(non)fictions selected projects guy neil james
They checked into a two-room unit in back with a shake roof—a little run-down maybe, but spacious and comfortable inside, with a fridge, hot plate, air-conditioning, cable TV and two king-size water beds with leopardprint sheets. “Far out,” said Doc, “I wonder if these vibrate.” They didn't. “Bummer.” Inherent Vice Thomas Pynchon
(non)fictions selected projects guy neil james
gnjamesII@gmail.com 817.658.0165 487 Greene Ave, Apt 3 Brooklyn, NY 11216
All drawings, renderings, or models herein are the work of Guy Neil James under the named firm or institution unless otherwise noted. All photography is copyrighted by Alex Severin and used with permission.
“WELL, IT'S ARCHITECTURE, BUT I THINK OF IT AS BEING FICTION. It's a fictional architecture, Though, I suppose I don't mean that as a negative. Hm... Actually... I'm not sure.” A professor whose name I will pretend to have forgotten1 for the sake of withholding it told me the above once in a review years ago, and despite the unsure and passing nature of it, the idea of fictional architecture took a troublesome root in me. The primary question became what such a thing is. From some perspectives, it could be argued that all architecture is fictional at times: imagined plans and sections used to organize ideas of space and program, metaphors in materials, photographed perspectives available only to the lens (and photocorrection tool), some prized ideal form without the complications and headaches of coordination. Then, too, all architecture seems to contain kernels of non-fiction in them: scale sneaking its way into dimensions and plans, the exacting nature or feedback of materials and light, some notion of inhabitants being accommodated or antagonized, forms based on various parameters such as data, program, or even the hermetic experiences of the architect. Architecture itself seems to reside in the moment when we awake from a dream, in and of this world while still tethered to something else. The projects in this portfolio are arranged along the continuum of this tether, beginning with those that found their way out into the real world, those that are still attempting to do so, bless them, and those whose concerns lie elsewhere. But they are all, in their own ways, of one another and inform and reveal aspects in each other—and not necessarily always in a linear fashion. In this sense, architecture seems to me an ongoing, incomplete practice that requires both ends of the continuum to flourish. Further, this conceit allows me to put built work pages away from scans of folded mylar without completely losing my mind, which is an admitted plus. 1. In case this reads rude, it was actually quite a good studio.
resume 6 (non)fictions nyhq primary care astoria · 2012—2014 michielli + wyetzner architects 8 ics brooklyn offices · 2013—2015 michielli + wyetzner architects 18 lehman amphitheater · 2014—present michielli + wyetzner architects 26 ccny firehouse art studios · 2015—present michielli + wyetzner architects 34 mms community library · 2015—2016 michielli + wyetzner architects
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fictions the artist tower · fourth year studio michael trencher + kathy dunne 48 sub_urban housing · third year studio gregory merryweather
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seamen's church institute memorial · fourth year studio fredrick biehle 64 advent · undergraduate thesis eric wong + ron oron
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guy neil james 487 Greene Ave, Apt 3 Brooklyn, NY 11216 817.658.0165 gnjamesII@gmail.com guyneiljames.com
education pratt institute Bachelor of Architecture, graduated with highest honors 2007—2012
experience michielli+wyetzner architects project designer new york, ny 2011—present • engaged partners daily to develop design strategies in projects at multiple scales • aided in the design of projects of various typologies such as healthcare, office space, institutional, residential, and public space • responsible for multiple projects from schematic design through construction administration • coordinated construction documents with mep, structural, landscape, and lighting consultants • worked with government organizations such as DASNY for project and drawing review related to CUNY projects • reviewed and coordinated shop drawings and submittals • produced physical models, renders, schematic and presentation drawings • revised indesign template, page layout, and typeface design for proposals • supervised interns from Winston Prep Transition's since 2015 who aided in digitizing sample library information and reorganizing sample library in office
visiting critic pratt institute brooklyn, ny 2012—present • sit in on midterm and final reviews and provide criticism, direction, and conversation regarding student projects with other critics • juror on technics, representation, 100, 200, 400, and degree project reviews
silver+ong. ny, ny intern designer new york, ny 2010 • built prototype models and created presentation drawings and renderings as part of a team for Sukkah City competition • coordinated design elements with robotics consultant for kinetic portions of design
design 102/201/202 teaching assistant pratt institute brooklyn, ny 2009—2012 • teaching assistant for first and second year design studios on libraries and kindergartens with Professor Evan Tribus • visited second year design studio students twice a week to discuss progress of projects, provide critique, and help with technical issues • worked closely and regularly met with professor to discuss students and ensure own student critiques aided larger pedagogical aims of the studio • taken part in midterm and final reviews as critic
print shop monitor pratt institute brooklyn, ny 2008—2011 • oversaw production of black and white and color prints, both standard sizes and large scale printing • helped students troubleshoot printing workflow errors and fielded questions on graphic and 3d modeling programs • performed basic maintenance on printers and plotters • aided in graphic design of signage for computer labs and creation of workflow guides for print production
selected projects winston prep lic, ny 35,000 sf school for students in 4th through 12th grades with learning disabilities status: in design
ccny firehouse art studios new york, ny 8000 sf renovation and addition gallery and graduate art studios status: in design
mmsc library mmsc, ny 60,000 sf library for multiple hamlets with community and educational spaces status: in design
lehman college amphitheater bronx, ny 17,000 sf exterior seating, stage and backdrop, and ada upgrades status: in design
hauppauge public library hauppauge, ny 18,000 sf community library situated around courtyards status: in design
cardozo law: the benjamin new york, ny 26,000 sf renovation graduate dorm rooms with new kitchens & entrance status: complete 2016
ics brooklyn brooklyn, ny 6000 sf renovation office fit-out for disability home care providers connected to existing office status: complete 2015
nyhq primary care astoria astoria, new york 5000 sf interior and exterior renovation with exam and consult rooms status: complete 2014
nyhq infusion queens, ny 13,500 sf article 28 compliant infusion center, phased to maintain existing treatment status: on hold 2013
phi offices & workshops bronx, new york 42,500 sf Five floor office fitout and wheelchair workshops status: complete 2012
publications
honors
software/skills
nyhq primary care astoria aia academy for architecture for health, case study library entry inprocess
aia/aah national healthcare design award category a: built, less than $25 mil construction cost 2015
digital autocad rhinoceros 3D vray for rhino rhinocam maxwell render photoshop illustrator indesign grasshopper revit sketchup microsoft word microsoft excel html+css processing
masonry design magazine “this satellite facility is a powerful presence in the community” may 2016 american healthcare leader “astoria primary care” apr/may/june 2016 snap architectural news + products “curb appeal” jan/feb 2016 dwell.com “a new york health center embraces modern design” aug 2015 phi offices new york real estate journal, “michielli + wyetzner designs new space for three not for profits” july 2013
LEED green associate 2013 pratt institute circle award for outstanding merit 2012 distinguished degree project presentation of exemplary thesis work, three chosen from each studio. 2012 crossing disciplines: books schaffer gallery exhibition pratt institute 2011 president's list 2007—2012 pratt presidential merit scholarship 2007—2012 junge memorial scholarship
physical model making fabrication photography bookbinding arduino baking
references chi-fan wong adjunct associate professor, pratt institute distinguished teacher 2010-2011 exhibitions director shrine4@gmail.com evan tribus visiting assistant professor, pratt institute senior associate, rockwell group etribus@pratt.edu
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nyhq primary care astoria queens, new york completed 2014 michielli+wyetzner project designer aia/aah 2015 design award New York Hospital Queens commissioned the Primary Care Astoria Clinic as part of a series of new neighborhood practices intended to raise the profile of the hospital in the community and expand their services to areas outside of their main campus. This clinic renovation turns a vacant 5,000 square foot brick building into a vibrant, modern facility open to the increasingly active 30th Avenue. The design began by maximizing the sunlight along the exposed, exterior facades by creating a new storefront facade, balanced by a new ribbon window on the second floor, and situating the circulation along the perimeter. The exam and consult rooms branch off this new corridor, and an employee lounge is accessible on the first floor. Each waiting room provides ample light and space, separate from, yet still visible to, a curved reception wall in order to provide privacy. Between the two, the geometric stair connects both floors, intersecting with the ceiling plane below, which in turn extends outward into a canopy. Along the exterior, a perforated metal screen masks the irregular pattern of existing windows. During the day, the screen filters the daylight entering the space, and at night, it combines with the illuminated ceiling and canopy, spilling light onto the sidewalk, to provide a glowing presence on the street corner.
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nyhq primary care astoria
The eastern elevation shows the new entry and perforated screen facade, a separate employee entrance, and windows behind.
FACING PAGE TOP
FACING PAGE BOTTOM View
from
across 30th avenue. LEFT Details showing new storefront entry, steel, canopy, and corner column. BOTTOM RIGHT View from inside the first floor waiting room.
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nyhq primary care astoria
View of stair slipping through new opening in the second floor, as shown in the adjacent section.
FACING PAGE TOP
FACING PAGE BOTTOM Detail
section through stair and second floor railing.
LEFT View from inside stair, looking out at waiting rooms on both floors.
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Axon of curved reception wall and desk, highlighting different finishes.
BOTTOM
FACING PAGE LEFT Detail section through reception desk at checkout and check-in. FACING PAGE TOP RIGHT
Typical exam
room. The colored forms of the reception desk, stair, and elevator meet.
FACING PAGE BOTTOM RIGHT
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nyhq primary care astoria
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nyhq primary care astoria
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ics brooklyn offices brooklyn, new york completed 2015 michielli+wyetzner project designer + joel stewart This new 6,000 square foot office fit-out for Independence Care System (ICS), a not-for-profit advocate organization providing community center functions, counseling, workshops, and wheelchair maintenance services for the disabled, is an expansion adjacent to an existing outreach and office center in downtown Brooklyn. This is one of three centers located in Manhattan, the Bronx and Brooklyn. Located on the 5th floor of what was the JW Mays Department Store, the new office retains many of the existing decorative features and remnants of past construction that were a part of the original store construction from the early 20th Century. Readapting original pressed tin ceilings and ornate wood moldings, the space is a collageof old and new. Many of the employees are disabled and broad central corridor allows ample maneuverability for wheelchairs. An illuminated fascia runs parallel for the space's entire length. With natural light at only the shorter, west end of the space, this glowing surface extends light from the cafĂŠ area at the windows along the entire 150 foot length of the office. The illuminated wall intersects a new opening in an existing brick bearing wall, leading to the call center at the rear of the space. In addition, a neighboring tenant space's required fire corridor bifurcates the offices as a tunnel that does not reach the ceiling, allowing the space of the office to flow above it. Each of these distinct elements remain independent as they intersect, allowing the old and new to sit side by side.
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TOP
Plan of new space.
BOTTOM LEFT Detail through existing ornament and reused tin ceiling. BOTTOM RIGHT Work area with remnants of removed stair remaining around the painted tin wall.
Cut out joining the two adjacent buildings and looking into the call center and two smaller conference rooms.
FACING PAGE
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ics brooklyn
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ics brooklyn
Axon illustrating the light wall's continuity throughout the space and details of its construction.
FACING PAGE
Light wall running along reused tin ceiling and sliding above fire corridor.
BOTTOM
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View of and into employee lounge and pantry.
BOTTOM
View from call center looking towards the employee lounge.
FACING PAGE
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ics brooklyn
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lehman amphitheater bronx, new york in design 2014-present michielli+wyetzner project designer
The design of a new amphitheater for Lehman College converts an under utilized plaza at the college's south entrance into a fully-supported multi-use outdoor theater for 120 spectators. The design integrates spectator seating into a sloping extension of three different zones of campus landscaping, which in turn focuses on a stage backdrop that fills out under the existing architecture. By providing an accessible route to the adjacent Speech & Theater building, the landscape is divided into three areas which are then increasingly articulated as they approach the building. From the extents of the stage and seating, two arrays of intersecting lines provide the locations for a ten foot deep field of 3" steel columns, provides a porous and sculptural stage backdrop in which the simple geometry of the diagram provides both enough spacing for actors moving in the column field and creates a denser column field as they move to the center of the stage. Scenery can be attached and hung on expansion columns in both the front and back and select columns which attach to the overhead structure. The cantilevered steel tubes above contain power and piping for attaching overhead lights. Two platforms framing the seating provide locations for light fixtures positioned in front of the stage. During the day, the new landscape creates an inviting space for students and professors to informally gather and relax, providing a usable space even when not hosting a performance.
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lehman amphitheater
1/8" scale model of amphitheater
FACING PAGE TOP
FACING PAGE BOTTOM Axon highlighting the landscapes further articulation as it moves towards the stage, new accessible route, light structures, and column backdrop. BOTTOM
Plan.
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Elevation looking towards column field and stage.
TOP
Section through Speech and Theater Building and amphitheater.
BOTTOM
Details of various foundation wall conditions, including seating and steps.
FACING PAGE TOP LEFT
FACING PAGE TOP RIGHT Plan and section details of typical freestanding column connection.
