DOCSLIB.ORG

"Enthusiastic Jew and Lover of Humanity": August Bondi and the Roots of Transnational Freedom During the Long Nineteenth Century

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Clemson University TigerPrints All Theses Theses 5-2021 "Enthusiastic Jew and Lover of Humanity": August Bondi and the Roots of Transnational Freedom During the Long Nineteenth Century Matthew Christopher Long [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Long, Matthew Christopher, ""Enthusiastic Jew and Lover of Humanity": August Bondi and the Roots of Transnational Freedom During the Long Nineteenth Century" (2021). All Theses. 3482. https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses/3482 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses at TigerPrints. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Theses by an authorized administrator of TigerPrints. For more information, please contact [email protected]. "ENTHUSIASTIC JEW AND LOVER OF HUMANITY": AUGUST BONDI AND THE ROOTS OF TRANSNATIONAL FREEDOM DURING THE LONG NINETEENTH CENTURY A Thesis Presented to the Graduate School of Clemson University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts History by Matthew Christopher Long May 2021 Accepted by: Michael Meng, PhD, Committee Chair Stephanie Barczewski, PhD Steven Marks, PhD i ABSTRACT Migration is a decidedly human condition that has influenced the development of all nations. Yet the cultural and demographic impacts upon the United States during the long nineteenth century brought about by the mass movements of peoples from Africa, Europe, and beyond were especially pronounced. Immigrants to North America brought with them more than linguistic and cultural artifacts, however; propelled by intellectual currents in their countries of origin, they often carried with them a sensibility of revolution, radical republican politics, and a moral suasion that they employed as they navigated the political and social realities in their new countries. Many immigrants would come to view America and the New World generally through a prism of their own making, and thus see opportunity to dismantle and remake the world – economically, socially, culturally, and politically – when conditions at home had failed them. Two fundamental events shaped this trans-Atlantic consciousness situated toward revolution during the nineteenth century: the European Revolutions of 1848-51, and an increasingly radical anti-slavery and abolitionist movement in the United States during the lead- up to sectional conflict and the Civil War. Both events sought to upend the established order through political, social, and cultural revolution, and both came to reinforce one another intellectually and strategically. Both revolutions sought to attack the existing systems – monarchy, capital, and the legal institutions that upheld slavery – and replace them, in the spirit of revolutions prior, with more egalitarian and liberal structures. Immigrants were often the main vehicles of this transnational cooperation. When it became clear to freedom fighters on both sides of the Atlantic that moral and political gradualism toward parliamentary, democratic ii systems of governance, or toward anti-slavery and abolitionist movements, were to be ineffective, they would turn to markedly more radical approaches, and sometimes to violence to enact the changes they sought. This paper investigates these broad trends through the individuals who personally lived them. One such figure, August (Anshl) Mendel Bondi, was a German-speaking, Hungarian Jew who participated in the revolutionary events in Vienna. Upon the restoration of the Hapsburg Monarchy, Bondi would be forced to flee with his family to the United States. Forging a new life in his new home, he would variously spend time in Louisiana and Texas, and work as a waterman on the Mississippi River. Eventually he would settle in Kansas Territory, where he became radicalized and joined Free Soilers in their fight against pro-slavery forces and Missouri border ruffians. Riding with John Brown during the Bleeding Kansas episode would inspire Bondi to a lifetime of freedom fighting; he and his eventual wife, Henrietta Einstein, another German- speaking immigrant from Bavaria, would be pivotal in establishing stops along the Underground Railroad. iii DEDICATION In dedication to Erica and Sabine, the loves of my life iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS A project of this kind is community effort. I wish to foremost thank my advisor, Professor Michael Meng, and the rest of my committee, Professors Stephanie Barczewski and Steven Marks, for their tireless support. This thesis would not be what it is without their help. Many others at Clemson University have been inspirational to me and my work, and I am indebted to more than a few professors in the History, Philosophy, and Languages Departments. Among them: Professors Orville Vernon Burton, Pamela Mack, Rebecca Stoil, Michael Silvestri, Rod Andrew, Jr., Abel Bartley, Joshua Catalano, Alan Grubb, James Jeffries, Kathryn Langenfeld, Todd May, Johannes Schmidt, Gabriela Stoicea, and Harris King. My tenure in the program lasted for two chairs of the History Department, and I am incredibly indebted to both Professors Amit Bein and James Burns for their good advice and financial and moral support. A very special thanks goes to Professor Paul Anderson, now Clemson University’s historian, whose interest in me and my work as I matriculated into the graduate program were invaluable. Many other professors have been helpful along the