Suzanne nance is an idiot an animal
Images Of Idiocy: The Idiot Figure In Modern Fiction And Film 1138275824, 9781138275829, 1351928848, 9780754602651
Table of contents :
Cover......Page 1
Half Title......Page 2
Title Page......Page 4
Copyright Page......Page 5
Contents......Page 6
Acknowledgements......Page 8
Illustrations......Page 10
Introduction: Idiocy and Cultural Representation......Page 12
Part I: Idiocy in the Nineteenth Century......Page 38
1 Romantic and Victorian Idiots......Page 40
2 Madame Bovary (Gustave Flaubert and Jean Renoir)......Page 64
3 The Idiot (Fyodor Dostoevsky and Akira Kurosawa)......Page 84
Part II: Idiocy and Modernism......Page 104
4 The Secret Agent (Joseph Conrad and Alfred Hitchcock)......Page 106
5 Kaspar Hauser (Jakob Wassermann and Werner Herzog)......Page 126
6 Of Mice and Men (John Steinbeck and Lewis Milestone)......Page 146
Part III: Idiocy After World War II......Page 166
7 Wise Blood (Flannery O’Connor and John Huston)......Page 168
8 Waterland (Graham Swift and Stephen Gyllenhaal)......Page 188
9 Such a Long Journey (Rohinton Mistry and Sturla Gunnarsson)......Page 206
Conclusion: Idiocy in Contemporary Film......Page 226
Filmography......Page 246
Bibliography......Page 248
Index......Page 268
Citation preview
Idiocy Prelims Author : Susan Nance Carhart “There’s no way to program my time machine remotely. Not really,” Solberg told his friends. “I can’t perform a unmanned test. I can’t even use an animal for the passenger. But the modeling works. It all comes down to me.” The friends caught each other’s eye and shook their heads. Solberg’s private laboratories were in a separate wing from the rest of his facility, and even more amazing. Cool blue light suffused the shining interior. Before them was the device that Solberg had dreamed of for thirty years. “You tell him, Royce,” muttered Julia. “He won’t listen to me.” Solberg stared back at them, and then put up his hands. “What? What is it?” “You always think it comes down to you, Jack,” Royce grunted. “Real science can’t be done by one person these days. And it should never be done in secret. You have a team to vet your ideas. Bring them in on this! You need free discussion. I don’t care if you have more money than God. If you had to look for funding, you’d have the challenge of informed analysis and constructive criticism—” “I might as well send my research to the Chinese,” Solberg sneered. “This is going to revolutionize human life. I’m getting all the credit this time. Do you want to see the test, or not?” “Yes, we want to see the test,” Julia shot back. “We want to know what happens to you. I think this is insanely reckless, but there’s no way to stop you now. What’s the plan?” “A short hop, really. I’m going to go back in time one month exactly. I know that no one was in this laboratory at that moment. To prove I’ve been moving in time, I’ll scribble a message on that wall.” He pointed to the white and pristine tiles facing them. “You’ll be here, and as soon 1. What is a character trait you most dislike in yourself? Oh, just one? I am not as patient as I'd like. Many people are very surprised by this, especially knowing that I was a teacher for thirty years. Perhaps that's where I used it all up. I find myself always feeling impatient, as if I'm in a terrific hurry: in the car; in the checkout line; doing tasks at home. I have no idea why. I'm rarely on a schedule or deadline. Fortunately, I rarely show my impatience, so few people even know. 2. What is a character trait you most dislike in others? Again, just one? I'd have to say Willful Ignorance. I have the hardest time with stupid people, and with stupid women especially. I get so tired of hearing about Undecided Voters in this election or people who say they don't ever watch the news because it's too depressing or people who say they don't vote because it doesn't matter anyway. I just want to light those people on fire. 3. Describe yourself in three words. Intelligent. Kind. Concerned. 4. What do you most dislike about your appearance? The dreaded menopot/meno belly, that little belly that won't go away now, no matter what. If I hadn't grown up with weight issues, it probably wouldn't be such A Thing with me. Thanks to so much fixation on and bullying about my weight when I was a kid, it's something that has become ingrained. Even when I was ill and size 0 clothes hung on me, I didn't have a realistic perception of my appearance and looked for bulges. To this day, when I see my reflectio .
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IMAGES OF IDIOCY
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‘It would be safer to ask the judgment of young lads or Countrey idiots … [than] those lubricious wits and overworn philosophers’ Henry More, Preface to Poems (1647)
‘It will be necessary to travel through the eyes of idiots’ Federico García Lorca ‘Landscape of a Urinating Multitude’ (1940)
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Images of Idiocy The Idiot Figure in Modern Fiction and Film
Martin Halliwell
First published 2004 by Ashgate Publishing Published 2016 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Fra And Yet, It Moves
Thank goodness for Ally Bean, who gave me something to write about. I'm not feeling particularly Thinky or Inspired lately, so I'm borrowing from her latest post in which she asks and answers some questions about herself. She chose ten from an interview that she read, and I'll see how far I get, depending upon how much I want to chat about each one. I've altered the wording of some questions to better suit my purposes. Let's go.