Technology As Symptom and Dream Technology As Symptom and Dream
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Technology as symptom and dream Technology as symptom and dream Robert D.Romanyshyn First published 1989 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” © 1989 Robert D.Romanyshyn All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Romanyshyn, Robert D. Technology as symptom and dream 1. Phenomenological psychology I.Title 150.19 ’2 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Romanyshyn, Robert D. (Robert Donald), 1942– Technology as symptom and dream Robert D.Romanyshyn. p. cm. Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Technology— Philosophy. 2. Technology—Psychological aspects. I.Title. T.14.R58 1990 89–3527 CIP 601–dc19 ISBN 0-203-35887-2 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-37143-7 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0-415-00786-0 (hbk) ISBN 0-415-00787-9 (pbk) To my mother and to the memory of my father. Also, to my spouse Janet and our sons Jeff and Andrew. Contents List of figures vii Acknowledgements ix Prologue Address to the reader 1 I Beginning: a first fantasy 1 II Beginnings two: a second fantasy 2 III Beginnings three: the imagination of events 3 IV Technology as shadow, symptom, and dream: some remarks about 10 approach V Ending: by way of apology 13 Chapter 1 Lift-off: we are all astronauts 17 I Abandoning the body 17 II Departing earth 21 III Escaping death 28 IV Turning the dream 31 V On the launchpad 31 Chapter 2 The window and the camera 33 I A window on the world 33 II Linear perspective: some necessary technical considerations 36 III The camera eye of distant vision 58 Chapter 3 Self as spectator 65 I Introduction 65 II The self behind the window 67 III Transformations of the window 71 vi IV The eye of convergent and infinite vision 83 V The self without a shadow 100 Chapter 4 Body as specimen 103 I Recollection: of cosmonauts and kisses 103 II The body as a cultural invention 105 III The invention of the corpse 114 IV Conclusion 131 Chapter 5 The abandoned body and its shadows 133 I Introduction 133 II The corpse and its shadows: a family tree 133 III The official family’s cast of characters 135 IV The unofficial family’s cast of characters 148 V Our ambiguous inheritance: a final word 172 Chapter 6 World as spectacle 175 I Introduction: a window on the world 175 II World as story and as fact 176 III Energy as the light of the world 183 IV A few words about things 190 V Conclusion: the world as our home 196 Chapter 7 Re-entry: paths of return 197 I Return and re-entry: a story, an image, and a dream 197 II Paths of return: ways of re-membering home 201 III Conclusion: a final word and a final gathering 225 Notes227 Bibliography245 Index251 Figures Figure I Space shuttle at lift-off 4 Figure II Paul van Hoeydonck, Little Cosmonaut 5 Figure III Nuclear fireball: H-bomb explosion at Bikini Atoll 7 Figure IV Alex Grey, Kissing, 1983 8 Figure 1.1 Alex Grey, Nuclear Crucifixion, 1980 27 Figure 2.1 Vanishing point as launchpad to the stars, drawing by 35 Liota Odom Figure 2.2 Panorama of Florence, fresco, Loggia Del Bigallo 37 Figure 2.3 Map of Florence: copy of the Carta Della Catena, Museo 38 de Firenze Com’ era, Florence Figure 2.4 Vanishing point with Horizon Line Alignment 42 Figure 2.5 Hieronymous Bosch, The Temptation of St Anthony 46 Figure 2.6 Francisco Goya, The Dream of Reason Produces Monsters 47 Figure 2.7 Vanishing point and distance point 51 Figure 2.8 Jan van Eyck, Virgin and Child in Church, Rome 53 Figure 2.9 Celia, Los Angeles, April 10, 1982, David Hockney 62 Figure 2.10 The Merced River, Yosemite Valley, September, 1982, David 63 Hockney Figure 3.1 The union of the solar and lunar opposites in the 73 alchemical work Figure 3.2 Johann II of Bavaria and Hieronymous Rodler, woodcut 75 illustration from their Ein schoen nuetzlich Buechlein und Unterweisung der Kunst des Messens, Simmern, Germany, 1531 Figure 3.3 and 3.4 Relation between distance and convergence, drawings 85 by Liota Odom Figure 3.5 Unknown Byzantine artist, detail showing the Birth of the 86 Virgin from a fresco in the King’s Chapel, Church of Sts Joachim and Ann, Studenica, Yugoslavia, c. 1310–15 Figure 3.6 Bodily felt sense of reverse perspective space, drawing 87 by Liota Odom Figure 3.7 Bodily