Poetics of Violence 2019 Critique / Poetics, Walter Benjamin

NEW YORK UNIVERSITY

Fred Moten’s Course Black Performance: Poetics o f Violence

2019

Critique / Poetics, Walter Benjamin, and Higher Mathematics

Short Seminar inside Moten’s Course, 1-22 April 2019

Fernando Zalamea Departamento de Matemáticas Universidad Nacional de Colombia Seminar Contents SESSION 1 – APRIL 1st 2019

SETTING THE DIFFERENTIATION/INTEGRATION AND CRITIQUE/POETICS PROCESSES

(1.1) THE PENDULI DIFFERENTIATION/INTEGRATION AND CRITIQUE/POETICS 1.1.1. Some fundamental tensions of thought (Part 1: Philosophies) 1.1.2. Adjunction critique/poetics

(1.2) BENJAMIN’S THE CONCEPT OF CRITICISM IN GERMAN ROMANTICISM (1919) 1.2.1. Conceptuality and criticism 1.2.2. Infinity and infinite manifold stages 1.2.3. Going into the Deep

(1.3) NOVALIS’ ALLGEMEINE BROUILLON (1798-1799) 1.3.1. A conceptual, differential and integral calculus 1.3.2. Continuity and contradiction 1.3.3. Imagination and harmonious geometrization

(1.4) BENJAMIN AND NOVALIS 1.4.1. A table of Novalis’ main appearances in the Concept of Criticism 1.4.2. Simultaneity and criticism germs 1.4.3. Continuity and free unfolding

(1.5) COMPLEX VARIABLES (I). HIGHER DIMENSIONS 1.5.1. Complex numbers (1545), quaternions (1843), octonions (1845) 1.5.2. Holomorphic functions (1814) and analytic germs (1948) 1.5.3. Riemann surfaces (1851)

(1.6) REVISITING BENJAMIN’S NOVALIS THROUGH HIGHER MATHEMATICS 1.6.1. Simultaneity ideal/real (complex plane) and higher levels (quaternions / octonions) 1.6.2. Critical germs (sheaf of germs) and awakened reflection (exponential) 1.6.3. Glueing and omniplasticity (Riemann surfaces)

(1.7) EXTENSIONS TO A CRITIQUE/POETICS OF VIOLENCE (FANON 1961, ARENDT 1970, PHILIP 2008, QUAYTMAN 2015, HAN 2018) 1.7.1. Multidimensionality 1.7.2. Germs and unfolding 1.7.3. Plasticity and continuity 1.1. THE PENDULI DIFFERENTIATION/INTEGRATION AND CRITIQUE/POETICS 1.1.1. Some fundamental tensions of thought (Part 1: Philosophies) 1.1. THE PENDULI DIFFERENTIATION/INTEGRATION AND CRITIQUE/POETICS 1.1.2. Adjunction critique / poetics

POETICS CRITIQUE

“art of writing … study of linguistic techniques” “detailed analysis and assessment of something”

mediations : HOROTICS (from horos, border) 1.2. BENJAMIN’S THE CONCEPT OF CRITICISM IN GERMAN ROMANTICISM (1919) 1.2.1. Conceptuality and criticism

(pages from SW1)

(117)

(120)

(135)

(142) 1.2. BENJAMIN’S THE CONCEPT OF CRITICISM IN GERMAN ROMANTICISM (1919) 1.2.2. Infinity and infinite manifold stages

(pages from SW1)

(123)

(126)

(126) 1.2. BENJAMIN’S THE CONCEPT OF CRITICISM IN GERMAN ROMANTICISM (1919) 1.2.3. Going into the Deep

(pages from SW1)

(139)

(153) 1.3. NOVALIS’ ALLGEMEINE BROUILLON (1798-1799) 1.3.1. A conceptual, differential and integral calculus 1.3. NOVALIS’ ALLGEMEINE BROUILLON (1798-1799) 1.3.2. Continuity and contradiction 1.3. NOVALIS’ ALLGEMEINE BROUILLON (1798-1799) 1.3.3. Imagination and harmonious geometrization 1.4. BENJAMIN AND NOVALIS 1.4.1. A table of Novalis’ main appearances in the Concept of Criticism

page (SW1) theme in Novalis’ fragments idea

119 methodology epistemological concept of reflection

126 philosophy infinity of reflection = infinity of connectedness

140 language mystical terminology: a path to the depths of knowledge

142 methodology/philosophy/language manifold branches of criticism (use/concept/term)

145 philosophy interdependence knowledge–object

148 philosophy simultaneity ideal–real, subjective–objective

151 methodology germ criticisms and awakening

152 philosophy overleaping oneself = genesis of life

153 methodology criticism expansion = the true reader is an extended author

165 methodology continuum of forms

166 philosophy free unfolding in the infinitorium

170 methodology/philosophy/language absolute unity of art, absolute reflection of poetry 1.4. BENJAMIN AND NOVALIS 1.4.2. Simultaneity and criticism germs

(pages from SW1)

(148)

(151) 1.4. BENJAMIN AND NOVALIS 1.4.3. Continuity and free unfolding

(pages from SW1)

(165)