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lehman amphitheater
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lehman amphitheater
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ccny firehouse art studios harlem, new york in design 2015-present michielli+wyetzner project designer
The renovation of an 1880's firehouse in Harlem transforms the existing building into a fine art workshop for the Graduate School of Arts at CCNY. Intended to engage the surrounding community, the ground floor contains a gallery space open to the public and a small sculpture garden in the rear yard. The remaining floors of the three-story building will contain individual art studios, fabrication shops, and a classroom. A new addition, with additional studios, crit spaces, and a mezzanine, floats above the existing building, pulled back to respect the existing facade. Similarly, the entrance recedes to create a covered entryway and privilege the original construction. A new structural brick core and interior steel framing brings the egress and seismic up to code, and a new elevator provides vertical circulation to each floor. Painted existing joists act as lighting baffles for the studio spaces below. Each studio is constructed out of 8' tall unistrut partitions and provides storage, a lot line window, and ample pin-up space. In the new addition, the mezzanine and front lounge space give students space for presentations and group critiques as well as access to a new roof terrace. Above the terrace, the zinc-clad facade leans forward, an oversized mirroring of the neighboring cornices. An equipment platform behind the large picture window allows the users to display sculpture, art, and signage or use a rear-projector to display videos created by resident artists or students.
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ccny firehouse art studios
Plan of ground floor, with recessed entry, gallery, classroom, and rear patio.
FACING PAGE TOP
FACING PAGE BOTTOM
Ground floor
gallery. TOP
Second and third floor plans.
BOTTOM
View of typical studio
floor.
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Lounge space, roof terrace, and equipment platform above.
TOP
Fourth floor and fourth floor mezzanine floor plans.
BOTTOM
View from exterior into fourth floor and mezzanine critique space.
FACING PAGE TOP
FACING PAGE BOTTOM Building section looking towards the east.
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ccny firehouse art studios
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ccny firehouse art studios
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mms community library shirley, new york in design 2015-present michielli+wyetzner project designer +debbie balters The Mastics, Moriches, Shirley community’s design need was to craft a new 60,000 square foot library that does not overwhelm its natural, park setting. The site is located within a former 100 acre golf course that will be developed as a community park with active and passive uses. To reduce the impact of the building, MWA proposed a single-story structure made up of five smaller, programmatically specific “wings” and used earth embankments to permit the surrounding meadow to rise over the roof of the building, providing continuity to the park. The result is a solution that is both informed by and in communication with the site around it. Patrons cross through a wooded buffer of remnant pine barrens, which separates the parking area from the building’s three entry courtyards: one for the main adult library entrance, a second dedicated to the teen/children’s library, and a third for the multi-use community spaces. The community rooms are grouped in a zone separated from the secure area of the library for access after-hours. The reading areas for each constituent group line the glazed southern perimeter of the structure. This edge follows the shoreline of an expansive lake, providing views of the water and distant landscape, connecting it in spirit to the community’s unique natural resources, namely the Smith Point County Park Beach and the Werthheim National Wildlife Refuge. The building’s layout supports the Library’s mission is to be a place of growth, discovery and life-long learning.
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Perspective of library without and with the embankment.
TOP
BOTTOM
Plan.
Sections through library at main entrance, admin wing, children's wing, and children's amphitheater.
FACING PAGE TOP LEFT
FACING PAGE TOP RIGHT Interior views of children and adult libraries. FACING PAGE BOTTOM Approaching the library from the east.
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mms community library
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mms community library
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artist tower at lincoln center manhattan, new york completed 2010 pratt institute 4th year studio + shannon hayes This studio proposes the construction of a new 100+ storey tower near Lincoln Center to act as a beacon of art in an attempt to address the shortcomings of Lincoln Center as a truly open cultural center. Born from narrative studies of its users as various archetypes, the tower exists of a single triangular core of more typical commercial and residential programs, surrounded by three “artists cores” of increasing height: the Performance Core, the Display Core, and the Studio Core. Different programs laminate onto one another, creating a continuity of program types in section and a mixture of different studio types in plan. Interaction with the public begins on the ground, where amphitheaters and public art spaces invite people of the city up to any of its various public spaces and programs or to the viewing deck at the tower's apex. The building itself allows art to actively engage the urban environment at multiple scales, from studio spaces adjoining offices to large scale video displays broadcasting to the city. The building also underwent numerous structural and service investigations, including core circulation and distribution, the creation of multiple belt trusses and structural “packages,” and the implementation of two curtain wall types with varying plenum spaces. The specifics of these curtain wall types changes with the program in order to provide a more granular, human scale to offset the supertower's monumentality.
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fictions
Part of a series of formal games used in tandem with physical models to explore sectional forms.
TOP
Massing model of adjacent Round 3.
RIGHT
Diagram of structural strategy: packages in which columns supporting intermediate floors feed into a belt truss, from which hangers hold up the floors below, tied into mega columns running the vertical length of the building. When packages stack vertically, the floors in between them can be double height due to relying on the columns below.
LEFT
Unrolled programmatic diagram indicating specific and indeterminate programs for the main core and each of the artists cores.
FACING PAGE LEFT
FACING PAGE RIGHT Diagrams of different core elements and elevator distribution diagram.
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artist tower at lincoln center
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fictions
LEFT
Viewing deck floor plans.
Floor plans of typical apartments, office spaces, and retail spaces.
RIGHT
FACING PAGE TOP
Ground floor
lobby plan. FACING PAGE BOTTOM
study model.
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Lower floors
artist tower at lincoln center
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fictions
Detail sections and elevations of curtain wall conditions on central core and artist cores with render of lighting display panels.
TOP
BOTTOM
View from the Hudson
River. Detail photograph of 1/32"=1' scale model.
FACING PAGE LEFT
FACING PAGE RIGHT
core.
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Section through
artist tower at lincoln center
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sub_urban pratt dorms brooklyn, new york completed 2009 pratt institute 3rd year studio + hiram rodriguez Driven by the desire to deconstruct the typology of urban housing, this dorm project seeks to create a “(Sub)urban” building: one which contains both the interaction and density of an urban project while recreating the individual unit and the “lawn” of a suburban community, born out of precedent studies of Habitat'67. The lawn becomes an intervening space, an exterior condition in an interior shell. This extensive space is framed only by the columns and the extending lawn above it, and as it weaves around the various dwelling unit, it hosts smaller scale public programs and terrace spaces. As the lawn extends and the building moves upwards, larger public programs form at the intersection of this in-between space. A parallel study of packaging led to the development of paneling systems and the living unit itself is a series of these panels around once component of the "lawn." These can be adapted for the living unit, as well as the other programs such as study lounges, auditorium, laundry, or cafeteria. Concrete slabs and columns create a matrix that forms the extents of the dorm. A paneling system designed to contain embedded program fills the spaces in between these columns. These panels can be moved and edited, allowing a variety of different programs in different places despite the repetition of units. A secondary skin panel fills in the public spaces, optimized via Grasshopper to catch wind for ventilation and frame the exterior spaces.
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sub_urban dorms
Active furniture panel diagrams.
FACING PAGE TOP LEFT
FACING PAGE TOP RIGHT Geometric studies for secondary skin system. FACING PAGE BOTTOM LEFT Typical living unit showing two singles, double room, bathroom, with the floor's laundry room adjacent. FACING PAGE BOTTOM RIGHT
Partial
aggregation model. Floor plans, each showing a unique floor due to position of the unit and the indeterminate pathways in between.
LEFT
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sub_urban dorms
Exploded axon of building elements.
FACING PAGE
TOP
Section.
BOTTOM
View out onto green roof.
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sub_urban dorms
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PAGE, CLOCKWISE
"Loomings"—Ishmael "The Spouter Inn"—Queequeg "The Quarter-Deck"—Ahab FACING PAGE, FROM TOP
"The Whiteness of the Whale"— Moby-Dick "The Candles"—Starbuck "The Chase"—the Pequod
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sci memorial manhattan, new york completed 2011 pratt institute 4th year studio
“Call me Ishmael. Some years ago- never mind how long precisely- having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world.” The Seamen's Church Institute was founded in 1834 and served the mariners of New York City until 2010 when it permanently left Manhattan for Newark, New Jersey. This project has two aims: a memorial and archive in Battery City Park to highlight the SCI's long history in NYC and an exploration of narrative in architecture. Launched from a reading of Moby-Dick and John Hejduk's "The Flatness of Depth," the project is broken apart into five discreet programs— each representative of a moment within Melville's novel and a function of the SCI—situated throughout Battery City Park. Developed initially as abstract paintings in response to chapters in Moby-Dick, these programs developed into "Piers" made of structural brick, painted white to peak through the foliage and age with the city. Arranged in relation with nearby existing memorials, the harbor, and the adjacent streets, these five Piers turn the park into their own narrative, allowing individuals to engage them from a distance as a whole or inhabit them one at a time, each Pier linking to the next one in the distance. A revised plan for the park ties the Piers further together in a spacial relationship that exists at multiple scales.
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fictions
BOTH PAGES
Piers.
The Gate ["Loomings"/Direction]
The Chapel ["The Spouter Inn"/Oscillation]
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seamen's church institute memorial
The Tower ["The Quarter-Deck"/Transformation]
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fictions
The Public and Private Archives ["The Whiteness of the Whale"/Revelation; "The Candles"/Destabilization]
The Museum ["The Chase"/Destruction]
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seamen's church institute memorial
FACING PAGE
Piers.
Siting plans showing the relation of the Piers to the Statue of Liberty, adjacent memorials in the park, and one another. These sight lines delineate the borders of the site and help define the new park paths.
LEFT
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seamen's church institute memorial
Axon of piers, adjacent structures, and site.
FACING PAGE LEFT
TOP
Site section.
BOTTOM
Model shots as situated
in site.
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BELOW, FACING, FOLLOWING PAGES
Moments within the project narrative, entering from the north of Battery Park at The Gate. As one moves through, each piece points the user through to the next. From The Gate, they pass into the park, headed towards The Chapel, the reconciliation between its two planes forming shelter overhead, pointing both to the water and on to The Tower. Here they enter into fixed obsession and follow it downward, letting it illuminate the darkness. The Public and Private Archives stand intertwined with one another, one of the two unfolding and the other on the edge of falling, coming
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seamen's church institute memorial
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fictions
unteatherd at its seams. Below in the stacks, they are connected, the rational twisting as they move through knowledge, the information itself becoming more specific. In The Museum, collapse is imminent. They wander the gallery floors until the structure itself breaks, propping itself up, and rushes them outward towards the water. As they move closer to the water, they submerge, drowning and are subsumed by the structure itself. They pass through these spaces, lit from light somewhere above, until suddenly, they find themselves at the edge of Battery Park, on land once more.
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seamen's church institute memorial
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advent
cleburne, texas completed 2012 pratt institute undergraduate thesis distinguished degree project We are not born into origin. Meanings and history is not merely given to us. We are born into constructors of origin. Our eyes open in machines that create for us biases, cultures, and memories, erecting a perspective around us that is much more fragile than we first realize. If that perspective is sufficiently challenged or questioned, origin might even be lost. The Village is such a constructor, and the research of this project beings with the Protestant church as a modern village for the self. Intertwined with writings on Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, and Borges, this narrative opens with two parallel explorations: prime, a search for language, and the ritual, a search for function. Through the definitions of archi, tecton, archi-tecton, and archi-tectonic, six foundational forms arise as one potential development. Simultaneously, six rituals are extracted from a memoir on my own experiences in the church, and are diagramed both as construction and as effect. As the Cornerstones of the new language are broken and tested, my hometown of Cleburne, Texas, strewn with multiple churches per square mile, is analyzed for points of frictions where these different centers of belief overlap, creating points where the new forms might intervene. At these points, a series of Churchings— structures born out of a recontextualization of each ritual—challenge and attempt to reconcile with their adjacent forebears. But the Churchings represent not a fixed idea but an idea of becoming. They, too, will someday be broken....
fictions
Prime. Archi is action; it is the deliberate move—a cut. Tecton is the implicit edge, a border, the fold. Archi-tecton is the initial action both inside and against the frame, specificity causing a lack of determidness. Archi-tectonic is the hidden effect revealed through light. Below, these moves begin to create a series of direct cause and effect.
RIGHT
The Ritual. An assemblage of moments which themselves create the space of the Church, the Rituals self-construct their own meaning through repetition and accumulation.
FACING PAGE
FOLLOWING PAGE The Rituals flattened effects reveal the image of the ritual: the self-creating idea that enacts the ritual assemblage.
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advent
Acolytes
Offering
Morning Greeting
Baptism
Children's Time
Procession for Communion
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advent
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advent
Cornerstones. A study of hybridizing the forms found in Prime results in six examples of unique mixtures, which are in turn translated from mylar into a new form: concrete. In them, the line becomes light.
FACING PAGE
Sharpening. A new archi and tecton occur as the Cornerstones are turned and cut in order to explore their scale, sectional qualities, and effects.
TOP
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Returning Home. Nine maps documenting the regions encapsulated by each denomination in Cleburne, Texas.
RIGHT
BOTTOM LEFT Every church and denominational region overlaid onto one another, revealing degrees of overlap.
Baptist
CCCS
Church of Christ
Evangelical
Methodist
Misc
Nondenominational
Pentecostal
7th Day Adventist
BOTTOM RIGHT Six churches adjacent to other structures in these regions of friction are chosen throughout the town as sites for intervention.
At each of these sites, a shift occurs, a break in elevation in preparation for an intervention, splitting and breaking the church nearby.
FACING PAGE
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advent
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Churchings. The crossroads of all the previous studies, the Churchings intervene throughout Cleburne as one possible outcome of this narrative. Born out of the rituals, each Churching is given its own function which seeks to extract the instinctual needs that generated the ritual in the first place. The Churchings, then, are spaces of becoming, transitional structures for removing oneself from one's origin and reconstructing a new one that both reconciles one's facticity yet points elsewhere to dimly lit horizons.
RIGHT
Reconstructing. Each churching attempts to redefine a ritual towards a new end, providing effect through experience rather than spiritual repetitions.
