THE
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TELIC ARTS EXCHANGE

After the passing of one of the forces, the movements, the currents to create "queer theory" in North America, we need a series of classes on Eve Sedgwick. I propose "Adieu Eve"
As ever, Robert

dear class,

i am saddened to report that eve sedgwick passed away yesterday. i received a note from a friend about her death today, and there is some stuff online but not much yet. she battled cancer for many years, but this still comes as quite a blow.

affected by this unfortunate news, i am moved to reintroduce the idea of a fourth class meeting. we could read "pedagogy of buddhism" and any other of sedgwick's works we'd like, and meet for tea at my house to honor her in style.

let me know what you think.

sarah

Would multiple teachers -- (and/)or a moderators for a reading group -- be a good idea for teaching/moderating this class or classes? For example, someone who teaches, or holds a reading group on, performance and performativity, psychology and shame, and (yet) another who teaches paranoid vs. reparative reading/s, and someone on Buddhisms, etc. This multi-teacher/moderator would seem in keeping with the idea of the text ... would seem Sedgwickian ...

i like the idea of multiple facilitators, and i'm with you in thinking that such an approach fits this particular text quite well. what i was thinking initially-- and perhaps this matches what you're saying-- is that students be those multiple facilitators. as in, the class is divided up such that each member (at some point during our three sessions) guides us through a close reading of a facet of the text assigned for that week. this facet could be a word, an image, a section, an idea... this approach would also necessitate collaborations between classmates as they would work together to decide how much overlap and discontinuity they'd like between their individual readings. what i like about this idea is that it structures the class without too heavily thematizing (or compartmentalizing) sedgwick's queerly mishmashed text. whaddaya think?

This class has been scheduled...

hi all,

a brief update/message from your "instructor:"

because this course overlaps with all the crazy public school LACMA action coming up in the next few weeks, i and the PS committee member who scheduled this course have decided that it would be best to push the course forward in time a bit. we're not sure how far into the future to push it, and are open to any suggestions you may have on the topic. LACMA stuff extends roughly from october 19th through november 15th, and holidays follow so things get a little hairy... one possible option is to hold class during the weeks after thanksgiving and before christmas. whaddaya think?

this class WILL HAPPEN, and i apologize for the incumbent delay! hit me back with comments, ideas, suggestions...

best,
sarah

oh yes and i should add: this means NO CLASS until further notice. just in case the previous posting was jumbled in any way. s.

maybe after thanksgiving; maybe during "winter break"? but sooner than later and i hope not ever. this class is too interesting and important.
-robt

FYI, i'm working on rescheduling this class as we speak. it may be after thanksgiving, it may be during "winter break," but it will definitely happen during the next 2.5 months! don't worry. +s

This class has been rescheduled!

It will now be held on Sunday 1/18, Monday 1/26 and Sunday 2/1, from 7-9 PM. The Monday class is open to a day/time change depending on each of our schedules - I couldn't do Sunday the 25th as I'm working on something else that day... But we'll figure this out in class.

I've yet to decide on assigned reading for our first meeting, but will be in touch very soon regarding!

Hope you can all still make it, and many apologies for the delay,

Sarah

When will a reading list be out? Thanks for having this class! -robt

Robert, thank you for asking this!

The reading list for the course is one book long:

1) Touching Feeling: Affect, Pedagogy, Performativity by Eve Sedgwick. Published by Duke UP in 2003. Lovely image of Judith Scott on the cover (whose import we will discuss further in class).

Please do your best to purchase a copy of this book (ASAP), as we'll be doing close readings of each of its sections and I think you will want to write in it. If you can't swing buying the book and can't find it anywhere for free, I'll do my darndest to scan the thing in its entirety. Just let me know @ sarah@severalprojects.com.

As for which parts of TF to read for our first meeting, I know for sure that I'd like everyone to read the Acknowledgments (xi - xii), Introduction (1 - 25), and "Interlude, Pedagogic" (27 - 34).

I may also ask you to read the book's first proper chapter (on Henry James), but think it might be nice to start by discussing only the introductory stuff, as well as talk a little about Sedgwick the person and her oeuvre in its entirety.

Sound good?

Just checking in - have you all been able to locate the book somehow? Any problems?

Still haven't decided about the Henry James chapter, but I will make up my mind soon, I promise!

Hi all,

Hope you're out enjoying the summery weather...

I've finally decided that, for our first meeting one week from today, we'll only be reading what I've already mentioned: the Acknowledgments (xi - xii), Introduction (1 - 25), and

Ok everybody; at the link below you will find a scan of the aforementioned portions of Touching Feeling. Let me know if you have any problems accessing! And please, if you can, bring a printout to class for our discussion.

http://aaaarg.org/touching-feeling-affect-pedagogy-performativity-excerpt

IMPORTANT: THIS EVENING'S (FIRST) CLASS CANCELLED; CLASS WILL CONTINUE AS SCHEDULED NEXT MONDAY (1/26)

All,

I'm so sorry for the late notice, but due to unforeseen health-related circumstances I have to cancel tonight's first class. I feel especially bad about this because I already pushed the class once before (!), but I promise you that we WILL meet on 1/26 as planned and that we will then find a date for our third session that works for all of us.

