Idealism vs. Realism

“Truth and the People will win the fight, you may be certain!  I see the whole of the broad-minded middle class marching like a victorious army” 

                Ibsen I have discovered is a quintessential examiner of the elements of human nature.  He continually reveals through his characters attributes that I have personally overlooked.  Ibsen highlights these cognitive-behavioral features through the challenges faced by the protagonist and the environment that envelops him or her.  I have found evidence in “An Enemy of the People”
 that suggests the significant notion of idealism and how it molds a psyche.  An idealist such as Dr. Stockmann constructs his sense of reality through the principle that truth and the facts should conquer naturally.  He perceives society as a methodical entity that will follow the path of resolution to his scientific discoveries without question.  Through his blind idealism he fails to realize that the situation is one that is more convoluted and involves countless other factors than simply the decontamination of the Baths.  This shortsightedness ultimately led to the unfortunate consequence of being labeled “an enemy of the people”. 

              This I believe parallels Dr. Stockmann’s daughters refusal to translate the English story for the “People’s Messenger” stating that “the burden of the story is that there is a supernatural power that looks after the so-called good people in this world and makes everything happen for the best in their case-while all the so-called bad people are punished” and that this is never true in reality.   In “An Enemy of the People” Ibsen desires to stress the gray area that is ignored in idealism and that there is no black or white.  It reminds me of the controversy related to the conviction of individuals that execute criminal acts but are classified as mentally ill.  How substantially does the biology of their being influence their actions and should they be punished in accordance to the law?  To what limits can our idealist views harmonize with our reality?   I am not too sure that there is an answer.  I muse that this is what Ibsen was illustrating in “An Enemy of the People” and that the battle between the two does not necessarily have a victor. 

Trolls- A response to Bizz's Blog

            ““To live is to war with trolls in heart and soul” (94).  –He keeps his trolls hidden from the world and only brings them out to write, to order/ scientifically observe and dissect the people around him.”  This comment in Bizz’s blog gave me incentive to observe the characters depicted by Ibsen in “An Enemy of the People” in a different light as well-as trolls.  When we examined the Arthur Miller adaption of “An Enemy of the People” I noticed a few adjustments that Miller put into action that I do not believe Ibsen would have approved of if her were alive to assess it.  However, each director imposes his own creative motives on the story presented giving it his/her own truth.  Nonetheless, I disagree with Miller’s portrayal of Dr. Thomas Stockmann as a “Christ-like” heroic character.  I found Miller’s illustration to be a man’s battle to speak out the truth but instead is crucified by society and resurrected through his resolution to stand alone against what is right until change arises.  By placing this character on a pedestal of sorts, I imagine is contrary to what Ibsen was intending to represent with Dr. Stockmann and instead wished to construct of a more “troll-esque” individual with various qualities including flaws that Miller failed to highlight. 

            The most significant representation of an incident in which Stockmann is altered is during his address to the towns people in Act IV.  I could not help but notice that his word choice throughout his speech in Miller’s version varied from what Ibsen composed in his original play write.    In Miller’s adaptation Stockmann is shown dictating his speech on the ground among the people and his linguistic expressions throughout the oration being incredibly toned down.  In Ibsen’s “An Enemy of the People”, Stockmann gives no mercy when conveying his thoughts of the compact majority of society/ the average tax payer is the bacteria infecting the town.  He proclaims

“what does the destruction of a community matter, if it lives on lies?  It ought to be razed to the ground.  All who live by lies ought to be exterminated like vermin.  You will end by infecting the whole county”.  

Through the original version like Michael expressed in his blog Dr. Stockmann displays his impetuous nature his zero sense of tact through his action in Act IV and throughout the play.  He is not a heroic character at all but like Maria illustrated “is pompous and arrogant to a point of near insanity”.  These traits that are observed I suppose can be relatable to a troll.  Maybe that is what Ibsen is inclining to his audience; that the world is not infected with bacteria but with trolls.  These mythical creatures when examined scientifically can be determined to possess very ‘humanistic’ traits and I believe that Ibsen discovered that the make-up of a human being can be constructed both scientifically and magically.  It is too complicated for me but I believe that trolls may be misunderstood.  I am not too sure though, I will contemplate this a bit more and edit this……

Onions

            After reading Morgan’s blog and contemplating the significance of the mysterious Maelstrom in A.S. Byatt’s The Biographer’s Tale, I revisited Morgan’s question of whether the Maelstrom has become a “metaphor for the multi-layered, woven tapestry that literature has become since the advent of spoken language that no author (s) can ultimately isolate or detach themselves from?”  By considering this question I found myself relating the deep “multi-layered woven tapestry” of literature to a reference in Ibsen’s Peer Gynt with Peer being opened up like an onion. 

