haunted highs

And we begin again, this time with Larry Rickels and Sue De Beer. Rickels specializes in Freudian analysis, while De Beers is a sculptor and film-maker. The class will address "Haunted Thought and Art". Today challenged me, though not in the most academic of ways. This damned continued cold, combined with Rickels low, consistent, somewhat melodic lecturing (marked by no physical movement at all, minus his petting of Elli, his schnauser who attends class as well), meant my attention was not, erm, let’s say at its peak. Regardless, working with a Freudian proves intriguing — I’ve not seen someone so seriously suggest childhood (and mother) issues as the root of theoretical problems. For the afternoon session, I moved closer to Rickels (we’ve attempted to stay a bit out of the way, as we are not primarily egs students). This helped. Up close, he is much more engaging, as I caught the subtleties of his humor.


In the evening, DeLanda presented again — and the performance was more intense (and entertaining). With a larger audience, he comes even more alive, this time lecturing on the misinterpretations of Hume and Kant, and Deleuze’s intervention in favor of a materialist perspective. Here, he also advocated stronger political positions, emphasizing the importance of the material in issues like the acquisition of patents for medicines taken from indigenous cultures. And yet, again, he slowly and subtly mediates his staunch materialism, allowing room for the shaping of language and the necessity/insistence of rhetorics. Really, I’m quite enchanted with him, both theoretically and personally. He gains points as well for managing to negotiate the questions of a girl who must have been ridiculously high. I’ve never heard her speak (not remarkable in and of itself — she’s not been in my classes), but at mildly humorous moments (responded to by most with a quiet snicker), she broke into explosive, melodic and just plain loud laughter. After the presentation, she (of course) had questions. “Um…(giggle giggle)” she began, “sooo, can one play a fair game of chess? And if so, how?” DeLanda had not discussed chess, or anything remotely related. And yet, he fielded the question seriously, offering a strong answer. I don’t remember what exactly that was — I was too distracted by the girl, especially once she pulled out what seemed to be a cigarette (or maybe that’s just my naivety at thinking one would hold their joint in front of all of one’s faculty members. But that’s just me). Amusing for the crowd, though I’d think twice about making that much of an ass of myself.