way; please know how much your interest and advice has meant to me. My colleagues and friends in the MA program were among the best I could have asked for, and I am thankful for the great seminar discussions we had together. Meanwhile, the wonderful librarians in Cooper have been absolutely foundational for my research. Please, if you have not already today, thank your librarian. They are the glue that binds the university together. Beyond Clemson, many other academics and researchers were equally inspirational to my work. Thank you to Jozefien de Bock, Ferdinand de Göhde, Adam Mendelsohn, Mark v Bauman, Shari Rabin, Josh Parshall, Bryan Stone, Paul Finkelman, Don Doyle, Caitlin Fitz, Volker Berghahn, Cindy Browne, Cecelia Nadal, and Sydney Norton. I owe you all a great deal of thanks for your time and interest. To my family, I offer the most profound gratitude. My mother and father, Janet and Paul Long, have been incredibly supportive of me, and they continue to offer their feedback on my work. Their encouragement was a large reason why I followed my passion into the field of history. Thank you to my sister, Angela, for being the best sibling I could ever ask for. I am equally indebted to my parents-in-law for their unyielding support. Thank you, De and Bruce Evilsizor, for all your incredible help. You made it easy to join the Evilsizor clan. Finally, to my wife and daughter, Erica and Sabine: for you I am the most grateful of all. This adventure of graduate school has encroached mightily on our time together, and I am forever indebted for everything you have done to help me along the way. You truly are the most amazing people I could ever hope to spend my life with. I feel truly blessed to have you both. Thank you. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page TITLE PAGE......................................................................................................................................i ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................................... ii DEDICATION ................................................................................................................................. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................................... v INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................ 2 The Transnational Currents of Revolution ......................................................... 2 Literature Review, Historiography, and Definitions ......................................... 12 Thesis Framework and Outline......................................................................... 19 CHAPTER ONE: 1848 IN A WIDER CONSCIOUSNESS .................................................................. 21 De Tocqueville’s Volcano: Europe at the Precipice .......................................... 21 To American Shores: European Migration in the Nineteenth Century ............ 31 “America’s Freedom-Loving People”: German-Speaking Immigrants in the United States .................................................................. 39 American Progress, American Freedom: A New Adam .................................... 43 An Impending Sectional Crisis and a Move to Radical Abolitionism ................ 45 CHAPTER TWO: AUGUST BONDI AND THE TRANSNATIONAL CURRENTS OF REVOLUTION ........................................................................................................... 50 August Bondi and the Legacy of 1848.............................................................. 50 August Bondi in the Literature ......................................................................... 55 “From smallest acorns / Largest oaks do grow”: Bondi and Revolution in Vienna .................................................................................... 61 “Thence to the United States, where others had preceded them” .................. 66 August Bondi’s Legacy ....................................................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The American Poetry Review
    “As soon as we subscribe to a hierarchy, we circumscribe ourselves within a value system. This is perhaps the great conundrum AMERICAN of art—once we define a term, we impose a limit, thereby inviting both orthodoxy and transgression. Our concept of ‘art’ or ‘poem’ or ‘novel’ is, then, always in flux, and I think we’d agree that this is how art renews itself—through those who dare to challenge those terms. The making of art, and the evaluation of it, is always an act POETRY REVIEW of self-definition.” —KITANO, p. 37 MAY/JUNE 2021 VOL. 50/NO. 3 $5 US/$7 CA MEGAN FERNANDES MAGICAL REALISM IN AMERICA & OTHER POEMS FORREST GANDER OWNING YOURSELF: AN INTERVIEW WITH JACK GILBERT SALLY WEN MAO PARIS SYNDROME & OTHER POEMS ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: ALISON C. ROLLINS MAGGIE SMITH NATALIE EILBERT PHOTO: APRWEB.ORG RIVKAH GEVINSON 2 THE AMERICAN POETRY REVIEW The American Poetry Review (issn 0360-3709) is published bimonthly by World Poetry, Inc., a non-profit corporation, and Old City Publishing, Inc. Edi torial offices: 1906 Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia, PA 19103-5735. Subscription rates: U.S.: 3 years, $78.00; 2 years, $56.00; 1 year, $32.00. Foreign rates: 3 years, $129.00; 2 years, $92.00; 1 year, $49.00. Single copy, $5.00. Special classroom adoption rate per year per student: MAY/JUNE 2021 VOL. 50/NO. 3 $14.00. Free teacher’s subscription with classroom adoption. Subscription mail should be addressed to The American IN THIS ISSUE Poetry Review, c/o Old City Publishing, 628 N.
