The Social Form of Alphabetic Psychology. de Kerckhove’s “Neurocultural Hypothesis” and Theatre
Abstract
Following the studies of Marshall McLuhan and Eric Havelock, Derrick De Kerchkove argues that the invention of theater by the Athenian community between the sixth and fifth centuries BC marks a decisive moment in the formation of Western mind, to be closely connected with the contemporary invention of alphabetic writing. Since attending to the theatrical performance requires attention and behavior characterized by immobility, distance and mental reflection, theater would have contributed to the emergence of modes of perception and participation in social life dependent on the increasing value of eye and sight, while promoting the decline of the oral and tribal ear. Theater was indeed one of the main instruments of what de Kerckhove call “desensorialization” of knowledge and experience. Has the profound transformation of communication media brought to some change? Signals from experimental theater of the second half of the twentieth century seem to suggest a significant change in the status of the performing arts, if not a true reversal. In the context of contemporary communicaton, characterized by virtuality and digital networks, the practice of performing arts (theatre, music, dance) acquires a predominantly opposite value as a potential "accelerator" of “ri-sensorialization” of knowledge.Downloads
References
Changeux, Jean-Pierre, L’homme neuronal, Fayard, Paris, 1983; trad. it. L’uomo neuronale, Feltrinelli, Milano, 1990.
Deriu, Fabrizio, Performático. Teoria delle arti dinamiche, Bulzoni, Roma, 2012.
Id., Mediologia della performance. Arti performátiche nell’epoca della riproducibilità digitale, Le Lettere, Firenze,2013.
Derrida, Jacques, “Force et signification”, in Critique, 193-194 (june-juillet 1963), trad. it. “Forza e significazione”, in Id., La scrittura e la differenza, Einaudi, Torino, 2002, pp. 3-38.
Di Benedetto, Vincenzo - Medda, Enrico, La tragedia sulla scena. La tragedia greca in quanto spettacolo teatrale, Einaudi, Torino,1997.
Havelock, Eric A., Preface to Plato, Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Mass.), 1963, trad. it. Cultura orale e civiltà della scrittura. Da Omero a Platone, Laterza, Roma-Bari, 1973.
Id., Origins of Western Literacy, OISE Publications, Toronto, 1976.
Id., The Muse Learns to Write. Reflections on Orality and Literacy from Antiquity to Present, Yale University Press, New Haven-London, 1986; trad. it. La musa impara a scrivere. Riflessioni sull’oralità e l’alfabetismo dall’antichità al giorno d’oggi, Laterza, Roma-Bari, 1987.
Id., “The Alphabetic Mind: A Gift of Greece to the Modern World”, in Oral Tradition, 1 (1986), pp. 134-150.
Kerckhove, Derrick de, “La fonction du théâtre comme agent d’intériorisation des effets de l’alphabet phonétique à Athènes au Ve siècle”, in les Imaginaires II, 10/18 (1979).
Id., “A Theory of Greek Tragedy”, in Sub-Stance, 29 (1981), pp. 23-36.
Id., “Écriture, théâtre et neurologie”, in Ètudes Françaises, 18.1 (1982), pp. 109-128.
Id., La civilisation vidéo-chretienne, Éditions Retz/Atelier Alpha Blue, Paris, 1990, trad. it. La civilizzazione video-cristiana, Feltrinelli, Milano, 1995.
Id., Brainframes. Technology, Mind and Business, Bosch& Keuning, Baarn, 1991, trad. it. Brainframes. Mente, tecnologia, mercato, Baskerville, Bologna, 1993.
Id., Dall’alfabeto a Internet. L’homme “littéré”: alfabetizzazione, cultura, tecnologia, Mimesis, Milano, 2008.
McLuhan, Marshall, The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man, Toronto University Press, Toronto, 1962, trad. it. Galassia Gutenberg. Nascita dell’uomo tipografico, Armando, Roma, 1976.
Id., Understanding Media, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1964, trad. it. Gli strumenti del comunicare (1967), Il Saggiatore, Milano, 2008.
Schechner, Richard, Performance Theory. Revised and Expanded Edition, Routledge, New York and London, 1988.
Id., Performance Studies. An Introduction (2002), Routledge, New York and London, 2013.
Vernant, Jean-Pierre – Vidal-Naquet, Pierre, Mythe et tragédie en Gréce ancienne, Librairie François Maspero, Paris, 1972, trad. it. Mito e tragedia nell’antica Grecia, Einaudi, Torino, 1976.
Id., Mythe et tragédie deux, Éditions La Dècouverte, Paris, 1986, trad. it. Mito e tragedia due, Einaudi, Torino, 1991.
Wilson, Edwin, The Theatre Experience, McGraw-Hill, New York, 2009.
Copyright Notice
You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the work, and to adapt the work. You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).
