IRGiCResearchSeminarMay12-13,2016–LINES

Abstracts

PeterDayan,“Istherelifebeyondlines?”

TimIngold’sTheLifeofLinesmakesapowerfulcaseforconsideringthatthereis

nolifewithoutlines.Healsoshowsthatagreatdealofcontemporaryintellectual

andmaterialcultureseemstobeblindtothisfact.Ishallbeaskingwhetherthat

meansthatcontemporaryhumanityisnotreallyalive(andwhatdefinitionofthe

word“life”thismightimply),andhowart,seenfromaFrenchperspective,might

helpustoanswerthatquestion.

JørgenRiberChristensen,“FromSterne’sNarrativeLinestoComplexTV”

It is the ambition of the presentation to examine a linear and sequential

narrativestructurewithspecialfocusonchallengestoit.Thisfocuswillinclude

examinationsofaselectionoftextsfromdifferentgenresthatexploitdeviations

fromastraightnarrativelineandstrayfromit.ThesetextsincludeSterne's18-

century Tristram Shandy, a TV adaptation of a Wodehouse short story, an

episode of the TV series Coupling, and finally the relatively new category,

complex television, in a wider sense. This concept of complex – or quality –

televisionisthecriterionfortheinclusionofthetwomentionedTVproductions.

The linear and sequential narrative codified by Aristotle's prescriptive

beginning,middleandendhasbeenemployedandalsochallenged:

Awholeisthatwhichhasabeginning,amiddle,andanend.Abeginningisthatwhichdoesnot

itselffollowanythingbycausalnecessity,butafterwhichsomethingnaturallyisorcomestobe.

An end, on the contrary, is that which itself naturally follows some other thing, either by

necessity,orasarule,buthasnothingfollowingit.Amiddleisthatwhichfollowssomethingas

some other thing follows it. Awell-constructed plot, therefore,must neither begin nor end at

haphazard,butconformtotheseprinciples.(Aristotle,c.300B.C.VII)

This narrative norm is linear not only in its sequence of events but also

graphically, and in textbooks for film producers and scriptwriters it can be

illustratedasinfigure1wherethelinehasbeenenrichedbycurves.

Figure 1. Ola Olsson's narrative, linearmodel, here in an early versionwith six steps. (Olsson

1982/1986,1,mytranslation).

Anotable challenge in literaryhistory to theAristotelian linear and sequential

narrativestructureisLaurenceSterne'sgraphicrepresentationsofthenarrative

structure, plot and chronology of The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy,

Gentleman(1759-1767/1777).

Figure2.Sterne'snarrativelines,TristramShandy1777,Vol.5,p.54.

Sterne's metafictional instructions to the reader in the form of these linear

graphicrepresentationsofaplot,whichisnotlinearbyanymeans,areexpanded

intothefamousmarbledpages(21-22,vol.3).Thesepagesdonotevencontain

lines;but they turn thenarrative insideout, as theyembed thebook'sbinding

within itspages.Thismaybeunderstoodasa topsy-turvymise-en-abîmewith

theouteredgesofthetextbeingplacedcentrally.Aristotle'sbeginningandend

(i.e.thebook'sfrontandbackcovers)arehereinitsmiddle.

Another,morespecial,butquitecommon,sequentialandlinearnarrativedevice

istheuseofsetupandpayoff.Thefunctionofthesetupistomakeprobablean

elementoftheactionthatfollowslater.Thiselementiscalledthepayoff.There

runsa straight line from the setupdirectly to thepayoff, and if this line isnot

there,thenthesetupshouldbedeleted.Chekov,alsonormatively,describesthis

asnarrativeeconomy:“Removeeverythingthathasnorelevancetothestory.If

yousayinthefirstchapterthatthereisariflehangingonthewall,inthesecond

orthirdchapteritabsolutelymustgooff.Ifit'snotgoingtobefired,itshouldn't

be hanging there.” (Chekhov in Valentine 1987) Again, this linear narrative

device canbe challenged, but also employed to its full extent. P.G.Wodehouse

works consistently with setups that are released in succeeding payoffs, and a

later television series,Coupling (Britain, BB2 2000-2004) excels in this device

and challenges the narrative structure when multiple setups are united and

mergedinonesinglepayoff.

