Cold feet, but not hot head, I hope.

I think that one of the reasons why I feel fascination for the old editorial cartoons of the Spain under Generalísimo Franco and during the transition to the Constitutional Monarchy such as La Codorniz and Hermano Lobo is because I am convinced that the way of exerting authority, power or strength in the years of democracy is still tainted by the old dictatorial categories of thought. In the times of the Spanish 'Organic Democracy' people were classified in groups by their ideas, activities, loyalties, personalities and let's call it 'vices,' 'tendencies,' 'inclinations' or 'looks.' Nobody could face the risk of earning the reputation of being 'difficult' or 'insociable' because this meant running into potential trouble any time this person had a conflict with the 'authority.' Many decisions and talks were secretive and rumour and gossip about people, families and social groups were the way of the world. These satirical magazines by means of witty and quite often arcane and highly symbolic language and expression pointed a the masked reality of a political, cultural, religious and social control (Falange, the Catholic Church, the Army, the Franquists) which could always make itself visible by direct action (censorship, fine, legal process) or by influence (outcasting people, oblivion). I am fully responsible for this very sketchy remarks, but I think that I could find a good number of references (from different ideological sources) which would confirm and precise what I have simplistically written here. They say that Caudillo Franco himself controlled these jokes, made comments and gave orders, even though if I recall correctly they say that he was not the worst of censors, that the real dangerous and influential people were behind. In my view it was a sadistic intellectual game which punished those transgressions that were considered a threat to the principle of authority held by a group. In Spain the principle of authority can never be openly challenged or criticized unless you have also power, influence and a group of loyals behind. Not only in Franco's times but also nowadays. I have heard this comment from many foreigners in Spain or abroad.... but only when they are very confident that you are not going to 'betray' them in a conversation or meeting or social event. I think I could trace comments on the way the Spaniards have exerted power and authority from the Romans: divide et vinces.

Criticizing or dissenting with the established authority is always tricky, no matter the nation, no matter the circumstance, but the problem in Spain is that people exerting power or influence are not usually capable of being as objective as dissociating that criticism from an act of hostility against them or against their circle or party. We must also keep in mind that many Spaniards are not able to differentiate between their post and the institution (or private enterprise) they work for. Many people, old and young, still fear issuing a complaint or running into conflict with an influential person about something because of the consequences. I deem it quite symptomatic in a modern, democratic rational system.

In Franco's time -I must confess that I keep on thinking about the 60s and 70s these days- there were in principle 2 ways of controlling the excess of 'temper' or 'independence' against the principle of authority (leaving aside of course oblivion and silence): 1) the executive one: sanction to be enforced by the police and the judges 2) the Opus Nigrum approach: a moral or mental problem, penance or treatment to be administered by the family. Quite often these people were kept in minority (either 'de jure' or 'de facto') and their  degree of autonomy depended on the acceptability of their behaviour. Quite often their families felt in disgrace. Could I find references for these comments? I think I could. In what way has the situation changed? In what way the democratic parties left or right have changed these views? Tentatively, intuition, the Right will always stress the deed itself. They would always feel the need of the ('Salomonic' in the best of cases) sanction even if the reasons that prompted the criticism were founded in principle. The Left will always emphasize the social and psychological aspects of what is deemed as normal  solidarious behaviour and will try to find convincing reasons to do practically the same but for the good cause. They  must also show authority.

Why all this? Spain is going through a very deep economic crisis that is in principle the responsibility of both the Left and the Right, not to mention the external pressure. Of course I agree with the need to save up, economize and work hard, but this does not mean that I do not keep my own standards and ideas about many of the 'objective' and 'scientific' criteria (as in the good time of the pre Second World War: statistical manipulation and scientificism) that are being used now 'ad hoc' to regulate the work and research conditions at university. I see too many 'ad hoc' measures and counter measures dictated by external pressure and internal division to conform to a political and social European union that is in a global systemic crisis, no matter the wealth or power of the different countries. These changes are affecting earnings, stability and, crucially savings. In these circumstances it is difficult to adjust and keep a sense of progress. The drastic changes will be challenged not only intellectually but also in terms of authority and the political confrontation will cause a very deep division among the intellectuals, scientists, artists of Spain and a good deal of the eternal and dreaded archetypes will resurrect. One thing is education, a different issue is research, a different issue is selling and doing successful business, and a different thing is going through political and social turmoil.

What I fear most is injustice and prejudice disguised as objective truth and rationale. I fear division, disqualification, controversies and even personal attacks precisely in a moment in which structural reforms are peremptory. Not only a principle of transparency, but also a reasoned justification of the different measures and very clear criteria for all the different cases and circumstances. Intellectuals should always provide reasons and convince.

Not the best moment to start the course final evaluation, but the show must keep on going. Time to put a stop to this post. Best of lucks to everybody (first draft).

First May-May Thirteenth. Miscellaneous notes.

Last week of classes before the exams period. Two very busy weeks: on campus in the morning and looking after Mammy in the afternoon-evening. She is recovering well, but she is still weak. I think that she still needs some time before resuming her normal life. It was 'more than serious'.... but she is still with us. Some rest this evening before the last contact sessions and the beginning of classes and meetings until July.

On the First May I started writing a post I couldn't finish. At first I had decided to erase what I had written and start afresh. On a second thought however I have decided to publish it because: 1) I think that the fragment I wrote was interesting, 2) This Blog is a (vocationally enlightened) journal and one of the main features of this kind of works is their fragmentary nature. First what I wrote on May 1st and then some compositions and comments about what I have been doing these days.

