UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Santa Barbara Darker and Darker Still: Media-Technology, Darkness Narratives, and Fear A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Comparative Literature by Jeffrey J. Bellomi Committee in charge: Professor Rita Raley, Chair Professor Colin Gardner Professor Wolf Kittler Professor Greg Siegel December 2019 The dissertation of Jeffrey J. Bellomi is approved. ________________________________________ Professor Colin Gardner ________________________________________ Professor Wolf Kittler ________________________________________ Professor Greg Siegel ________________________________________ Professor Rita Raley, Committee Chair October 2019 Darker and Darker Still: Media-Technology, Darkness Narratives, and Fear Copyright © 2019 by Jeffrey J. Bellomi iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The long journey towards the completion of this dissertation could never have been completed without the unflagging support of my professional colleagues, mentors, friends, and family members, all for whom I am deeply grateful. Through the brilliant advising and support of my chair, Dr. Rita Raley, as well as that of the other members of my committee— Dr. Colin Gardner, Dr. Wolf Kittler, and Dr. Greg Siegel—this project reshaped itself and evolved beyond my earliest expectations into something of which I am truly proud. I dedicate this also to Dr. Catherine Nesci, whose professional and moral support served as a buoy amongst the shifting tides of research and writing. To my close friends and colleagues, Lacey Smith and Rachel Feldman: thank you for reminding me to laugh and stay grounded, as you both gave me a sense of home even when living far from it. To that end, none of my academic work could have existed without the efforts and sacrifices of my mother and aunt. Whenever I felt overwhelmed, you were there to remind me why this has been my dream, and I hope that in this work you can see the fruits of your support fully formed. Finally, to my father: I wish more than anything that you were still here to see this day, but know that I saw it through just as you had hoped. iv VITA OF JEFFREY J. BELLOMI December 2019 EDUCATION Bachelor of Arts in Modern Literary Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz, June 2009 Master of Arts in Comparative Literature, University of Colorado, Boulder, May 2013 Doctor of Philosophy in Comparative Literature, University of California, Santa Barbara, December 2019 (expected) PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYMENT 2011-2013: Teaching Assistant, Department of Germanic and Slavic, University of Colorado, Boulder 2013-2019: Teaching Assistant, Comparative Literature Program & Writing Program, University of California, Santa Barbara. 2014-2019: Teaching Associate, Comparative Literature Program, University of California, Santa Barbara. AWARDS Graduate Humanities Research (HUMRA) Fellowship, Graduate Division, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2017-2018 Outstanding Teaching Associate, Comparative Literature, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2015 Outstanding Teaching Assistant, Comparative Literature, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2014 & 2018 FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Media Studies with Professors Rita Raley, Wolf Kittler, and Greg Siegel Studies in Critical Theory with Professor Colin Gardner Studies in French and Francophone Literature with Professors Catherine Nesci and Ruth Mas Studies in German Literature with Professors Elizabeth Weber and Patrick Greaney v ABSTRACT Darker and Darker Still: Media-Technology, Darkness Narratives, and Fear by Jeffrey J. Bellomi This dissertation examines the relationship between select media-technological phenomena and historically configured narratives concerning darkness. Approaching said narratives through the work of Hans Blumenberg’s “metaphorology”, Friedrich Nietzsche’s conceptual paradigm, and Frederic Jameson’s concept of the “master narrative”, this project argues that darkness metaphors function as irreducible and fundamental blocks of meaning from which more complex narratives are built. This is informed principally by Blumenberg’s concept of the “absolute metaphor”, those being metaphors which serve to explain phenomena that evade empirical or logical deduction, such as evil, supernatural or metaphysical entities, and invisible threats, amongst others. From this, I argue that contemporary deployments of such darkness metaphors or their more complex narrative permutations link back to their nascent forms, thus imbuing their use with a trace of their early explanatory force. I examine four case studies in which darkness metaphors and narratives are used to describe or articulate different media-technological phenomena, namely the Dark Web, light pollution maps, numbers stations, and hypothetical nuclear EMP strikes. After identifying the operating darkness narrative for each, I offer historical and literary lineages in an attempt to locate the root source of these narratives, all in the service of vi attempting to explain the particular sense of fear or anxiety associated with each of these case studies. In doing so, I identify unproductive or dangerous relationships with said media- technology that draw from the taproot of these darkness narratives, and then offer potential strategies to reevaluate and reconfigure these relationships into a more productive form. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction: Living in Shadow................................................................................................1 Chapter 1–Into the Abyss: The Narrative Construction of a “Dark Web”............................ 30 Chapter 2–Unseen Spaces: Light Maps and Cartographic Narrativity.................................122 Chapter 3–Turned On, Tuned In, Locked Out: Numbers Stations and Ominous Rejection 173 Chapter 4–Death by Disconnection: EMP Attacks and Existential Terror...........................213 Conclusion: Living Shadows................................................................................................286 viii Introduction: Living in Shadow Even absolute metaphors therefore have a history. They have a history in a more radical sense than concepts, for the historical transformation of a metaphor brings to light the metakinetics of the historical horizons of meaning and ways of seeing within which concepts undergo their modifications.1 -Hans Blumenberg On December 4, 2017, around 9:00 PM, I lost all power in my apartment. There was little to distinguish it from any other short-lasting power outage that one experiences from time to time, and I could only chuckle inwardly at the moment, having recently solidified my plans to write my dissertation, this dissertation, on technology and darkness. I decided to reach out to a colleague who lived closer to the UC Santa Barbara campus and ask if she too had lost power, only to find that I had no cell phone service at all, the first sign of the situation’s exigency. I walked outside and was struck by precisely how dark it was, realizing in that moment that I could not remember the last time I had experienced a darkness so consuming and total. Making my way to the closest street intersection, I could faintly make out that this was not a localized fault of my apartment complex’s electrical system: streetlights, traffic lights; all was pitch black, and I still lacked the means to reach out to anyone via phone call or internet. And so, I got into my car and headed to my colleague’s apartment, at first to check in on whether or not she too was experiencing the same thing. It was as I noticed the lack of illumination on the freeway, something I had never seen occur in a blackout, that I too noticed a gnawing dread in my chest. I realized that I was no longer 1 Blumenberg, Hans. Paradigms for a Metaphorology. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2010. 5. 1 going to my colleague’s to simply ask if she had power, but was doing so because I distinctly did not want to be alone. I knew that this feeling was misplaced. I, as an adult, had no reason to be afraid of the dark: I slept in the dark, I mulled over work in the dark, I pulled the covers over my head on especially early mornings to keep myself in the dark for just a bit longer. As I arrived at my destination, only my headlights illuminating the route, I realized that I do not quite like darkness when I have no guarantee that it will cease on command, save the rising of the sun. My colleague and I exchanged pleasantries, and curiosity got the better of me, prompting me to drive southward as far as I could go before seeing a region with power. I did not find that point before turning around and heading back home, but on the way, I decided in a last-ditch effort to get a bird’s eye view, driving up the Santa Barbara mountains as a means to peer out over the landscape. I could see a single area holding the line, a small group of streetlights illuminating a tiny stretch of a residential road in the distance. Everything else was as dark as the ocean that meets the city’s shoreline. Something was very wrong. For myself, and the residents of the Santa Barbara area, this was the first sign of the Thomas Fire, a devasting wildfire that consumed hundreds of thousands of acres, in turn becoming the largest fire in California’s modern era. It started as the result of a power line fault in a plant run by Southern California Edison, the principle reason for the trenchant and widespread blackout that engulfed the surrounding areas.2 It is not altogether that common for a power outage to also effect cellular