Sterne's narrative lines as a representation of a highly complex plot structure

have not died out. Interactive hypertexts are an example, and contemporary

popular media such as streaming television and DVD series use narrative

structuresthataresimilarincomplexitytoTristramShandy.Thenarrativelines

inseriessuchasTheWireandLostmaybethere,buttheyaresometimesbroken,

sothatapayoffmayrefertoanon-existentsetup,andthesheerlengthofaseries

withmanyseasonsmakes thebeginningofanarrative line fadeoutof sightof

the audience and into oblivion. This relatively new television genre has been

calledcomplexTV(Mitchell2015).

References

Aristoteles(c.300f.Kr.)Poetics.Athttp://www.gutenberg.org/files/1974/1974-h/1974-h.htm.

Bordwell,David&Thompson,Kristin(1997).FilmArt.AnIntroduction.NewYork:McGraw-Hill.

Bordwell,David(1986/1997).NarrationintheFictionFilm.London:Routledge.

Breum,Trine(2004).FilmFortællingogForførelse2.København:Frydenlund.

Field,Syd(1984).TheScreenwriter’sWorkbook.NewYork:Dell.

Ingold,Tim(2007).Lines:ABriefHistory.LondonRoutledge.

Larsen,PeterHarms(2003).Delevendebilledersdramaturgi1-2.København:DrMultimedie.

Mitchell,Jason(2015).ComplexTV.NewYork:NewYorkUniversityPress.

Olsson, Ola (1982/1986). Några Anteckningar om dramaturgi. Rapport från seminaret

”Dramatikernidialogmedsinsamtid”.Oslo:NordiskaTeaterkommitten.

Sterne,Laurence(1777).TheLifeandOpinionsofTristramShandy,Gentleman.London:J.Dodsley

inPall-mall.

ValentineT.Bill.1987.Chekhov:TheSilentVoiceofFreedom.N.Y.:KensingtonPublishingCorp.

Bent Sørensen, “TheVortex and the Line: PerformativeGestures inAllen

Ginsberg's‘WichitaVortexSutra’”

QueeringthestraightlineofModernism(hereIfollowTimIngold'sideathat“the

straightlinehasemergedasavirtualiconofmodernity,anindexofthetriumph

ofrational,purposefuldesignoverthevicissitudesofthenaturalworld”),Allen

Ginsberg suggests in his long poem about America and the Vietnam War,

‘Wichita Vortex Sutra’, that lying media discourses about the necessity of

participation inthewarmaybecancelledoutbyapoetperformingthesimple,

yet impossiblespeechactofdeclaringtheendof thewar.Thepoetmustenter

intrepidly the vortex of lies told by the voices disseminated by the media on

behalf of politicians, authority figures and benighted members of the general

public,utterafewlinesofmagicspells,andthewarwillendofitsownaccord.

ThevehicleofthisspeechactisproposedtobetheSutra,ascriptureconsisting

ofa‘string’or‘thread’ofaphoristicstatementsdesignedtoprovidethereaderof

theSutrawiththepossibilityofEnlightenment.Ginsberg's‘WichitaVortexSutra’

consistsofqueerlines,designedtounravelthewebofliesseducingAmericainto

war,willingitsreadershiptoperformpeaceinunisonwiththepoet/prophet.

CameliaElias,“TheStraightandCrookedPath:EconomiesofCuriosityand

StorytellinginSecularizedTibetanBuddhistTexts”

Mypointofdeparture is in a fewpopular textswrittenbymeditationmasters

and scholars in Tantric Tibetan Buddhism, Chögyam Trungpa, Lama Yeshe,

TsonkyRimpoche.Thesewritingsand teachings since theearly60s textshave

beenextremelyinfluentialinmediatingfromEasttoWestknowledgeaboutand

inquiry intothenatureof themind.What Iaminterested in ishowthesetexts

havehadenormousappealintheAnglo-Americanculture,notonlythroughthe

commodification of Tibet as inscribed by the negotiation of economies of

curiosity, but also through a distinctly emergent appreciation of nondualist

perception.

