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Introduction

John Lee

in Shakespeare’s Hamlet and the Controversies of Self

This introductory chapter first sets out the focus of the book, which is to search for an answer to a critical issue: does Prince Hamlet have a self-constituting sense of self? It then presents an ... More

This introductory chapter first sets out the focus of the book, which is to search for an answer to a critical issue: does Prince Hamlet have a self-constituting sense of self? It then presents an overview of the three parts of the book. Part I unfolds the contemporary academic drama surrounding the critical issue. Part II is set in the more distant past, its players drawn from Shakespearian critics of the 17th, 18th, and early 19th centuries. Part III opens with a sense of the high stakes and long vistas that lie behind the controversies of self. Hamlet, the Prince, and Hamlet, the play, now take centre stage.Less

A King of Infinite Space

John Lee

in Shakespeare’s Hamlet and the Controversies of Self

Shakespeare's Prince Hamlet has a self which is both a part of, and important to, his sense of identity. The last chapter put forward two complementary ways of describing and following this self. ... More

Shakespeare's Prince Hamlet has a self which is both a part of, and important to, his sense of identity. The last chapter put forward two complementary ways of describing and following this self. ‘That Within’ the Prince was seen to be an area discrete, though not separate, from his society, and that discreteness was seen to have been self-created; the Prince was seen to possess a self-constituting, as opposed to a self-fashioning, agency. Such an argument refutes the basic thrusts of the arguments of Cultural Materialists and New Historicists concerning English Renaissance literary subjectivity. It also concentrates on the similarities between the Prince's senses of self and more modern senses of self. However, at the heart of the descriptive approaches to self put forward in Chapter 6 is an insistence on the non-essentialist nature of self; Prince Hamlet's senses of self must be historically sited, distinct in various ways from our contemporary senses of self. Prince Hamlet must have aspects of his sense of self that make him of his time; to a point, he must acknowledge Claudius' claim of kinship in this, as in familial matters — no matter how distasteful that kinship may be to him. This chapter focuses on one aspect of this kinship, and so on one difference between the senses of self within Hamlet and modern senses of self. It argues that during the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods there is a rhetorical sense of self. Such a rhetorical sense of self is examined as it can be seen within some of Shakespeare's plays, and is placed in relation to Prince Hamlet's senses of self.Less

Introduction: Individuality in South India

Mattison Mines

in Public Faces, Private Voices: Community and Individuality in South India

This book counters the commonplace view that individuality lacks importance in social life in India and offers a theory of Tamil individuality, analyzing individuality from the perspectives of ... More

This book counters the commonplace view that individuality lacks importance in social life in India and offers a theory of Tamil individuality, analyzing individuality from the perspectives of exterior or public lives and interior or private lives. It shows that Tamils do recognize individuality as an essential feature of ordinary life and that individuality lies at the very crux of a Tamil's sense of self as well as his or her sense of others, discussing the nature of Tamil individuality.Less

The bodily senses

Jeffrey Gray

in Consciousness: Creeping up on the hard problem

The previous chapter considered the sense of self as being made up of a point of view (computed in the parietal lobes) and belongingness (computed in the hippocampal system). These processes both ... More

The previous chapter considered the sense of self as being made up of a point of view (computed in the parietal lobes) and belongingness (computed in the hippocampal system). These processes both require the construction in consciousness of a model of the external world. Furthermore, they are both strongly cognitive. The point of view requires the construction of a map of egocentric space; and the sense of belonging requires semantic and associative interpretation of current sensory input. This chapter considers an aspect of the sense of self that offers a sharp contrast. It is concerned, not with the external world, but with states of the body; and it largely lacks that hallmark of cognitive processing, intentionality. It is argued that core consciousness (consciousness of bodily states and the emotional reactions that reflect these states) does not differ radically from cognitive consciousness in terms of brain location. Both depend for their proximal neural correlates upon activity, not in the brain stem, but in the neocortex (however, core consciousness does differ sharply from cognitive consciousness in its general lack of intentionality).Less

Carl Jung’s Search for Permanence

Daniel M. Ogilvie

in Fantasies of Flight

This chapter focuses on the core of the story that led to Jung's vision of levitation, drawing on George Atwood and Robert Stolorow's Faces in a Cloud, Peter Homans' Jung in Context, and Jung's ... More

This chapter focuses on the core of the story that led to Jung's vision of levitation, drawing on George Atwood and Robert Stolorow's Faces in a Cloud, Peter Homans' Jung in Context, and Jung's autobiography Memories, Dreams, Reflections. These three works have deepened the author's understanding of the collective unconscious, why Jung needed to invent it, and how he worked on it until he got it right. The chapter first describes the collective unconscious and discusses its hidden role in personality development. It then looks into the conditions that led to Jung's “discovery” of the collective unconscious and how it slowly evolved as a potential healer of his fractured sense of self.Less