BELOW
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The Lighthouse
The Salons
The Meeting Place
advent
The Labyrinth
The Reflecting Pool
The Summit
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advent
FACING PAGE AND LEFT Advent. Though scattered across Cleburne, the placement, orientation, and articulation of each Churching points to the next. While each one contains its own reconstructed ritual, it is together that their presence recontextualizes the place of Cleburne itself and suggests alternate origins outside those established. Ultimately, the Churchings do not seek to antagonize the Church but instead reconcile with it as a Village and provide the means for others to move beyond it. It is through this confrontation of past that a future may some day be seen. As one moves from Churching to Churching, again and again, they too, will need to be confronted with new definitions and new rituals of one's own. Despite the heaviness of their form, they are still line and light. One day, after they have become their own plane, a new cut and line will find them and began anew.
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of overgrown, scratchy grass and running across scorching pavement in
ded made frequent references to the change in our hearts moments before we saluted the
order to enter the doors of the narthex. Once inside the familiar walls,
sunlight glared off the opulent stained glass. Crowds of all sorts of char-
within A’s own experiences which he then subsequently attempts to af-
the aesthete from seeing a world he fundamentally can not comprehend,
States flag, the Christian flag, and the Bible. On Sundays, the old women in the halls with
I looked for my father’s parents, who were typically working as either
acters milled about us—on one end, a gypsy woman begging for money,
firm. For A, his “sorrow is [his] knight’s castle...no one may take it by
thus, upon its removal, he despairs. Of course, one may somehow
acks bending them to my eyes assured me the change was coming. As a child, I found myself
greeters—standing in front of the door to the narthex and welcoming
on another, a Frenchman discussed philosophy, and on yet another, an
storm” (Kierkegaard 56), and he openly states “I love my sorrow” (Ki-
never experience this, but in the aesthetic life it is always a constant
hing my eyes tight, splotches of color dancing across the underside of my eyelids, waiting. I
people with a shake and smile as they walk into the large hallway—or
old man with a fanny pack strapped across his waist, snapping photos—
erkegaard 51). Nothing if not resourceful, A attempts to wield--much like
and large probability for “the person who says that he wants to enjoy
thing. The thought agonized me daily. For others my age, it was an event and celebration: a
ushers—my grandfather’s primary occupation within the church where
and we weaved through them, manuevering our way as a group towards
he did with the initial problem of reflection--this sorrow that has resulted
life always posits a condition which is either outside the individual or
rming moment of overcoming emotions that both the Sunday school teachers and students
in he helped those who require it to find their seats and, later in the ser-
the three portals that marked the entry to the Notre Dame. As the school-
from the alienation of self. Because a way out of A’s sorrow does not read-
in the individual but not posited by the individual himself” (Kierkegaard
ly discussed in hushed tones, some sharing their experiences and others knowing similar
vice, aided in the collecting the offering. After I found them and sprung
appointed tour guide rambled something off I was unable to hear—for
ily present itself, it appears his only course of action is to bask in it. In
493). The aesthete fails to claim the self. It would seem to me then, that
aited just around the corner. Pastor McCoy brought it up in chapel every Wednesday, stress-
into one or both of their arms, people began to come bustling out of
the entire trip, she had an unfortunate habit of letting her voiced be
“The Unhappiest One,” A shows remarkable self-insight when discuss-
MacIntyre--who seems very much interested in a philosophical project
e importance of setting aside time to ask Jesus into your heart and allowing Him to save
various hallways as the adult Sunday School services ended. Amongst
drowned out by even the smallest of crowds—I looked at the intricate
ing the unhappy man as having “his real nature in some way or other
that will deliver us from the crisis of modernity that is alienation--should
om your sins. The alternative was not brushed aside. To ignore this great Mercy, all adults
them were my father and mother—this was before mother fell ill and
carvings on the facade of the cathedral: the stories of Christianity embed-
outside himself... [and he] is always absent from himself, never present
be championing Kierkegaard as a possible means for locating the self in
ded me, was to doom myself to an eternity spent in the fires of hell, looking upwards towards
the frequency of our trips to church as a family began to decline—both
ded into the wall and giving it a distinct narrative and character. After
to himself” (Kierkegaard 214). Clearly, A himself--before any interjection
a specific and correct way--and not the fragmented, subjective heavy way
ppointed God with fire on the tip of my tongue making even speech, making the cries of
dressed up fairly well, smiles cutting across their faces as they see me.
standing at the edge of the entrance for some time, we finally stepped
from the Judge is read--has realized the limitations of his life-view, and
in which many postmodernists claim--but has simply read him wrong.
I would surely shout, tortuous and terrible. This future awaited for those who felt nothing,
Soon, my younger brother found his way to us as well, and there was
inside. It took my eyes sometime to adjust to the drastic change in light,
how he constantly validates himself through external means, never mak-
Kierkegaard’s dialectic is not so greatly opposed but simply a path along
needed to act quickly. As I was often reminded, I knew not God’s plan, and at any moment,
equal joy given as we began to walk into the sanctuary together, situat-
and while my view of the world started to to slowly come into focus, I
ing a true claim for himself. Instead, he merely exists as an unhappy
which the individual moves and only through the individual can he move
ght snatch me away as one idly removes a blade of grass.
ing ourselves in one of the back rows: spots in the church tended to be
noticed a large beam of light flowing down from somewhere up above,
observer for whom “what he hopes for lies behind him, and what he
on this path. The failure of the transcendent norm is not only a Kierkeg-
home, church, and school, this seemed the primary lesson. God’s love was eternal and for-
occupied by familiar bodies and generations of families would stake out
causing me to look up. I froze. Pouring in from the massive window I
remembers lies before him” (Kierkegaard 216). A longs for knowledge of
aardian thought either. In The Gay Science, Nietzsche, another philoso-
and to shrug it off--as children are often interest in more concrete things attractive to the
their place within the pews.
had seen from the exterior, the light illuminated columns and ceilings
himself beyond just the fatalistic, alienated and finite self that he knows,
pher MacIntyre appears to interpret incorrectly, writes on the origin of
mounted to not only an irresponsible decision but a dangerous one. Often, as if to make sure
Not long after the six of us sat down—though, occasionally this
that seemed to defiantely sweep upward: dwarfing my, now, seemingly
but because his conception of the world as he sees it does not account
religion that “the positing of “another world” in primeval times was not
nder their vigilant eyes no sheep had strayed, the teachers passed out little slips of paper with
number would vary due to my parents and grandparents other duties
insignificant body upon which my mouth hung agape. Moving over to-
for such and fails to find any external element that accounts for such, A
some impulse or need but an error in the interpretation of certain natural
humble lines printed on them. Each time, I turned it over in my hand, looking at the faded
within the church—Mildred made her way over to the organ, beginning
wards a number of candles crawling down the horizontal length of the
can do nothing but despair which, it seems to him, is the highest realm
events, a failure of the intellect” (Nietzsche 196). Despite their divergent
It looked no different than a fortune I might puzzle over after one of the late, hastily eaten
whatever invocation had been prescribed in the program. As the organ
church—their light casting dancing shadows that twisted and fluttered
of the aesthete: he has “realized” the futility of a fatalistic life and now
thoughts on religion, for both Kierkegaard and Nietzsche the transcen-
sits disengaged from it, falling further back into his own reflections.
dent norm, whatever it may be, is destined to fall away and leave us with a
s my family were frequently forced to endure. Once all the students had these Christian
music began to play, the congregation rose to its feet, starting to sing
along the vaulted ceilings—I found myself under a lower ceiling that,
es, the teacher walked down the narrow aisle between desks, asking us to bow our heads.
along as the acolytes entered. In a year or so, I would be one of them,
while still tall in its own right, felt suddenly intimate and quite in com-
It would appear that A, completely by his own means--through both
worldview that posses no foundation. The means of locating the self and
ayer was always short. We read in unison, twenty or so children evoking both our love and
walking down the aisle with my eyes fixed on the candles perched on the
parison to the massive decadence of the nave. Slowly, as I moved along
the language and mechanisms of his own aesthetic world view--has
claiming the self without the means of an external object but through the
eness towards God, asking that his son, Jesus, enter into us and save us from an endless fire
alter in front of me. I will carry the little flame I’ve been told makes the
the nave of Notre Dame, alternating between the massive center and the
exhausted all the aesthetic life has to offer. While he can certainly still
internal of the self itself is of Kierkegaard’s primary concern. MacIntyre appears to want Kierkegaard to create the very system he critiques in A.
we not only live forever but experience a love otherwise unknown; through the little lines we
church Holy. The lighting of the candle invites God in, and the acolyte is
lower perimeters, the manner in which my body was engaged with the
enjoy things, they only seem to be momentary distractions A props up to
sly crumpled and folded between our fingers, we begged for meaning; we begged for feeling;
the one responsible. When the service is over—after I have sat all morn-
building began to manifest itself to me: I was moving in relation with the
distract himself from the seemingly cynical worldview to which he sub-
Kierkegaard does not create a dialectic in Either/Or in which choices
ged to experience the Good News every adult so consistently shared and sang; we begged for
ing with my eyes still fixed on the object of my duty—I am tasked again
majesty and yet the personal affinity of God.
scribes. Once despair has been reached, aesthetic enjoyment of any kind
have no criteria. The criteria for the choice merely comes from inside
ge in understanding, perspective, and life. Everyone read. Everyone begged. Heads raising
but this time with taking the Spirit out into the world: the Church exists
If possible, I would attempt to account for this in some way that
seems less like a normative goal in and of itself and more akin to an opi-
the self, and the self comes to that choice through his own movement
st soft silence, the teacher floated back towards to the chalkboard framed by both flags. An
with me. For now, though, I stood still between my brother and mother,
seemed less mystical, less fuzzy, yet as I explored this ancient mas-
ate with which one finds a momentary reprieve from the otherwise emp-
along the continuum. From an immediate aesthete to a reflective aes-
cough might be heard in a corner. A giggle muffled in the other. A sniffle somewhere else as
standing on the tip of my toes so I can make out the lyrics on the hymnal.
terpiece, it occurred to me that which I was experiencing was not the
tiness of life. Judge Vilhelm aptly critiques A as one who in the “place of
thete, from a reflective aesthete to an aesthete in despair, and from a
nt wiped the freshly formed tears from his eyes.
The preacher walked out in front of the alter, casting his hands outward
prescence of God. The prescence of the cathedral—of the building
sorrow [chooses] a joy which is sorrow’s changeling... a laughter of de-
despairing aesthete into an ethicist, the self is always moving along
e teacher encouraged us to take the paper home in case we needed to remind ourselves of
in welcoming motion, and began to speak. This was a weekly routine,
itself—moved me; I stood in relation to it, not something else. The
spair” (Kierkegaard 508). While it is conceivable that one might continue
this line of growth--both backwards and forwards. The Judge does not
ve, and some strips disappeared into pockets, some onto the floor, others lost in the desks,
and the preacher would mix in several jokes with his announcements,
emotional reacton that stirred within me (while perhaps, in some part,
to live such a life--possibly to disastrous results as seems to be Judge
attempt to give A some criteria for choose or show him the means by
e or two shamefully and secretly stuffed into the waste bin. I collected my own in a small
creating the occasional (possibly forced) chuckle here and there. After
certainly because of my impressionable, young age) was generated by
Vilhelm’s worry--one would be hard pressed to call such a life of deep
which he can do so. Rather, the Judge simply wants to make A aware
n box above my bed bought for me by my parents on a vacation somewhere South to store
all the announcements had been shared, we were invited to take part
the physical object within which I stood, and the building’s intention was
cynicism and despair ideal or even, really, bearable. Kierkegaard wants to
of the choice in despair and encourage A to take that leap. He cannot be
ntos. I hoarded these strips in the hopes that someday their power would unlock for me, and
in the morning greeting. Everyone around me stood up, and they began
to simoultaneously mask that effect as something religious. Something
illustrate that even the aesthetic life lived to its maximum extent cannot
forced. The choice does not have the external criteria MacIntyre desire
ht while my brother slept on the other end of the room, I flipped through them, reading a
to excitedly shake hands and greet one another at the pastor’s behest;
awoke in the back of my head. What I had felt within the walls of Notre
sustain itself; what at first blush appears passable, preferable even, later
because it can not be directed: the person must, himself, arrive at the
t here or there. The words occasionally differed but their meaning always ran from me. I saw
I did the same. I would greet ten people, counting up to my quota in
Dame, and the recognition of the source of that feeling, resonated with
reveals itself to not only be problematic but possibly self-destructive. The
choice by his own means--as A clearly has--and make the choice through
distance the structure of love promised to save me, but no matter what movement I made, a
my head—where this number came from I am not certain, but possibly
me even after I stepped from its walls. We spent some time within it, the
problem, though, is that for the aesthete there remains nothing left to
himself--to do otherwise would be to simply despair greater and frag-
retched between it and I. I read the words again and again, paper worn between my fingers,
due to my introspective nature as a child, outwardly associating with ten
tour guide taking us around and pointing out the referential significance
which to turn: the transcendent norm--i.e., the external object or third-
ment the self again through some other external means. Man alone, not
udged from nervously running my thumbs across it, yet they never pointed me in any direc-
people was more than strenuous enough—recognizing old faces and be-
of statues and edifices while one or two of the parents took photos of
party through which the self tries to inscribe meaning--of enjoyment,
enjoyment or God or some other thing outside him, can claim himself,
never moved closer to that transformation.
