An overview of the method to the madness

This blog as well as the other five blogs will be focused on the five chapters of the book "Six Memos For the next Generation" by Italo Calvino. He addresses what he considered to be important elements to litature in this book of lectures. For any reader who may not have read this particular work, the chapters are labeled as follows: "Lightness", "Quickness", "Exactitude", "Visibilty", and "Multiplcity". At first these terms do not seem to exemplify components or characterisitics of literature, but with the help of classic literary examples, Calvino executes each chapter by exemplifying its importance within a literary work. As it is obvious to the reader, there are only five chapters but six memos. The sixth memo's title can be found at the beginning of the book, and it appears to be erased. It appears to be the word "Consistency". This memo, one would assumer, was not written and therefore not included in the book. It would be interesting to use Calvino's method in the first five chapters to come up with my own version of what "Consistency" may mean within the world of literature. Something I am considering attempting.

"Lightness"

Lightness is explained by Calvino by using an example from Greek mythology, Persues slaying Medusa and then carrying the head around. Perseus carries the head for protection but does so with a healthy fear of the head's possible power over him, even though the monster is dead. This is how we must think about lightness. The literal weight of the world and it's activities seem to be the counter part of lightness in literature. Our focus should be on viewing the world without being caught up in it, viewing with a relfective essence. If this reflective removal from the "heaviness" of the world can actually be achieved we must still carry "the head" around just as Persues did. We cannot be tricked into thinking it is okay to forget how this heaviness was overcome, otherwise we will be once again caught up in the heaviness, most likely without being aware of it.

This image is a painting by the French artist Edgar Degas. This example exemplifies Calvino's concept of lightness within the future literary. Just as Calvino chose to use classic literature examples to examplify something he feels will be found in future literary works, I too chose to use a realtively older image. Please do not be distracted by the evident fact that the subjects of this painting are balerina dancers. Yes, this type of subject would seem to examplify lightness, but it is not the subject that is important here. As I am sure you can see, the image is painted in a way that it is almost blurred. However, it is not blurred in a way to cause confusion. Calvino's lightness operates on the same level. Just as the picture is clearly a painting of two dancers, the literary must be clear and consice, but just as the dancers representation is somewhat removed from the heaviness of reality, the literary must also be removed in the same sort of way. It is only with this type of "Heavy worldiness removal" that the literary will progress and move forward. Lightness in the literary is a sort of new-ness that is able to be seen by a clear blurring. I hope that this image is an example of how lightness can be achieved, while still containing the essential substance to be consumed and understood. The dancers are light in the sense that the meaning portrayed seems not to be the heavy "balerina dancers" meaning, but rather it conveys a meaning of "movement". The Literary must move beyond the heavy obvious and into the lightness of using the world to see things in a new way.

I think back to the Electronic Literature example of "The Jews Daughter". This somewhat revolutionary piece is constructed in a very unfamiliar way. As we discussed in class, as various words are scrolled over, different sections of txt change. It is all encompassed in a single screen. This way of scanning for the new text while still making sense of the story could not have been arrived at without reading first being established by the print form. The print form here could be seen as the "heavy form". However, without the established print form and the method for reading it, the way of reaindg "The Jews Daughter" would not be new. Electronic Literature must be a relfection of what the world already knows. Present, but not tied down by those ideas and conceptions about what literatue is or should be. Electronic Literature will only survive with a keen awareness of what it is following just as Perseus continued to carry the monsters head and treat it with care.

Literary example: The poem "Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

This poem said to be the result of an opium induced dream, is the piece of literature that came to mind when I thought about Calvino's concept of lightness. The poem is so mystical, yet each element represents something real. The way the world is veiwed in the mysticim of the poem, allows the reader to be removed from the heaviness of the world, and in some ways almost see the world through a relfective glass, rather than actually being in the reality.

"Quickness"

Odly enough, Calvino chose to further his lecture on Quickness by surprisingly praising it's counterpart, lingering. He also writes that Quickness is a linkage between the consciousness of thought and also the simultaneousness of ideas being presented. He feels that speed is not just simply the actual movement or progression of time but the relationship between speed and the mind. He notes that Quickness can even be broken down into two sides and he uses the examples of Salviati and Sagrado. Salviati is the reasoning side of quickness or the consciousness of thought as mentioned before. Sagrado represents the imaginative, new conclusions that have not yet been reached as a result of the simultanteous ideas.

I chose to use this famous painting by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso. The jumpled images representing the war at Guernica cause the mind to interpret with what Calvino names as Quickness. This literary image was painted with Quickness. There is the obvious reasoning of how the images represent the war. The panged faces and random body parts are expected consequences of bloody and violent encounters. This is the consciousness of thought, the reasoning in the work. However, how Picasso chose to assemble this literary work as well as his other famous works causes the mind to process the "reasonable" information in an imaginative way. The way the images are jumpled together allows for the Sagrado part of Quickness to be played out. Although one aspect of Quickness for Calvino is time within literature, it is also how the creator influences that time. Picasso's painting was not done "Quickly", it took time, effort, thought, planning, precision, vision, etc. Yet, the piece still resembles Quickness in the literary sense.

