A New Alphabet ~ Commentary  H

HomeHome

Commentary Main ] Letters ] Intro ] Avant ] A ] B1 ] B2 ] C1 ] C2 ] C3 ] D ] E ] F ] G ] [ H ] I ] K ] L ] M ] N ] O ] P1 ] P2 ] P3 ] Q ] R ] S ] S2 ] T ] V ] U ] W ] X ] Y ] Z ] Reprise ] Figs ] Cited ] Eplog ]

 &

How Hi

Titian. Painting, Venus d’ Urbino. 1538.
Edouard Manet. Painting, Olympia. 1863.
Gustav Klimt. Painting, Hygeia. 1907.
Pieter Isaacsz. Painting, Allegory of Vanity. (1600s).
Poem, ”How to Be.” 2002.02.

This page depicts an aspect of feminine subjectivity exemplified by such writers as Nicole Brossard (Picture Theory), Julia Kristeva (Revolution in Poetic Language, 1984) and Luce Irigaray ("Speculum of the Other Woman," 1968). The feminine object has often been a metaphor for the divine. The divine body is most significantly represented as the Corpus Christi, the Body of Christ, embodied in the Eucharist—communion bread. Debates about the Eucharist and the transubstantiation of Christ’s body in the Communion bread are central to the Catholic and Protestant/Anglican controversy during the early-modern transition into the Enlightenment. This radical cultural shift is as explosive as the current technological revolution. There are historic parallels between these two periods. One parallel is the redefinition of the body. The debate over the Eucharist and religious authority is comparable to the debate over the sanctity of the human, a central issue in ongoing controversy in the field of genetic research.

A shift in gender power relations occurred throughout Europe during the early-modern period, as indicated in the crucial role played by women in the English royal succession from Henry VIII, to Elizabeth I and Queen Ann. Controversies centered on the role of women and royal succession occurred throughout Europe in this period. In the current postmodern transition, feminist theory has been one of the leading forces, prioritizing embodiment as a point of discourse.
The continuity of change, is the premise of James O'Donnell’s Avatars of the Word, which argues that the digital revolution is a another phase in a continuum of earlier revolutionary innovations, including the transition from oral to written culture, the reconfiguration of papyrus scroll to the codex, and the mechanization of copied manuscript to print. The transition to cyber space while offering new modes and places for the social context and gender expression is recasting old plays that recent history may have forgotten.

Manet’s nineteenth century Olympia reframes Titian’s masterpiece of Venus. Isaacsz’s Allegory of Vanity parodies or honors the work of his contemporary, Titan, by inserting the painter into the frame. The poem in this page juxtaposes the contrary dichotomies of language and power, continuity and difference by framing modes of speech in relative contexts to each other.

Terms used in the page composition:
Apocristic: A reply to one’s own argument.
Hypocorism: Using pet names, diminutive language or baby talk.
Tropic: Figurative use of language.
Verbicide: Murdering of language.
Hypophorac: Asking anticipated questions.
Solecism: A mistake in language usage involving bad manners.

 

Top of Page

© Copyright 2002. All rights reserved. Contact: Jeanie S. Dean. Updated: 01/18/04