(166) 1.5. COMPLEX VARIABLES (I). HIGHER DIMENSIONS 1.5.1. Complex numbers (1545), quaternions (1843), octonions (1845)

(I) IMAGINARIES

2 n 2 polynomials P(X) = a0 + a1X + a2X + … + anX ideal roots z such that P(z)=0 i = -1 X indeterminate coefficients (base: integers, rationals, reals) z i imaginary

actual language equations P(X)=0 base structure X2 + 1 = 0 base = reals

(II) REPRESENTATIONS (COMPLEX NUMBERS) two dimensions (2)

(source of figures: Wikipedia)

(III) EXTENSIONS

(source of figures: Wikipedia)

QUATERNIONS a + bi + cj + dk four dimensions (4)

(algebra: base reals + linear combinations of four ideal vectors 1, i, j, k) non commutative

OCTONIONS

(algebra: base reals + linear combinations of eight ideal vectors) eight dimensions (8)

[in each case (quaternions, octonions) adequate multiplications: division algebras] non associative 1.5. COMPLEX VARIABLES (I). HIGHER DIMENSIONS 1.5.2. Holomorphic functions (1814) and analytic germs (1948)

HOLOMORPHIC FUNCTIONS (source of figures: Tristan Needham) polynomials (finite n) exponential (infinity)

ANALYTIC GERMS around a point z of the complex plane, two holomorphic (= analytic) functions f, g can coincide or differ; [f]z (fiber) thus, an equivalence relation may be defined: f ⏜z g iff exists V neighborhood around z such that f = g on V; the germ of f over z is, by definition, the equivalence class [f]z . z (point)

(sheaf of germs of homolorphic functions) 1.5. COMPLEX VARIABLES (I). HIGHER DIMENSIONS 1.5.3. Riemann surfaces (1851)

RIEMANN SURFACES: inversion multiple one

(source of bottom figures: Tristan Needham) 1.6. REVISITING BENJAMIN’S NOVALIS THROUGH HIGHER MATHEMATICS 1.6.1. Simultaneity ideal/real (complex plane) and higher levels (quaternions / octonions) 1.6. REVISITING BENJAMIN’S NOVALIS THROUGH HIGHER MATHEMATICS 1.6.2. Critical germs (sheaf of germs) and awakened reflection (exponential) 1.6. REVISITING BENJAMIN’S NOVALIS THROUGH HIGHER MATHEMATICS 1.6.3. Glueing and omniplasticity (Riemann surfaces) 1.7. EXTENSIONS TO A CRITIQUE/POETICS OF VIOLENCE 1.7.1. Multidimensionality

A first critique of violence addresses NARROW VIEWS AND LIMITED PERSPECTIVES (–): multidimensional thinking (+) helps to escape violence

FRANTZ FANON (–) “disintegration, dissolution or splitting of the personality” (20) The Wretched of the Earth (1961) (+) “quasi-universal dimension to the most local of disputes” (35) (–) “no constructive talks, no confrontation between the different social strata” (71) (–) “dispossessed population, used to living in a narrow cycle of conflict” (83)

HANNAH ARENDT (–) “scientifically minded brain trusters … do not think” (6) On Violence (1970) (–) “the extreme form of violence is One against All” (42) (–) “blindness to the realities” (43) (–) “it is the use of reason that makes us dangerously «irrational»” (62)

M. NOURBESE PHILIP (–) “the just in ration (…) the ration in just” (26) Zong! (2008) (–) “dead // means want // water // means water” (32) (–) “in the against of winds” (34) (–) “was the policy was the loss” (45)

REBECCA. H. QUAYTMAN (+) “we wish our works to ressemble books in differing degrees” (51) Chapter 29 (2015) (+) “hieroglyphs floating in unfurled pictorial space” (52) (+) “he/she (zhe) demurely gazes askance into the world-distance” (53) (+) “was the Angelus paying homage to or defacing what it obscured?” (55)

BYUNG-CHUL HAN (–) “blood subjected violence (…) withdrew into subcommunicative, subcutaneous” (6) Topology of Violence (2018) (–) “it shifted (…) from the direct to the discreet (...) from the frontal to the viral” (6) (–) “psychological internalization is one of the central topological shifts of violence in modernity” (6) (–) “the total elimination of borders and thresholds is pornographic” (103) 1.7. EXTENSIONS TO A CRITIQUE/POETICS OF VIOLENCE 1.7.2. Germs and unfolding

A second critique addresses PUNTUAL TIME AND PLANAR HORIZONS (–): germs of tolerance and unfolding awareness (+) help to escape violence

FRANTZ FANON (–) “genuine negation of common sense” (17) The Wretched of the Earth (1961) (–) “apotheosis of independence becomes the curse of independence” (54) (–) “a strategy of immediacy which is both all-embracing and radical” (83) (+) “subsequent raising of awareness” (92)

HANNAH ARENDT (–) “predictions of the future are never anything but projections of present automatic processes” (7) On Violence (1970) (+) “the new generation should live with greater awareness” (17) (–) “develop present contradictions into their inherent synthesis” (27) (–) “the essence of power is the effectiveness of command” (37)