Steen Christiansen, “Wide Open Lines: Humaning with The Chemical

Brothers”

Dom&nic’smusicvideofortheChemicalBrothers’“WideOpen”(featuringBeck

on vocals) is an interesting rendition of the post-cinematic media ecology. A

minimalist setup of a dancer in a factory hall slowly turning into an animated

body, still dancing, can be viewed as exemplary of the shift to a fluid, digital

image regime. Shot in one continuous Steadicam take, the animation slowly

overtakesthehumanform,renderingthedancingbodyasapurelydigitalform.

Thereare several lines to investigatehere: the lineof thecamera’smovement,

itself a choreographed form; the line of the dancer’s body; the line of the

animation;thelineofthemusicthatloopsbackoveritselfasmostEDMdoes.

Readinthecontextofapost-cinematicmediaecologythatadaptsandresponds

to cultural developments such as neoliberalism and accelerationism, “Wide

Open” presents an example of what Robin James has termed “resilience”— a

way of resisting without rejecting the modulation of affect inherent in

contemporarybiopolitics. James’argumentcaninitselfberegardedasalineof

force,somewherein-betweenDeleuze’slineofarticulationandlineofflight.This

lineofforcefallswithinwhatTimIngoldhascalled“humaning,”afoldofhuman

actionsandaudiovisualtechnologies.

MikkelJensen,“DrawingtheLine–ProtestandSocialEngineeringinShow

MeaHero”

ResidentialsegregationisafactofmanyAmericancitiesbuttheissueseemsonly

rarelytobeatheartofpopularfictions.However,in2015HBObroadcastitssix-

part miniseries Show Me a Hero which deals head on with how de facto

segregation is linked to public housing and a confrontational political culture.

Based on Lisa Belkin’s 1999 500-page journalistic tome of the real struggle in

Yonkers, New York in the late 1980s and early 1990s, this television show

portraysatumultuousperiodinasingleurbanarea,butwhich,theviewermay

infer, speaks to larger issues in contemporary American politics and culture.

Since the1954Browndecision’s call for racial integrationofpublic schools, at

“allbutdeliberatespeed”,theissueofintegrationhasbeenanissueinAmerican

cultural politics. Underlying such ventures is an attempt to redress certain

realitiesinAmericansociety,especiallywithregardstorace.Suchambitionsfall

under the umbrella term of ‘social engineering’ which is a rather contested

concept in American culture; indeed, to Francis Fukuyama resistance to social

engineering was/is a staple for him and other prominent neo-conservatives

(Fukuyama 2006). In this sense, ShowMe a Hero’s portrayal of a struggle to

integratediverseneighborhoodsintervenesinanalreadyexistingpublicdebate

throughitsrepresentationofeventsinrecenthistory.

ShowMeaHero portrays how the young Democratic politician NickWasicsko

who in 1987, at age 28, runs for mayor of Yonkers, NY against incumbent

RepublicanAngeloMartinelli.Wasicskoinitiallyhastroublegainingmomentum

inhismayoral campaignbut finds acausecélèbre in calling for resistance to a

courtorderthatstipulatesthatthecityofYonkersmustbuild200unitsofpublic

housingtohouseminorities,allofwhicharetobeconstructedingenerallywhite

neighborhoods.Thecourthad foundthat, for40years, thecityofYonkershad

discriminated againstAfricanAmericans andHispanics in schools andhousing

(48Hours).Theissuethatthecourttriedtoremedywasthefactthat formany

yearsminoritieshadbeenexcluded fromcertainneighborhoodsand thus they

hadbeendiscriminatedagainst.AsGinaBellafantenotesinTheNewYorkTimes:

“In1988,closeto98percentofYonkers’spublichousingstockwaslocatedinthe

southwestsection,whichcontained81percentofthecity’sminoritypopulation”

(Bellafante 2015, NP). In other words, the vast majority of the minority

population lived in public housing and the city had made sure that public

housinghadalmostonlybeenbuiltinasinglesectionofthecity;itwasacaseof

de factoresidentialsegregation.However,Wasicskowins theelectionbutafter

takingofficehesoonrealizesthathispoliticalpowerwillnotsufficetogoagainst

thecourtsandhethereforechangeshisstancefromfightingthecourtmandated

public project to instead fighting for it. (In 1993,Wasicsko’s former executive

assistant, JamesSurdoval,describedWasicskoasbeingnot“pro-desegregation”

butrather“pro-compliance”(Berger1993:NP).)