Electronic Literature must also encompass the components of Quickness. It is just the hard-fast truth that these works cannot be so far out there that they are completely unrecognizable or "un-readable". However, at the same time, they must be simultaneously presenting new ideas, new information, new input so that the option of arriving upon new and creative and imaginative conclusions is a true possibility. In my own words, I would say that Quickness could almost be viewed as an organized chaos within the literary work, whatever it may be.

Literary example: For this, I have chosen to go out on a limb and choose a film rather than a print based text. The film is called "Eight Seconds". The story of a rodeo bull rider whose life is consumed by the world of bull riding. He lives each day for the eight second ride, and it ultimately destroys his life. I think this is a good example of Calvino's concept of quickness, because in the long run of life, 8 seconds is a very short amount of time. However, in the main characters opinion, he is only really living during those 8 seconds. The manipulation of the value of time within this movie is similar to quickness and lingering within works of literature.

"Exactitude"

As we read Calvino and discussed this particular lecture in class, it seemed to me that while all of his lectures were focused on literature, this one was by far the most focused on the actual language of the literatue. Calvino came up with three specific elements of exactitude and they are as follows: 1)A well-defined and calculated plan by which a text is constructed 2) clear, incisive, memorable images 3) Precise language in word and expression that captures subtleties of throught and imagination. Exactitude has a lot to do with the concept of process for Calvino. This particular element of the literary seems to be two-sided as well, two forces that oppose yet support one-another simultaneously. I think back to Calvino's specific example of fire and the crystal. He believed that both were a very important part of the process of formation. The flame, for Calvino, represented the order ou of the noise, and internal pressure to keep going. The crystal on the other hand is a self-organizing system. The part of exactitude in which it is not the interan being sustained by the external, but rather an internal sort of origin or creativity.

The painting above is my chosen image for Exactitude. I feel that it is safe to say this literary work was thoughout with a clear and consice plan. It also has the elements represented by the crystal and the flame. When this painting is considered. Each individual "frame" could operate as a single work or a single painting if it was removed from the others. In fact, without seeing the original work, one would probably not guess that the work had been cut apart at all. On the other hand, even though the images have the ability to operate as a self-organizing system like the crystal, when seen with the others they are influenced by those images as well. It is as this point they must be the flame and maintain their individual order regardless of the surrounding "noise" of the other images.

I feel that Calvino was getting at an Exactitude of language that operates this way. The words that are spoken or written in literary works are an already pre-established self-organizing system. We know what the words mean, how they are to be constructed in syntax and in grammar. However, this is why exactitude is so important. We do not want to simply use the "crystal" of language with the thought of the "flame". They must work together when a literay work is being created otherwise the process of formation is not complete and has not come full circle.

Literary example: The play "The Importance of being Earnest" by Oscar Wilde.

Personally, I find this play to be absolutely hilarious. The language used in every aspect of this play is intentional, well-thought out, and not impoverished in any way (in my opinion). The cleverness of how the words each character says seems serious within the context of their world, but are simultaneously drenched with humor to the reader astounds me. Wilde absolutely used exactitude in the language he used to create this literary piece.

"Visibility"

Calvino's lecture titled "Visibility" was focused on images and their origin. The origin of images as being internally generated or impressed upon us has been a long discussed argument. This argument is one that would be hard to end. Instead I would like to use the information from this lecture that addressed Visibility as a paart of the imaginative process. This process is not solely verbal, but rather should include the visual as well. Calvino used the words of Loyola who believed that greater knowledge could be achieved through images rather than just words alone. The idea of the image or images being a part of the imaginative process can be seen in a place like an art class, but many would probably not consider the what we have discussed as the main and seen as important works of literature include little if any images at all. Rather, "sophisticated litearature" up to this point has seemed to solely rely on the power of the written word, and in most cases MANY written words. Calvino's Visibility suggests the power of the image to the imaginitive process of the literary, and rather then the image taking away from the words or making them juvenile, the image(s) add to the greater knowledge as suggested by Loyola.

Rather than a painting to exemplify this particular lecture, I felt that the image of an American dollar bill was appropriate. First the words found within the image must be considered. "The United State of America" and "In God We Trust" are, in my opinion, un-arguably emotionally loaded. However, when they are attached to the one dollar bill and a picture of our first president, George Washington, the founder of "The United State of America" greater knowledge and understanding of these terms is truly possible. Regardless of personal opinion concerning these two phrases, it is undeniable that the connection of the image of the dollar bill with these phrases is a major part in the process of creating the knowledge this bill has to offer its "reader".