    [Show full text]
  • Marx and History: the Russian Road and the Myth of Historical Determinism
    Ciências Sociais Unisinos 57(1):78-86, janeiro/abril 2021 Unisinos - doi: 10.4013/csu.2021.57.1.07 Marx and history: the Russian road and the myth of historical determinism Marx e a história: a via russa e o mito do determinismo histórico Guilherme Nunes Pires1 [email protected] Abstract This paper aims to point out the limits of the historical determinism thesis in Marx’s thought by analyzing his writings on the Russian issue and the possibility of a “Russian road” to socialism. The perspective of historical determinism implies that Marx’s thought is supported by a unilinear view of social evolution, i.e. history is understood as a succes- sion of modes of production and their internal relations inexorably leading to a classless society. We argue that in letters and drafts on the Russian issue, Marx opposes to any attempt associate his thought with a deterministic conception of history. It is pointed out that Marx’s contact with the Russian populists in the 1880s provides textual ele- ments allowing to impose limits on the idea of historical determinism and the unilinear perspective in the historical process. Keywords: Marx. Historical Determinism. Unilinearity. Russian Road. Resumo O objetivo do presente artigo é apontar os limites da tese do determinismo histórico no pensamento de Marx, através da análise dos escritos sobre a questão russa e a possibilidade da “via russa” para o socialismo. A perspectiva do determinismo histórico compreende que o pensamento de Marx estaria amparado por uma visão unilinear da evolução social, ou seja, a história seria compreendida por uma sucessão de modos de produção e suas relações internas que inexoravelmente rumaria a uma sociedade sem classes sociais.
    [Show full text]
  • GERMAN IMMIGRANTS, AFRICAN AMERICANS, and the RECONSTRUCTION of CITIZENSHIP, 1865-1877 DISSERTATION Presented In
    NEW CITIZENS: GERMAN IMMIGRANTS, AFRICAN AMERICANS, AND THE RECONSTRUCTION OF CITIZENSHIP, 1865-1877 DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Alison Clark Efford, M.A. * * * * * The Ohio State University 2008 Doctoral Examination Committee: Professor John L. Brooke, Adviser Approved by Professor Mitchell Snay ____________________________ Adviser Professor Michael L. Benedict Department of History Graduate Program Professor Kevin Boyle ABSTRACT This work explores how German immigrants influenced the reshaping of American citizenship following the Civil War and emancipation. It takes a new approach to old questions: How did African American men achieve citizenship rights under the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments? Why were those rights only inconsistently protected for over a century? German Americans had a distinctive effect on the outcome of Reconstruction because they contributed a significant number of votes to the ruling Republican Party, they remained sensitive to European events, and most of all, they were acutely conscious of their own status as new American citizens. Drawing on the rich yet largely untapped supply of German-language periodicals and correspondence in Missouri, Ohio, and Washington, D.C., I recover the debate over citizenship within the German-American public sphere and evaluate its national ramifications. Partisan, religious, and class differences colored how immigrants approached African American rights. Yet for all the divisions among German Americans, their collective response to the Revolutions of 1848 and the Franco-Prussian War and German unification in 1870 and 1871 left its mark on the opportunities and disappointments of Reconstruction.
    [Show full text]
  • Why (Post)Colonialism and (De)Coloniality Are Not Enough: a Post- Imperialist Perspective Gustavo Lins Ribeiro Available Online: 07 Oct 2011
    This article was downloaded by: [Gustavo Lins Ribeiro] On: 21 October 2011, At: 17:44 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Postcolonial Studies Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cpcs20 Why (post)colonialism and (de)coloniality are not enough: a post- imperialist perspective Gustavo Lins Ribeiro Available online: 07 Oct 2011 To cite this article: Gustavo Lins Ribeiro (2011): Why (post)colonialism and (de)coloniality are not enough: a post-imperialist perspective, Postcolonial Studies, 14:3, 285-297 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13688790.2011.613107 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and- conditions This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae, and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand, or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material. Postcolonial Studies, Vol. 14, No. 3, pp. 285Á297, 2011 Why (post)colonialism and (de)coloniality are not enough: a post-imperialist perspective GUSTAVO LINS RIBEIRO The need to examine knowledge production in relation to location and subject position is a consolidated trend in several theoretical approaches.
