italian-studies: Scholarly discussions in any field of Italian studies
Dear Charlotte Ross,
By way of comparison, consider some Irish precursors of the cyborg
theme (albeit on a low technological level): Flann O'Brien's comic
theory of humans merging their molecules into the bicycles they ride
(see _The Third Policeman_ and _The Dalkey Archive_), and Samuel
Beckett's presentations of man and machine in a similar combined mode.
Thomas O'Grady at http://omega.cc.umb.edu/~irish/june1998.htm sums up
the Beckett case as follows: 'Hugh Kenner has even argued that the
many bicycle-riding Irishmen in Samuel Beckett's novels-Molloy,
Moran, Mercier and Camier, among others-are "Cartesian Centaurs."
Observing how the Greeks "united the noblest functions of rational
and animal being, man with horse" in imagining the race of Centaurs,
Kenner observes further: "For many years, however, we have had
accessible to us a nobler image of bodily perfection than the horse.
The Cartesian Centaur is a man riding a bicycle, mens sana in corpore
disposito [a sound mind in a orderly-arranged body]."'
(The reference for the Kenner essay is _Samuel Beckett: A Critical
Study_ by Hugh Kenner (New York: Grove Press Inc., 1961; London: John
Calder, Ltd, 1961 -- see the French translation at
http://wvorg.free.fr/hoepffner/KennBeck.html)
O'Grady (same web page) sums up the Flann O'Brien case as follows:
'Still, the strongest evidence of the role (or roll, if you will) of
bicycles in Irish life remains the "Atomic Theory" introduced by
Sergeant Pluck in Flann O'Brien's darkly comic novel The Third
Policeman and reworked as the "Mollycule Theory" by Sergeant Fottrell
in The Dalkey Archive. Clearly, no rational mind could either dispute
the empirical evidence or refute the sound scientific principles
underlying the theory: "The gross and net result of it is that people
who spent most of their natural lives riding iron bicycles over the
rocky roadsteads of this parish get their personalities mixed up with
the personalities of their bicycle as a result of their interchanging
of the atoms of each of them and you would be surprised at the number
of people in these parts who nearly are half people and half
bicycles. . . . And you would be flabbergasted at the number of
bicycles that are half-human almost half-man, half-partaking of
humanity."'
Accuracy of transcriptions not guaranteed!
Cormac O Cuilleanain
Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland
> >Dear all,
>>
>>Besides essays by Calvino and works by Buzzati and Primo Levi, can
>>anyone suggest any texts in Italian - either fiction or theoretical -
>>that deal with cyborg or posthuman bodies / the merging of bodies and
>>technological devices etc.?
>>
>>I am focusing on the 1950s, 60s and 70s, but would also be interested
>>in references for earlier 20th century publications, as well as works
>>that address more recent developments.
>>
>>Thank you,
>>
>>
> >Charlotte Ross
>>Department of Italian
>>University of Warwick
>>Coventry, CV4 7AL
> >Tel: 02476 528490
>>
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