ing surprised by new ones. As I grew older and started sitting where the
various parts. When we at last left, the sun hung low in the corner of
of all kinds, has failed and left the aesthete with no means for creating
and it must be through himself that he does so. To make a choice in the
Wednesday’s we had no paper. Instead, I collected the sights and sounds of those around me
acolytes sat or where the youth group gathered, I met people I had yet to
the sky, casting a final warm glow upon the large public square, and we
or instilling value. Judge Vilhelm’s solution is simple: “I have only one
manner and system MacIntyre desires would only further plunge the
the morning chapel. One subject was taught those mornings, the scraping of metal chairs
see before. Around them, though, I still looked for the people I already
all decended the stairs together, and though I did not fully know it, my
answer: Despair!” (Kierkegaard 511). Rather than attempt to retreat from
self into the alienation of modernity. What Kierkegaard reveals is that
knew. I sought out those with whom I was comfortable conversing.
future had irrevocably changed.
it or turn it into something else, A must head straight on into it. He
we can escape this alienation, can rise back to the surface, not through
must “choose despair, since despair is itself a choice, for one can doubt
someone or something helping us or extending a hand but through our
e as teachers attempted to keep students focused. When the bell rang and the sound of doors
g could be heard, we spilled out onto the gym floor the classrooms orbited. It was a shed of a
I struggled with my own feelings towards the service: despite not
ng. Corrugated metal wrapping a two story box that left space only for rooms to run along the
understanding half of what was discussed and finding it somewhat dull,
Søren Kierkegaard’s Either/Or is the deliberation of a choice never
without choosing to, but despair one cannot without choosing to do so,”
own means and spirit. Only through the self can the self itself truly be
nd eastern sides and a hard, grey basketball court in the center. The school rented the place
its rhythms were incredibly comforting to me. Within the service, the
depicted: the existence in either the aesthetic sphere of life--a worldview
and when one does so one “chooses oneself, not in one’s immediacy...
found, and only through self can one sincerely present him in the world to interact with others.
church across the street--a structure known only to us for its roof, which had a frustrating
children’s time managed to help me find a sense of connection and ca-
dominated by the seeking of immediate self-enjoyment--or that of the
one chooses oneself in one’s eternal validity” (Kierkegaard 513). To truly
f accepting kick balls but deciding not to return them--and were it not for the blazing yellow
maraderie amongst those of a similar age. Adults would tower over and
ethical--a view of responsibility and relationships. Unlike the work of
despair, to step up to the abyss, is, ultimately, to find the eternal being
Friedrich Nietzsche’s The Gay Science contains perhaps his most
the front, no one might have the gall to suggest it could be a school. Despite it’s starkness,
surround me, making me feel alone with the little pamphlet and crayons
G.W.F. Hegel, Kierkegaard presents both the movement into this choice
and be given a chance to know the eternal self; through despair, one has
famous, or infamous depending on the nature of the discussion, pas-
me out of those rooms into a lively and changed space. Foldable chairs marched up towards
they hand out to the children before the service. When I saw Mrs. White,
and the action of the choice as not the result of a discoverable system but
an opportunity to come to understand himself without the baggage of ex-
sage: “the madman” in which the titular character makes the paradigm
rth wall, stopping short so as to form an apron, a single aisle cutting them in two. A small
however, I knew to squeeze out between the columns of adults and to
rather as an experiential process that privileges the individual; the choice
ternal modifiers--know himself as he is--and break from his conception
shattering claim that “God is dead.” The ramifications of such a state-
n cross was hung on the felt wall up front, outsized by the basketball hoop above it. Off to
run towards the front of the altar. As if out of nowhere, other children,
is arrived at not systematically but from the inside. This, however, poses
of the finite self. The aesthete can free himself from facticity--i.e., a finite,
ment challenge the the fundamental framework on which most, if not
e, various equipment for that day’s PE activity had already been dragged out. Students picked
like me, popped out of the forest of grown ups, and I was again certain I
problems for some. In the chapter “Kierkegaard to Nietzsche” in A Short
fatal understanding of the world--and come to understand himself in a
all, society is based--both at the time of Nietzsche’s writing and now--and
eats and judged the ones next to them and shushed the ones talking too loudly and tore their
was not alone. For many years during my youth this was the main attrac-
History of Ethics, Alasdair MacIntyre writes that “choices made by the
different manner: one that has contemporaneity and is eternal. It when
on the surface at least, it would seem to offer up only a dark pessimism
hted Bibles open and flipped to earmarked pages and sat erect and, bored, began talking
tion for me on Sunday mornings: to sit amongst my peers and listen to
individual confronting the alternatives of the ethical and the aesthetic, or
the aesthete chooses to move through that despair into a world he does
in a world of meaninglessness for its readers. The death of God makes
simpler stories lifted from the Scriptures.
the ethical and the religious, are according to Kierkegaard criterionless”
not yet know that, it seems the Judge says, he can enter the realm of the
such waves, or should, because it does not claim to simply be the end
only to be hushed by some other student. This was our place of worship.
e early portions of chapel were filled with songs spelling out C-h-r-i-s-t-i-a-n to the point of
As the years began to pass behind me, I found myself more aware of
(MacIntyre 218) and thus, the choice made to move between the two is
ethical, and only in despair can the perceived norms--the value system
of the Christian religion but foretell the entire destruction of the Judeo-
ity or likely non ASL-approved signing or the occasional choreographed tambourine and
the other events within the Service. Though I had grown older, the struc-
arbitrary and meaningless, implying, if not creating, the existence of
upon which all components of the world view is based--be so fundamen-
Christian value system that informs the definitions of all our modern
er dance number. Amongst these songs, an adult reminded us of that week’s current pop
ture of the Sunday service remained mostly unchanged—even when
multiple subjective world views that are radically incommensurable. The
tally altered. All but the self must fall away and the self must be claimed.
concepts such as “morality” and “purpose.” The primary concern, then,
temptation or challenged us to a “Bible Draw” where a verse would be given and the first
mother went into the hospital, resulting in father frequently spending
question is if one is so truly ingrained in a particular life view, is it even
Finally, one arrives at the choice that appears to be so problem-
becomes how man continues to function in such a world. When read in
t to locate it received the distinct honor of reading it outloud. The ones who took the time to
his nights there as well, my brother and I sat in the same spot, framed on
possible for that person to comprehend or engage the opposed life-view,
atic for MacIntyre: with no outside criteria to make or qualify that
conjunction with other passages concerning Nietzsche’s project of nihil-
cky notes and demarcate the books of their Bible always won, but I could never be bothered.
either side by my grandparents—allowing me to realize the particulars
let alone be moved into it, without the aid of some external norm--what I
choice, it appears to him impossible to make. MacIntyre writes, quite
ism in both the Gay Science and The Will to Power, however, it becomes
portions, however, I generally enjoyed, and being apart of this group of singing, uniformed
of our Sundays service that had previously slipped past my perception.
will come to clarify as a transcendent norm--to qualify and give purpose
reductively,“The argument of each depends upon a prior choice, and
clear that the claim here is not one of a chaos, meaningless world; it
n passed the time in a far more enjoyable manner than long multiplication tables. Inevitably,
Indeed, one such moment, the offering, became a stressful and slow
to that engagement. The aim of this paper is to rebuke MacIntyre’s claim
the prior choice settles what the conclusion of each argument will
is the dawn of a discourse in mankind’s nature. The aim of this paper
r McCoy walked underneath the basketball hoop and quieted the small crowd. His mustache
event as soon as I became capable of recognizing it. Originally, I had not
as a possible but incorrect reading of Kierkegaard and to suggest that
be,” (216) and this view seems to stem from an understanding of the
is to critically explain and evaluate Nietzsche’s concept of the ‘death of
in protruding as far out as they could, Bible slung casually into large hands, his words rolled
understood why bronze plates where being passed about or why anyone
such a view may actually be counterproductive. Specifically, I will do this
aesthetic and ethical spheres in which they exist totally removed from
God,’ its relation to nihilism, and to illustrate that this event is not one
he sermon topics varied as holidays came and departed, as national events surprised us.
cared to toss various amounts of money into them, and by this point in
by analyzing the continuum on which the aesthete moves--both within
one another as radically incommensurable views. They can both speak
of a negative nature but rather an turning point in the constant strive for
less of whatever he spoke over us, the vectors of his message returned to the same prayer
the morning, I had often found something of much more interest on the
his sphere and as he leaves it--and observing how such a choice can be
about similar terms, but the concepts behind them are fundamentally
excellence in man that ought to be celebrated and affirmed. Specifically, I
e little pieces of paper. As it did, I felt the full burden of my Wednesday come down on me,
floor of the pew or the interior of my eyelids. However, one day I became
made from the inside sans criteria, ultimately addressing the catalyst for
colored by their world-view, so they remain unable to translate what the
will do this by detailing Nietzsche’s argument for the advent of nihilism-
losed my eyes as I always did, weaving fingers together and squeezing until the skin became
aware of the ordered dance around me and watched the old men pass
choice, according to Kierkegaard, as result of the search for the transcen-
other individual is saying--the aesthetic understanding the ethical qua
-being sure to clarify the ambiguous term’s different forms--and how this
d raw and hurt, repeating every word I could, and searching the inside of myself for any hint
the bronze plates, one leapfrogging over the other down the aisles. I slid
dent norm MacIntyre desires.
ethical or vice versa. For MacIntyre, A and Judge Vilhelm are talking
creates the foundation for Nietzsche to claim that God is dead. Further, I
ange, any spark or recognition of a moment that might direct me towards a different light
my hand into my pocket and wrapped my fingers around the crumpled
To understand how the aesthetic moves from one sphere of existence
at one another not with each other. This issue extends to Kierkegaard
will make the case that the affirmation of such a claim is not grounds for
h away the lonely kid sitting in a sea of faces all finding that light. But inside I found only
bills my father had given me before I left hospital; I had been instructed
to another, one must first perceive the modes of existence within the
himself, whom MacIntyre implies is fraudulent in his attempt to appear
a deep despair but, rather, based on Nietzsche’s own writing, the begin-
ness. I berated it. I kicked at it. I wanted to shatter this empty feeling like everyone else had.
specifically to use them for tithing though, to someone in my position
aesthetic sphere itself. A, the metropolitan writer of Either/Or’s first half
impartial to either of the two writers for “the very disclaimer of partisan-
ning of a new age of responsibility.
ustration took me, and at the end of every Wednesday, a headache troubled my parents, who
and age at that time, even a few dollars seemed like a small fortune.
which champions the aesthete, describes the aesthetic life as being made
ship by Kierkegaard itself has a partisan effect--in favor of the ethical”
In order to understand the death of God, one must first begin with
send me to lie down until I felt up to doing my homework.
As the plates drew near to me, passed down hand to hand, I began to
up of two fragments that one must individually master: the immediate
(MacIntyre) 216. How can Kierkegaard truly provide a neutral account
the philosophical issue and concept that is directly tied to it and is, for Ni-
Sunday school, the prayer would return. The little classrooms walls dotted with finger paint-
see someone drop money onto the felt lining of the plate. Then another.
and the reflective. Of these two, the immediate is the most primitive-
of both positions, he wonders if Kierkegaard seems to privilege one as
etzsche, the fundamental problem of philosophy: nihilism. Nietzsche’s
nd verses, we gathered around the rooms table, print outs scattered on the plastic surface.
And yet, another. By the time the plate had made it to me, I can not but
-the basis of the aesthetic life--and A describes the immediate aesthete
the “correct” choice. This problem is further compounded by the fact that
notes in The Will to Power illuminate precisely what nihilism is. In
r was always small. There were four of us: three other girls and I, all fat faces and scabbed
donate—simply seeing others had convinced me of the right thing to
par excellence as the titular character of Amadeus’s Don Giovanni. Don
“the notion of revelation as progressive, as always suited to--but always
his words, “it is ambiguous” (Will to Power 17), but it could simply be
In other rooms all lined up next to one another, younger kids sat on vinyl floors and dragged
do. I tossed the few dollars down into the plate, and my grandmothers
Giovanni’s life is not one of contemplation but unbridled desire and “is
slightly above the moral level of--those to whom it is addressed, is alien to
defined as meaning “that the highest values devaluate themselves” (Will
y colored cars across the floor, and older students, so grown and adult to me then, cast
miles at me. Later in the service, a family gathered towards the front with
the sum of mutually repellent moments that lack any coherence; his life
Kierkegaard” (MacIntyre 218). It seems that MacIntyre desires an almost
to Power 9): a closer inspection of values will reveal them as being mean-
s glances at one another, confused first crushes growing out of proximity. But at our age,
the pastor, holding a small child in their arms and dwarfed by the blue
is as moment the sum of moments, as sum of moments the moment”
Hegalian teleology--a philosophical system in which the end result can
ingless in and of themselves, resulting in a loss of structure in one’s
was no time for childish or worldly distractions. The prayer was this room’s purpose. It never
stained glass cross behind them. Both the family and the congregation
(Kierkegaard 102). He exists only instantaneously. Even within the op-
be achieved in the rational world--with quantifiable stages that have pro-
world view. A closer inspection of the value “charity,” for example, will
sted itself here as a script but instead hung on every word. Only a few times we were directly
are invited to take part in the baptism together. Because I was an infant
era, his history is held by another character and consists only of a list of
gressive criteria: a checklist for the ideal life, essentially. For MacIntyre,
reveal no reason for why one ought to be charitable or that the reasons for
ded to make the personal confession, but nevertheless, whether we read Bible verses or drew
at the time, I cannot recall my own baptism. Instead, I saw others take
seductive conquests with no adjoining thread other than being instant
Kierkegaard presents a criterionless system in which the choices are
this normative value are in and of themselves false. These beliefs--which
n interpretations of Biblical events, the ultimate message was clear.
part in a ritual of which I have no memory. I, now, witnessed my coming
moments of seduction. Don Giovanni, however, is not a realist ideal aes-
already made and are impossible to critique--being inside one’s personal
may be defined as “considering-something-true” (Will to Power 14)--de-
always, the weight of it came back to me when I laid alone before sleep. Whether I was
into the church through this child. The pastor walked his parents down
thete. Anyone who attempts such a life of only immediacy--even, A, sug-
sphere, the original choice reinforces the life-view which reinforces the
scribe the values of a world that, to the nihilist, is not true. Nihilism,
g the creased papers or turning over each memorized variation of the prayer, I laid there after
to the Holy Water, and as the child was sprinkled on the head with water,
gests other fictitious representations--will find himself “[ fallen] into the
choice, creating a self-sustaining loop--thus resulting in an inconsistent
generally, is the view that our own values are inherently and ultimately
ents had turned off all but the hallway’s light, leaving a long sliver of luminance to lopsidedly
we prayed and recited aloud. In that instant, he was born into the church.
category of comedy” (Kierkegaard 113). Man cannot always reside in the
framework in which it is seemingly impossible to determine if its even
valueless, resulting in both a series of beliefs that are not true and a world
rough the bedroom, and returned to the deep darkness of my closed eyes where I whispered
Through baptism, the door was opened for him to take the church out
immediate pleasure and to even attempt to do so as Don Giovanni does
possible to move from one sphere to the next.
in which they are not true.
yer softly to myself. Significant stretches of the night passed in this way. I repeated different
into the world, and through him, it was reopened for me as well. Every
would result only in the comical. We are, by nature, reflective beings and
Such a reading to me, however, seems fundamentally flawed.