ThispaperseeksoutthelinesofsegregationinShowMeaHeroandlooksathow

contesteditcanbetobreaksuchlines.Inthissense,Iaimtolookathowtheline

iscrucialtounderstandingwhatGunnarMyrdalcalledthe“AmericanDilemma.”

WorksCited

Belkin,Lisa(1999)ShowMeaHero

Bellafante, Gina (2015) “Lessons of Yonkers FromDavid Simon’s ‘ShowMe aHero’”NewYork

Times,August5,2015.

Berger,Joseph(1993)“BafflementatYonkersOfficial’sDeath”NewYorkTimes,October31,1993.

Fukuyama,Francis(2006)AftertheNeocons.London:ProfileBooks.

Kavanaugh,Bill(2007)BrickbyBrick:ACivilRightsStory.KavanaughProductionsInc.

Lipsitz,George(2011)HowRacismTakesPlace.Philadelphia:TempleUniversityPress.

Mittell, Jason(2015)ComplexTV:ThePoeticsofContemporaryTelevisionStorytelling.NewYork:

NewYorkUniversityPress.

Schuck,PeterH.(2003)DiversityinAmerica:KeepingGovernmentataSafeDistance.Cambridge,

MA:BelknapPress.

Simon,David(2015)ShowMeaHero.HBOMiniseries.

Woods,Sean(2015)“‘ShowMeaHero’:DavidSimonIsStillMadasHell”RollingStone,August11

2015.

ChristinaCaseySchoux,“LineofResistance:NewOrleansSecondLines”

A second line is the groupofdancers that follows the first lineof “churchand

club members, brass bands, and grandmarshals in the jazz street parades of

blackNewOrleans”(Turner2014:69),andthetermhascometorefertostreet

paradesasawhole.Second lines,held tomark funerals,annualcelebrationsof

localbenevolentsocieties,andCatholicCarnivalevents,havebeenapartofNew

Orleansculturesincethe1780s.Secondlinesfollowroutesthroughcitystreets

that are meaningful to organizers, starting at a club member’s house, for

example, and continuing down side streets with pauses at favorite bars, and

often concluding at a park. Because second lines are usually organized by

working-classAfricanAmericanNewOrleanians,theparadeswindthroughpoor,

urbanneighborhoodsthatmainstream,medianormallycharacterizeasblighted

hotbedsof crime. Second lines reconfigure the city,withparade-goersdancing

down streets ordinarily reserved for cars, dancing on streetlights, dancing on

cars, dancing on the front porches of houses. This transformation ofmundane

urban spaces into sites of unruly, sacred, and spontaneous celebration is a

physicalperformanceofresistancetotheconstanteffortsofdominantsocietyto

control and marginalize the African American community. At the same time,

dominant society appropriates images of second lines to advertise the city as

richwithculturaltradition,auniqueattractionfortourists.

Turner, Richard Brent. (2014). Jazz, The Second Line, and African American Religious

InternationalisminNewOrleans.Souls16(1-2):69-78.

BrianGraham,“’Andfirsthedrewaline’:Losandthesignificanceoflinesin

Blake’sTheFourZoas”

Attheendof“NighttheSeventh”ofBlake’sTheFourZoas,Blake’sLos,againsta

background of “furious war”,takes a stance and then performs an act which

might seem powerless and quaint against such a backdrop: he draws a line,

beginningworkconsistingoflineswhichEnitharmon,hiscompanion,tinctures,

asitemerges.Placingthismomentinthecontextofthepoem’sepicstruggle,this

paper explores the reasons for Blake’s choice of image at this juncture in the

“history”,therebymakingacontributiontoourunderstandingoftheopposition

betweenformandformlessnessinthenarrative.

