master signifier
(en)
a Lacanian term (following the linguistics of Saussure); really just another signifier (i.e., something that organises discursive structures) but one which stops the slippage of the signified under the signifier and fixes meaning, thereby forming a stable symbolic order. i don't really know tbh. a platonic ideal of a concept like "freedom" or "health"?
136
The master signifier was not ‘empire’ (politically inadmissible except, chiefly, as a designation for the Soviet Union) but ‘security’.
confirm
6 years, 8 months ago
The master signifier was not ‘empire’ (politically inadmissible except, chiefly, as a designation for the Soviet Union) but ‘security’.
confirm
6 years, 8 months ago
dialectic
(en)
a discourse between two or more people holding different points of view about a subject but wishing to establish the truth through reasoned arguments
142
questions about the dialectic between ‘original’ and ‘reproduction’ that have been unavoidable since Marcel Duchamp and Walter Benjamin
notable
6 years, 8 months ago
questions about the dialectic between ‘original’ and ‘reproduction’ that have been unavoidable since Marcel Duchamp and Walter Benjamin
notable
6 years, 8 months ago
rarefied
(en)
(adjective) being less dense / (adjective) of, relating to, or interesting to a select group; esoteric / (adjective) very high / (verb) to make rare, thin, porous, or less dense; to expand without the addition of matter / (verb) to make more spiritual, refined, or abstruse / (verb) to become less dense
142
Wong is able to follow the implications of her research into the more rarefied realms of cultural theory and philosophical aesthetics
it's a nice word whose definition I've never actually looked up
confirm
6 years, 8 months ago
Wong is able to follow the implications of her research into the more rarefied realms of cultural theory and philosophical aesthetics
it's a nice word whose definition I've never actually looked up
confirm
6 years, 8 months ago
misprision
(en)
(noun; historical; law) the deliberate concealment of one's knowledge of a treasonable act or a felony; (literary) Harold Bloom's term for when strong writers misinterpret their literary predecessors so as to clear imaginative space for themselves
145
Wong’s virtuosity in tracking multiple levels of misprision lies precisely in the extent to which she succeeds in arousing scepticism
notable
6 years, 8 months ago
Wong’s virtuosity in tracking multiple levels of misprision lies precisely in the extent to which she succeeds in arousing scepticism
notable
6 years, 8 months ago
topoi
(grk)
(noun, from Greek) plural of topos; used in the context of classical Greek rhetoric to mean "topic"
146
this latter emerging as a topos in Chinese television films set in Dafen
notable
6 years, 8 months ago
this latter emerging as a topos in Chinese television films set in Dafen
notable
6 years, 8 months ago
amanuensis
(en)
(noun) one employed to write from dictation or to copy manuscript
146
When a hidden amanuensis is revealed under the aegis of Romanticism, it would seem an outrage—as if signing one’s name on something someone else has painted was fraudulent
quoting Winnie Won Ying Wong
confirm
6 years, 8 months ago
When a hidden amanuensis is revealed under the aegis of Romanticism, it would seem an outrage—as if signing one’s name on something someone else has painted was fraudulent
quoting Winnie Won Ying Wong
confirm
6 years, 8 months ago