M. NOURBESE PHILIP (–) “the this // the that // the frenzy” (30) Zong! (2008) (–) “the throw in circumstance” (35) (+) “is being is // or // should” (37) (–) “facts own their lives // in circumstance” (39)

REBECCA. H. QUAYTMAN (+) “pay close attention to what happens at the edge of an image or painting” (51) Chapter 29 (2015) (+) “scroll fluttering in the wind” (53) (+) “navigate around the drama of the vacated space of the blank canvas” (57) (+) “!!!!!!!!” (59)

BYUNG-CHUL HAN (–) “neither violence nor power is capable of allowing the other to be as it is” (66) Topology of Violence (2018) (–) “unlike space-shaping, spatializing power, violence destroys space and leaves emptiness” (70) (–) “macro-physical violence de-internalizes the subject by penetrating its interior and annihilating it” (72) (–) “micro-physical violence de-internalizes the subject by dissipating it” (72-73) 1.7. EXTENSIONS TO A CRITIQUE/POETICS OF VIOLENCE 1.7.3. Plasticity and continuity

A third critique addresses RIGID AND SEPARATED CONTEXTUALIZATIONS (–): plasticity and continuity (+) help to escape violence

FRANTZ FANON (–) “world divided in two” (3) The Wretched of the Earth (1961) (–) “governed by a purely Aristotelian logic, they follow the dictates of mutual exclusion” (4) (–) “a world compartmentalized, Manichean and petrified” (15) (–) “Europe has denied itself not only humility and modesty but also solicitude and tenderness” (235)

HANNAH ARENDT (–) “the very substance of violent action is ruled by the means-end category” (4) On Violence (1970) (–) “famous knowing of more and more about less and less” (30) (–) “all political institutions (…) petrify and decay” (41) (–) “the practice of violence, like all action, changes the world (…) to a more violent world” (80)

M. NOURBESE PHILIP (–) “the rest of // the more of // the half of” (23) Zong! (2008) (–) “means // truth // means overboard” (31) (–) “this quantity of not” (35) (–) “was the not was the cause” (45)

REBECCA. H. QUAYTMAN (+) “enter the waves (…) images circle around words” (52) Chapter 29 (2015) (+) “the paintings do their job best when they sacrifice the representations they also support” (60) (+) “negate with an upside down sunrise sparkling on a cyan sky and hang it on a diagonal” (60) (+) “images survive the growing pile of debris and destruction in front of the Angelus Novus” (61)

BYUNG-CHUL HAN (–) “execution isn’t located in the center but rather at the edge of a city” (5) Topology of Violence (2018) (–) “the camp is a non-place” (6) (–) “the negativity of the other is constitutive of macro-physical violence” (64) (–) “while power forms a continuum of hierarchical relationships, violence causes rifts and ruptures” (65)

Seminar Contents SESSION 2 – APRIL 8th 2019

DEVELOPING THE DIFFERENTIATION CRITIQUE PROCESS

(2.1) THE DIFFERENTIATION CRITIQUE PROCESS 2.1.1. Some fundamental tensions of thought (Part 2: Mathematics) 2.1.2. Delving into differentiation critique: types

(2.2) BENJAMIN’S ARCADES PROJECT (1927-1940) 2.2.1. Ruins and allegories 2.2.2. Phantasmagoria 2.2.3. Dialectical images

(2.3) PROUST’S RECHERCHE (1913-1927) ALONG THE ARCADES 2.3.1. Analyzing humanity: blackness and verso 2.3.2. Imperfection: arcades and continuous modulations 2.3.3. Proust’s awakening ramification

(2.4) BENJAMIN AND AWAKENING 2.4.1. The dialectical turn of remembrance 2.4.2. Jetztzeit and tremors 2.4.3. Towards synthesis

(2.5) COMPLEX VARIABLES (II). RESIDUATION 2.5.1. Cauchy’s theorem (1825): harmonicity interior/border 2.5.2. Singularities, meromorphic functions and residues (1826) 2.5.3. Riemann-Roch theorem (1857-1865): threshold between number and magnitude

(2.6) REVISITING BENJAMIN’S AWAKENING THROUGH HIGHER MATHEMATICS 2.6.1. Ruptures and singularities (meromorphic domains) 2.6.2. Reversals and turns (Cauchy and Riemann-Roch) 2.6.3. Arcades: the pendulum of flowering and decline (residuation)

(2.7) EXTENSIONS TO A CRITIQUE/POETICS OF VIOLENCE (FANON 1961, ARENDT 1970, PHILIP 2008, QUAYTMAN 2015, HAN 2018) 2.7.1. A geometric view of violence (I): obverses 2.7.2. A geometric view of violence (I): residues 2.7.3. A geometric view of violence (I): thresholds 2.1. THE DIFFERENTIATION CRITIQUE PROCESS 2.1.1. Some fundamental tensions of thought (Part 2: Mathematics) 2.1. THE DIFFERENTIATION CRITIQUE PROCESS 2.1.2. Delving into differentiation critique: types 2.2. BENJAMIN’S ARCADES PROJECT (1927-1940) 2.2.1. Ruins and allegories