AskeSparsøe,“DrawingtheLine:textualsculpturesinmodernistverse”

The advent of the typewriter around the turn of the 19th century changed the

literarylandscapeofEnglishpoetry,andusheredinaneraofexperimentalverse

that was especially monumental. Monumental, because the typewriter

transformedtheconditionsunderwhichpoetswrote,andthenewfoundcontrol

of the page greatly contributed to visual and therefore material poetic

experiments that had barely been possible before this time. As a result,

punctuationandspacingwasassignednewprominence.Whereasbothelements

wereonce treatedas ‘accidentals’bypoet, editororboth, anumberofEnglish

writersnowinsistedonthe faithfulprintingof theirpoeticworks,downtothe

verylaststop.Stops,andlines,arepertinenttoEzraPound’s‘InaStationofthe

Metro’(1913).Withitsiconicuseofspacing,thismaybethefirstpoemtospeak

of its composition on a typewriter. Pound’s experimental haiku initiatedwhat

would be a life-long application of visual devices in his poetic works. The

greatest,mostcontroversial,andbyfarthelongestoftheseworksisTheCantos,

a study in modernist poetics and the idiosyncratic visual style that is often

associatedwithPound.

InCantoLXXXI,Poundclaimedtohavebroken iambicpentameter. Indoingso,

themost iconicpoetic lineof theEnglish literary traditionwas contested.This

wasaccomplishedinpartbythecadencesofPound’sfreeverse,andinpartby

thevisual experimentsofhis textual sculptures.Thebroken line isone reason

whyTheCantos,forallitsfame,isequallyinfamous,andfewreadersendeavour

toreadtheentirework.Themusicalityofiambicpentameterwaslosttomuchof

Pound’s verse, and throughout parts of the Cantos, his free verse could not

compensate for this loss. The second reason for the infamy of The Cantos is

Pound’s feverish obsession with economy and politics, which shines through

timeandagain.Bothoftheseelementshavebeendiscussedatlength;thethird

reason,Pound’s interest invisualexperiments,hasreceived far lesssystematic

treatment.AsmusicalitywasattimeslosttoPound,sotheabsenceofthorough

scholarlytreatmentoficonicityinTheCantosisourloss.

Throughoutthismodernepicwork,Poundemploysaplethoraofvisualdevices.

Someofthesedevicesareverysignificant,andgreatlycontributetotheartistic

meritofthepoetry.Thiswillbemyimmediateconcern,andhavingprovidedan

introduction to visual and monumental poetry, my presentation will thus

proceed to present one such instance of prominent, visually informed poetry

found inPound’sCantoXVII.A thoroughanalysisofonepartof thispoemwill

illustrate why it is paramount that the experimental lines of Pound’s visual

poeticsareseen,andunderstood.

JensKirk, “Looking for theLine:TheBorderBetweentheHumanandthe

NaturalinContemporaryEnglishWriting”

Among other things, cultural semiotics is concerned with the borders that a

givencultureerectsagainstthatwhichitisnot,i.e.nature.Sincetheturnofthe

millennium, a wide range of texts have emerged in Britain that are explicitly

concernedwithfindingwildnessandestablishingnotonlywheretheboundary

to wildness is located but also the character or identity of that dividing line.

Thus,inTheWildPlaces(2007)RobertMacfarlanerelateshowhisperceptionof

thewildchangesfromsomethingthatexistsoutsidehumanhistorytosomething

muchclosertohome.Similarly,inheressay“Pathologies”KathleenJamiechases

wildness or nature in the context of a basement lab at Ninewells Hospital in

Dundee(Jamie2012).

Thispaperexaminestheriseofagrowingbodyoftextsacrossthemediathatare

concerned with the representation of that boundary inside London. Texts as

widelydifferentasWillSelf’saccountofhiswalk through“BucolicLondon”on

hiswaytoHeathrow(Self2007:20-38),CharlesRangeley-Wilson’sstoriesofhis

pursuits of the rivers of London and wild trout in those rivers, the BBCs An

UnnaturalHistoryof London, andweb sites such as thewildlondon.org.uk and

WildCapital.co.uk all agree in the importance of looking for that line and

examiningitsnature.

Jens Lohfert, “Linjer, knudepunkter og cirkler. Om nogle aktuelle

tendenseridansklitteraturhistorieskrivning”

Litteraturhistorie er et kerneelement i modersmålsundervisningen på alle

niveauer i Danmark, men bliver i dag ofte italesat som et fag i krise. Det

harmonerer ikke med situationen inden for litteraturhistorieskrivningen, som

p.t. fremstår som en af de litteraturvidenskabelige discipliner, der foregår den

størstefornyelseindenfor.Jegvilimitindlægpræsentereogdiskuterenogleaf

deaktuelletendenser.