“You’re no Emperor.  You’re just an onion. 

Now then, little Peer, I’m going to peel you

And you won’t escape by weeping or praying. 

[Takes an onion and peels it layer by layer]

The outmost layer is withered and torn;

That’s shipwrecked man on the upturned keel.

 Here, mean and thin, is the passenger;

But it still tastes a little of old Peer Gynt….

What a terrible lot of layers there are!

Surely, ill soon get down to the heart?

[pulls the whole onion to pieces.] 

No-there isn’t one!  Just a series of shells 

All the way through getting smaller and smaller! 

Nature is witty (271). 

            This passage conveys the revealing of distinctive layers of an individual which I believe might be a clue into the technique used by the dramatist Henrik Ibsen in the formulation of his characters.  Like James discusses in his blog, Ibsen was capable of observing “his inner nature, which was a haunting portrait of the human framework.”  Through my own encounter with The Biographer’s Tale, I would express this further through Ibsen’s parallel of the human psyche to an onion.  Through this perspective, is it possible to manifest a basic foundation of any individual?  One may ask how “does such a man set about constructing another human being, in some sense ex nihilo” (97).  Ex nihilo: a latin phrase meaning creation out of nothing.  This is a concept that was contemplated in all forms of ancient myth[i].  The Greek poet Hesoid for example explains cosmogony as arising from chaos, the formless void state of nature and primal foundation of reality that the Greek gods and the world originated from[ii].  Is this the approach that Ibsen used to manifest each character?  We have discussed consistently the three phases that Ibsen applies to approach the development of each individual, however each character cannot be generated out of nothing.  Analogous to an onion, each human being has the same essence or the same basic core which I believe corresponds to the Maelstrom; with a heart of chaos.  Ibsen therefore I have speculate must discover or impose “order” within the natural chaos of a being to transform each one of his characters in his dramas.

              However, by conveying this relationship an examination of the method operated to create this order has to be pursued.  Is it an inspiration originating from of science or art?  I consider it to have an arbitrary dynamic that cannot be labeled one or the other.  The genesis of a human entity encompasses all aspects of imagination that would be inhibited by placing “order” to its ingredients.   

---

[i] What does Creation "ex nihilo" mean? 19 September 2011 < http://www.gotquestions.org/creation-ex-nihilo.html>.

[ii] Chaos (cosmogony) 19 September 2011 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_%28mythology%29>

Face Compositions

In my neurophysiology class the other day my professor showed us this link that reminds me of Galton's composition portraits

I thought it was pretty neat.  It was used in my neurophysiology class to illustrate self recognition and perception in patients that experience split brain surgeries and used to determine which hemisphere of the brain is used to determine if the composite faces are male or female etc. 

http://www.faceresearch.org/demos/average

The Procrustean Grid of Order

            Looking back on my own times, what most strikes me is that we have developed endlessly subtle styles and techniques to reveal the secret meaning behind the apparent meaning, to open up the desires and assumptions behind what people say and explain about what they feel and believe.  And all that can really be read into what we write is our own desire to translate everything, everyone, all reasoning, all irrational hope and fear, into our own Procrustean grid of priorities.

In the end, all I can do, is read the biographer’s paragraph on his subject’s dead body and make an imaginative stab at the penumbra of his words.  My own ideas of the duties of a “biographer” ….confer life, but not necessarily more truth, on what Pearson had, in his own terms, quite adequately expressed.

            But no string has an end.  Like spider-silk unrealing (194-195).

            Throughout my investigation of Byatt’s The Biographer’s Tale, this has been the passage that has had the greatest impact for me at this stage in my pursuit to find meaning in this novel.  This meditation by Nanson on the nature of human analysis discusses the compulsive process that each one of us unconsciously has to theorize upon the motives behind a creator’s art.  Nanson states that humans have a desire to translate the art “into our own Procrustean grid of priorites”.  What does this mean?  Procrustes in Greek mythology was a son of Poseidon who would invite any unlucky voyager passing by his mountain home to spend the night on his iron bed.  He then would stretch his victims with a smith’s hammer in order for them to fit.  However, his subjects always ultimately emerged too tall and their limbs would be amputated to be the “right” proportions. 

            Therefore, this “Procrustean grid of priorities” I have discovered is an inevitable downfall that Nanson has recognized in himself through his quest for facts and things and that I have identified within myself through my attempt to piece together the puzzle of The Biographer’s Tale.  I haphazardly impose my views and translations of the text and at times invent significance to the writer’s language and techniques to create “order” that’s tailored to my own limits in imagination.  This I know is a folly of mine, but is one that in an individual’s search for order is embedded into the human psyche.  Nanson states that the only solution to finding meaning in life is to make an “imaginate stab” at it.  Like Bizz theorized in her blog that by Scholes Destry Scholes imposing his priorities into the lives of Ibsen, Galton, and Linnaeus he just “reordered what we know as life. It's an art, which reveals some truth.”  Through contemplating this I believe that this correlates to Nanson’s meditation in this passage.  In a Procrustean analysis matter must be cut or added to fit a specific static model.  However, life does not have a limited imaginative grid.  Instead “no string has an end” and the truth can be manipulated and interpreted endlessly.  Interpretation of language creates life, but I find all language arbitrary with no fixed shape or limits as Nanson I believe has determined. 

