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Re: [xmca] Interview with David Kellogg on Vygotsky's Psychology of Art
Thanks, Nancy. And above all thanks to Andy, not just for making the resource available but for providing a long list of provocative questions that had me tugging my beard rather more than I should have.
I was telling Andy that I started the whole project with some contempt for Leontiev's lukewarm preface, where he says that Vygotsky himself did not want the book published, but that it was now a historical document for the understanding of Soviet science so we have to get it out there anyway.
Ivanov, on the other hand, says that the book is a complete manuscript readied for publication by Vygotsky himself (and Ivanov, by the way, is pretty harshly criticized, so it is with great generosity of spirit that he champions this book and writes a very warm commentary to it).
But perhaps Leontiev's ungenerous preface is right in this much: the most exciting ideas in it are completely undeveloped:
a) The hidden link between aesthetics and ethics. Vygotsky REALLY believes this: art's about the GOOD LIFE, and it can help us get there, not just in our imagination but in real ontogenesis and even sociogenesis.
b) The true analytical unit of art. It just CAN'T be the "aesthetic contradiction". That's like saying that the analytical unit of chemistry is the "chemical contradiction". Feh.
c) The dramatization of egocentric speech in Hamlet. It's a borderline piece, written somewhere between Revenge fantasies and psychological novels, and marvelously contradictory for that reason. It's the self-directed soliloquies that made it totally different! When "To be or not to be" is translated into Korean, it's just "To live or to die". But of course you can read it exactly other way: "to be" is to take up arms, and then not to be, and "not to be" is to bow your head, and go on living. Only human thought processes have this kind of lyrical quality; the perception processes on which revenge fantasies and horror shows of the time were based were shallow, one dimensional things in comparison.
d) The "social technique of emotion" and the teaching on the emotions. Vygotsky's on to something here, but what? Just as it's hard to imagine analyzing the "psychology" of a work of art (how do we do a psychological analysis of something that does not have a mind?) it's really hard to imagine a technique of emotion without a "what for" and not simply a "what with".
It's tempting to say that a) is really the answer to d)! But if it's an answer, it's not a direct one; there is, and there should be, a whole book in between. The problem is that Leontiev was really right; this book is not that one. Not yet.
David Kellogg
Seoul National University of Education
--- On Sun, 10/10/10, Nancy Mack <nancy.mack@wright.edu> wrote:
From: Nancy Mack <nancy.mack@wright.edu>
Subject: Re: [xmca] Interview with David Kellogg on Vygotsky's Psychology of Art
To: ablunden@mira.net, "eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity" <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
Date: Sunday, October 10, 2010, 11:06 AM
Andy,
I cannot thank you enough for this wonderful opportunity to hear two scholars interpret the Psychology of Art.
These videos are a wonderful source for others who are interested in Vygotsky.
I greatly enjoyed them and thanks to both David and Peter for permitting these talks to be shared.
Nancy Mack
Professor of English
Wright State University
http://www.wright.edu/~nancy.mack
----- Original Message -----
From: Andy Blunden <ablunden@mira.net>
Date: Sunday, October 10, 2010 5:07 am
Subject: [xmca] Interview with David Kellogg on Vygotsky's Psychology of Art
To: "eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity" <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
> Our collection of videos at http://vimeo.com/groups/39473/videos
>
> now has an interview with David Kellogg on Vygotsky's Psychology
> of Art
>
> http://vimeo.com/groups/39473/videos/15686944
>
> Peter's interview http://vimeo.com/groups/39473/videos/14844396
> and
> David's are not a debate, or even a dialogue really, but two
> different
> views of the same work of Vygotsky, by two different people. But
> together they bring out the richness of the topic. Anyone else
> want to
> add their own view?
>
> Please enjoy,
> Andy
>
> Andy Blunden wrote:
> > So far as I can tell, vimeo.com just offers a server to store
> and
> > stream your video. Anything beyond that we need to put on a
> server
> > elsewhere and link to the videos on vimeo, I think.
> >
> > There is certainly a need to have a page(s) (e.g. on
> lchc.ucsd.edu)
> > where the material is listed, organised, and described.
> Abstracts of
> > the talks are needed, because on vimeo we have only a few
> lines to
> > describe the content. But that page I think cannot be on
> vimeo.com.
> > vimeo does have a blog capacity, and I think David Kellogg is
> so far
> > the only person who has made use of it.
> >
> > Were we to go down that road, issues that arise are (1)
> Keeping the
> > information up to date as new videos are added, (2) Having the
> > authority to categorise and prioritise videos. At the moment,
> the
> > other side of lack of organisation and information, is that
> the vimeo
> > page is very egalitarian and democratic. :)
> >
> > http://vimeo.com/groups/39473/videos
> >
> > Andy
> >
> > mike cole wrote:
> >> Wow, Andy-- I had no idea that so many interesting videos had
> already
> >> been
> >> collected already, and just in time for Natalia's
> class!! Now THAT I
> >> call
> >> a bit of superb international collective action!! A well
> oiled
> >> machine, a
> >> sleek and swift social organism.....
> >>
> >> One question.
> >> Might there be a way of people being able to see the list of
> all the
> >> topics
> >> as they open the page, or a single button they could press
> that
> >> brings up
> >> the list? As it is, people might overlook at LOT of interest,
> and that
> >> problem will just get worse as the collection becomes richer.
> >> mike
> >>
> >> PS_ For those who wonder what I am talking about, check out
> >> http://vimeo.com/groups/39473/videos/15209886
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> xmca mailing list
> >> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> >> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
>
> --
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
> -------
> *Andy Blunden*
> Home Page: http://home.mira.net/~andy/
> Videos: http://vimeo.com/user3478333/videos
> Book: http://www.brill.nl/scss
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> xmca mailing list
> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
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