1st May 2012

Cold cloudy day,  09 degrees Celsius outside. At home taking care of Mammy while my sister is working in the hospital. Peace and justice to everybody on this 1st May 2012. I  have been browsing the free press online, writing some messages to friends and remembering the lyrics of some old songs. I have also composed a new Toonlet, recreating (and overdoing) the language of the noir series. I was thinking of Bo Wiederber's  film  The Ballad of Joe Hill (1971), which I think I saw when I was doing 4th, perhaps 5th year English Philology in Santiago de Compostela, at the old Peleteiro cine club If I recall correctly. I may be inaccurate I watched a lot of films at the time. There were cine clubs at the Salón Teatro Cinema, The La Salle School and also at the Peleteiro School during those years that I can remember now. Hopefully one day I'll have the chance of having a coffee with some of the old friends of those years and contrast and verify information. Sort of debriefing, you know. No brandy, no pipe, no ducados, no cigarettes this time. No sugar either. A learned talk, so to speak. Hopefully not Orwellian.

When I saw Joe Hill I felt very sad and depressed because of the artful way in which his personal weaknesses (if weaknesses) had been utilized by the secret police of the time. Then I though of many other films I've seen, books I've read and songs I've listened to. Left and right, north and south always the same strategy.

It is always much better and easier to attack the frailties and petty irregularities (if irregularities) of the individuals than their political ideas. Why creating heroes? Lately we all have read many obscure cases of corruption of all sorts and I fear that this universal and ancient tactics has become so widespread and abused that it is producing the opposite effect to the one intended. Where rationality then, my Lord of the Flies? Yes I have also read Noam Chomsky's new article on the Guardian online, but I'm not going to drink any hemlock for that! Light lunch in about half an hour.

The ballad of Joe Hill is also a very moving song. I think it is also part of the film's soundtrack. I have played a version available on YouTube by Joan Baez this morning. Here's part of the lyrics...

I dreamed, I saw Joe Hill last night
Alive as you and me
Says I "But Joe, you're ten years dead"
"I never died" says he
"I never died" says he

"The copper bosses killed you, Joe"
"They shot you Joe" says I
"Takes more than guns to kill a man"
Says Joe "I didn't die"
Says Joe "I didn't die"
[uuLyrics ]

..................
[15:26]
 
Sunday 13th May 2012

Classes research and meetings as normal during this fortnight. I am trying to consolidate the creative routine of composing a Toonlet a day as if I were an amateur editorial (and philological) cartoonist. It is tough at times but it is giving me a lot of satisfaction. I try to exploit linguistic, communicative, cultural effects in English (me being a native Spaniard) as teaching (and research) practice, but also as personal reflection on what I read about the contemporary world affairs on the press. Ironic, deconstructive counter-cultural approach based on the American and European traditions, but above all a personal recreation of the Spanish 'subversive cartoons' technique of the last years of Generalísimo Franco and the Spanish Transition with linguistic and cultural rather than political purposes. It is hard work and it is time consuming but it is an excellent way to explore the expressive possibilities of English and to experiment creatively. Here's a card for personal study I have composed this morning after reading the press online. A personal reflection on the Merkel-Hollande meeting in the context of the new homeless demonstrations in Spain and the rise of the Extreme Right in Europe.

I hope to keep on with the routine. 'Nullus die sine linea' as the Romans used to say with a smile.... I have updated my Dadaedutoons page between yesterday and this morning. More than 100 Toonlets since I started, leaving aside now the strips I have composed in other sites and my clipcards.

 117 Toonlets already. LINK

 'I have (catenatively) kept on working on My English Log and on My Meaning and Discourse pages these days!' Here's another example of my eccentric (also endocentric) humour. Two classes to go in English Grammar and only one in Meaning and Discourse. On Thursday 27th is the Day of the Galician Letters, dedicated this year to Valentín Paz Andrade Here's a clipart composition  from the M&D page. The example on the card is from George Yule's 1996. Pragmatics. Oxford University Press. Last Thursday the students took the strike very seriously and there were no classes.

What else have I been doing? Some research, some marking, tutorials and meetings. I also had the chance to attend a couple of sessions of the 2nd (ANLJ) conference on Children's and Juvenile Literature. I must congratulate my colleagues Veljka R. Kenfel, Celia Vázquez and the organizing team for their good work.

Asociación Nacional en Investigación de Literatura Infantil y Juvenil

(National Association of Research in Children's and Juvenile Literature. LINK).

I must put an end to this post here. There are more university news I would like to write about, but I must do some preparation for tomorrow. Nice and peaceful Sunday evening. [First draft]

Two weeks of unexpected interruption, but "there but for the grace of god go I again." Does it make any sense?

OK. 'April is the cruellest month,' but I did not expect my mother to catch pneumonia and be in a critical condition in hospital for a week! We've been lucky and she is back home recuperating, but it has been very tough. I managed to keep on teaching (almost) as usual and also to do some work on my teaching pages, but I had to discontinue posting here for about two weeks. The weather has improved a little bit after two quite cold and rainy weeks.