GunhildAgger,“Hovedlinjeridansktv-drama1994-2016”

Mitoplægudspringerafdeovervejelser, jeggørmig i forbindelsemedenbog,

der bærer arbejdstitlen Ny dansk tv-drama. Titlen spiller på min ’gamle’ bog

Dansktv-drama–arvesølvogunderholdning (2005).Dergårnaturligvisen linje

fra den tidligere bog til den nye. Den gamle dækkede perioden fra fjernsynets

begyndelse til midt-90’erne, mens den nye kommer til at omhandle perioden

derefter.Denneperiodeerafmangeblevet fremhævetsomenslags ’guldalder’

(perioden fra slut-90’erne til ca. 2013), hvor dansk tv-drama høstede

international anerkendelse for sine resultater og sine produktionsmetoder. I

løbet samme periode, ogmedmærkbar styrke umiddelbart efter, blev en lang

række grundvilkår ændret – fra de platforme, fjernsynsmediet benytter, til

dominerende produktions- og distributionsformer. Transnationalitet blev helt

konkret et nyt nøgleord. Ikke desto mindre er der også visser former for

kontinuitet. Der er således både tale om fortsættelse og en betoning af en ny

begyndelse.

IdensammenhængerdetinspirerendeatinddrageTimIngold(2007):Lines.A

brief history til begrebsafklaring såvel som refleksionsinstrument over egen

position.Iforbindelsemedbegrebsafklaringviljegdiskutere”hovedlinjer”eller

”hovedstrømninger” som begreber, der ofte bruges i historiske, faglitterære

fremstillingersomgrebtilafgrænsning.Iforbindelsemeddettemegetgenerelle

og meget anvendelige begreb vil jeg diskutere begrebet om periodisering.

Periodeafgrænsning forudsætter brud på linjen i form af afbrydelse eller

grundlæggende forandring. Det interessante bliver her hvornår, hvordan og

hvorfor der sker brud? – Jeg vil konkretisere med eksempler fra dansk tv-

dramahistorieiperioden.

JanSchlosser,“ÜberdieLinie:ErnstJüngerognihilismensovervindelse”

LinjentydeliggørforskelleiErnstJüngersogMartinHeideggersrefleksionover

muligheder for overvindelse af nihilismen: trans lineamhos Jünger (1950), de

lineahosHeidegger(1955).Minteseer,atdisseforskellekanpræciseresvedat

inddrage Ingolds terminus linje (2007), der udfoldes i en metafysisk og

antropologiskkontekst.IngoldogJüngerdefinererlinjensomnogetdynamiskog

temporalt.Jüngerforestillersig,atnihilismenkanovervindesi(efterkrigs)tiden.

Med essayetÜberdieLinieplacerer han sig inden for en bevægelsesform, som

ogsåbehandlesafIngold,hoshvemtranslineam-bevægelsenforbinderenrække

punkter. Ud fra Ingold kan Jüngers linje beskrives som en linje, der fører fra

punkttilpunkt.HeideggerskritiskelæsningafÜberdieLiniemåinddragesforat

konkretisere disse punkter. Jüngers linje forbinder nihilismen i stedet for at

overvinde den. På begge sider af linjen er metafysikken og nihilismen

dominerende. – Linjen er et centralt begreb på tværs af genrer og perioder i

Jüngers forfatterskab efter 1945. Novellen Aladins Problem (1983) viser, at

centrale tanker fra Über die Linie ligeledes spiller en betydelig rolle i den

narrative tekstproduktion. Den optimistiske efterkrigstolkning af linjen og

muligheder for at overvinde nihilismen er dog blevet til resignation og

pessimisme i Aladins Problem. Denne tekst viser, at det ikke er muligt at

overskride linjen. Heideggers tese om nihilismen som en udstrakt zone

bekræftesiJüngersnovelle.

UlliPinkert,“DieLinie–AnnaSeghers’prosacyklusfra1949”

I1949,åretdaDDRblivertilogtoåreftersintilbagekomstframangeårseksil

skrev Anna Seghers tre fortællinger, som hun offentliggjorde som cyklusmed

overskriften, Die Linie. Tid og sted i teksterne er meget forskellige: Kina,

Frankrig og Sovjetunionen i 1920erne og 30erne, men alle har de et

kommunistisk persongalleri. Fortællingernes omdrejningspunkt er forholdet

mellempartitopogpartibasisogfastlæggelsenafdenrigtigepartilinje.