felt sense of linear perspective space, drawing by 88 Liota Odom Figure 3.8 Linear perspective grid as runway for take-off, drawing 93 by Liota Odom Figure 3.9 Mantegna, Dead Christ 95 viii Figure 3.10 Albrecht Dürer, Artist Drawing a Portrait, woodcut 97 Figure 4.1 Presentation in the Temple, detail: Joseph with his offering; 106 bronze doors, St Michael’s, Hildesheim Figure 4.2 Adoration of the Magi, detail: two of the Magi; bronze 107 doors, St Michael’s, Hildesheim Figure 4.3 Adam and Eve Reproached by God, bronze doors, St 109 Michael’s, Hildesheim Figure 4.4 Giotto, Lamentation, Padua 113 Figure 4.5 Albrecht Dürer, Artist Drawing a Nude through a Gridded 115 Screen Figure 4.6 Albrecht Dürer, Anatomical Studies 118 Figure 4.7 Andreas Vesalius Demonstrating a Dissected Arm, woodcut 120 Figure 4.8 Guy de Parc, Figure d’anatomie, Chantilly, Musée de 121 Condi Figure 5.1 The abandoned body and the shadows of the abandoned 134 body Figure 5.2 Practicing the Animal Magnetism, from Divided Existence and 157 Complex Society (Leven in meervoud), by J.H.van den Berg Figure 5.3 A.Brouillet, Clinical Lesson of Dr Charcot 164 Figure 5.4 Hysterogenic points on the body of an hysteric, drawing 165 by Liota Odom Figure 5.5 Passionate attitudes: crucifixion, erotic posturing, ecstasy 166 Figure 6.1 Marc Chagall, Paris Through The Window, 1913 181 Figure 7.1 Apollo 11 Lunar Module Ascent 199 Figure 7.2 Apollo 17 View of Earth 202 Figure 7.3 J.M.W.Turner, Valley of Aosta—Snowstorm, Avalanche and 215 Thunderstorm, 1836–7 Figure 7.4 Caspar David Friedrich, The Polar Sea, 1824, Kunsthalle, 216 Hamburg Acknowledgements A book is born in strange circumstances. This one began in a museum on a rainy Sunday afternoon when my younger son said that the bodies in a Giotto painting looked like the artist did not know how to draw. He was young then, but old enough to have been educated into the cultural medium of central perspective vision. That innocent comment started me wondering about the ways in which we see and take for granted our visions. It started a journey which has taken six years to complete. Along the way I have gathered many debts and I have made many new friends. I want to express my gratitude to all of them. Particular thanks are owed to Doug Gerwin, Mary Vernon, David Levin, Don Johnson, and Andrew Samuels. Each of them read all or significant portions of the manuscript along the way, and I benefitted greatly from their advice and criticisms. They were supportive of, and enthusiastic about, the effort. Andrew Samuels in particular deserves my thanks for the significant role he played in bringing this work to the attention of the publisher. I must also acknowledge the very generous and critically detailed reading which Ivan Illich, Barbara Duden, Wolfgang Sachs and Dirk von Boetticher gave to the entire text. Their patient efforts have greatly improved the manuscript and the shortcomings which it still possesses are the consequence of my own limitations. My debt to Ivan and Barbara, moreover, extends to their generosity in inviting me to be a part of their annual seminars on the cultural history of the body. Significant portions of the work were developed in the give and take of those meetings. Ivan’s invitation to Göttingen, Germany, in the summer of 1985 to meet Rudolf Zur Lippe has proved to be a lasting benefit. Zur Lippe’s work on the geometrization of humanity has been most helpful in guiding my own thinking about the historical and cultural consequences of linear perspective vision. Apart from the circumstances of its beginning and the nurturing support of the colleagues and friends mentioned above, a work needs a place. There have been several over the years which I must acknowledge. Certainly The Dallas Institute for Humanities and Culture deserves my thanks for providing an arena for reflection and thought. The invitation of Bob Sardello, a friend and colleague of many years, to participate in a special seminar with Ivan Illich in February 1985 gave me the first public opportunity to try out x some initial ideas of this work. I am also grateful to Dean Robert Corrigan of the Arts and Humanities School of the University of Texas at Dallas for inviting me to teach in his program. In a series of graduate courses, many of the ideas now presented in the text were shaped and refined.