Mother's Day in Spain is on Sunday sixth of May this year. I have composed a collage to celebrate that we we still have Mama with us to celebrate her day this year.  She was 86 a couple of weeks ago. It was Wednesday and then on that weekend she fell sick. My composition however is a little bit bitter. It is also a first reflection on the present economic and social crisis and on the notion "multiculturalism." This is another adjective that has become tainted, such as: 'cleansing,' 'pure,' 'authentic,' 'genuine' and some others. We tend to forget that clay was clay and spit was spit at the beginning of time! Anyway, no digressions. When I was a child, in the old  Generalísimo Franco times of economic hardship and limited mobility, coffee was expensive and not very good in Spain, or so they said. People living near the Portuguese border went to Oliveira Salazar's 'Lusitania'  to buy coffee there: café Sical o melhor café de Portugal was the slogan (Sical coffee the best coffee in Portugal). Vigo is about 30 kilometers from the Portuguese border and I warmly remember those weekends when we all, father, mother, sister and old Huck  got into the old  family Seat 850 to spend the day in Portugal and buy coffee, china, towels.... You could only get a package of coffee per person through the customs. Genuine coffee, real cocoa, pure cane sugar..... These adjectives were friendly, warm, stimulating then, not like now! Some people need to conceal aggressive primitive  instincts by means of very elaborate, euphemistic language. This seems to be a (sad) constant in human history! I am thinking of the Oslo massacre of course, but not only about that.

Then, naughty Huck grew up and became a somewhat bad boy at first, never that big, though. He crossed the railway tracks one day and travelled north to study English Philology (or so he said) at Santiago de Compostela, his Galician Christminster! Still alive and working.... and dedicating perhaps too much time  to remember the days of the Spanish Transition from Franco's regime to Democracy  while trying to work out what went wrong internally in this country in the context of a global international systemic crisis in which many key factors seem to have been either concealed or distorted.... I should write the whole story one day!

What am I going to do on the 1st May 2012? Oh well, I think I will treat myself to an extra bar of diet chocolate and a short walk always on a resonable budget of course and I will take it easy and work only about 8 hours or so! A dadaist joke? Not at all madam/sir: facts, facts and facts! O course writing a blog or creating materials, or reading is no serious work, is it?

Not a good post this morning, I am afraid. Still a little bit disperse. Something positive: since Easter I have been composing a daily Toonlet strip on topics such as: impossible love affairs, university life, politics.... the way of the world.  I explore some of my reactions at what I read on the press by means of seeemingly specialized and erudite verbal humour and irony. A cybernopragmatic conversational setting and some deviants occupy the floor, but I must protest that Prof. Francisco Yus Ramos (University of Alicante) is not responsible at all of what appears there. Me neither: the characters' full responsibility. Here's today strip, a sad, absurd, critical but sentimental reflection on the old university days of the 80s in Spain.

Dr. Weirdideas's plan.

Toonlet

By means of this strip I recreate the old wild university parties I heard about in the context of the present economic crisis in which many of the old problems of the Spanish Transition reappear after about 3 decades of democracy. The International context aggravates them and is threatening our`present living standards.

A recreation of the old "Bring Your Own Drink" (Potluck) Party with references to some aaah... new social habits, fears and obsessions....always based on what I read and hear, of course. We all have grown soft, what can we do now?  You Obscure Jude, who do you prefer Dr. Strangelove or Dr. Weirdideas? Up to you?  Peaceful and gratifying weekend. Time for lunch. [First draft]

Memory and desire on a cloudy April day. Three more compositions.

Unexpectedly cold and rainy weather after Easter. No excuses therefore to study and do some positive work during the weekend. Long John Parrot is shouting 'película, película!' (movie, movie).  My pet knows well that it is weekend (I am working at home) and that I usually watch an old film from the 40s-50s in English in the evening.  It loves overhearing what the characters say and sometimes reacts when something 'hot' is apparently taking place (an argument, a moment of tension, a love scene). Yesterday it also reminded me: 'lavadora, lavadora!' (washing machine, washing machine) that I must also do the laundry this afternoon-evening, true. Long John is a good flat mate indeed!

Memory mixes with desire on this dull grey April day. T.S.Eliot's poem The Waste Land is always present in my mind year after year at the beginning of the Spring. I have created a first composition on how I feel today where I reproduce the first lines of the poem:

I took the photo last March 31st on Mount Castro, at the beginning of Easter (one of a series of six). I use the term 'epiphany' both in their religious and literary senses. A little bit of (creative and experiential) melancholy on this Saturday, which is not necessarily negative.

This morning, when I was reading the news I found out that there is hight risk of a big catastrophic storm in the Midwest (CBS news). I thought of Nebraska and decided to create a second composition using a couple of postcards I bought there in the 80s and also the scan of the front cover of a book that a family of good American friends presented me with in 1981: Sophus Keith Winter. Take all to Nebraska. A Bison book. University of Nebraska Press. I never went through an actual tornado in the Midwest, but I made it through 2 Nebraskan winters and I know for sure that weather there is tough! My pioneer solidarity with my American friends therefore, hoping that the alarm proves false. I have used the (alarming) items of news to do some practice on 'Plains Pragmatics.' so to speak.

I have created a third, quite critical, quite counter-cultural composition on the notions of 'appearance' and 'reality' nowadays using the well known proverb: Caesar's wife must not only be respectable but she must also appear to be respectable as a short of global recapitulary reaction (brain storming) to the whole series of (abominable and quite depressing) news I have been reading on the press on line this morning. During the process of composition I kept Mingote and the Spanish tradition  in  mind. As bad a joke as usual, though!

It was my mother's 86th birthday last Wednesday, peaceful day of family celebration. Unfortunately she caught a strong cold yesterday due to the bad weather and she is in bed now! She has a temperature. My sister has just called and I must go to their place and help her in the best of pioneer spirits. Nice and peaceful weekend to everybody. As people used to say in Nebraska, take care!

Blessed creativity! Some extra free time to compose some more comic strips.

