[-empyre-] this month, the first week

Wed Oct 3 12:18:00 EST 2012

Already fascinating and thought provoking Alan, I am looking forward to
this conversation.

- Peter Ciccariello

On Tue, Oct 2, 2012 at 7:31 PM, Alan Sondheim <sondheim at panix.com> wrote:

>
>
> Thank you for this as well, it's helpful of course and something that
> surely forms part of the background of this month's topic.
>
> Monika will post later tonight, and I think we can also put up part of the
> pain text Sandy and I wrote.
>
> Hopefully others will begin to participate as well!
>
>
> - Alan
>
> On Tue, 2 Oct 2012, Ana Vald?s wrote:
>
>  Thank you Alan for your kind words! It's true the advertisements are a
>> part of prize you pay to have the text available online :) But I am
>> too lazy to keep a homepage or a blog updated, that's because I use
>> authorspot because it don't cost me anything. They did the formatting
>> and they have some money back from the publicity.
>> Dears, it took a while to dig into the huge archives of Justwatch, a
>> list mostly composed by lawyers and journalists where I wrote the text
>> in March 2006. At that time I was far to know I should write my book.
>> This is the original post, quoted in other context but the original is
>> there:
>>
>> http://www.uslaboragainstwar.**org/article.php?id=10411<http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/article.php?id=10411>
>>
>> Ana
>>
>> On Tue, Oct 2, 2012 at 5:43 PM, Alan Sondheim <sondheim at panix.com> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Hi Ana,
>>>
>>> I read both below and have a practical question - is the original post,
>>> from
>>> which the excerpt is taken, available in archives anywhere?
>>>
>>> The second piece is beautiful and dark and poetic, and oddly undercut,
>>> visually, by one of the symptoms of power and how it's deployed online -
>>> I
>>> mean the words which are doubly underlined and clickable, something you
>>> didn't do, but something that was done to the text, bringing up
>>> advertisements that had no relation to what you were writing. It's as if
>>> the
>>> writing itself became a marker of exile from a kind of integrity,
>>> undercut
>>> by capital - that isn't the case, of course, but I found it disturbing.
>>>
>>> I think both point not only to the contexting of pain, but to its
>>> politics -
>>> it's been written about, widely here, that torture doesn't work, that
>>> this
>>> is why it should be discontinued. But I know, myself, that I'm a coward
>>> in
>>> this regard, and I can't see why it would work, which makes it all the
>>> more
>>> horrifying. When we - my friends and I - found out that Bush etc. was
>>> applying torture routinely (we had always suspected it, in a clandestine
>>> way), it spelled the end of a kind of innocence  about "good" Americans,
>>> that I, at least, had been brought up with. I imagine now something very
>>> different, a world of torture, and wonder how we, how anyone or anything,
>>> can live with that.
>>>
>>> Thank you -
>>>
>>>
>>> Alan
>>>
>>> On Tue, 2 Oct 2012, Ana Vald?s wrote:
>>>
>>>  Yes I read Elaine Scarry as well, didn't know Friedrich's work, will
>>>> look for it. Sadly my book was written in Swedish, at that time
>>>> Swedish was my first language, the language I spoke daily, now I am
>>>> back in Uruguay and I am translating with a friend's help my book into
>>>> Spanish. With luck the book will be published in Spanish here next
>>>> year. But I don't have any conections with a publisher house to
>>>> translate it into English, you could be my agent, Alan! :)
>>>>
>>>> This links are related to the book,
>>>> http://www.counterpunch.org/**2006/03/28/torture-works/<http://www.counterpunch.org/2006/03/28/torture-works/>
>>>>
>>>> and this other, http://authspot.com/short-**stories/the-new-country/<http://authspot.com/short-stories/the-new-country/>
>>>>
>>>> (The last one was part of an anthology published some years ago by
>>>> Serpent's Tail, called the Garden of the Alphabet, we were ten or
>>>> twelve storytellers, one from each country, I was Sweden's chosen
>>>> contribution).
>>>>
>>>> Cheers
>>>> Ana
>>>>
>>>> On Tue, Oct 2, 2012 at 1:31 PM, Alan Sondheim <sondheim at panix.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Hi Ana,
>>>>>
>>>>> Is your book available, and has it been translated? Would very much
>>>>> like
>>>>> to
>>>>> see it.
>>>>>
>>>>> I remember working through Elaine Scarry, The Body in Pain, and Ernst
>>>>> Friedrich's War Against War (KKrieg dem Kriege), among other texts,
>>>>> while
>>>>> at
>>>>> Eyebeam. I also read a number of Buddhist texts on suffering, but they
>>>>> were
>>>>> personally les helpful.
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks, Alan
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Tue, 2 Oct 2012, Ana Vald?s wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>  Hi Alan and good luck in your month here!
>>>>>> Interesting in reading about Monika's work, I was very concerned with