From what I have seen so far, the image and visibility is an important part of Electronic Literatue. In several examples viewed in class so far, the simple fact that the written words is mobile is somewhat new, at least to me, when I think of the literature I have been exposed to. Even if Electronic Literatue holds true to using mostly the verbal, the movement of these words rather than them being literally stuck on the page is visibility in this "futuristic" form of the literary.

Literary example: "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding.

I chose this particular work to correspond with Calvino's concept of multiplicity because when I read this particular work in highschool, I remember that a lot of the time was spend in the symbolism of the book. Various things reprsented abstract ideas such as power, or social class workings within a society. This book has visibility because it can be taken at face value, like symbols, or it can alse be seen as a piece of print literature that represents and communicates much more than is written on the pages.

"Multiplicity"

Calvino's fifth and final lecture is centered around Multiplicity. This chapter was rather complicated to me. One thing that I came away with was that authors do have a tendency to look for other literary models, forms of inspiration, starting points, from which they can add to and move beyond to experience within their own work a type of personal epiphany or "ah-ha" moment. Multiplicity could be a kind of self-knowledge. The truth is, authors must be exposed to something generic or common before they can remove themselves from it. The external, foundational inspiration must be sought out so that they can create something new. As we have discusses in class, it is important that it is established what something is not before it can be determined what it is. That seems to be what Calvino is getting at when he talkes about Multiplicity in the future literary. A big part of the Multiplicity of literature are what Calvino considers to be different types of texts. There is the unified-text, the multifold-text, the form-less all encompossabing text, the non-systematic philosophical text, and finally the hyper-novel. These differnt types of novels leave the possibility of knowledge exhaustion to be unrealistic. Whether the texts have various possible endings, interpretations, or lots of simultaneous input, the work must originiate from something before it can blossom with multiplicity into something else.

I have always been intrigued by this image. It is made up completely of tiny individual dots, but if you stand away from the painting all that is seen is the larger, complete image. If the viewer stands close to the painting then the individual dots become visible. To me this painting is a good representation of multiplicity because first and foremost multiple repetitions of the dot are absolutely necessary to create the completed image. Also, I feel that this image speaks to multiplicity in that the image could not have come about and exist as it does today without the foundation of the dot. The artist of this literary work had to seek out the way to create this new work, and in order to do that, that artist returned to something fundamental, the dot.

Multiplicity is relevant to the up-and-coming world of electronic literature because the creation and inspiration of these works will orginially be spun from something fundamental. Most likely a fundamental element of print literature. There will also be works that represent and have an intertextuality between them wether one is from the electronic lit collection and one is from the print based collection or both are from the ELC. Multiplicity is about the inter-connectedness of the works. How works inspire and complete eachother at fundamental and advanced levels. Just as the dot is very fundamental, when it is multiplied in a consice way, images such as the one above are the result.

Literary Example: Life of Pi by Yann Martel (I love this book, and really enjoy Brian Moser's choice for this book to be the main focus of his blog).

This novel is about a young Indian boy who is shipwrecked with several animals. At the end of his survival adventure, each animal comes to represent a corresponding human character within the novel. This book has the element of multiplicity as it shows our connection to the world and the things around us, each influencing the other.

"Consistency"

This memo was not included in the book. But I decided to try and take a stab at least at locating an image that would represent what I think Calvino may have written about Consistency. I think that Calvino would have focused on the consistency of the message or the narrative or the information that was being streamed through the literary. He may have looked at the "moral of the stories" that Greek mythology had to offer the reader, then the listener, and evaluated the consistancy. I do not feel, however, that by consistency Calvino would mean "same" or "boring". The presentation of the information could be rather "in-consistant" and that is what makes the message so consistent within the literary.

The image I have chosen is a drawing done by the artist Jimmy Lee Hill, he currently resides here in our very own state in the city of Lincoln. His drawings are amazingly unique and I am very intrigued by his artistic style. As you can see, in this particular drawing, Mr. Hill chooses to mix the realistic with the "fanciful". I hope that Mr. Hill will forgive my lack of artistic knowledge when it comes to artistic terms. The presentation of this piece is abosolutley brilliant. I would now like to discuss how I interpreted the meaning of this piece of the literary. Twiggy, a famouse icon of the fashion world, is the subject of the piece. Her face is drawn with such realism that it looks like a photograph. The branches and the noose are the non-realistic parts of the drawing. While both elements are wonderfully executed, they are differnt non-the-less. I feel that although this piece of art almost has constrasting constructional elements, the message of the piece is consistent. Twiggy is the icon, she as an icon is firmly rooted in the fashion world. The noose may or may not represent the consequences in rooting oneself in such a world. I would even venture to say that this consistant message may not have been as effectively portrayed or even portrayed at all of solely one or the other stylistic approached was taken by Mr. Hill to create this piece.

I really think that the consistency of the message of the literary piece would have been Calvino's main concern.