    [Show full text]
  • Angus Taylor Perhaps the Most Influential Critique of Marx's Theory
    Angus Taylor Flogging a Straw Man: Popper's Critique of Marx's "Historicism" Perhaps the most influential critique of Marx's theory of history has been that by Karl Popper, considered by some to be the foremost philosopher of science. It is Popper's contention that while Marx's stress on economic and technological factors in the evolution of socie­ ties has been salutary, Marx's theory of history is fatally flawed by being based on the idea of historical determinism. In opposition, Popper wishes to assert the vital role of human creativity and rational agency in history. But is his critique well founded? It is my contention that while Popper may be correct in denouncing historical determin­ ism as fundamentally erroneous, his belief that Marx's theory of history embodies this concept is itself erroneous. Popper maintains that the course of human history cannot be the subject of scientific investigation, at least insofar as such investigation involves prediction. He thus sets about to refute what he calls the doctrine of historicism, by which he means "an approach to the social sciences which assumes that historical prediction is their principal aim, and which assumes that this aim is attainable by discovering the 'rhythms' or the 'patterns', the 'laws' or the 'trends' that underlie the evolution of history."t Historicism, as he conceives it, teaches that the course of history is, at least in broad outlines, predetermined. Popper argues that the course of history is strongly influenced by the growth of knowledge, and that it is impossible to predict our future states of knowledge (for we cannot know today what we shall only discover tomorrow).
    [Show full text]
  • Conservative Parties and the Birth of Democracy
    Conservative Parties and the Birth of Democracy How do democracies form and what makes them die? Daniel Ziblatt revisits this timely and classic question in a wide-ranging historical narrative that traces the evolution of modern political democracy in Europe from its modest beginnings in 1830s Britain to Adolf Hitler’s 1933 seizure of power in Weimar Germany. Based on rich historical and quantitative evidence, the book offers a major reinterpretation of European history and the question of how stable political democracy is achieved. The barriers to inclusive political rule, Ziblatt finds, were not inevitably overcome by unstoppable tides of socioeconomic change, a simple triumph of a growing middle class, or even by working class collective action. Instead, political democracy’s fate surprisingly hinged on how conservative political parties – the historical defenders of power, wealth, and privilege – recast themselves and coped with the rise of their own radical right. With striking modern parallels, the book has vital implications for today’s new and old democracies under siege. Daniel Ziblatt is Professor of Government at Harvard University where he is also a resident fellow of the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies. He is also currently Fernand Braudel Senior Fellow at the European University Institute. His first book, Structuring the State: The Formation of Italy and Germany and the Puzzle of Federalism (2006) received several prizes from the American Political Science Association. He has written extensively on the emergence of democracy in European political history, publishing in journals such as American Political Science Review, Journal of Economic History, and World Politics.