Procrastinating a little bit these holidays, but only in the strict sense of the word 'procrastinate.' I've stayed most of this year's Easter with my mother and sister at home reading, writing,  watching some classical black and white films (fun and practice) and studying a little bit. I have not 'disconnected' from my work, but I have taken it a little bit easier for a while. The remainder of the course until June will be tough. Some clouds, but no rain: a sharp contrast with other regions of Iberia where it rained (even snowed) heavily.

Yesterday when I finished watching Compton Bennet's The Seventh Veil (1947) featuring James Mason, Ann Todd and Herbert Lom, I took from my window some photos of the full moon (lúbrica y pura, con senos de duro estaño/ lecherous and pure, her breasts of hard tin, line from García Lorca/ Helen Gunn translator. I took it not as an omen but as a quite clear,  symbolically cruel and transcendental exemplification of the comment I made about Easter in my previous post: the sign of fertility per excellence shining mightily during the peaceful mourning night in my neighbourhood.

Maundy Thursday - Good Friday Eve in catholic Spain 2012. There were children playing in the street. A romantic moment of recreation provided by Nature for free.

I have dedicated some hours of work to composing some comic strips and therefore to constructing examples I could use in a grammar and pragmatics class. I have also ventured to create a clipart homage to Antonio Mingote the genial Spanish cartoonist who passed away on April the 3rd. I hope my (bad) joke will be rightly understood, that is ironically. My most sincere condolences, though. I protest.

WPclipart

[A clear example of irony: using one expression with the opposite meaning. In Spanish this time]

I must say I am quite satisfied with the work I've done these days on a personal basis. Here's a selection of strips. Hopefully I will be able to update my dadaedutoons reasonably soon.

1.- Toonlet. 

[An echo from my adolescence, I confess.]

2.- Bitstrips.

 [I wanted to try something a little bit more daring than my usual philological pursuits, but it lacks some verism in my appreciation.... I am out of practice.]

3.- Read Meat.

[A little bit lengthy, but a good parody of a pragmatic analysis in my opinion.]

4.- Toondoo.

[ Example of Loose Talk for class?]

5.-  The Funny Times.

[Last but not least an Editorial cartoon (Intertextuality) on the miserable times we are leaving]

6.- Stripgenerator.

[Addenda et Corrigenda. I had inadvertently skipped Dr. Julian! Editorial cartoon based on the classical "pact with the devil" poetics. Intertextuality therefore and also some puns]

That's all folks. I must start thinking of coming back to the routine progressively. I wish you a nice and peaceful long Easter weekend. A new post here next week hopefully. [First draft]

P.S.

[I want to dedicate this post to a close dear friend of my family: Francisco Bordallo Costas who passed away on the 2nd April 2012. Being 87 years old and good humoured I am sure he appreciated Antonio Mingote's cartoons as he deserved. My most sincere condolences.]

Easter vacation, a brief pause.

This year the Easter vacation starts immediately after a general strike, which reflects the magnitude of the social and political problems Spain is going through in the context of the global worlwide crisis. Not the best conditions to motivate students to work hard, but our responsibility as teachers and researchers is to keep on performing our duties the best we can and keep on making plans for the future hoping for better times. Things are gloomy though.  Yesterday or the day before yesterday I read on the British online press that the United Kingdom has entered a phase of economic recession. It is a fact that many countries, with different economic structures are going through very severe economic and structural problems. It is also evident that the technological developments per se are not able to boost the different economies. There are too many interrelated factors and it seems that the political (also ideological and religious), energetic and ecological problems have taken a crucial lead. The exhaustion of the old order is evident, but there is no clear alternative: too many areas of uncertainty, no clear boundaries. The notion itself of economic growth seems to be put to question. I have spent some time this morning trying to organize my ideas about the present political and economic crisis. This is the result of my work: a (creative) brain storming on the on the different factors that ned to be taken into consideration when studying what 'economic growth' is. I have also drawn some personal conclusions and incorporated my usual (bad) jokes and comments. A good opportunity to learn the definitions of some specialized economic terms.

I must confess I feel some nostalgia, melancholy rather. Easter has always been to me a period of reflection. I suppose that this is a logical consequence of the catholic education I received when I was a child. Besides, in General Franco's Spain, Holy Week was very strict: no movies, no dancing, only classical music and news on the radio, religious processions, fasting, abstinence, vigil and a lot of restraint.  I spent a lot of time reading, walking, thinking and writing brief poems, short stories, personal thoughts and also listening to classical music. I have always loved religious music. On the television, the films they showed were always the same: Quo Vadis, Ben Hur, Fabiola and so on: Paganism and Primitive Christiany Hollywood style. Things have changed so radically in Spain since the 60s-70s that it is very difficult to transmit to the younger generations an approximate and realistic account of how young people felt and thought at that time, especially those educated at catholic religious schools. Here is a postcard I have composed for the occasion. I have used a well-known verse line from San Juan de la Cruz's Cántico espiritual to try to express my feelings, my concern about what is going on in this world: con llama que consume y no da pena (and the flame caressing without pain as translated by Mrs Bonnie Nims)

Bouzas (Vigo) from Mount Castro yesterday. Here's a link to Amancio Prada's well known musical version of  Cántico Espiritual (track 4 C.E. ): YouTube/KronosManuelFilms.

However it is not only Christianity, there are other decisive anthropological and cultural factors to take into account. Easter marks the beginning of springtime, therefore of the new fertility.  Mythically it also represents the arrest, trial, torture and crucifixion of a 33 year old man who was innocent of all charges and who was sanctioned as 'God's son' by his own executioners. The best moment of the year therefore to remember all the injustices, cruelties, tortures and prosecutions that have taken place in the history of mankind under the name of religion and sincerely wish for peace, fairness, rationality and justice. Here's a Toonlet I have composed this evening precisely on this topic. My best wishes for everybody in these dificult times. Peaceful Easter week. [First draft]

P.S. This week I have completed the page I created for the Epics V Seville conference on Relevance Theory. Here's a link. You are always welcome to browse.

