Finnegans Wake & embodied cognition. A joycean reading

  • Simone Rebora University of Verona

Abstract

This contribution proposes an interpretation of the language theory in Finnegans Wake, identifying its potential matches with the embodied cognition thesis. First, are revised critical texts about the relations between joycean writings, the sciences of the mind and the evolution of technology and informatics. Then, through the close analysis of four excerpt, are outlined the traits of joycean poetics closer to the recent acquisitions in the cognitive sciences. In particular: the bodily roots of the formation of language and the inexhaustible process of interpretation. The first convergence is detected in neurosciences, with reference to the recent proposals of Vittorio Gallese, about “embodiment of language comprehension.” The second convergence is identified in the studies on Artificial Life, referring to the writings of Christopher Langton and the Research Group of Los Alamos.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Simone Rebora, University of Verona
Simone Rebora (e-mail: simone.rebora@libero.it) is a PhD Student at the University of Verona (PhD in Foreign Literatures and Literature Sciences – XXVIII cycle). He graduated in Modern Philology at the University of Florence, with a thesis in Literature Theory on the relations between Finnegans Wake and complex systems theory (supervisor: Prof. Enza Biagini). He deals with literary historiography (with particular attention to the nineteenth century in England) and the relations between science and literature. Among his major published essays: Un'ermeneutica condivisa (2011); Poetiche joyciane tra scienza e tecnologia (2011); Tra Wittgenstein e Vico. Per una teoria del linguaggio in «Finnegans wake» (2013). Recently, he has been charged with the task of writing a monograph on the work of Claudio Magris, for Cadmo Publisher of Fiesole (FI).

References

Armand, Louis, Techné: James Joyce, Hypertext & Technology, Praga, Univerzita Karlova v Praze Nakladatelství Karolinum, 2007.

Armand, Louis - Vichnar, David (eds.), Hypermedia Joyce, Praga, Litteraria Pragensia, 2010.

Bernini, Marco - Caracciolo, Marco, Letteratura e scienze cognitive, Roma, Carocci, 2013.

Bishop, John, Joyce’s Book of The Dark. Finnegans Wake, Madison, The University of Wisconsin Press, 1986.

Clark, Andy, Being There: Putting Brain, Body and World Together Again (1997), trad. it. Dare corpo alla mente, Ed. Sergio Levi, Milano, McGraw-Hill, 1999.

Dennett, Daniel, Consciousness explained (1991), trad. it. Coscienza. Che cosa è, Ed. Lauro Colasanti, Bari, Laterza, 2009.

Dyer, Michael, “Toward Synthesizing Artificial Neural Networks that Exhibit Cooperative Intelligent Behavior: Some Open Issues in Artificial Life”, Artificial life: an overview, Ed. Christopher Langton, London, MIT Press, 1995: 111-134.

Eco, Umberto, “Ostrigotta, ora capesco”, James Joyce, Anna Livia Plurabelle, Ed. Rosa Maria Bollettieri Bosinelli, Torino, Einaudi, 1996: III-XXX.

Frasca, Gabriele, Joyicity. Joyce con McLuhan e Lacan, Napoli, Edizioni d’If, 2013.

Gallese, Vittorio, “Simulazione incarnata, intersoggettività e linguaggio”, Psicoanalisi e neuroscienze. Risonanze interdisciplinari, Eds. Giuseppe Moccia - Luigi Solano, Milano, Angeli, 2009: 174-206.

Harnad, Stevan, “Levels of Functional Equivalence in Reverse Bioengineering”, Artificial life: an overview, Ed. Christopher Langton, London, MIT Press, 1995: 293-302.

Johnson, Mark, The body in the mind: the bodily basis of meaning, imagination, and reason, Chicago, University of Chicago, 1987.

Johnston, John, The Allure of Machinic Life. Cybernetics, Artificial Life, and the New AI, Cambridge, The MIT Press, 2010.

Joyce, James, Finnegans Wake (1939), London, Faber and Faber, 1975.

Id., Finnegans Wake. Libro Primo V-VIII, Ed. Luigi Schenoni, Milano, Mondadori, 2001.

Kenner, Hugh, The mechanic muse, New York, Oxford University Press, 1987.

Knowles, Sebastian, “Finnegans Wake for Dummies”, James Joyce Quarterly, 46.1 (2008): 97-111.

Lakoff, George - Johnson, Mark, Metaphors we live by (1980), trad. it. Metafora e vita quotidiana, Ed. Patrizia Violi, Roma, L’Espresso, 1982.

Langton, Christopher, “Editor’s Introduction”, Artificial life: an overview, Ed. Christopher Langton, London, MIT Press, 1995: ix-xi.

Id., “Artificial Life”, The Philosophy of Artificial Life, Ed. Margaret A. Boden, New York, Oxford University Press, 1997: 39-94.

McLuhan, Marshall, “Joyce, Aquinas, and the Poetic Process”, Renascence, 4.1 (1951): 3-11.

Id., “Joyce, Mallarmé, and the Press”, The Sewanee Review, 62.1 (1954): 38-55.

O’Neill, Patrick, Impossible Joyce: Finnegans Wakes, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2013.

Theall, Donald, James Joyce’s Techno-Poetics, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1997.

Waldrop, Morris, Complexity: the Emerging Science at The Edge of Order and Chaos (1993), trad. it. Complessità. Uomini e idee al confine tra ordine e caos, Ed. Libero Sosio, Torino, Instar libri, 1996.

Published
2014-06-01
How to Cite
Rebora, S. (2014). Finnegans Wake & embodied cognition. A joycean reading. Between, 4(7). https://doi.org/10.13125/2039-6597/1122
Section
In the Texts. The Long Modernity of Elocutio