    [Show full text]
  • Susan J. Pearson Department of History Northwestern University 1881 Sheridan Road Evanston, IL 60208 EDUCATION Ph.D. University
    Susan J. Pearson Department of History Northwestern University 1881 Sheridan Road Evanston, IL 60208 EDUCATION Ph.D. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Department of History, 2004 M.A. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Department of History, 1999 B.A. Oberlin College, Women’s Studies, summa cum laude, 1996 EMPLOYMENT Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies, Department of History, Northwestern University, 2015-2018 Associate Professor, Department of History, Northwestern University, September 2012-Present Assistant Professor, Department of History, Northwestern University, September 2004-August 2012 COURSES TAUGHT United States History to 1865 Nineteenth Century United States Cultural History United States Women’s History to 1865 United States Intellectual History Gilded Age America American Childhood: A History Women’s History and Wikipedia Human-Animal Relations in Historical Perspective Graduate Seminar in American History: the Nineteenth Century HONORS, FELLOWSHIPS AND PRIZES Distinguished Lecturer, Organization of American Historians, 2016-2019 Fellow, University of Connecticut Humanities Institute, 2018-2019 (declined) Fellow, Kaplan Institute for the Humanities, Northwestern University, 2018-2019 (declined) Charles A. Ryskamp Research Fellowship, American Council of Learned Societies, 2014-2015 National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, 2012-2013 Kluge Fellow, Library of Congress, 2012-2013 (declined) Merle Curti Award in Intellectual History, Organization of American Historians, 2012 (awarded
    [Show full text]
  • Imagination Movers: the Construction of Conservative Counter-Narratives in Reaction to Consensus Liberalism
    Imagination Movers: The Construction of Conservative Counter-Narratives in Reaction to Consensus Liberalism Seth James Bartee Dissertation submitted to the faculty of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy In Social, Political, Ethical, and Cultural Thought Francois Debrix, Chair Matthew Gabriele Matthew Dallek James Garrison Timothy Luke February 19, 2014 Blacksburg, Virginia Keywords: conservatism, imagination, historicism, intellectual history counter-narrative, populism, traditionalism, paleo-conservatism Imagination Movers: The Construction of Conservative Counter-Narratives in Reaction to Consensus Liberalism Seth James Bartee ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to explore what exactly bound post-Second World War American conservatives together. Since modern conservatism’s recent birth in the United States in the last half century or more, many historians have claimed that both anti-communism and capitalism kept conservatives working in cooperation. My contention was that the intellectual founder of postwar conservatism, Russell Kirk, made imagination, and not anti-communism or capitalism, the thrust behind that movement in his seminal work The Conservative Mind. In The Conservative Mind, published in 1953, Russell Kirk created a conservative genealogy that began with English parliamentarian Edmund Burke. Using Burke and his dislike for the modern revolutionary spirit, Kirk uncovered a supposedly conservative seed that began in late eighteenth-century England, and traced it through various interlocutors into the United States that culminated in the writings of American expatriate poet T.S. Eliot. What Kirk really did was to create a counter-narrative to the American liberal tradition that usually began with the French Revolution and revolutionary figures such as English-American revolutionary Thomas Paine.
    [Show full text]
  • Enter Your Title Here in All Capital Letters
    ―STRENGTHENING THE FAITH OF THE CHILDREN OF GOD‖: PIETISM, PRINT, AND PRAYER IN THE MAKING OF A WORLD EVANGELICAL HERO, GEORGE MÜLLER OF BRISTOL (1805-1898) by DARIN DUANE LENZ B.A., California State University, Bakersfield, 1997 M.A., Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, 2000 M.A., Villanova University, 2003 AN ABSTRACT OF A DISSERTATION submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of History College of Arts and Sciences KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY Manhattan, Kansas 2010 Abstract George Müller of Bristol (1805-1898) was widely celebrated in the nineteenth century as the founder of the Ashley Down Orphan Homes in Bristol, England. He was a German immigrant to Great Britain who was at the vanguard of evangelical philanthropic care of children. The object of his charitable work, orphans, influenced the establishment of Christian orphanages in Great Britain, North America, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Europe. However, what brought Müller widespread public acclaim was his assertion that he supported his orphan homes solely by relying on faith and prayer. According to Müller, he prayed to God for the material needs of the orphans and he believed, in faith, that those needs were supplied by God, without resort to direct solicitation, through donations given to him. He employed his method as a means to strengthen the faith of his fellow Christians and published an ongoing chronicle of his answered prayers that served as evidence. Müller‘s method of financial support brought him to the forefront of public debate in the nineteenth century about the efficacy of prayer and the supernatural claims of Christianity.
