Embodied Rhythm and Musical Impact of Corporal Punishment in Twentieth-Century Opera

2018 ◽  
pp. 220-240
Author(s):  
Shersten Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Corporal Punishment ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
The Body ◽  
Emotional Impact ◽  
Focus Attention ◽  
Bodily Experience ◽  
Physical Suffering ◽  
Billy Budd ◽  
Jesus Christ Superstar

Operatic dramas often set to music the extremes of human bodily experience—disease, death, and violence—all duly tinged with hues of eroticism. Not surprisingly then, the genre includes a number of works that stage scenes of corporal punishment. These moments of physical suffering can focus attention on the body in a way that even Mimi’s consumption or Carmen’s stabbing cannot. This chapter examines three such scenes in operas by Britten (Billy Budd), Adams (Nixon in China), and Lloyd Webber (Jesus Christ Superstar) to see how music, action, and text multimodally represent not only the cruel impact of blows, but also the emotional impact for victim, punisher, onstage onlookers, and audience. Close readings of the three scenes draw on theories of embodied rhythm and mimetic listening to engage the question of how this music “gets into our bodies” and helps us to experience the dramas.

Revaluations through Dance: Friedrich Nietzsche's Thought in Isadora Duncan's Speech The Dance of the Future

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 206-219
Author(s):  
Meindert E. Peters
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
The Body ◽  
Eternal Recurrence ◽  
Early Twentieth Century ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Mind

Friedrich Nietzsche's influence on Isadora Duncan's work, in particular his idea of the Dionysian, has been widely discussed, especially in regard to her later work. What has been left underdeveloped in critical examinations of her work, however, is his influence on her earlier choreographic work, which she defended in a famous speech held in 1903 called The Dance of the Future. While commentators often describe this speech as ‘Nietzschean’, Duncan's autobiography suggests that she only studied Nietzsche's work after this speech. I take this incongruity as a starting point to explore the connections between her speech and Nietzsche's work, in particular his Thus Spoke Zarathustra. I argue that in subject and language Duncan's speech resembles Nietzsche's in important ways. This article will draw attention to the ways in which Duncan takes her cues from Nietzsche in bringing together seemingly conflicting ideas of religion and an overturning of morality; Nietzsche's notion of eternal recurrence and the teleology present in his idea of the Übermensch; and a renegotiation of the body's relation to the mind. In doing so, this article contributes not only to scholarship on Duncan's early work but also to discussions of Nietzsche's reception in the early twentieth century. Moreover, the importance Duncan ascribes to the body in dance and expression also asks for a new understanding of Nietzsche's own way of expressing his philosophy.

Double Affirmation: Medievalism as Christian Apologetic in the Arthurian Poetry of Charles Williams

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 59-96
Author(s):  
Sørina Higgins
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
The Body ◽  
European History ◽  
Body Of Christ ◽  
Female Figure ◽  
Century Poetry ◽  
Charles Williams ◽  
Embodied Theology

In his unfinished cycle of Arthurian poems, Charles Williams developed a totalizing mythology in which he fictionalized the Medieval. First, he employed chronological conflation, juxtaposing events and cultural references from a millennium of European history and aligning each with his doctrinal system. Second, following the Biblical metaphor of the body of Christ, Blake’s symbolism, and Rosicrucian sacramentalism, he embodied theology in the Medieval landscape via a superimposed female figure. Finally, Williams worked to show the validity of two Scholastic approaches to spirituality: the kataphatic and apophatic paths. His attempts to balance via negativa and via positiva led Williams to practical misapplication—but also to creation of a landmark work of twentieth century poetry. . . . the two great vocations, the Rejection of all images before the unimaged, the Affirmation of all images before the all-imaged, the Rejection affirming, the Affirmation rejecting. . . —from ‘The Departure of Dindrane’ —O Blessed, pardon affirmation!— —O Blessed, pardon negation!— —from ‘The Prayers of the Pope’

Liturgy and Public Theology

2020 ◽  
Vol 102 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-229
Author(s):  
James W. Farwell
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Body ◽  
Public Theology ◽  
Temporal Patterning ◽  
Ritual Performance ◽  
Reign Of God

Liturgy is an act of public theology, when considered from the point of view that Christian ritual performance is publicly enacted for the sake of a wider public, and joins the assembly to Jesus Christ, who is himself God's logos tou theou and God's liturgy. Liturgy does this work through its scripted repetition, formality, spatial and temporal patterning, focus on the body, and deployment of the familiar and unfamiliar. Through these modes, a worldview is enacted and valorizes a certain set of virtues and an orientation to living that correspond to that worldview. Among those virtues are gratitude, a desire for reconciliation, the recognition of our dependency of God and responsibility toward others, and a compassionate commitment to the dignity of humanity and the created order. These ritually enacted virtues, practiced in the hope for the full and coming reign of God, will orient the liturgical assembly to particular social, moral, political concerns as worthy of Christian engagement; but liturgical formation will not, in most cases, prescribe detailed courses of action to take when facing specific instances of those concerns.