Mit foredrag fokuserer især på Seghers’ trefoldige interesse for partilinjen og

denskulturelleogpolitiskekontekst.

Anker Gemzøe, “‘Statsraad inde i sig selv’ – Identitet og valgret hos Thit

Jensen”

After all,what is a thing, or indeedaperson, if not a tying togetherof the lines – thepathsof

growthandmovement–ofallthemanyconstituentsgatheredthere?Originally,‘thing’meanta

gatheringofpeople,andaplacewheretheywouldmeettoresolvetheiraffairs.Asthederivation

ofthewordsuggests,everythingisaparliamentoflines.--TimIngold:Lines.Abriefhistory

Gerd. Det tyvende Aarhundredes Kvinde (1918) og Aphrodite fra Fuur. Den

moderneKvindesUdviklingshistorie(1925)ernogleafThit Jensensbetydeligste

romaner. De er udtryk for hendes holdning til den politiske valgret, der blev

indført i 1915og iværksat fra1919, og indlæg i hendesdebatmed sig selv og

sine læsere om kvindefrigørelsens nødvendighed og mulige omkostninger.

Valgretten–iformafkvindersfundamentalerettilatvælgederesliv–erbådeet

politisk og eksistentielt hovedmotiv hos Thit Jensen. I disse romaner er en

debatscene, a parliament of lines, endog personlighedsmodel og

formgenererendeprincip.

Tim Ingolds Lines muliggør en ny, skærpet belysning af denne komplekse

sammenhæng. Linjer som aftegning af ”the paths of growth and movement”

findesdelsienironisk-symbolskopladningafkvindeligesyslersomathækle,at

brodereogikkemindstatkniple,dels iromanernesraffineredesammenkobling

afpolitiskogpersonligpluralisme,affolketingog”detGerdskeRigsraad”.

Peder Kaj Pedersen, “Linjer: satser, melodier, temaer, motiver, stykker,

stemmer,sange?”

Noget af det mest indflydelsesrige i de sidste årtiers musikforskning er det

begreb, som den new zealandske musikforsker Christopher Small lancerede i

bogenMusicking (1998). Bogen var et opgør med den vestlige, værkbaserede

kunstmusikkultur med alt dens komponist- og koncert(u)væsen. Som Small

spidsededettil:“Thereisnosuchthingasmusic.Musicisnotathingatallbut

anactivity,somethingthatpeopledo.Theapparentthing“music”isafigment,an

abstractionoftheaction,whoserealityvanishesassoonasweexamineitatall

closely.”Small introduceredeheroverforetbegreb formusik, somnogetnogen

gør,begrebet”musicking”.Small flyttedefokusvækframusiksomkomponeret

ogikoncertsalenblotinterpreteretogoverpåaltdet,nogengør,foratderkan

væremusik.

Musik blev med andre ord et fænomen, som altid må begribes i de mange

situationer, hvor der foregår ”musicking”. Den privilegerede status, som det

musikalske værk som det foreligger fra komponistens hånd havde i et

koncertvæsenbaseretpåinterpretationafenkanonafsådanneværkerosv.blev

anfægtet.Musikblevetfænomen,somaltidmåbegribesidemangesituationer,

hvorderforegår”musicking”,sandtnok.Menderfulgtemåskeogsåentendens

til, at et vigtigt musikkulturelt aspekt, den empiriske realitet, som det

komponeredeværkudgår,gledibaggrunden.

Tim Ingolds Lines: A Brief History (2007) viser, at det stadig lønner sig at

reflektereovernetopdekategorier, derharmeddetmusikalskeværkat gøre.

Jegviltageudgangspunktihansrefleksioneroverdenmusikalskelinje,menjeg

vilforsøgeatledetankegangenvidereovertilbegrebetmusikalsksats,somefter

minopfattelseerafgørendeidennesammenhæng.OgsåherkanmanmedSmall

hævde, at der er tale om ”an abstraction of the action” men ikke om at dens

realitet forsvinder, når vi undersøger det nærmere. Det vil jeg prøve at

eksemplificeremedafsæthosIngold.