This nihilism can take on several forms. The first, and perhaps
etations, even being so bold as to make up my own, and after everyone, I let silence linger
time someone was baptized, I would witness this again: my own experi-
that “reflection kills the immediate” (Kierkegaard 80) if left unchecked.
Through showing how the aesthete arrives at despair--how he arrives at
most common of which is an incomplete or preliminary nihilism: often
I searched myself for something new. All that came to me, though, was the same, small
ence of the ritual building upon its reoccurrence.
The immediate desire of Don Giovanni is absolute, a single entity, yet my
the apex of that choice--by his own volition and without any push from
revealed in pessimism, religion, morality, etc. This form of nihilism is
at laid in bed before, so I clenched my eyes, clasped my fingers, and closed my mouth as I
After the baptism, if its the first Sunday of the month, we were all in-
own desire, through reflection, exists separate of the thing I desire--a gap
the exterior, I have attempted to suggest that the transformation from
implicit in our beliefs, particularly of those in the religious, in which
ately made another plea. Perhaps this time, it would be the correct one. Muttering something
vited up towards the front to take part in communion. The choir rose and
between the subject who desires and the object that is desired is created.
aesthete to ethical is not such a binary and static situation. Rather, the
man is “incapable of laying his will into things, lacking will and strength,
hile my brother tussled in his sleep, I waited to feel any of the emotions I were told would
took communion first, pausing along the alter to say their prayers before
I can contemplate my desire to desire, removing myself from the im-
aesthetic is always moving along on a continuum of change, and through
[so he] at least lays some meaning into them, i.e., the faith there there
they filed back into the choir seats and started to sing. As their voices
mediate and thus from enjoyment. The aesthete, then, must mastery his
despair he seems to pass a threshold where “nothing is destroyed, [and]
is a will in them already” (Will to Power 318). Incomplete nihilism is
om what I could tell, other children never seemed to have the same problem. In that small
reverberated against the wooden panels crawling across the ceiling, the
memory, i.e. his ability to reflect, so that reflection exists not simply as a
all a person’s aesthetic qualities remain, it is just that they become ancil-
the use of this system for value-judging--the specificity of which system matters little--to give just
In the darkness, I continued to wait. where I would spend my entire elementary years, and the church in which I spent the
ushers walked down along the pews, leading people out into the proces-
blow to the immediate but as a tool from which enjoyment can be culled.
lary and are preserved for that very reason” (Kierkegaard 527). Instead
nder, my peers possessed the ability to summon Jesus and his salvation. For some, it was
sion for communion. After some time, the ushers stood before my pew,
This understanding then fractures the aesthetic sphere, pushing it
of becoming something drastically new, the text in Either/Or seems
admission; they acted as if it carried no weight and as if it had always been a given. Other
and we all slid out of it into the main aisle. We moved forward: two aisles
into a constant state of flux as the aesthete alternates between the en-
to suggest that the transformation into the ethical only appears to be
were more grand: narratives of how the overwhelming love of Christ sprang up in them like
in single lines, walking and stopping. Walking and stopping. At each
joyment of the immediate and using reflection to enjoy past immediate
something radically foreign from the perspective of the aesthete. Once
t spark of a fresh fire, overcoming them to the point of tears, spreading the news as they are
stop, I saw fellow church members kneel and pray to Christ. Drawing
moments and to remove oneself from the immediate. The aesthete must
the transformation has happened, though, it appears very different:
ped into the arms of family, all ecstatic about the redirection in life and eternal salvation that
nearer to the stain-glass cross breaking through the brick wall, the rest
shift his world-view; the method of which A attempts to outline in the
indeed absolutely drastic, wherein the concepts behind the terms used
mportant to even little children. Other students and friends felt the prayer during one of the
of the church fell away. There was only the cross and praying before it. I,
essay “Crop Rotation:” an attempt at creating an ethics meant to make
are rewritten, but rather an expanding of the self, an adding of breadth,
gs in class or chapel and break down as they moved to the front to accept Christ amongst fel-
too, followed the footsteps of those immediately before me—and those
possible the avoidance of boredom--the aesthete’s greatest enemy. In it,
is what allows one to change. The aesthetic qualities remain; the defini-
olytes, laying hands on each other and bowing heads into prayer amongst envious sobs. I only
who would walk after—and submitted in the same manner. For years, I
A details the importance of both remembering and forgetting, stating
tions used to define those qualities, however, do not. This continuum
bserved as only silence ever answered me back. These stories never came to me to free me
would rotate through these actions, ending before the cross on my knees,
“every life-situation must possess no more importance than that one
along which the self moves does not even appear to be one-directional.
he growing illness of doubt that began to occupy my mind. Nights were spent rolling about
only to return again in the near future; again and again I would perform
can forget it whenever one wants to; each single life-situation should
The self can fall backward, but “even when he gives rein to the aesthetic
ring why the words refused to work for me, worried I had done something wrong; days were
these actions until they became so commonplace that, despite their odd
have enough importance, however, for one to be able to remember it”
in him (which for him means something else than for the one who lives
iving the life of someone who claimed to have a story of his own. No other choice presented
rhythms and structures, to not take part in them became much more ab-
(Kierkegaard 234). One must take control over the fluctuations so that he
merely aesthetically), it has nevertheless been removed from its throne”
o me. In order to keep up the appearance of salvation, I lied.
normal than to do so. Ultimately, they became so normal to me, so seem-
might use it to his advantage. In this way, A claims, he is able to prevent
(Kierkegaard 526). Once one becomes ethical, the aesthetic can still be
some point in these formatives years--neither at the beginning or the end but simply at some
ingly necessary to my every day actions, that I could not conceive of a
boredom without lapsing into the comical nature of he who tries to live
indulged. The outcome, however, will simply be judged in ethical terms.
location somewhere in between--while I laid restlessly awake in my bed, the other end of
future in which I did not help others enact them. I had fled so far into the
always in the immediate. Indeed, the common man who lives always
The transformation from the aesthetic to the ethical, then, is not such a
on occurred to me. As a child alone in bed, unable to feel the presence of a God I convinced
church that I was prepared—greatly willing, even—to make it my future.
in the immediate is not only comical but “the most boring, the most
wholly totalizing transformation that requires some exterior condition
insufferable, of all” (Kierkegaard 230) who bores others. The refined
by which to judge it. The aesthetic comes to that point of the choice by
aesthete, then, is the one capable of reflection; he who retreats into the
his own nature--through the movement from an immediate aesthete, to
past when the present threatens to overwhelm him. He knows that when
a reflective aesthete, and to in an aesthete in despair--and Kierkegaard
was there, I discovered death. I can recall not the specific moment or what triggered it but
eping feeling of it rising in my mind. The thought started as something small. Finally, as
III
d up at the six remaining glowing, plastic stars on the ceiling, remnants of a much larger
lation and their light even now beginning to fade, my own spark lit in the back of my mind.
At the age of sixteen, I had the great fortune to take part in a trip
he is “being carried away by enjoyment or a life-situation too strongly,
merely wants to help people along this path, not provide a system which
ire body plunged into murky water, and I found myself unable to surface. I was submerged
to Europe: we were to stop at several cities within Germany, France,
[he ought to] stop for a moment and remember” (Kierkegaard 234), and
details every nature of it. It must be arrived at through the internal nature
hought. If salvation did not wait for me on the other end of this life, then a cold nothingness
and Spain over the course of several weeks. Three of my friends and I
he becomes capable of either saving that enjoyment for later or capable
of the self, and if one is aesthetic, it seems likely that such a choice will ul-
ly did, existing beyond the limits of my consciousness as some vague thing I could barely
would travel with a few parents, teachers, and fellow students with the
of circumventing boredom with the enjoyment of a past event. Selfishly,
timately present itself for “all the ethicist does is to carry to its conclusion
tand, something I certainly did not want to understand, yet now clawing at my thoughts and
intention of seeing an old world that, to me at that time, existed only in
A also exonerates himself from responsibilities and commitments that
the doubt which the higher aesthete had already set in motion but which
ding attention. In the end, there is no thought: no moment lying in the wooden box, like I
photos and film. As we walked through the twisting streets of Germany,
might tie him to some notion of time and order, preferring to float on
he broke off arbitrarily” (Kierkegaard 526). The ethical is not a totally
that moment on my wooden bed, thinking “Well, here I am. Dead.” Instead I simply cease
casting our eyes over old bricks and stones, I slowly became aware of
the outside as an observer. In all situations, the reflective aesthete moves
separate sphere in which, in order to enter, the aesthete must give up all
Without this salvation, I faced an expansive wall of nothing that loomed over me with neither
some faint excitement over the ancient structures that stretched across
from extensive enjoyment to intensive enjoyment yet that moment on
his previous claims and understandings. Rather it is an evolution of the
nor malice. It, matter-of-factly, is. It is, and it was all that I could see that night. Under that
the landscapes. The source of that excitement was unclear to me—I had
which he reflects is still posited by something outside of him. At the
self, in which those claims and understandings are brought to a natural
I opened my mouth and tried to cry. I tried to feel. I tried to flee. I felt nothing, and nothing
always had an interest in history that led to its fair share of mockery when
same time, A cuts himself off from contemporaneity. He is constantly
conclusion and reevaluated in the light of a new understanding of self
e end. The next morning, I turned back to the domain of the church. In the face of an all
I was younger—and it was easy to chalk up to the almost naive fascina-
fracturing himself. While the maturation into a reflective aesthete ap-
not as a fatalistic being but as an infinite self always free--all of which
passing nothing, the church had a specificity in which I could reside. Through it, I might
tion of visiting a new place, seeing an assortment of sites that were, in
pears to be natural, it also seems to be problematic. While it solves the
happens internally and not through an external catalyst.
defense of meaning against that which I had felt. In my bed, I made a decision. When I sat
practically every manner to a teenager from central Texas, new, alien,
issues of immediacy, it raises an entirely new set of problems involving
Such external catalysts--such transcendent norms--seem to me the
e low sun patterned the walls through the window blinds, a car engine stirred somewhere
and foreign. Certainly, this accounted for a fair portion of my reaction: I
the intensive nature of reflection: it can fold in on itself. As one reflects,
domain of the aesthetic and, as such, seem absolutely complicit in the
e, and I hoped that, given enough time, salvation would find me.
had grown up around open fields, Wal-marts, and football stadiums and
he separates himself from that on which he is reflecting. The subject
ultimate movement into despair. As stated, A comes to despair through
in a culture where older structures were more likely to be torn down
and object relationship that troubled immediacy appears again, but here
the fragmentation of self and through the failure of any external means-
and replaced than left intact. This simple explanation, however, can not
it multiplies on itself as one begins to reflect on the inward reflection,
-those that are outside himself--to make his life sustainable. When those
account for the series of events that occured during and after visiting
potentially infinitely.
transcendent norms of enjoyment vanish, A is left with nothing but de-
e walls into which I fled rested not very far from my own bed. When I stepped out of my
—a modest little three bedroom built sometime in the 1960’s and nestled amongst a row
the Notre Dame de Paris.