Relevant conference indeed! A first sketchy post to resume routine work

Time to resume activity here after the Epics V conference. This week my teaching went pretty well. It was nice to dedicate (only just) a couple of minutes of each Tuesday session to talk to my students about the symposium. I have also been working quite intensely on my personal Epics V conference. It is almost finished.  I only need to complete my comments on some of the papers and on the plenary lecture delivered by Robyn Carston, something I will try to do by Monday.  Creating the page has taken me a good number of hours of personal work and study which are definitely worth the effort to profit from what I have learned in 3 intense days of activities. It is not only a question of time, but also of money  (about 500-25 euros expense) and of academic prestige. Once published the link, my students and collegues are always welcome to browse what I have written and they can send me comments and suggestions. Sharing information on the web is a source of personal satisfaction and can also be the beginning of new teaching or research projects. 

I still need to write a new post for My English Log with a summary of what I taught this week and to finish uploading the photos I took in Seville. There have been some important changes in the urban landscape of the city center (La Encarnación, Puerta de Jerez) and also some vandalism, but the old quarters remain practically the same. I didn't have much time to remember the past though: only a long Friday evening after the conference and a couple of extra hours on Saturday morning before taking the bus to the airport. I was not that lucky with the weather: it was cloudy and rainy for a (brief) change!

Very rewarding experience in personal terms. Very friendly and participative atmosphere indeed! A lot to recapitulate, some new research ideas for the near future. 

Here I reproduce from a card I composed  yesterday to pay homage to Deirdre Wilson's teaching which I published on my Epics V conference page . Thanks a lot Professor Wilson for attending my presentation at 09:00, 15th March 2012 and for your kind comments and suggestions. I deeply appreciate your kindness.

EPICS V LINK

Now a couple of (counter-cultural) cards I composed about the conference. The first one is an echo of the well known joke (also a linguistic frame): My parents went to____ and all I got was this lousy t-shirt.

 

The second composition is a personal attempt at recapturing the spirit of the ancient city in which Don Juan was born.... according to some venerable traditions. Now that I recall.... I passed by his statue in the Jardines de Murillo on my way to Mateos Gago through el Barrio de Santa Cruz several times, but I did not stop this time!

Time to finish. A little bit shallow today, but "something is better than nothing" and I needed to resume my work in this blog "pretty bad." I wonder what Deirdre Wilson would say about the cognitive mechanisms involved in the interpretation of these (proverbial) expressions. "Beggars can't be choosers, I guess!" Peaceful and fruitful weekend to all. [First draft]

Not that elaborate this week. A little bit in haste. Off for one week. Busy weekend therefore. EXPLICATED enough?

Very busy weekend. Next Tuesday I will be flying to Seville to take part in the Epics V congress on Relevance Theory. Therefore I will be brief today... besides being relevant, of course! Three new compositions (first brain storming) on topics concerning Truth, Pragmatics, Relevance Theory and Cultural Values... and the present (deep) crisis. Prof. Deirdre Wilson's lecture is on Relevance, literary interpretation and value. I wonder which sense (definition) of the word  Dr. Wilson has in mind. At first sight this term is ambiguous (literary value or (semantic and) pragmatic value(s)? Anyway, it will be  a very valuable contribution, no doubt! I still have some marking to do this evening and leave all documents classified and ready for when I come back. I do not plan to publish any more post here for about 10 days. 

The first (and quite facile) 'dadaist' compositions is another first reflection on the topic of analogy, association and playful distortion of a linguistic message to produce an effect that apart from creating an effect of surprise -not necessarily a humorous effect- prompts a reflective process both on one aspect of the reality explicitly mentioned or alluded in the composition and on the (distorted) language employed. Iconicity, resemblance, misunderstanding, manipulation... are very interesting research fields to study keeping Relevance Theory in mind.

My second composition is based on an old comic strip from the 40s Diane Denny publishes on the Saturday Evening Post. It is a brief reflection on how an old cartoon can acquire new relevance and a (partial) new meaning when contemporary readers consider that what is depicted in the old strip relates to their present situation in one or more aspects. Deixis and relevance therefore.

My final sketch, a little bit more elaborate and personal recreates and develops some of the ideas I used in previous compositions. I reproduce one encyclopaedic item of information that provides some extra justification for my (insistent) use of one brand of Sevillian coffee: 1) personal experience in Seville (a coffee shop in Calle Sierpes, for instance), 2) onomatopoeia ('bum, boom, catunambúm' and related (iconic) expressions, 3) coffee as a stimulant (legal 'uppers`) 4) What the brand itself publishes on its own commercial site to advertise the product. I also make some comments about the ethical value of truth by quoting Merlin from Excalibur (1981). There is also an unintentional (misleading) mistake of attribution but I provide all the names and references. Dr. Louis Cypher learns fast. An appetite for knowledge, no doubt!

I confess I also have an appetite for learning and besides it is lunch time. Time to finish here, I wish everybody a rewarding and peaceful week until I come back.

Four slides more on Seville, Epics V and what keeps me going these days.

