From Chaos to Catastrophe?: Texts and the Transitionality of the Mind

K. Ludwig Pfeiffer

Published by De Gruyter 2018

From Chaos to Catastrophe?

Texts and the Transitionality of the Mind

K. Ludwig Pfeiffer

Volume 59 in the series Buchreihe der Anglia / Anglia Book Series

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110581836

Overview
Contents

About this book

This book focuses on the tensions between processes of consciousness and their products like worldviews, theories, models of thought etc. Staying close to their technical meanings in chaos and catastrophe theory, chaotic processes are described in mainly neurobiological and evolutionary terms while products are delineated in their evolutionary logic. Given both a relative opacity of processes of the mind and of the outside world, the dramatic quality of the processes, a certain closeness to ‘hysterical’ and ‘schizophrenic’ tendencies and, within the context of the weakening orientating power of worldviews, an alarming catastrophic potential emerge.
As a consequence, the book aims at a comparative cost-benefit analysis of the transitionality between ‘chaotic’ processes of consciousness and the often ‘catastrophic’ implications of their products within historical frameworks. The central thesis consists in the increasing failure in the orientation of action which cannot be contained by systems of ethics. Materials for this analysis are mainly drawn from texts normally called literary in which the tension between biographical and historical dimensions provides profiles of chaos and catastrophe.

Author / Editor information

K. Ludwig Pfeiffer, Siegen University, Germany.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Foreword Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	VII
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	IX
Introduction: Processes and Products: Claims, Goals, Risks Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part I. Consciousness Studies: Neurosciences and ‘Literature’
1. The Transitionality of Consciousness Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	15
2. Universalism vs. Particularism Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	23
3. Patterns of Consciousness, Language, Discourse Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	31
4. James, James and the Structure of Fluctuations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	37
5. Neurobiology: Intricacies and Implications Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	49
6. Dramatic Narratives Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	62
7. Transitionality and the Obsession with Form Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	76
8. Existential Impressionism and Cultural Status: Dorothy Richardson (1873–1957) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	90
9. An Interlude, Or, From Richardson to Richardson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	102
Part II. Consciousness and History: Biographical ‘Novels’ and their ‘Liberal’ Extensions
1. Biography on the Rebound Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	115
2. Biographical Patterns, Models of Consciousness and Historical Significance in Dickens Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	127
3. Diagnostic Power and Practical Relevance: Some Further Steps Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	132
4. The Pseudo-Freedom of Consciousness and its Cost-Benefit Analysis in the Twentieth Century Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	141
5. The RAF, a Twentieth-Century Reality Shift, and a Contemporary German ‘Novel’ Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	155
6. The Drama of ‘Liberalism’ Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	164
7. What Does Enlightenment Enlighten Us About? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	171
8. The Paradox of Liberty and Authority Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	185
Part III. A Case Study: Chaotic Consciousness and Catastrophic History, Discordant Evolution and Political Overreaction: Oswald and Nicholas Mosley
1. Catastrophe Practice: Frameworks and Presuppositions ‒ From Individuality to Scripts Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	191
2. Catastrophe Practice: Routines ‒ Individuality Manufactured and Medialized Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	197
3. Hopeful Monsters: Discordant Evolution and Steps towards Mutation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	203
4. Hysterical Consciousness and the Beginnings of Institutional Degeneration in Autobiographical Writings Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	210
5. The Failure of Rules and the Unleashing of Hysterical Consciousness: Oswald Mosley and Fascism Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	214
6. Tentative Conclusions Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	219
Works Cited Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	221
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	232

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
Audience: Academics (Literary Studies, English Studies), Libraries, Institutes
Pages
- Front matter: 10
- Main content: 239
Keywords: Consciousness; Worldviews; Cultural Catastrophes

eBook

Published: March 19, 2018
ISBN: 9783110581836

Hardcover

Published: March 19, 2018
ISBN: 9783110579345

Paperback

Published: December 2, 2019
ISBN: 9783110683752