Through this exponential reflection, it begins to appear that A re-
spair because “the condition for enjoyment is external and not within the
ilar houses, only the colors of brick providing any noticeable differentiation—which sat
We approached it from behind, flying buttresses vaulting into the sky
moves himself, intentionally it would seem, from relationships with all
individual’s control” (Kierkegaard 500). A is a cypher, a Rorschach test of
ve houses down from an intersection, a large wooden cross, fashioned by two old telephone
and against its stone walls; from where we were, it gave the appearance of
other objects he interacts with, but this deep reflection begets a growing
a person, who is constantly defined by the exterior and seeks enjoyment
loomed over the street. This cross marked the end of my church’s property; it demarcated
some ancient machine made from rock—complex, heavy, and solid. This
sense of alienation from the world in which he resides. This sense of
not from within the self but from outside the self, and when this external
impression confused the group, and several among us remarked upon it
alienation--which Judge Vilhelm expands on in length in the second
criteria has inevitably vanished--because A has attached importance to a
nd how one might achieve it. In this
What largely prevents this from happening is, plainly, the terrifying
(MO 3), "the higher meaning of our planet, the nerve that connects this
is possible; and as the sun's ray shrivels very plants of earth that it has
an action] occur; each one is a point of departure for other forkings.”1 The
language and society: Barthes with the total, true existence of writing through the reader, Fo
s self-referential: man now creates a
meaningless that seems to present itself in a world without God, yet it
part of it with the upper world, the eye it raises to heaven" (LFII 8), and
brought to bloom, so man kills the sweet flowers that flourish in his
book, then, clearly eradicates the notion of authorial intent. Rather than
with genealogies of the author and using the information cleaned from the author-funct
t be one yet he feels there must be a
is specifically in this meaningless that the death of God becomes such a
"an infinitely large, diverse, interesting person--a mysterious person of
heart, the joys of kinship and love" (Hölderlin 10) as he travels from place
create a narrative in the traditional sense with a clear series of distinct
liberate ourselves from them, De Certeau with the embedded histories and narratives of a
od portion of recent history creating
freeing event with good cause for celebration. While, the death of God
infinite worth--the actual absolute stimulus of the artist" (LFII 34), but
to place, seeking out whatever he can find to quench the restlessness that
causality, the book merely shows, it does not tell. The individual reading
that we activate through experience, and Borges with the unfolding of all these elements th
mes the initial falsehood and from it
brings us into a radical nihilism and “the universe seems to have lost
one must act as an active component of this totality and affirm his own
stirs within him. The restless throw themselves into project after project,
it is responsible for the sequence of events, and thus the text itself “is
space and time, peeling off one another infinitely and creating a structure which holds all p
laws that have also begun to burrow
value, seems “meaningless...” that is only a transitional stage” (Will
position within it without simply ceding to it. Like the transcendental
abating their own displeasure through distraction. In this, too, Hyperion
eternally written here and now” and “designates exactly what linguists,
outcomes. The creation of this hidden structure is the new task of the author. This, it sho
noted, is not the task of Ts’ui Pen--whose dedication to attempting the definition of all possi
of our culture. Christianity is only
to Power 11), and we only feel this onset of nihilistic despair because
idealist he studied, Novalis believed one must take an active, creative role
shows impressive insight and realizes his own flaws: "as a bleeding stag
referring to Oxford philosophy, call a performative.”2 It is constantly
rget. From it’s purpose--summarized
“extreme positions are not succeeded by moderate ones but by extreme
in life, but he also realized one must acknowledge that he creates not in
plunges into the stream, so I often plunged into the whirlpool of plea-
reshuffling, changing. Rather than exist physically, as Albert notes, this
d”--stems an entire, entrenched sys-
positions of the opposite kind” (Will to Power 35). We move from one end
a vacuum but in reaction to society.
sures, to cool my burning breast and bathe away the raging, glorious
labyrinth is one of time; by removing his own narrative agenda, Ts’ui
his work is the ritual of fas. This ritual is “a foundation. It “provides space” for the actions th
flirts with the corners of authorial intent. Rather, the author must become like the ancient Ro
of the spectrum to the other naturally, but we are not meant to remain
This critical understanding of the relationship between part and
dreams of fame and greatness, but what use was that?" (Hölderlin 12).
Pen has created an impenetrable maze. This engagement with both time
be undertaken; it “creates a field” which serves as their “base” and their “theater.””17 Thus the
hat stem from this need for a pur-
there--to forever wallow in nihilistic despair. Once these initial conse-
whole remains not merely theory for Novalis but extends to the very
This "whirlpool of pleasures" seems to differ little from the likes of phi-
and author does not simply end at the book itself, however, as Dr. Yu
must become the creator of this ritual, this field. The author does not draft the play for the t
ic, and one’s commitment to them
quences have been dealt with--once the death of God has been under-
manner in which he conducts philosophy and, more evidently, the very
losophy and knowledge in that it drives Hyperion only deeper into a rest-
Tsun, the protagonist, is uncomfortably aware of time due to knowing
nor does he inscribe instructions upon the field. Instead, through his own personal lang
o the death of God. The nihilism of
stood fully and has not been shyed away from--we should feel “as if a new
way in which Novalis writes. For Novalis, "philosophy is a conversation
lessness. He longs for a return to some semblance of a unity--a rejoining
“before the sun set on that day, I would encounter the same fate.”3 Tsun’s
ncomplete nihilism), but “insofar as
dawn [shines] on us” and let “our heart [overflow] with gratitude, amaze-
with oneself... an actual revelation of the self--arousal of the real self
of the finite and infinite--that intellect has failed to give him and turns
own possible futures seem incredibly narrow. However, his journey to
he creates a framework that makes possible those interactions, relationships and plays. It
written from, as Barthes describes, merely a “ready-formed dictionary, its words, only expla
nce on existence” (Will to Power 10).
ment, premonitions, expectation [ for] at long last the horizon appears
through the ideal self" (LFI 21) and thus is an internalized action one
elsewhere, but despite the different nature of pleasure , Hyperion finds
Albert’s still implies the possibilities of different futures: his daydream
through other words,”18 but a new dictionary, individual to each author where he--ie, the au
mething external, Nietzsche argues,
free to us again, even if it should not be bright” (The Gay Science 280).
must undergo--ie, to truly philosophize, one must reflect of his own
no respite. Simple pleasure does not contain the unity he seeks. It merely
of German planes bombing the British artillery park, the letter he did not
constantly defining the words, engaging them and reworking them. This dictionary allows h
ch we are within everyday. These are
In this meaningless world devoid of value and morality, we should not
volition. In this way, the "fragments" as a form depict this desire for
allows him to "languish on the chain and snatch with bitter joy the mi-
destroy, his close brush with his pursuer Captain Richard Madden, his
a new language or an alien one but a personal one, and it is from this personal language t
liefs, either. Rather, they are simply
weep or turn cynical, but rather we should become joyous. The chains of
philosophy to be an internal deliberation. Rather than provide a system
serly bowl that is offered to [his] thirst" (Hölderlin13) for these simple
run in with the shadowed boys who tell him how to get to Albert, and his
author may again discover intent. The author’s language can create a work--a piece of art--c
ne chooses to uphold, and one usu-
religiosity and morality have finally been shed, and we, i.e., man, are able
of philosophy--which ultimate seems prescriptive and telling rather than
pleasure retain only the quality of the finite. Hyperion desires them to be
subsequent shooting of Albert. All these moments are actualized in the
not of telling me meaning but engaging me with it, allowing me to arrive at it myself but pro
the vehicle in which to do so. The intent is there through the pouring of the personal in
and [lives] accordingly, without first
to take responsibility for our feelings: our will. When a man is overcome
exploratory--the fragments provide a loose framework or jumping points
infinite; he attempts to force it. He naively seeks a total infinite in which
text yet exist as only single instances of vast-interconnected possibilities
of the final and most certain reasons
with a “feeling of power” no longer must he “dare [not] to think himself
that are very much intended to be open ended; they require the input of
to lose himself. From the desperation of an absolute finitism, he seeks
of which Tsun is unaware. Tsun’s spacial possibilities stretch out before
Little questioning occurs--certainly,
the cause of this astonishing feeling--and so he posits a stronger person,
another. The fragments--which align themselves with the "poetic" more
the opposite and claims "to be one with all that lives, to return in blessed
us, and it is possible to leave the text momentarily, constructing “what
cit nihilism of the values might be
a divinity to account for it--” (Will to Power 86) for he realizes that it is
than the "philosophical," going by Novalis' terms--are meant to allow the
self-forgetfulness into the All of Nature--this is the pinnacle of thoughts
if” scenarios before returning to the unfolding future in the text. The
So while the author may live on once again, it will be no simple task; in order to poss
language--this dictionary of personal definitions--one must be willing to turn inward and d
4
work, so that the personal is transformed into something altogether different, allowing the to approach it in any possible manner.
merely taken as a given justified by
indeed he who feels it. At the same time, we must not simply fall back
reader to draw his own connections and insights as "poetry elevates each
and joys" (Hölderlin 3). Effectively, this is a form of suicide. Hyperion
irony of Tsun, though, is that after proceeding through all these possible
constructed. They are self-referential
into another system of values and beliefs--for that, too, will lead to only
single through a particular combination with the rest of the whole" (LFI
seeks to end his own restlessness through the obliteration of his own
futures in order to complete his mission of disclosing the British artillery
that language. The author must be willing, like Ts’ui Pen, to make the concretion of this lan
session of the goal from which these
another form of enslavement. Instead we must own these feelings of
25). The poetic, for Novalis, is this reunification of the individual with the
self. As each undertaking he throws himself into fails, he seeks only to
park, his adventure is totally irrelevant to the German chief “who knew
-and thus the ritual of fas--his life’s work; it will require nothing less than constant dedicati
alue” (Will to Power 141). In the ex-
power; we must own our own will. Only when have done this--when “it
whole which might occur both in a piece of writing and within a human
find a larger totality: a larger canvas upon which he can erase himself.
nothing of Runeberg and [Tsun] save that [they] were in Staffordshire
inquiry. However, this hope is not new; there are precedents at which one might look in a va
ek God, he must come to know what
would seem laughable to us... if man were to insist on inventing val-
being as well. This could be extrapolated further, and one might begin to
While this self-obliteration is certainly not the ideal avenue for
and who was waiting in vain for [their] report in his arid office in Berlin”5
mediums.19 David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive builds on themes from his entire body of work
t God is good or God is the truth and
ues that were supposed to excel the value of the actual world” (The Gay
think of each of the fragments as its own individual together forming a
Hyperion, it does, however, point towards the potential path Holderlin
and who is ultimately informed through a nondescript newspaper article,
providing a film which contains a traditional narrative within its overall structure as both tim
out and prioritized. We are to value
Science 286)--will we have truly moved ourselves beyond morality. The
society--not a system--of philosophical thought. If, as Novalis believes,
wants us to see. By basking in copious pleasures and projects, Hyperion
resulting in bombing thats only effect seems to be the 5 day delay of a
possibilities segue and fold around it. The idea of the film is not to “get” the central mystery
ing “good,” “noble,” or “charitable.”
death of God presents us with the opportunity; we only need seize it.
"each work of literature must be a living individual" (LFI 30) that exists as
begins to move away from the discursive nature of philosophy and its
British attack easily explained away by heavy rains. Perhaps then, this
film, but rather that it exists as a framework--built off of completely preexisting forms red
through Lynch’s own language--for a multitude of films occurring at one moment, their possi
hen leads to a further commitment
The death of God is not some act committed by the unbeliever; it is
a crystallization of an infinite set of possibilities into a finite thing, it be-
method of breaking down and analyzing. Though initially he does not
story of authorial will--undercut by the narrator’s own ancestor’s work-
etaphysical and metaethical beliefs)
a process caused by an ideology like Christianity itself. The religion con-
comes even clearer that the society is thus an assemblage of these diverse
find what he seeks, ultimately Hyperion discovers both the source and
-might be one of absurdity. The author’s intent becomes meaningless
converging not because of structure but because of viewer. The work of Thomas Pynchon pr
es of commandments that “life shall
structs itself on a foundation of sand, and when everything is revealed
ways of living: it does not purely limit through norms but also represents
the solution to the antagonism of being: poetry. Poetry "is the beginning
and the folly where the work “and author stand automatically on a single
a written language that is once identifiable and idiosyncratic, yet the space of the narrative do
advance himself and his neighbor,
to be false, we are left with only nihilism in its place. Often times, we
the larger possibilities of life. This realization arises out of the poetic. In
and end of philosophical knowledge." he claims, "And so in philosophy,
line divided into a before and after” is illustrated.6 One may posit then
exist solely in the pages: it is constantly folding back into them or spilling out of them. Slo
that to assume authorial intent on a space may end in empty success.7
flee Into the Zone is not merely a cat-and-mouse game with the hidden machinations of Dr.