The Sorcerer and His Apprentice: Aleister Crowley and the Magical Exploration of Edwardian Subjectivity

Alex Owen

in Aleister Crowley and Western Esotericism

This chapter discusses the theme of the “sacralization of the self,” and places Crowley's magical work in the context of a fin de siècle occultism. It tries to determine whether Crowley's magic ... More

This chapter discusses the theme of the “sacralization of the self,” and places Crowley's magical work in the context of a fin de siècle occultism. It tries to determine whether Crowley's magic expresses a modern sense of the self. Next, it interprets the magical exploration of John Dee's “Aethyrs” that Crowley did along with Victor Neuburg in 1909, in order to try to understand the complete implications of subjectivity.Less

“Naked without My Line-Ends”: Robert Lowell in His Letters (2006)

Willard Spiegelman

in Imaginative Transcripts: Selected Literary Essays

This chapter examines the letters and correspondence of American poet Robert Lowell. It suggests that though Lowell was not very comfortable with the medium of letter writing, the tone of his letters ... More

This chapter examines the letters and correspondence of American poet Robert Lowell. It suggests that though Lowell was not very comfortable with the medium of letter writing, the tone of his letters was always at least assured and more often assertive with an undertone of competitiveness. The bulk of his letters reveal the heart of a man and the two things that occupied all of his energies: his sense of self and his work, separate but interchangeable.Less

Rape as Evil

Keith Doubt

in Understanding Evil: Lessons from Bosnia

This chapter analyzes the motives behind the rapes in Bosnia during the war. The rapes were assaults on individuals' bodies and selves. The purpose was not just to harm a ... More

This chapter analyzes the motives behind the rapes in Bosnia during the war. The rapes were assaults on individuals' bodies and selves. The purpose was not just to harm a woman or young girl's body, but also to destroy a person's sense of self as a free and self-conscious person. Rape was also used to destroy the woman's relation to her family and community, in part by provoking her family and community to reject her.Less

Strangers, Counterfeiters, and Gangsters: Figures of Belonging and the Problem of Belief

in Houses in Motion: The Experience of Place and the Problem of Belief in Urban Malaysia

This chapter introduces several figures within Brickfields that showed how the residents tried to form a sense of self and community. These figures are the stranger, the counterfeiter, and the ... More

This chapter introduces several figures within Brickfields that showed how the residents tried to form a sense of self and community. These figures are the stranger, the counterfeiter, and the gangster, which were all taken from overlapping sites (i.e. the popular media, the Malaysian state, and the conversations of self and community that spread at the local neighbourhood level). It shows that these figures served as a way for the residents of Brickfields to understand the different events that made up their daily lives and as objects of belief created beyond the discourses on religion or state. The figures of counterfeiters and strangers are said to give “faces” to supposed threats within the community that deemed difficult to identify. On the other hand, the figure of the gangster was commonly associated by outsiders with Brickfields. This chapter thus aims to form a place of belief that is central to the creation of ethical forms of urban life.Less

Identity and Musical Development in People with Severe or Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties

Adam Ockelford and John Vorhaus

in Handbook of Musical Identities

This chapter examines the relationship between identity and musical engagement on the part of children and young people who have either severe learning difficulties (SLD) or profound and multiple ... More

This chapter examines the relationship between identity and musical engagement on the part of children and young people who have either severe learning difficulties (SLD) or profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD). The idea of identity is considered in two contexts: philosophical conceptions of self and the psychomusicologically-based “Sounds of Intent” model of musical development. This epistemological merger leads to the putative notion of a “musical identity” in children with learning difficulties. The discussion is followed by six vignettes, which illustrate a practical application of the theoretical thinking.Less

With Life in One's Lap: The Story of an Eye/I (or Two)

Cheryl Mattingly and Linda C. Garro

in Narrative and the Cultural Construction of Illness and Healing

This chapter interweaves autobiography with material from the author's ethnographic research in order to examine the complicated relationship between illness narratives, illness experience, and ... More

This chapter interweaves autobiography with material from the author's ethnographic research in order to examine the complicated relationship between illness narratives, illness experience, and personal identity. The author uses the stories to comment about the surprises of illness and how it speaks to a person's sense of self and to raise a series of critical questions about narrative theory. It also critiques the predominance of the “I” in many autobiographical and life story accounts of illness.Less

The Aesthetics of the Misfit: The Case of Henry Flynt and David Tudor (2004)¹

Kristine Stiles

in Concerning Consequences: Studies in Art, Destruction, and Trauma

This chapter examines the aesthetics of David Tudor as a performer and composer by situating his artistic aims within those of John Cage and Henry Flynt. As an interpreter-performer, Tudor trusted in ... More

This chapter examines the aesthetics of David Tudor as a performer and composer by situating his artistic aims within those of John Cage and Henry Flynt. As an interpreter-performer, Tudor trusted in and aspired to the moment when in following a score he could unexpectedly depart from it, reaching a point of independence and sovereignty in the creative act. Although Tudor was the consummate interpreter of Cage's work, his own aesthetic interests diverged considerably from Cage's rejection of self-expression, his pursuit of anonymity in the work, and his notions of freedom. Drawing on interviews with and statements by Tudor and other artists, the chapter discusses the aesthetics of the misfit found in the margins of work by artists like Flynt and Tudor. It also considers Tudor's views on freedom and expression as well as his sense of self, along with Flynt's theory of the creep personality.Less

Rurality and ageing well: ‘a long time here’

Sherry Ann Chapman and Sheila Peace

in Rural ageing: A good place to grow old?