Embodied Aesthetics

2018 ◽  
pp. 890-910
Author(s):  
Barbara Gail Montero
Keyword(s):  
Aesthetic Experience ◽  
The Body ◽  
Traditional View ◽  
Bodily Experience ◽  
Aesthetic Pleasure ◽  
Embodied Aesthetics ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
Bodily Movements

Although great art frequently revers the body, bodily experience itself is traditionally excluded from the aesthetic realm. This tradition, however, is in tension with the experience of expert dancers who find intense aesthetic pleasure in the experience of their own bodily movements. How to resolve this tension is the goal of this chapter. More specifically, in contrast to the traditional view that denigrates the bodily even while elevating the body, I aim to make sense of dancers’ embodied aesthetic experience of their own movements, as well as observers’ embodied aesthetic experience of seeing bodies move.

scholarly journals Vile Sovereigns in Bioethical Debate

2013 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Melinda Hall
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Michel Foucault ◽  
Human Enhancement ◽  
Reproductive Technology ◽  
The Body ◽  
Worth Living ◽  
Lecture Series ◽  
The Disabled ◽  
Bioethical Debate ◽  
Do So

<p>In this paper, I critically assess transhumanist philosophy and its influence in bioethics by turning to resources in the work of Michel Foucault. I begin by outlining transhumanism and drawing out some of the primary goals of transhumanist philosophy. In order to do so, I focus on the work of Nick Bostrom and Julian Savulescu, two prominent contributors to this thinking. I then move to explicate Foucault&rsquo;s work, in the early iterations of the <em>Abnormal</em> lecture series, on the concept of vile sovereignty. Foucault used the concept of vile sovereignty to critique psychiatric witnesses that had been utilized in mid twentieth-century French courts of law. Turning back to transhumanism, I analyze transhumanist discourse on the basis of Foucault&rsquo;s vile sovereignty. Transhumanists promote human enhancement in a way that rejects the body&mdash;especially the disabled body&mdash;and pose the question of what lives are worth living, as well as attempt to answer it. I conclude that because of the undeserved influence and ableism of transhumanism, it is important for feminist philosophers, philosophers of disability, and other disability scholars, who collide at the nexus of bioethical debate (especially with regard to reproductive technology and the body), to work together to intervene upon transhumanist discourse.&nbsp; &nbsp;</p><p>Keywords: bioethics; enhancement; Foucault; transhumanism; ableism</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>

scholarly journals Pemahaman Guru Pendidikan Agama Kristen tentang Mempersembahkan Tubuh Roma 12:1-3

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Andrianus Nababan
Keyword(s):  
Christian Education ◽  
Religious Education ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
The Body ◽  
Education Teacher ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
The Mind

AbstrackThe Christian religious education teacher is an educator who provides knowledge about Christianity based on the Bible, centered on Jesus Christ, and relied on the Holy Spirit. Christian Religious Education teachers must be able to offer their bodies in Romans 12:1-3. The understanding of offering the body include: 1)the Christian religious education teacher always i approaches the loving and generous God 2)give advice by encouraging, directing convey the truth of God's Words. 3). renewal of the mind by distinguishing which is good and pleasing to God. Thus, each Christian religious education teacher can understand that a true educator must surrender his/her body as a true offering according to will of God.Key word: Christian education teacher; Offering the body Romans 12:1-3.ABSTRAKGuru Pendidikan Agama Kristen merupakan seorang pendidik yang memberikan ilmu pengetahuan tentang agama Kristen yang berdasarkan Alkitab, berpusat pada Yesus Kristus, dan bergantung pada Roh Kudus kepada peserta didik dalam kegiatan belajarmengajar. Guru Pendidikan Agama Kristen harus mampu mempersembahkan tubuhnya dalam Roma 12:1-3 sebagai ibadah sejati. Pemahaman mempersembahkan tubuh yaitu 1)guru Pendidikan agama Kristen senantiasa menghampiri Allah yang penuh kasih dan kemurahan 2)memberikan nasihat dengan mendorong, mengarahkan dan berdasarkan kebenaran Firman Tuhan. 3)pembaharuan budi dengan membedakan mana yang baik dan yang berkenan kepada Allah. Demikian Guru Pendidikan Agama kristen mampu memahami mempersembahkan tubuh menyangkut kehendak Allah sebagai pendidik yang sejati.Kata Kunci: Guru Pendidikan Agama Kristen; Mempersembahkan tubuh.

scholarly journals Punishment and the Body

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Christopher Belshaw
Keyword(s):  
Corporal Punishment ◽  
Capital Punishment ◽  
The Body ◽  
Practical Solution

Suppose we accept that punishment can be legitimate. What form should it take? Many of us believe that it can be acceptable to fine or imprison someone, but that capital punishment, along with corporal punishment in its various manifestations, is wholly unacceptable. I suggest that it is hard to account for or justify this distinction. But granting that resistance to these latter forms is unlikely to be dislodged, and granting too that imprisonment in particular is hardly problem-free, it is worth considering whether there might be alternatives. And I argue here that we should consider enforced coma as a procedure having many advantages over the more familiar methods of delivering a penalty. Of course, there are disadvantages also. The aim isn’t to offer a detailed and practical solution to the problem of crime, but to explore some of the presumptions and principles involved in our thinking about punishment.

Punishment, Stigma and Social Identities in Classical Athens

2021 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-46
Author(s):  
Janek Kucharski
Keyword(s):  
Corporal Punishment ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Social Identities ◽  
The Body ◽  
Expressive Function

Abstract Taking its cue from modern debates on the expressive function of punishment, this paper discusses the stigmatizing effect of penalties in classical Athens. It focuses on corporal punishment, which was discursively associated in the Athenian public discourse (chiefly comedy and oratory) with slaves and other fringe groups of the citizen community, despite the fact that in reality, with only certain restrictions (e.g. whipping), it was meted out to all social tiers making up the polis-community. Unlike other penalties, those affecting the body were not only public, but not infrequently spectacular. This turned them into versatile devices of stigmatization whereby the punishment itself was no longer considered a one-off event, but a permanent mark branding the person who suffered it as a social outcast.

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