Myths and Fables

“Is there any merit in the reader’s response to raw nature, regardless of whether the familiar language we use to communicate is absent?”  By contemplating this line in Madeleine Pikes blog and considering the question articulated by Professor Sexson of “how do you know what you know, until you see what you say” (Dr. Sexson), I instantly considered the power of story science.  Throughout the course of this class we will be exploring numerous infamous pieces of literature that have illustrated the magnificent power of human imagination to decipher the natural world enveloping us.  This is exemplified through great philosophers and literary pieces however I believe that it is essential to examine the foundation of all stories which is in the form of Native American traditions and ancient myth.  Native American myths are an ideal representation of the response towards raw nature.  Story science “is an approach to understanding issues in communities and within individuals.  It is accomplished by achieving insight through an oral narrative that is an integral part of how Indigenous peoples perceive their world” [i].  These stories are the principal model for examining the community surrounding them and developing a greater level of understanding that creates positive changes in perception of the village members.  It is through this basic framework of oral narrative that Native American’s obtain an ingrained belief system that modifies the behavior to create a supportive system for the community.  Ancient fables are also a principal source in utilizing aspects of nature to illustrate human morals

An example of a fable that stands out in my mind is a narrative from Ancient Greece that recounts a tale of an interaction between a house dog and a wolf.  The tale begins with a well fed domestic dog and a starving wolf having a chance meeting one night in the forest.   The wolf questions the dog, probing on how he managed to stay so healthy and plump.  The dog replies by inviting the wolf to his master’s home and there explains the relationship that he has with his native family.  The dog reveals that in exchange for food he guards his master’s household every night from thieves and other dangerous elements.  The wolf fancies this situation but then notices a scar on the dog’s neck and inquires on the source of the mark.  The dog explains that the mark was caused by a chain that he is required to wear during the day to insure that he does not run away.  Upon hearing this news the wolf starts to walk away and when the dog poses on why he is leaving, the wolf replies stating “He would rather have ‘lean freedom’ than ‘fat slavery.’” [ii]

This can be further emphasized by comparing the story of “The Wolf and the House Dog” to Ibsen’s play-write “An Enemy of the People.”  The character of the wolf parallels the character of Dr.Stockkman and his struggle for justice and freedom against the masses.  “The strongest man in the world is he who stands most alone”[iii].  The native tale exemplifies a reoccurring man versus societal struggle that has been a conflict in every time period throughout human existence.  It is the fight against human nature’s initial instinct to settle for a comfortable living supported upon a faulty unjust foundation instead of living righteously on simpler means. 

I consider ancient fables and Native storytelling to have the potential to be related to all forms of analysis of the world and any methods used by humans to decipher it.  The creative mind is limitless but human beings continually look towards nature and the animal spirit in order to reflect upon the “truth” of human life.  This can be depicted further by the three biographical fragments investigated first by Scholes Destry Scholes and later by Phineas G. Nanson in the Biographer’s Tale.  What do a taxonomist, a statician, and a dramatist all have in common?  Each famous individual was on a quest to find “order” through their own unique means of perception.  Imagination is not a monotonous entity; “For she was the maker of the song she sang” [iv] the ‘song’ or imaginative spirit Stevens’ portrays in his poem “The Idea of Order at Key West” is formed from no other source than the ‘maker’. 

 I find the power that a story can potentially have on an individual, society, or the world to be incredible.  The form of the story is not what is important but the reaction that the story establishes.  It could be a fictional piece of literature, a scientific article, a myth, religious text, poetry, a song, a biography, or even art.  It may contain truth, half truth, or no truth whatsoever but the impact can be identical.  Stories are the cornerstone to human imaginative existence and despite the portrayal of an individual’s ideas it is not the form of creativity that is significant but the mind behind it.    

---

[i] Innovation

[ii] Aesop’s Fables “The Wolf and the House Dog” http://www.aesopfables.com/cgi/aesop1.cgi?sel&TheDogandtheWolf

[iii]Ibsen “An Enemy of the People http://www2.hn.psu.edu/faculty/jmanis/h-ibsen/enemy-people.pdf

[iv] W. Stevens “The Idea of Order at Key West” http://cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/Poetry/Stevens/The_Idea_of_Order_at_Key_West.html