>>>>>> these topics when I wrote my book about torture and violence and
>>>>>> history. As maybe many or you know since my earlier participation in
>>>>>> -empyre I was a political prisoner in Uruguay when I was very young. I
>>>>>> was tortured, waterboarded and so on, but could not cope with these
>>>>>> memories until now, four years ago I wrote. And when I was writing I
>>>>>> was in physical pain, my body remembered things I had deleted or
>>>>>> forgotten. To be able to write the book I read many books written
>>>>>> about pain and evil, body and memory, Judith Butler, Susan Sontag, etc
>>>>>> etc.
>>>>>> I am sad I was not aware about Monika's work at that time!
>>>>>> Ana
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Tue, Oct 2, 2012 at 1:04 PM, Alan Sondheim <sondheim at panix.com>
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Hi - Monika Weiss, Sandy Baldwin, and myself are on together for the
>>>>>>> first
>>>>>>> week. I've been fascinated by Monika's work for years, and earlier
>>>>>>> this
>>>>>>> year
>>>>>>> we performed together, in dual performances, at Eyebeam in New York,
>>>>>>> while I
>>>>>>> was a resident there. Her work is concerned with anguish, memory,
>>>>>>> violence,
>>>>>>> cultural debris, and related concerns. It is multi-media, involving
>>>>>>> performance, installation, video, and sound. She writes
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> "The transdisciplinary work of Monika Weiss examines relationships
>>>>>>> between
>>>>>>> body and history, and evokes ancient rituals of lamentation as
>>>>>>> traditionally
>>>>>>> performed in response to war. Her current work considers aspects of
>>>>>>> public
>>>>>>> memory and amnesia as reflected within the physical and political
>>>>>>> space
>>>>>>> of a
>>>>>>> City."
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> We're asking her to begin the week; later, Sandy and I will also
>>>>>>> post,
>>>>>>> in
>>>>>>> sections, a text we wrote together on pain, avatars, and virtuality.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I just want to say a few words here, in relation to my own interest
>>>>>>> in
>>>>>>> the
>>>>>>> topic. The internet, inscreasingly dominated by social media, is a
>>>>>>> safe
>>>>>>> place for many people; at the same time, it is a Kristevan "clean and
>>>>>>> proper
>>>>>>> body" that hides or bypasses pain and suffering - not through
>>>>>>> content,
>>>>>>> but
>>>>>>> through the nature of the online media themselves. I think this has
>>>>>>> troubling psychological repercussions,  Levinas, say, on one said,
>>>>>>> and
>>>>>>> Baudrillard on the other. Alterity, the presence of the other,
>>>>>>> disappears
>>>>>>> into pixels, and simulacra, all the way down, take over.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> So how do we feel, convey, or act in relation to, pain, suffering,
>>>>>>> and
>>>>>>> death, online? How can we deal with the political beyond petition?
>>>>>>> How
>>>>>>> can
>>>>>>> we situate ourselves in a world of images and the imaginary?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Sandy and I both moderate email lists, but we're a bit unused to this
>>>>>>> format
>>>>>>> - if it's a bit rough at the beginning, bear with us!
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> We'll begin with Monika, and later, intersperse the discussion with
>>>>>>> the
>>>>>>> text
>>>>>>> we wrote back and forth. Because we're beginning October 2, we'll
>>>>>>> continue
>>>>>>> for the next seven or eight days; our weeks aren't exact.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Thanks for reading,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Alan
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> ______________________________**_________________
>>>>>>> empyre forum
>>>>>>> empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
>>>>>>> http://www.subtle.net/empyre
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> --
>>>>>> http://writings-escrituras.**tumblr.com/<http://writings-escrituras.tumblr.com/>
>>>>>> http://maraya.tumblr.com/
>>>>>> http://www.twitter.com/**caravia158<http://www.twitter.com/caravia158>
>>>>>> http://www.scoop.it/t/art-and-**activism/<http://www.scoop.it/t/art-and-activism/>
>>>>>> http://www.scoop.it/t/food-**history-and-trivia<http://www.scoop.it/t/food-history-and-trivia>
>>>>>> http://www.scoop.it/t/gender-**issues/<http://www.scoop.it/t/gender-issues/>
>>>>>> http://www.scoop.it/t/**literary-exiles/<http://www.scoop.it/t/literary-exiles/>
>>>>>> http://www.scoop.it/t/museums-**and-ethics/<http://www.scoop.it/t/museums-and-ethics/>
>>>>>> http://www.scoop.it/t/**urbanism-3-0<http://www.scoop.it/t/urbanism-3-0>
>>>>>> http://www.scoop.it/t/**postcolonial-mind/<http://www.scoop.it/t/postcolonial-mind/>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> cell Sweden +4670-3213370
>>>>>> cell Uruguay +598-99470758
