2014, Vol.34, No.

Magical Realism and Antonio Negri's Theory of Art: In Light of Claire Denis' Film Vendredi Soir

Choi Sooim | 2014, 34 | pp.7~41 | number of Cited : 4

PDF

This article examines magical realism in contemporary european film, whichis considered to be one of the most popular styles in the present culture, withregards to Antonio Negri’s theory of art. Magical realism is “alternative approach to reality” (Maggie Ann Bowers,Magic(al) Realism) and defined as “a fictional technique that combines fantasywith raw physical reality or social reality in a search for truth beyond thatavailable from the surface of everyday life” (Joan Mellen, Magic Realism). Theterm of Magic Realism was coined in 1923 by Franz Roh, German art historian,as the concept for the post-expressionist painting in Germany. It has flourishedin the Latin-American literature during the 1950s to 1980s and spreadworldwide. Since 1980s magical realism is considered to be a universal artisticmode. Since 1990s magical realism is to find in the various novels, and since2000 one encounters magical realism in the cinema very often. Antonio Negri writes about the relationship between life, imagination, art andthe political in his book Art et Multitude. According to Negri, the hard life ofpeople in the present society liberates the imagination and this creates the artas “the excess of the existence”. In this process the aesthetic becomes to thepolitical. Negri calls this space of art as “magical time and space”. Claire Denis’ film Vendredi Soir is analyzed as a contemporary magic realisttext, which realizes Negri's concept of art: vendredi soir (friday night) inVendredi Soir is the magical time, when the impossible becomes the possible,and paris in the public transportation strike is the magical space, where theindividuals meet the other in a new situation. The film analysis associates itselfwith Negri’s theory of art: in Vendredi Soir, it is to see, that the excess of theexistence liberates imagination and creates the magic reality both in themovements of things and the human relationship. The phenomenon of magical realism in contemporary culture can be understoodas the symptom of the emotional and existential pains of contemporary peoplein the current world. The contemporaneity of the magical realism can be readin the film as "the metaphor for contemporary thought" (Alain Badiou, Cinema). As Antonio Negri writes, art can become “the aesthetic redemption” (Negri, Artet Multitude) for us. At the same time “(t)his is where aesthetics can be transformedinto the political.” (Lee, "Communism and the Void")

Movies that seek after the truth and hierophanic time - Focused on <Offret> and <Flower Island>

Soongbeum Ahn | 2014, 34 | pp.43~69 | number of Cited : 1

PDF

Photogenie as the duality and mentality of the photographic image: a study based on the theory of Edgar Morin

Kim Ho-young | 2014, 34 | pp.71~92 | number of Cited : 3

PDF

The superposition of Science and Imagination

HONG Myung-Hee | 2014, 34 | pp.93~114 | number of Cited : 2

PDF

Gaston Bachelard had a revolutionary progress in the field of humanunderstanding by proposing his theory of image and imagination. His theory ofthe new image was so powerful, almost all areas of human science, particularlythat of literary criticism, were strongly influenced and this influence continuesuntil today. Today almost everyone accepts his theory of the image without muchobjection, but not rarely asked where began his transfer from the philosophy ofscience to the images. We propose a hypothesis that the beginning of the new concept of Bachelard’simage was inspired by studies of contemporary science, especially quantummechanics. The Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle was the core of quantummechanics, and opens new perspectives on the material world. We couldsummarize the message of the uncertainty principle : the material world is madeup of various layers, and the material can not be measured by the location andmovement at the same time. So we must have a new point of view of anotherdimension to know this material world. Bachelard had accepted this view ofHeisenberg and developed his own theory of epistemological rupture. What is revolutionary in the theory of Bachelard’s image is the fact that helooked at the images with the new perspective. The human psyche is anotherworld compared to the rational world that dominates our daily lives. Bachelardinsists that the image can not be explained by the concept. The fantasy worldis a totally different world to that of rationality. That is why it can not beexplained by the language of rationality as the concept. The imaginary world exists independently of the real world, but it issuperimposed on the real world. These two worlds are influencing each other,and it is between these two world where our daily lives continues. Thedeclaration of Bachelard ‘image is a specific reality’ is never a metaphor orrhetorical expression. This is an ontological expression that must truthfully. Theimaginary world is a world built on the image and it works according to its own114 비교문화연구 제34집 (2014. 3.)law. It is not a representation or copy of the real world. But the world ofimagination are not alone. It exists in the same time and space with the worldof science. It is superimposed with the world of science. Both two worldinfluence each other. Bachelard has made a revolutionary change by studying the images. He gavethem their own place. It has changed the views on the images that were treatedas mere representations of reality. Thanks to him, the image can have its ownvalue, that of a factor that creates reality. Bachelard shows how we can go deepinto the source of being and the universe if we look at the pictures with theeyes of other dimensions.

War in Leo Tolstoy’s Literature and War and Peace

kimsungil | 2014, 34 | pp.115~146 | number of Cited : 5

PDF

Cyclical stories on Caucasus and Sebastopol Sketches, including War andPeace, have generally been said as masterpieces dealing with the theme of warin Leo Tolstoy’s literature. Among them, it is no doubt that War and Peace isabsolutely the best one describing the grand panorama of people’s lives and waritself. The plot of this novel consists of the so-called Napoleonic War of 1812and of diverse lives both from the upper class and lower class, more essentiallyit dramatically presents how these pictures made all literary participantsexperienced their destiny and lives. Throughout these texts, war, including ofits cause and effects and participants, re-considers and re-evaluates all of eachfeatures. The most important themes in War and Peace is war itself as the novel’s titlesays. Rather than a just backdrop to the novel, the war plays a significant rolein providing the reader with various realistic, philosophic, moral andexistentialist perspectives. Moreover, War and Peace for the writer showscontradictory two views about war; he severally criticizes the Napoleonic warof 1812 in the sense that it violets people’s reason and nature. At the same time,however, Tolstoy considers that the war as liberation is justified and necessaryfor guarding people’s nation, otechestvo in Russian. What the writer attempts to show from this novel, however, goes beyond thesimple descriptions which were done above. Leo Tolstoy successfully offers andwhat he tries to show in the long run is that how people go through all kindsof sufferings and hardship and their spiritual resurrection, thereby leading to thevital force making history. For the writer, the essential force that makes historyand people’s lives is not heroic military leader like Napoleon, but those commonpeople. And the novel serves a wonderful prelude expecting the Decembristrevolt in 1825, because all of the vital and active streams that Tolstoyemphasizes turn out true in Russian history.

The Study of the Genocide in Guatemala

Noh Yongseok | 2014, 34 | pp.147~172 | number of Cited : 1