These normative claims seek to be
attempt to repair this system, to change it, but the death of God reveals
both Novalis' writings and in the physical world, "the individual lives
too, the irreconcilable finally converges again in the mysterious spring of
e claims to how the world ought to
to us that there is only nihilism--that everything in the system, down to
in the whole and the whole in the individual" and it is "through poetry
poetry" (Hölderlin 66). It is poetry that allows one a momentary grasp
The text, however, plays with the author in another manner, this one
man and the White Visitation but a constant movement through hidden frameworks that allo
ms, “one has posited a totality, a sys-
its very foundation, is decrepit and dishonest. Any other system built in
[that] there arises the highest sympathy and common activity, the most
of unity; it is from poetry that emerges both the finite and infinite. The
very clearly in line with Foucault’s definition of the author as the author-
possibilities of the book--both textually and meta-textually--to unfurl. In architecture, too, thi
on in all events, and underneath all
its place will continue to have this same problem: it will destroy itself
intimate communion of the finite and infinite (LFI 25). The poetic could
poetic thought is that moment which exists outside the rational yet draws
function. For Foucault, it is not that the author is dead, but instead, the
has already been engaged. In Bernard Tschumi’s Manhattan Transcripts, he begins to d
spacial “events” through non traditional representative means with the implicit indicatio
that he might champion his values
from the inside, leaving us with only a nihilistic perspective in which
perhaps be thus defined as this assemblage created out of individuals
on it. The poetic thought "could be analyzed, taken apart in men's minds,
author may be viewed as “a complex operation whose purpose is to con-
as the true ones. Christianity often
to constantly fall back. If we are not to remain trapped in this continual
that nevertheless retain their identity. While "poetry dissolves the being
it could be reconstituted from its components, and so the being of the
struct the rational entity we call an author.” In this way, the author exists
these event spaces might be understood architecturally; one might be able to develop a lan
this way: projecting its metaphysi-
nihilism, we must affirm the death of God, affirm the death of morality,
of others in its own" (LFI 40), the being of others nevertheless still exists.
highest and the best could be increasingly known, and the knowledge of
historically, but the author still does not exist to provide some key to the
for suggesting the events. John Hejduk, through projects such as The Berlin Masque be
as a way the world ought to be--as a
and welcome the freedom--which in and of itself can be terrifying--that
Thus, the fragments, revealed now not only as a specific form but as an
it be set up as the law in all the multifarious realms of the spirit" (Hölder-
text. The use of the author-function as a filter for understanding the text
capable of this: creating potential spacial narratives through the specific language of forms
8
e world. There remains always the
comes with it. With the death of God comes the possibility of being an
active practice of the philosophy they are themselves communicating,
lin 67). It provides a unity through which rational thought might parse
still remains a projection, “in terms always more or less psychological,
rld that ought to be. This creates an
authentic being: of being in this world and willing in this world for this
become even more powerful. Much like an individual resides in a society
and understand. For Hyperion, and for Holderlin, poetry exists as both
of our way of handling texts: in the comparisons we make, the traits we
Hejduk, too, dedicated his entire life to the pursuit of his language, and as such, it was throug
ced from this world, and the advent
world. We are no longer torn between a world that exists and the world
that shapes him yet is also shaped by him, the fragments shape each
the initial oneness from which we are continually separating and also
extract as pertinent, the continuities we assign, or the exclusions we
he was capable of being an author.20
lizes he has “measured the value of
we want to exist. Instead, when God and all his shadows have been de-
other--depending on how the texts are engaged, one might come away
our closest approximation of that oneness. It is not through the system-
practice.”9 The author-function, then, may vary on the reader: my own
The author must live on, but he cannot do so tyrannically. The author must hide. H
remain hidden. There must be a sublimation of the importance of both authorial voice a
multitude of the readers’ interpretations. For architects--as well as writers and other author
hat refer to a purely fictitious world”
feated, we will find ourselves on the other side of nihilism; we will find a
with various impressions--yet retain their own individual identities, and
atic usage of a certain poetic style or the conveyance of a rhetorical idea
construction of Kafka as a writer, for example, is as much rooted in Kafka
alized, these normative beliefs and
world in which the natural is no longer unnatural and man can, at last,
they require the engagement of another--someone else must construct
that philosophical thought is born, but rather, it is born out of the poetic
as it is in my own biases. The mystery inherent to the work, The Garden
d up in the world fall away, making
own his actions and himself.
them. This reveals the poetics of Novalis to be not a solitary act but one
cultivated that wait for the subject--ie, the person--to enter in to them and enact their possib
feeling--that is the imminent feeling--of the self. In this way, it is neither
of the Forking Paths, is one of such authorial construction. Stephen Al-
presupposing the interaction with an other. He can rightly say that "to
the total intellect of the philosophical or the decadent emptiness of the
bert describes the author Ts’ui Pen as:
f things” (Will to Power 14) so that
The writings of Novalis--the pen name of Georg Philipp Friedrich
become a human being is an art" (LFI 87) as, much like writing, it is the
pleasure. Indeed, Holderlin states quite clearly in the preface that "the
eliefs that strive to justify what the
Freiherr von Hardenberg--reveal an impressive and sophisticated philo-
careful synthesis between the individual and the whole where neither
resolution of dissonances in a particular character is neither for mere
Governor of his native province, learned in astronomy, in astrology and
in turn, internalizing it. Only when the author creates--and creates sincerely and from the s
. In this way, Christianity has “been
ought not to strive to build labyrinths but partial labyrinths: incomplete spatial framewor
are staggering not in their physical impositions but their potential ones.21 The reader wi
find himself within the space, find him questioning it, find him being internalized by it wh
sehood becomes constructed on an-
sophical understanding despite all being written before Novalis was 28
is lost. Man, alone, is a fragment, and though he represents a possibil-
reflection nor for empty pleasure" (Hölderlin 1), and Holderlin believes
in the tireless interpretation of the canonical books, chess player, famous poet
the reader’s construction, so that all possible worlds in the project may exist freely and w
within the psychology of the culture
and like much of the early German Romantic writings, are deeply con-
ity, infinity does not present itself to him until he has seen the infinite
poetry is precisely the means through which this resolution might be
and calligrapher--he abandoned all this in order to compose a book and a
hierarchical bias or distinction, will the author be able to live again.
en viewed from outside or separate
cerned with the individual's place within the world. For Novalis, who
possibilities in others.
obtained. The phenomenological impact of poetry--and art in general-
maze. He renounced the pleasures of both tyranny and justice, of his populous
enants appear, on the surface, to still
was very familiar with the work of Johann Gottlieb Fichte (even writing
Ultimately, what Novalis proposes is a precursor to much of Existen-
-allows the self a momentary reprieve: a return to unity that is neither a
couch, of his banquets and even of erudition--all to close himself up for thirteen
ultimately moves so far past being
a book, Fichte Studies, that was an assessment of his work), this concern
tialist thought, but it seems to separate itself from the pure optimism of
total absorption of the self or a total abdication of the self. Holderlin sees
years in the Pavilion of the Limpid Solitude. When he died, his heirs found
way of life... [that] tells us how to act,
of the individual and the community can be seen as critique borne out
it. Whereas later thinkers and judges would urge us to choose despair,
this not as an end, either. We do not simply strive for this unity and ob-
nothing save chaotic manuscripts. His family, as you may be aware, wanted
to Power 125). However, this illusion
of Fichte's own grounding of philosophy upon the self-positing I--ie,
Novalis seems to believe that a successful navigation of this landscape of
tain it. Rather, it is a constant process that simultaneously feeds back into
to condemn them to the fire; but his executor--a Taoist or Buddhist monk10
1. Borges, 26 2. Barthes, 145 3. Borges, 19
4. Tom Tykwer’s 1998 German film, Run Lola Run in which the titular Lola must he
boyfriend find the 100,000 marks he owes to a particularly nasty crime boss explores the r
effect of possible futures. The three “runs” in the film all start similarly and contain rep
e are still viewing the so-called moral
grounding philosophy in subjectivity. Despite the great convenience
the individual and whole can provide one with a viable, sustainable exis-
our more rational thoughts as "the sceptic finds contradiction and imper-
hat Christianity itself constructed.
such a philosophical move would bring, the early German Romantics
tence. It seems to almost seek a compromise between the bottom-up phi-
fection in all that is thought, because he knows the harmony of perfect
when these normative beliefs causes
were skeptical of this foundation as being ignorant of a seemingly pres-
losophy of the idealists and the top-down philosophy of the materialists;
beauty, which is never thought" (Hölderlin 66). Man must seek out this
The common spacial perception and understanding of Ts’ui Pen’s
ways that very from subtle to dramatic and ultimately fan out to affect not only Lola but pas
in divergent ways. In one instance, Lola may cause a fender bender while in another, she r
-insisted on their publication.
elements that occur in each sequence, but in each one the elements of these sequences play
s. Christianity is a conservative reli-
ent unity that exists prior to the "I." Novalis further elucidates this point
society is not entirely predicated on the individual nor is the individual
experience not only as a deterrent against melancholy, it would seem, but
book had been, up until Albert, based on a certain construction of the
normative claims, it has caused the
by describing the relationship between the self and society at large as
subsumed into society. Instead, it is a two step process: "the first step will
also as a means through which the self can be claimed and improved: the
author that required the existence of both a book and a physical labyrinth.
top of the car, preventing the crash and thus creating another set of possible futures. In
ntithetical to what is natural or need.
a reciprocal relationship wherein each part affects the other, and, that
be an inward gaze--an isolating contemplation of ourselves," and "the
poetic thought is continuously calling into question that of the rational.
Either both these things existed, concretely, or one is an illegible mess
instances of these encounters, we flash forwards rapidly into the future to view the extent o
both ways for we can “discover in
through this relationship, one might discover what Novalis describes as
second step must be an active outward gaze--autonomous, constant ob-
The importance of the work Hyperion is to not only lay out Hold-
and the other has never been proven to exist. Albert circumvents this
changes through quick photo montages. 5. Borges, 20
uries of moral interpretation--needs
the poetic. This poetic synthesis bleeds into multiple aspects of life and
servation of the external world" (MO 26). This process also reveals itself
erlin's view of poetic importance, but to do so in a manner that is it-
reading, however, by understanding the power his own conception of
ntruth--” (Will to Power 10), or we
can even be seen as the basis for Novalis' style of writing and method of
to always be constant. If we stop only at one end, foolishly believing it to
self a poetic enterprise. He writes a book that intends to teach us less
the author has. By adapting the means in which he sees the author,
6. Barthes, 145
have go against our supposed moral
"doing" philosophy. The purpose of this paper is, then, to further tease
be some kind of tautological apex, we will find that we've stumbled into
through a systematic, rigorous method than through a text that we, as
Albert is able to transform the book and the labyrinth into a single spacial
7. My own major misgivings with Barthes’s writing, however, lay outside of the direct rol
ve systems seem to, as a rule, present
out this relationship between the individual and society in Novalis' work
either a disconnected solipsism--where the individual can never place
readers, can enter and feel; the book is itself an attempt to communicate
construction; his construction of the author alters the construction of
plays into architectural construction and in another, not quite as in vogue, word: responsibili
notion of “the dead author” is as liberating as it is dangerous, it seems. At the time, it was nec
11
t also a stagnant one that views life
and illuminate how this belief feeds into the larger purpose of both
himself in his world and feels forever cut off from it--or have lost our-
the possibilities of writing on being outside of the limitations of phi-
the text’s space. This construction is not passive, either. Albert recounts
eant to be judged and valued when,
philosophy and poetry. More specifically, it will use Novalis' fragments
selves in the totality of the whole, creating a dangerous slope into what
losophy. Ultimately, this is Holderlin's point: philosophical works and
to Tsun that he has poured endlessly over the old pages, “corrected the
needed to cleanse the inflated egotistical mess of the modern and remove a self-righteous aca
which we isolate a couple of pieces,
to define what the self is, how this self exists in relation to society (ie, No-
could easily resemble fascism. Instead, one must constantly be question-
papers, such as this one, can only go so far: they describe, breakdown,
errors that the negligence of the copyists has introduced,” that he has
While its affects run deeply in both architecture and literature, I question its longevity in the f
ted points and then infer it without
valis' understanding of normativity), and how this relationship is further
ing and actively taking a stance both on himself and the society at large,
illuminate, etc. They do not, however, provide the resolution of our own
“guessed the plan of this chaos,” and through these actions then “re-
The creation of architecture without an author (a self-generating architecture) divorces it fro
of architecture’s primal components: people. It seems to me that the advent of computer
cience 173) . The world, however, is
reflected in Novalis' own definition of philosophical and poetic thinking.
oscillating between the two. When both of these active entities can come
facticity and freedom. Resolution can be felt. It can be experienced. To
established... the primordial organization”12 of Ts’ui Pen’s text. Albert has
s only aides in a greater onset of ni-
The individual, for Novalis, is not something that arrives ex nihilo
together, though--when man can feel himself at place within the world-
separate that resolution, however, is clearly not a resolution. It can only
written his own The Garden of Forking Paths whether he is aware of it
drawing programs has quietly accelerated the problem as well. This isn’t to say Peter Eisen
ith which normative systems of the
and fully formed, but rather, he is something very much constituted by
-the poetic seems to be born. For Novalis, the poetic is when man is
be realized as a temporary, fleeting moment that, upon analyzing, is in
or not. When he states to the reader he has “translated the entire work,”13
work was unnecessary. Far from it. It raised fundamental questions of architecture that nee
Of course, one might simply argue
his surroundings and the culture into which he was born. This act--that
capable of making a sincere, honest connection with something outside
danger of being undone.
he does not mean this in only one way. Dr. Albert has translated the work
be asked, but if we’re still asking those questions years later without once stopping to give an
through reconstruction, he has made concrete his own readings onto it,
we’re simply performing a weightless exercise: at some point we have to reconstruct. Instead
Spacial constructs, whether in architecture, literature or any work,
making something new. This new construction and its engagement with
tects discuss using the computer and data as a means to further remove oneself from the pro
are almost never purely physical. Because a human mind is compre-
forking time then, is as much Ts’ui Pen’s work as it is Dr. Albert’s. Of
and pose “ideal” solutions which results in projects where the defense of criticism is simply a
hending these constructs and putting them together, space exists as not
course, once he reveals the intention and proposed meaning of his work,
created by data and programs that generate the results. The architect’s ideas then get brack
the side--protected and disconnected--while the periphery elements are critiqued. To be fair
of these views are based upon misreadings of Barthes, but the idea of the total eradication
aluated or adjusted, but for a system
of birth--is the initial determinedness that will affect an individual in a
of himself whether art, poetry, or another person. The poetic lies not
hristianity, “this antagonism--not to
multitude of unknown ways. The individual is then a crystallization of
in some systematic thought process but in the beauty of a real relation.