This chapter examines the interdependence of older women within the rural areas where they live. It tries to determine whether these are good places in which to grow old, and whether the physical and ... More

This chapter examines the interdependence of older women within the rural areas where they live. It tries to determine whether these are good places in which to grow old, and whether the physical and social character of these places influences the sense of self of the participants in later life. A comparison and contrast of the lives of people living in two distinct locations in the Western world — rural Canada and semi-rural England — is included.Less

Ethos of care and environment in long-stay care settings: impacts on residents' lives

Adeline Cooney and Kathy Murphy

in Valuing older people: A humanist approach to ageing

The findings reported in this chapter are part of a larger study of residents' and staff's perceptions of quality-of-life issues in residential care settings. The findings arise from qualitative ... More

The findings reported in this chapter are part of a larger study of residents' and staff's perceptions of quality-of-life issues in residential care settings. The findings arise from qualitative interviews with 101 residents and 48 staff. Residents' accounts suggest that one of the most significant factors to impact on their continuity and quality of life is the environment and ethos of care. The ethos of care environments shaped the extent to which promoting and maintaining independence was embedded into the care of residents. Participants maintained their senses of self by various means and the findings suggest that most residents are able to maintain a sense of self in residential care facilities. Privacy is often assumed to be about physical privacy only. However, in this study, participants gave equal weighting to social, psychological, and physical privacy.Less

Feminist Bookstores: Building Identity

Daphne Spain

in Constructive Feminism: Women's Spaces and Women's Rights in the American City

This chapter examines how feminist bookstores revealed multidimensional and complex female identities that could transform women’s sense of self. These bookstores were often an outgrowth of women’s ... More

This chapter examines how feminist bookstores revealed multidimensional and complex female identities that could transform women’s sense of self. These bookstores were often an outgrowth of women’s center libraries, carrying with them it the mission to serve the women’s community. Feminist bookstores collected, in one place, a diverse array of publications that spoke to multiple and overlapping groups. Just one or two books were insufficient for the task; it took stacks of books, what the scholar Kristen Hogan calls “the feminist shelf,” to represent the relationships among race, gender, ethnicity, sexual preference, motherhood, and the myriad other ways in which women define themselves.Less

Making Text

Emma Walters

in Doing Text: Media After the Subject

This chapter explores the act of making text. It looks at the author's own biography. Understanding one's contribution to both the textual and cultural milieu in which one situates themself provides ... More

This chapter explores the act of making text. It looks at the author's own biography. Understanding one's contribution to both the textual and cultural milieu in which one situates themself provides concrete meaning to their existence in the space and time in which they are historically rooted. Of equal importance are questions on the very nature of how one's textual and cultural footprint impacts on the wider society they are in the process of creating. Making texts is a mode of reinforcing this underlying ideology, a strategy of facilitating, locating, constructing, and ultimately communicating or 'making' one's sense of self and place.Less

Our Sense of Self: Who Am I? How Am I Doing?

E. Tory Higgins

in Shared Reality: What Makes Us Strong and Tears Us Apart

Of all the objects you know and have beliefs about, you are the object you pay most attention to and want to know best. And, when it comes to sharing beliefs and opinions about the world with others, ... More

Of all the objects you know and have beliefs about, you are the object you pay most attention to and want to know best. And, when it comes to sharing beliefs and opinions about the world with others, you are the object in the world that you most want your significant others to share your beliefs and opinions about who you are. How do individuals learn to know who they are? It begins with children learning what it is about themselves and what they do that determines how others respond to them as an object in the world (shared social contingent self). They share with others what is relevant about them, what matters. They share what to expect of themselves in terms of their skills and abilities (shared expectant self). They share with others what goals they should pursue and what standards they should use to evaluate themselves (shared monitored self). Depending on whether their shared goals and standards are promotion or prevention, people inflate or deflate their self-esteem to maintain their eagerness or vigilance, respectively. And they are motivated to verify the truth of shared beliefs about themselves for both positive and negative self-attributes. And a big part of our sense of self are the social identities that we embrace. Individuals create a shared reality we with groups that is so powerful that they will die for it. Like a “band of brothers,” there can be a social fusion with a political group that has the power of family.Less