Subject: January Book of the Month
From: Wolfgang Schirmacher (W.Schirmacher@worldnet.att.net)
Date: Tue Jan 04 2000 - 19:47:21 CST
Let’s start our readings with SANDY STONE’S 1996 book THE WAR OF DESIRE, an
insightful guide into cyberspace, a bold concept of body, desire and
identity as well as a historical testimony to the beginning of the Internet.
January is STONE month, and you are expected to enter at least one comment
by the end of the month. Please feel free to visit htttp:// sandystone.com
for more and updated information about Sandy’s work.
Please bear in mind: You are not supposed to become an expert
on Sandy Stone but to treat her accomplishments as an opportunity to become
inspired. So find something in it for your own creative work and remember:
Your general attitude should be that of a (younger) colleague, not a
student.
Inspiration is only part of the process, but conceptualization is equally
important. That is the reason why I am also assigning for this month the
following short texts from the CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY Anthology:
Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, Anti-Oedipus: The Desiring Machines
Helene Cixous, Sorties: Out and Out: Attacks/Ways Out/ Forays
Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality
Julia Kristeva, Women’s Time
Luce Irigaray, Sexual Difference
The challenge is to use the new understanding of sex, gender and desire
provided by these French thinkers to give Sandy’s stories (and public
performances) the theoretical attention they richly deserve.
My advice: If the assigned readings are not helpful, go to the philosophers’
website and check out their publication list to find something you can
relate to. In general, your (possible) thesis / dissertation project should
be your subject and angle of perspective and may function as your focus in
the online tutorial and during your intensive seminars in Saas-Fee. However,
this focus is not set in stone since you may certainly refine and / or
change it over the next years.
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