid fascination:

this was a thing that still happened, a hazing that was also an homage: You scooped the bit of Einstein’s brain out of the jar and shook off the excess formaldehyde; then, you put some salt in the crook of your thumb and licked it, after which you took down a shot of cheap room-temperature tequila and sucked on the brain-bit until your mouth went numb—until the formaldehyde paralyzed your lips and tongue and you couldn’t be understood, you couldn’t even feel yourself trying to make language.

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thompnickson2

Re: Burroughsian vs. Sontagian

Oh THAT is creepy!

Nicholas Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology

Clark University

[hidden email]

https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/

From: Friam <[hidden email]> On Behalf Of Steve Smith
Sent: Wednesday, May 20, 2020 10:14 AM
To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <[hidden email]>
Subject: [FRIAM] Burroughsian vs. Sontagian

from this book review: https://www.bookforum.com/print/2702/searching-for-prophecy-in-the-midst-of-a-pandemic-24017

Whenever an incurable disease mounts a body count, there’s a corresponding linguistic crisis that can be expressed in these Burroughsian vs. Sontagian terms: Is language a metaphoric virus or a metaphoric antibody? Is language the proliferation of falsity or the protection against it, or can it be both, and what of its function is conscious?

and for those who aren't hooked by the linguistic aspects of it, there is a tidbit in here to feed those more hooked by morbid fascination:

this was a thing that still happened, a hazing that was also an homage: You scooped the bit of Einstein’s brain out of the jar and shook off the excess formaldehyde; then, you put some salt in the crook of your thumb and licked it, after which you took down a shot of cheap room-temperature tequila and sucked on the brain-bit until your mouth went numb—until the formaldehyde paralyzed your lips and tongue and you couldn’t be understood, you couldn’t even feel yourself trying to make language.