Light rain since yesterday after a dry and sunny period: humid and warm. Grey day. I have dedicated most of the morning to personal study, creation and recreation: 4 more slides. I was re-reading the conclusions of my Ph.D thesis: Blanco White, periodista político and decided to use a couple of lines from Lazarillo de Tormes, the final paragraph of my work and one of the photos of Seville I think I took in 1992 to create a first composition. Thus I complete and round up what I wrote in my previous post about my research (licenciatura and doctoral theses) on the Sevillian heterodox.

Coming back to Seville in two weeks' time to read a paper on Relevance Theory becomes highly symbolic in my personal experience ( Bergson's élan vital). My imagination makes me recreate my past years as a citizen, amateur pícaro, teacher and Ph.D candidate in the Seville of the 80s, while my fancy stimulates me to forge new personal and research projects for the future. Thinking of Coleridge now (very weak and personal associative relevance), it will be the first time I visit Seville as a (pipe) non smoker!  It will be the first time I visit University Pablo de Olavide as well. In El Español Blanco White dedicates an interesting comment in one of his articles on religious intolerance (a footnote if I recall correctly) to Pablo de Olavide's "vergüenza" (shame) when he had to go through an Inquisitorial process once he had lost his political influence and had fallen in disgrace. I  reproduce and study it in my thesis, but enough of bleak passages for now! I prefer to recreate the narrow, winding and sometimes tortuous Sevillian streets as lively, humane, picaresque.... and romantic.  My second composition today tries to reflect what I still feel when I remember those days. Last week in my Meaning and Discourse class I used Suzanne Vega's (1987) well known song Tom's Diner to discuss the different kinds of context we need to take into account in pragmatics and conversation analysis. I remember that the first time I used this song in a language class was in Seville either in 1987 or 1988. I have reproduced a brief passage from S.V.'s  lyrics in my second composition I deem subjectively relevant. Madamina, please keep in mind that Don Juan was born in Seville and that the Spanish Transition years were, were.... aaah.... deeply "experimental" when you read and examine this second contribution.

What are my feelings now that I will be in Seville in 10 days? Some of them have been expressed creatively (creative brain storming) in my two final compositions today. I feel a little bit like Percival (rather than young Arthur) getting prepared for a decisive tournament. John Boorman's (1981) Excalibur was shown in Seville in 1982 if I recall correctlly and was a success among the students of English Philology. I have used a photogram from that movie for my third card. I have also deemed it relevant to incorporate Dr. Louis Cypher  (Angel Heart) as  a guest star. "Arthur, where is my sword?"

The final slide today is another recreation of Seville and of the Spanish Classics. It is also a brief warming up practice exercise on inference and Relevance Theory. A little bit shallow and facile perhaps, but good informal practice. It's  another reflection about legal and illegal substances. Know yourself, as the old classics used to say! Incidentally, it is about dinner time. Long John Parrot must be hungry!

 

About time to finish this post. Writing and fabulating about Seville has triggered too many associations, to many ideas and references. Relevance Degree Zero! I need to disconnect for a while and "sober up" (as Joseph Blanco, would say) before retaking the beloved Sevillian topic again... some other day.

Peaceful and gratifying weekend. [First draft]

A romantic evening thinking of Seville. A visit to my doctoral alma mater in about 3 weeks.

I have spent this cloudy, undecided Saturday evening re-reading the Licenciatura Thesis I defended at the University of Seville in 1982:  José María Blanco White, crítico inglés. I still feel proud of what I wrote in my first research work. This thesis was the first systematic -and necessarily incomplete- study of the original articles on Spanish literature, on English Romantic literature and on literary criticism written and published by Blanco in England. I did not publish this book at that time even though my advisor Dr. Antonio Garnica Silva and the experts of the tribunal recommended me to do so. It was not as usual to publish first research works in the 80s as it is now and besides my main interests were in English Language and Linguistics, not in Literature, so I started other projects and then it was too late. I keep my two original typewritten copies well at hand in my shelves. Later on I wrote my Doctoral Thesis (Blanco White, periodista político, 1987) on  El Español, a very important  political (and cultural) newspaper subsidized by the British Foreign Office he wrote on his own in London during the years of the Spanish Independence War against Napoleon. In this publication Blanco supported openly the British views on how to conduct the war and criticized many of the decisions taken by the Cortes de Cádiz. A little bit simplistically and to cut a long story short,  he ended up by being considered  a traitor by the Spanish liberales because of his political views and condemned as an heterodox by the Spanish serviles due to his religious ideas: originally a Spanish priest, once in England he first converted to Anglicanism and ended up his life as a Unitarian. It was a fascinating research project which received the highest mark,  but I did not publish the complete work as a book either, as I was advised to do by the members of the tribunal. Then I felt that I needed some time to complete the references and round up the publication, time I did not have. However I published some good articles summarizing the main points of my thesis, before focusing once more on English Language, Linguistics and Pragmatics. I have not done any more research on Blanco White and the Romanticism since then, but I keep very good memories of what I did and besides I love the music and literature of that period.

Seville is a very Romantic place. When I was living there I took very long walks either with friends or alone and I knew the city center very well. I lived near the Church of San Román (Los Gitanos, the Gipsies) for some time (in Calle Sol), then by the Barrio de Santa Cruz (Calle Federico Rubio) and finally again quite near San Román (Calle Enladrilladas). There were good and bad moments during those years, as it is always the case, but I keep very fond memories of Seville and of all the friends I made there.

If everything goes well, I'll be in Seville on the 13th March to take part and read a paper in the Epics V Symposium on Relevance Theory, a very important event I have already mentioned in this blog. Three intense days on Pragmatics at Pablo de Olavide University. Busy until Friday evening when hopefully I will find some time to take a walk along the old familiar streets. Back in Vigo on Saturday. Presentation ready and supervised; plane ticket paid and hotel room booked. A lot of illusion on my part. A good opportunity to learn to greet the old friends and acquaintances and meet new people.