llowed any longer to esteem the lies
the events following this single chance for "in this chance all his other
ults in a process of dissolution” (Will
chance incidents, the infinite series of his circumstances, must lie one
For the German philosopher and poet Friedrich Holderlin, who was
he entire composition appear false
within the other, or better still, be determined as his chance incidents or
operating in a post-Kantian world of thought, the entire enterprise of
simply a physical moment but a moment wrapped in the historical, polit-
Albert ceases to exist, instead becoming a dead figure whom we only
ed: if one value is capable of being
circumstances" (LFII 24). Born into this facticity, the individual must
philosophy revealed itself to be, inevitably, problematic. Like many of the
ical and personal conscious prejudices of the individuals inhabiting it. In
engage through another author.
n it would appear to throw all other
come to understand what his surroundings has brought to bear on him-
early Romantics, Holderlin was greatly concerned with the problems of
this way, they are also never static. Space is only simple in a seductively
For the author, these implications of death and construction paint
on and validity of such a system is
self and rectify that with his own choices as a free individual. It is not that
being that arise out of discursive thinking and the seemingly inescapable
common definition and understanding; its larger ramifications speak to
either a bleak picture or a liberating one where he is free from all past
Yet we cannot return to the dogmatic reign of the modern. We have to begin to reconstr author in a manner that lets him exist concurrently with the reader, a manner that allows
author appears to be foolish.
this facticity has overly determined everything about him, but rather, it
melancholy that followed in its wake. Modern man, according to Holder-
the discrete importance of he who inhabits it. As the importance shifts to
implications of intent. Indeed, Michel De Certeau in “Spatial Stories”
, is that one is left with self-negating
would seem that it has planted seeds or fragments of thought that one
lin, had discovered the antagonistic dissonance within his very self: that
the inhabitant, the Reader of the space, the influence of authorial intent
does not speak of the author but rather the abstract ways space is self-
define his project yet prevent the past tyranny of the author and instead let him coexist w
system reverse engineered from im-
must then choose to either develop or reject. Novalis states this quite
of his ideal, infinite self and his real, finite self. Many other thinkers-
must then be called into question and with it the Author. Both Roland
assembling in both architecture and literature.14 This assemblage then is
reader, strengthening one another rather than simply overwriting.
m a fabricated purpose driven by a
clearly by pondering, "How can a person have a sense of something if
-such as Kant and Fichte--had discovered or felt this same dichotomy as
Barthes, in his essays “The Death of the Author”, and Michel Foucault,
predicated on a language through which the self is constantly interpret-
e infrastructure of falsehoods, yet it
he does not have the germ of it within himself. What I am to understand
well and worked tirelessly to find some philosophical thinking that could
in “What is an Author?”, understand the incredible importance of the
ing: the perspective of space “is determined by a “phenomenology” of
duals, let alone all of society, seem to
must develop organically within me--and what I seem to learn is only
answer it--a manner of thinking that might make possible a return to har-
Reader and thus rightly challenges the Age of the Author but through
existing in the world.” My own experiences, quite literally, shape the
10. Borges, 24
ral systems, and yet they remain en-
nourishment--stimulation of the organism"(MO 19). While somewhat
mony. However, as the Romantics found, every line of inquiry seemed
different lenses. Rather than simply supposing the spacial ramifications
world around me as I experience it presently--which is how one does
11. Here Albert alters the manner in which he understands Ts’ui Pen’s statements reg
Christian that “obstinately, he clings
Socratic, this belief strikes out as markedly different from that of both
only to deepen the divide. Where philosophy failed, Holderlin argued, a
see through; but he calls it “faith-
Kant and Fichte who believed that the individual is constantly construct-
non-discursive medium could succeed. For Holderlin, this was art and,
nd remains ever under its practice,
ing and shaping the world around him (hence the absolute self-positing
more specifically, poetry. Through the experience of beauty, man might
ns of the higher values’ untenability
of the I for Fichte), but what Novalis suggests is something much subtler:
find a temporary respite from his own internal conflict. Holderlin's own
understanding that the world view
the I does indeed constantly create or construct but it does so based off
Hyperion is a novel about the imminent realization of this in the char-
ss, the Christian “contents [himself ]
of innate biases that are given to us through our facticity. One can affirm
acter of the titular youth, and within its pages, he details the growing
aith, with a renunciation of all prov-
or attempt to shed those biases, but this is still a reaction against facticity;
restlessness that comes from solely pure knowledge. At the same time,
inconceivable and superior “ideal”
it inevitably plays some role. The individual, though, must be conscious
Holderlin is writing a text that seeks to awaken the same awareness in
147). Faith reveals itself as simply
of this and realize "all the chance events of our lives are materials from
the reader. The purpose of this paper is to illuminate that very conflict
lingness to set aside that which has
which we can make what we like... every acquaintance, every incident
that arises solely out of rational thought and the way in which Holderlin
vor of positing all truth to an intan-
would be for the thoroughly spiritual person--the first element in an end-
believes poetry might resolve this tension. More specifically, I will use
this is God. This faith attempts to
less series--the beginning of an endless novel" (MO 65). Understanding
Hyperion to show the failure of rational knowledge from the vantage
a means of legitimizing--or perhaps,
this endless novel must become a goal of the individual, according to
point of the self, its subsequent effects, and the way in which poetry and
ation--the false belief system at stake.
Novalis. Indeed, he believes "the highest task of education is--to take
other arts might alleviate this condition.
from someone outside Christianity
command of one's transcendental self--to be at once the I of its I... [ for]
From this disconnect between the infinite self--ie, the spontaneous
t is prevalent), but rather, it simply
without perfect self-understanding one will never learn to truly under-
and creative self--and the finite self--ie, the necessitated and destined
the values devalue themselves). We
stand others" (MO 28). To be a being in this world--ie, to feel a sense of
self--arises a sense of alienation and homelessness that when dwelled
destroyed by belief in morality. For
conditions out of which alone it can
place--one must first understand , but to do this, he himself must also
upon or thought through only intensifies. This, clearly, is an issue for
understand how that world has brought him to be.
Hyperion who laments his own intellectual nature, saying "I reflect and
ill to Power 95). The need for faith
The question arises, though, as to what it means to thus be a being
find myself as I was before--alone, with all the griefs of mortality, and
from the belief system that has been
or individual in the world because if "everything that surrounds us, daily
my heart's regue, the world in its eternal oneness, is gone" (Hölderlin
ort, and surprisingly, many cling to
ianity from the inside, that we arrive consequences of such an event. In
rs this concept through a madman
incidents, ordinary circumstances, the habits of our way of life, exercises
4). Even here at the beginning of the book, we encounter a Hyperion
an uninterrupted influence on us, which for just that reason is imper-
who is well aware of his plight and attempting to resolve it in some way.
ceptible but extremely important" (LFII 27), it might appear that all one
The manner in which he chooses, however, only results in him being
can do is resign oneself to these normative factors--ie, the forces that are
"so profoundly cut off from everything, so utterly and determinedly a
action-guiding. This fatalistic take, however, Novalis reveals to be only
stranger and alone among men" (Hölderlin 19). An attempt at a discur-
eveals his message to a crowd--who,
a fallacy. Individuals are not purely determined by the community but,
sive solution, then, only sets Hyperion upon an endless regression of
lievers (The Gay Science 181). As he
rather "the objects of social intercourse are nothing but means to enliven
sundering: he attempts to break down and parse through his alienation
se gathered began to mock and ridi-
it... [as] society is nothing but communal living--one indivisible thinking
but in doing so only alienates himself further. His own thought is re-
ntous statement: “”Whither is God?”
and feeling person. Each human being is a society in miniature" (MO
sponsible for that through which he is attempting to think. It is from this
15
labyrinth, bu
It is increasingly hard to find valid art that is about stuff that is real in this way. The older Mario gets, the more confused he gets about the fact that everyone at E.T.A. over the age of about Kent Blott finds stuff that’s really real uncomfortable and they get embarrassed. It’s like there’s some rule that real stuff can only get mentioned if everybody rolls their eyes or laughs in a way that isn’t happy. The worst-feeling thing that happened today was at lunch when Michael Pemulis told Mario he had an idea for setting up a Dial-aPrayer telephone service for atheists in which the atheist dials the number and the line just rings and rings and no one answers. It was a joke and a good one, and Mario got it; what was unpleasant was that Mario was the only one at the big table whose laugh was a happy laugh; everybody else sort of looked down like they were laughing at somebody with a disability. The whole issue was far above Mario’s head, and he was unable to understand Lyle’s replies when he tried to bring the confusion up. And Hal was for once no help, because Hal seemed even more uncomfortable and embarrassed than the fellows at lunch, and when Mario brought up real stuff Hal called him Booboo and acted like he’d wet himself and Hal was going to be very patient about helping him change.
killed him--you and I” (The Gay Sci-
42). While it might be true that an individual is born into his own factic-
position that Hyperion seems to rightly damn his own mind, claiming
ity, that society has been determined not by some greater power but by
the knowledge which "[he] expected confirmation of all [his] pure joy--
ity as a lie, yet they have been duped
the very individuals within it. Society, then, is a constructor of normativ-
that knowledge has corrupted everything for [him]" (Hölderlin 4). Hy-
ty. “The madman” is meant to be a
ity, meaning it is capable of bringing about new forms of norms, and
perion's intellect--the tool which he was taught would set him free--has
all to realize the extent to which our
while each body does mirror the norms and values of the community,
enslaved him; through reflection, he has become aware of the distancing
there is no God. For we must realize
each body is capable of reacting against these norms in a conscious way
nature of reflection itself. As as being, he can never return to the, almost
still be caves for thousands of years
thus possibly laying the groundwork for a new set of norms--particularly
naive, sense of oneness for which he longs. Instead, it seems he can only
... [and] we still have to vanquish his
if others identify with this reaction as well. Further, the ever continu-
further separate--further distance himself from the world. Our only true
) if we are to truly overcome the false
ing quest for self-knowledge, as noted earlier, is meant to charge this
way around this separation, it seems, is to manufacture its non existence:
therwise, we allow faith to remain.
ability to react by making it possible for one to see how he is currently
Hyperion recommends isolating a child from the outside world to "let
y of the system and seen through its
situated in society and, ideally, thus allow him to take a stance on his
him not learn until late that there are men, that there is something else
of their writings, one can simply see them at play in Jorge Luis Borges’s
experience: all histories converging into a constant single present. The
his nihilistic faith to remain; we only
own existence, and the ones who apathetically resign themselves to these
9. Foucault, 2
the book an
men indicts are those who have seen
s many vestiges, remaining trapped
8. Foucault, 2
is not to be
as the only m in which this
struction coul place. One
also not assum
is--or that ther
is--the correc
struction of Ts as an author.
12. Borges,
13. Borges, 14.
Else
in De Certeau
Practice of Ev
Living, one ca more and
exa
explan
of this. In C VII, “Walking City,”
De
C
invokes the lan of “map” and
further elabora
in “Spacial S to
documen
view from the
floor of Manh World Trade
and, ultimate
nature of exp
ing the city. T
ALL AROUND
Thesis text. Rarely read. Probably best that way.
—Infinite Jest David Foster Wallace
tion reads as a more
concre
ample of the a genealogy
ex
in Chapter 9.
15. De Cert
16. De Certeau, 188. The words being-there and operations as defined by De Certeau ap have parallels t my definitions of tecton and archi respectively.
outside of himself, for only thus will he become a man" (Hölderlin 64). A
“The Garden of Forking Paths”. From beginning to identify the ways
nature of experiencing this space is is made up of, according to De
norms--through a lack of self-education--are the ones living an unfulfilled
child must not be allowed to ever make that first intellectual dissociation
in which the Author and the Reader--in both Barthes’s and Foucault’s
Certeau, the being-there of something dead, something static which
ust come to realize “how much must
life. In discussing this, Novalis differentiates between "our everyday life
for it will doom the being to the same crisis as Hyperion. The human
understanding--influence the spacial nature of this short story, one can
grounds it and operations which assign movements to an object, elicit-
18. Barthes, 146
en undermined because it was built
[which] consists of nothing but life-sustaining tasks which recur again
being must remain a totality.
begin to contemplate an architectural manifestation that reconciles the
ing space though the subject.16 In “The Garden of Forking Paths,” these
19. In regards to these, I will be brief as they most certainly require their own paper
rown into it” (The Gay Science 279).
and again" and the realization that "this cycle of habits is only the means
Obviously, however, this is not the most possible course of action,
seemingly opposed relationship of creator and spectator. We must then
spaces have already been discussed, only now they exist absolutely with-
od has already died, and it is us that
to a principal means, that of our whole earthly being--which is a mixture
and as a result, once might be subjected to the alienation that charac-
observe Borges’s story for the author as dead, the author as function,
out author and are always in the process of being created. Dr. Tsun is not
20. There is not meant to be a comparison here between Hejduk’s and Tschumi’s wo
e we have not yet affirmed the death
of diverse ways of existing" (MO 76). To become subject to only the ev-
terizes Hyperion at the opening of the novel. Even if such a course of
and the author as space.
narrating a story; he is giving a tour. Embedded in that tour is then all the
rather a suggestion that their respective projects occupy separate places on the same conti
uch a worldview. His own system of
eryday life is to be what Novalis refers to as a "philistine;" when one is a
action was available, it does little to appease those who, like Hyperion,
infinite possibilities that he makes concrete by moving through them,
One might make the case that Tschumi’s Parc de la Villette would rest on this continuu
to us--through claiming it--to finish
philistine, he has given up his freedom for routine. One must be careful
are already in the throes of a deep homelessness. From this alienation,
The Garden of Forking Paths, as it is revealed in the story, is a seem-
17. De Certeau, 124
pers?) to really examine.