    [Show full text]
  • Show #1321 --- Week of 5/4/20-5/10/20
    Show #1321 --- Week of 5/4/20-5/10/20 HOUR ONE--SEGMENTS 1-3 SONG ARTIST LENGTH ALBUM LABEL________________ SEGMENT ONE: "Million Dollar Intro" - Ani DiFranco :55 in-studio n/a "Can You Get to That"-Funkadelic 2:45 Maggot Brain Westbound "Grew Apart"-Donovan Woods 2:50 single only Meant Well "Stay Away"-Randy Newman 2:00 single only Nonesuch "Cloak Of The Night"-EOB w/Laura Marling 2:30 Earth Capitol "Held Down"-Laura Marling (in-studio) 3:50 in-studio n/a ***MUSIC OUT AND INTO: ***NATIONAL SPONSOR BREAK*** USA Songwriting Competition/"Registration" (:30) Outcue: " Songwriting.net." TOTAL TRACK TIME: 17:30 ***PLAY CUSTOMIZED STATION ID INTO: SEGMENT TWO: "Devil May Care"-Kandace Springs 3:00 The Women Who Raised Me Blue Note ***INTERVIEW & MUSIC: SIERRA HULL (at home in Nashville) ("25 Trips," "Everybody’s Talking") in-studio interview/performance n/a ***MUSIC OUT AND INTO: ***NATIONAL SPONSOR BREAK*** The Ark/"COVID-19 Update" (:30) Outcue: " TheArk.org." TOTAL TRACK TIME: 19:10 SEGMENT THREE: "A Couple Broken Windows"-Aaron Burdett (USASC winner) 4:25 Refuge self-released "I Want You To Love Me"-Fiona Apple 4:00 Fetch The Bolt Cutters Epic "I Contain Multitudes"-Bob Dylan 4:35 single only Columbia "Count On Me"-The Lone Bellow (in-studio) 3:00 in-studio n/a ***MUSIC OUT AND INTO: ***NATIONAL SPONSOR BREAK*** Leon Speakers/"The Leon Loft" (:30) Outcue: " at LeonSpeakers.com." TOTAL TRACK TIME: 18:21 TOTAL TIME FOR HOUR ONE - 55:01 acoustic café · p.o. box 7730 · ann arbor, mi 48107-7730 · 734/761-2043 · fax 734/761-4412 [email protected]
    [Show full text]
  • What Is the Self? No One Can Easily Give a Perfect Answer to This Eternal Question
    Introduction In the beginning of Song of Myself, Walt Whitman declares: I celebrate myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you. (1-3) What is the self? No one can easily give a perfect answer to this eternal question. Walt Whitman, in his poem Song of Myself, offers a poetic interpretation of the mysterious human self. To the child‘s question ―What is the grass?‖ the wise poet replied, ―I do not know what it is any more than he. Or I guess the grass is itself a child, the produced babe of the vegetation‖ (99, 105). Here he combines his nature-based (biologically-based) ―guess‖ with the totally open-minded attitude of the philosopher, the attitude of ―not-knowing‖ as something positive and healthy, a childish curiosity, an active ―guessing‖ (rather than as a negative skepticism or agnosticism). Similarly, he (like us) could only guess what a human ―self‖ is. For a human being has an ―identity‖ in several senses of the term, including the biological, psychological and socio-cultural-political. Whitman is interested in all of these, and in other senses as well. But above all he is interested in the question: How does one see oneself? How does one define oneself, the nature of one‘s own existence, within the larger universe and larger culture-society, and within the flux of (natural and socio-cultural) phenomena? Of course, in attempting to identify ourselves we all experience the process of being-a-self, for the self is for Whitman above all a process, a movement-through- time.
    [Show full text]
  • 22Nd Century Man by Ryan Ridge.Pdf
    22nd century man ryan ridge boston : chicago 22nd Century Man by Ryan Ridge © 2013 by Ryan Ridge FIRST EDITION Cover art: "Your Favorite Nuclear Physicist" Jacob Heustis oil, graphite, collage on paper 84 x 60 in. T is h book was printed in an edition of 100. Book design and printing by Sixth Finch Books. Titles are set in Futura (Paul Renner, 1927). Text is set in Adobe Jenson (Robert Slimbach, 1996, based on typeface cut by Nicolas Jenson, 1470). T e hcover is printed on Wausau Royal Linen. T e htext is laser printed on Neenah Howard linen. For more info, visit sixthfinch.com or email us at [email protected] AUTHORʼS NOTE Padgett Powell’s Interrogative Mood (HarperCollins 2009) is a novel in questions. By posing Powell’s original questions to a trio of internet chatbots: Cleverbot, Brother Jerome, & Sensation Bot respectively, I have created a book of answers, a pithy poetic reply to Mr. Powell’s book. However, chatbots being chatbots––and not yet human! T ank God!––the majority of the replies contained herein are non sequiturs which bear barely any resemblance to the original source questions but instead create a series of kinetic monologues. “Robots will make great aphorists. T ey like to communicate in short sentences.” — Aleksandar Krzavac “It is always the same: once you are liberated, you are forced to ask who you are.” — Jean Baudrillard “Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes.” — Walt Whitman to the future 22nd Century Man MY EMOTIONS ARE dry cleaning.
    [Show full text]