Before writing this post I did some creative-recapitulatory work on Blanco White and my Sevillian experience. I have composed three cards combining three photos I took in the the early 90s and three short passages from my work: 2 quotations from Blanco on the Spanish character and the last paragraph of my conclusions. I wanted to recreate how I saw the city and the kind of ideas and feelings I had when I walked along the streets of Seville.

 

A romantic evening therefore. The past, made present, gives way to a personal future in which experience and illusion combine to bring forth more and better works. Many friends, many poetical encounters in that city. Nothing really negative in fact. The bad moments once overcome are also (necessary) human experience. Nice weekend full of peace to everybody. [First draft]

"Dr. Strangelove is back, alive and kicking." A brief counter-cultural 'tiento' this time.

Not a brilliant beginning of the long carnival weekend. Slightly feverish and weak due to the action of a virus, I'm afraid. A short post today to comment briefly on a card I composed on Saturday morning before feeling sick and going to bed.

Noam Chomsky published on the 14th and 15th February on the Guardian a long article in 2 parts expressing his views of the present bleak political and military situation, which I have read with interest: 'Losing' the world: American decline in perspective, part 1 and The Imperial way: American decline in perspective, part 2.

I usually consider Professor Noam Chomsky's ideas on political and social issues  "decriptively adequate." I do not consider myself qualified enough to evaluate them as "explanatorily adequate" simply  because I lack the necessary  background knowledge to discuss his opinions and views in detail. Besides, being a native Spaniard born in Galicia, I see the world affairs under a different perspective from his. That is,  I can't tell to what an extent N. Chomsky's analysis is accurate in global terms. I must say however that I share his concerns about the dangers of a nuclear war and about the degradation of the ecology and of the human life conditions. I think we also share the same ethics. Professor Chomsky studies the present situation in a broader historical and political context that takes the prolegomena to the Vietnam war as a starting point. A very informative article which has led me to reflect for a while about the dangers we are facing. What is going on in Iran and Siria nowadays makes me fear that  "the powers that be" seem to think that there is still another episode to take place in the modern "Crusade" between the Western Empire and The Islam in its extreme version: a possible nuclear war in Iran with further consequences not only to that region, but to the whole world. In my view the economic even the strategic  factors of the present crisis  are only one part of the problem. What I fear is the strength, weight and consequences of the two confronted "religious" attitudes that lead to this strife: the Suicidal drive of the Muslims and the Apocaliptical drive of  the Americans and their closest allies. Once again the "superstructural" causes (primary,  anthropological and archetypical) of a conflict which may lead to a disaster seem to be more important than the purely "structural," economic ones. This is why I could never become a Marxist, not even in my rebel years of the Spanish transition. Here's a card with two brief relevant passages from N. Chomsky's article:

The situation we are living today reminds me of the early Middle Ages or of the late Roman Empire not only in terms of the present military and political strength of the United States but also with respect to the weakening and impoverishment of the social tissue and the cultural values all over the world. Times of division, confusion, confrontation, famine, violence and disease. Technology per se cannot bring happiness and prosperity. Without stability, peace and the re-establishment of an economic network there can't be economic growth. The problem of energy remains to be the key and most pressing factor. Humans of all social classes and acquisitive power get used to living precariously and a strange (bleak, sardonic) sense of humour becomes widespread. There were huge ecological disasters in the Middle Ages and people died when they were still young, but the resources had not been wasted and they were not yet at the brink of destroying the planet as it seems to be the case now! 

What are the main consequences for us teachers and researchers at university? The most obvious consequence to me is the need to keep on performing our daily activities as efficiently and as honestly as we can according to our principles. Those of us who are specialized in language and culture must take special case to vigilate that words are  used genuinely and clearly to avoid the interested confusion and distortion that some of us associate with totaliarianism, manipulation and irrational propaganda, not to mention corruption and crime. One thing is ambiguity as  a literary, creative or expressive recourse, a different thing is using deliberate ambiguity to deceive. We teachers must keep on providing the boundaries that delimit, protect and define the basis of human life and social coexistence in these critical confusing moments.We must think of our students and give them  the best education we can so that they can have as fair a chance as possible in the future.

The clip composition I created yesterday is based, one of my usual recourses, on a mispronunciation that leads to the creation of two identities. Ali G. -I think it is part of his poetics- tends to mispronounce the name of the people he interviews. This "confusion and mistake" can have very negative consequences in everyday life: the wrong visa, the wrong passport, the wrong address, the wrong identity, but properly exploited can have some pedagogical uses in the language classroom: language as a code, information, spelling, deixis, referring expressions, co-reference, propositional truth, pragmatic appropriateness among other linguistic and communicative issues. Ali G. was interviewing professor Noam Chomsky whom he addressed as Professor "Norman" Chomsky."  I hope my card makes you smile benignently!

I think that Alii G. was thinking of "Norman Dates" the well-known character in Alfred Hitchcok's  Psychoses instead of Professor Norman Chomsky, but this only an unempirical guess.What is demonstrable though is that premeditated distorsion can be one of the most effective terrorist weapons.... as Dennis the Menace knew from Primary School. Not an obsessive comittment to truth, just using language for its legitimate communicative purposes, a precondition for interpersonal and social life.

Very sunny day this Sunday morning. I feel much better, but I must take care. I only had a couple of cups of (weak) coffee this morning and some sugarless biscuits. I need to eat something a little bit more substantial This was the view from my apartment this morning at 09:00.