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> "When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth
>>>>>> with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been and there you
>>>>>> will always long to return.
>>>>>> ? Leonardo da Vinci
>>>>>>
>>>>>> ______________________________**_________________
>>>>>> empyre forum
>>>>>> empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
>>>>>> http://www.subtle.net/empyre
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>> ==
>>>>> blog: http://nikuko.blogspot.com/ (main blog)
>>>>> email archive http://sondheim.rupamsunyata.**org/<http://sondheim.rupamsunyata.org/>
>>>>> web http://www.alansondheim.org / cell 347-383-8552
>>>>> music: http://www.espdisk.com/**alansondheim/<http://www.espdisk.com/alansondheim/>
>>>>> current text http://www.alansondheim.org/**rp.txt<http://www.alansondheim.org/rp.txt>
>>>>> ==
>>>>>
>>>>> ______________________________**_________________
>>>>> empyre forum
>>>>> empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
>>>>> http://www.subtle.net/empyre
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> http://writings-escrituras.**tumblr.com/<http://writings-escrituras.tumblr.com/>
>>>> http://maraya.tumblr.com/
>>>> http://www.twitter.com/**caravia158 <http://www.twitter.com/caravia158>
>>>> http://www.scoop.it/t/art-and-**activism/<http://www.scoop.it/t/art-and-activism/>
>>>> http://www.scoop.it/t/food-**history-and-trivia<http://www.scoop.it/t/food-history-and-trivia>
>>>> http://www.scoop.it/t/gender-**issues/<http://www.scoop.it/t/gender-issues/>
>>>> http://www.scoop.it/t/**literary-exiles/<http://www.scoop.it/t/literary-exiles/>
>>>> http://www.scoop.it/t/museums-**and-ethics/<http://www.scoop.it/t/museums-and-ethics/>
>>>> http://www.scoop.it/t/**urbanism-3-0<http://www.scoop.it/t/urbanism-3-0>
>>>> http://www.scoop.it/t/**postcolonial-mind/<http://www.scoop.it/t/postcolonial-mind/>
>>>>
>>>> cell Sweden +4670-3213370
>>>> cell Uruguay +598-99470758
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> "When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth
>>>> with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been and there you
>>>> will always long to return.
>>>> ? Leonardo da Vinci
>>>> ______________________________**_________________
>>>> empyre forum
>>>> empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
>>>> http://www.subtle.net/empyre
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>> ==
>>> blog: http://nikuko.blogspot.com/ (main blog)
>>> email archive http://sondheim.rupamsunyata.**org/<http://sondheim.rupamsunyata.org/>
>>> web http://www.alansondheim.org / cell 347-383-8552
>>> music: http://www.espdisk.com/**alansondheim/<http://www.espdisk.com/alansondheim/>
>>> current text http://www.alansondheim.org/**rp.txt<http://www.alansondheim.org/rp.txt>
>>> ==
>>> ______________________________**_________________
>>> empyre forum
>>> empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
>>> http://www.subtle.net/empyre
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> http://writings-escrituras.**tumblr.com/<http://writings-escrituras.tumblr.com/>
>> http://maraya.tumblr.com/
>> http://www.twitter.com/**caravia158 <http://www.twitter.com/caravia158>
>> http://www.scoop.it/t/art-and-**activism/<http://www.scoop.it/t/art-and-activism/>
>> http://www.scoop.it/t/food-**history-and-trivia<http://www.scoop.it/t/food-history-and-trivia>
>> http://www.scoop.it/t/gender-**issues/<http://www.scoop.it/t/gender-issues/>
>> http://www.scoop.it/t/**literary-exiles/<http://www.scoop.it/t/literary-exiles/>
>> http://www.scoop.it/t/museums-**and-ethics/<http://www.scoop.it/t/museums-and-ethics/>
>> http://www.scoop.it/t/**urbanism-3-0 <http://www.scoop.it/t/urbanism-3-0>
>> http://www.scoop.it/t/**postcolonial-mind/<http://www.scoop.it/t/postcolonial-mind/>
>>
>> cell Sweden +4670-3213370
>> cell Uruguay +598-99470758
>>
>>
>> "When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth
>> with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been and there you
>> will always long to return.
>> ? Leonardo da Vinci
>> ______________________________**_________________
>> empyre forum
>> empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
>> http://www.subtle.net/empyre
>>
>>
>>
> ==
> blog: http://nikuko.blogspot.com/ (main blog)
> email archive http://sondheim.rupamsunyata.**org/<http://sondheim.rupamsunyata.org/>
> web http://www.alansondheim.org / cell 347-383-8552
> music: http://www.espdisk.com/**alansondheim/<http://www.espdisk.com/alansondheim/>
> current text http://www.alansondheim.org/**rp.txt<http://www.alansondheim.org/rp.txt>
> ==
> ______________________________**_________________
> empyre forum
> empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
> http://www.subtle.net/empyre
>

-- 
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Ephemeral Photography - http://uncommonvision.blogspot.com/
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