Time to finish this (accidented) post. This afternoon-evening I must send my Third Year students the assignment I had planned to send them yesterday. Plenty of work for Carnival. Last Friday when I was chit-chatting with my Fourth Year students before the Grammar lecture I found out that they had not seen either Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo or the 1981 Granada series Brideshead Revisited, which I mentioned in the conversation. I bet they have not seen Stanley Kubrick's 1964:  Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb either! They should, but I acknowledge they have plenty of work to do already:

YouTube ChiefBodyRules

Not that good today, I'm afraid, but "something is better than nothing." Not properly a counter-cultural essay , rather a Spanish Golden Century "tiento." Why a "tiento?" Well, you know, the Inquisition and all that jazz. A deliberate and stylistic breach of the Manner Maxim aiming at weakly exploiting something in communicative and cultural terms... but I've forgotten what, unfortunately. Nice Carnival to everybody. Lots of peace and fun! [First draft]

"Some more unbridled creativity Valera? Being "original" is not necessarily good." Another brief exercise on counter-culture.

If someboy would ask me how I am doing these days I think I would answer "I can't complain." Times are hard, every new day brings another misfortune and there is too much uncertainty about the near future... but I keep on writing, reading and teaching, my family is united and human relations at university are usually friendly and cooperative, I can't complain. However, there doesn't seem to be much free time to spend on culture or social relations these days. People are not in the mood and besides we are all taking refuge in our work, hobbies or obsessions to keep on going. Let's hope for bettter, more stable and humane times in the future. Let's dream of a humanistic and technological new era of peace and justice. It's an utopian ideal, but it is not empty discourse. We must keep some illusion not to fall into depression.

I have been working on 2 main topics today: Alan Turing was the first, the period of about 7 years I spent in Seville the second. Some pragmatic and some poetic and introspective reflections mingled today while I created three more collages.

I did not know any biographical details about Dr. Alan Turing. When I read on the Guardian yesterday that this mathematical genius had been treated with female hormones (chemical castration) once he had been found guilty of homosexuality in 1952 to avoid being sent to prison and that he had committed suicide by ingesting cyanide two years later I felt appalled. I decided not to go to the shelves, find my copy and reread Oscar Wilde's The Ballad Of Reading Gaol. I also determined not to think of Dr. Joseph Mengele et alii either. What I did was consider for a little while on purely pragmatic grounds whether I agreed with the initiative to ask for Turing's official pardon which appears on the Guardian or not. I also spent some time reading the comments to that post. Of course I do not know what definition of "pardon" the authors of the proposal use. According to what I have read there are different kinds of pardon. In principle, intuitively I would not like being "pardoned" for something I may have done that I consider it is not illegal or it does not deserve such a disproportionate or cruel punishment as the one I have received. In a nutshell, to apply for a pardon means to acknowledge that you did something illegal and/or you deserved to be corrected. Maybe it is pride, but I associate "pardon" with "mercy," "benevolence," "exception," "partiality" "favour" and the like. Of course, this is only a first opinion and I may be mistaken, but the victims of any injustice do not need to be "pardoned", what they need is justice, compensation and the security that nothing like that will ever take place again. My first card contains some preliminary reflections on this (fascinating) problem. I want to express my most sincere solidarity with Dr. Alan Turing and with all the people who in similar circumstances committed at that time the only "illegality" of keeping an homosexual relation and were sanctioned by a cruel law. I have "abduced" one instantiation of a well-known portrait of (Sir) Thomas More (by Holbein) from Wikimedia Commons and pasted it to my collage card to make an extra point about the legal case. I repeat again my ignorance about the details of the story, but I think that what I have done is a first, honest, reflective work on what "pardon", both as a popular and as a legal term may mean in the context of this case. A first necessary step even in case I need to change my mind later on if proven wrong. Some pragmatic reasoning and some human solidarity and concern, that's all!

This is only a first brain-storming, but a sincere one. Of course the notion of truth cannot become obsessive, it would become dogmatic then, but I miss some of the classical precision in the use of words. My intuition is that im-precision (intentional, unintentional) plays an important role in the problems and conflicts the world is living nowadays.

My second and third cards today are much more optimistic. It is a first recreation of my Sevillian experience (1982-1989). A little bit too much on the picaresque side to be true, but we must always keep in mind what the transition years were in Spain in terms of human experience: culture, relations, ideas. A little bit like Berkeley in the US or Paris 68 in France. I keep very fond memories of Seville. I made many friends there I will always remember. I learned a lot both from the positive and negative moments of those years. I smoked too much pipe and I was a little bit too fanciful and vain at the time as the cards reflect. Some friends of the English Department presented me on a my birthday with the copy of Yourcenar's Memorias de Adriano I reproduce in one of the cards. I wish all of them the best. I watched the film Angel Heart in Cristina multicines, Seville about 1986-87, I think. I watched a lot of movies at the time! Many people called me Eduardo Valera, rather than Eduardo Varela in the Sevilla-Cádiz-Huelva triangle those days, but I think I could share a breakfast and entertain a conversation with Mr. Louis Cyphre himself about this aaah. confusion without feeling tense at all! Maybe I am still a little bit vain, I don't know!

Some more literary and linguistic references: Huck Finn, Cervantes, Tolkien, Generative and Functional Grammars.... A very rich experience, no doubt!

Long John Parrot has started complaining! It's too early, time for sleep and I have not had supper yet. I'd better follow my pet's advice and put an end to this post. Not completely rounded up and a little bit disperse, but very sincere. Nice weekend to everbody. [First draft]