I'll be in touch again tomorrow with an update; for now, please be well and I hope to see you on the 26th.

All my best, and more apologies,
Sarah

I hope that Sarah is okay. If it isn't to vulgar to ask: are the readings to be the same, given the canceled class?
I hope and pray that all is well, robt

Sarah is OK! No worries. Just a few nosebleeds too many, but they have proven non-fatal. I can talk nondualistically about the affective dimensions of the experience during Monday's class if you like:)

Let's keep the readings the same: There's a lot in the TF intro and in "Interlude, Pedagogic," and I want to give those sections of the book the time they deserve.

That said, I can't wait until one week from today! I'm newly excited about this wonderful book after re-reading!

is this still at 7pm tonight?

Yes, still 7 PM tonight. And same reading assignments we've always had - the Acknowledgments, Intro, and "Interlude, Pedagogic." Oh, and, if you can, read the Wiki entry on Sedgwick for partial context.

For those of you who can't find it on the site, the address of our meeting location (TPS) is 972B Chung King Rd. It's off an alleyway, down some stairs. There may be a TELIC sign lighting the way...

Call/email me if anything comes up! 718.210.6900 / sarah@severalprojects.com.

See you later!

Hi all,

Thank you for a wonderful class last night! I'm glad we were able to cover as much of Sedgwick's Intro as we did (despite my digressions and exclamations) and expect that we'll be able to pick up numerous threads from last night's discussion in our dealings with the essays that comprise the bulk of Touching Feeling.

That said, while I don't want to stray too far from Sedgwick's text, I am thinking about performativity in Butler, prohibition/repression in Foucault, and "planar relations" in Deleuze, wondering if there's a way we can gloss (in the sense of texture with one x) these concepts/frameworks so as to enhance our understanding of Sedgwick's criticisms/usages of them. Rather than assigning more reading, I thought perhaps we could each research this stuff a bit individually, maybe bring in some bits of text and accompanying insights to share during our next session? Or is that too much? Let me know what you think.

For our next session, we will be reading the first two chapters of TF, entitled, respectively, "Shame, Theatricality, and Queer Performativity: Henry James's The Art of the Novel" (pp 35-65) and "Around the Performative: Periperformative Vicinities in Nineteenth-Century Narrative" (pp 67-91). I'll post these chapters to aaaarg tonight! I'm excited to reread, and can't wait to hear what everyone else has to say. My only worry is...

Class is scheduled for 7 PM on Sunday (February 1st). I know (via Caleb) that this is Super Bowl day. Can all of you make it? Or do we need to figure another day/time? Please let me know! AND, our "last" class (if we decide three is sufficient) still hasn't been scheduled. Does Sunday, February 8th, 7-9 PM work for all?

Will send word when texts are posted! And thank you again!

All the best,
Sarah

Chapters 1 and 2 of Touching Feeling have now been posted to aaaarg. Go to http://aaaarg.org/touching-feeling-excerpt-chapter-1 for Chapter 1 and http://aaaarg.org/touching-feeling-excerpt-chapter-2 for Chapter 2.

Enjoy!

Hi all,

Hope you're enjoying Chaps 1 & 2. I'm very much looking forward to Sunday! Been thinking a lot about texxture and the palimpsest in particular...

Just to clarify, class will be held this Sunday, February 1st (Super Bowl day) at 7 PM at The Public School.

Our third (and final? or not final?) class will be held the following Sunday, February 8th, at 7 PM at The Public School, at which point we can decide if we want to have another session and, if so, when that session will take place.

See you soon!
Sarah

What I posted (edited) re: my class before yours:

Dear Class,

I WILL NOT be in class due to an escalating family member's health situation/condition; thus, I, Robert, will not be in class / discussion group. I hope that the class is great, and I should like to know of what takes place, but I will not be there: I am deeply sorry, and I have never done this! But the situation/condition has taken a dramatic turn and I must attend to family issues.

Please email me any updates ... robtsum@gmail.com

As ever, Robert

First, I hope that Robert is OK and send him lots of warmth and other touchy-feely stuff. Robt, we all very much hope you'll be able to make it to class next Monday, as your presence thus far has been sorely missed.

Second, I've rescheduled class (as you might have guessed) for next Monday, February 9th, from 7-9 PM. I wanted to start class earlier on Sunday as we'd discussed, but Ad Feminem will be taking place at TPS from 12-6 that day, so we've got to make do with Monday. I hope this is cool with everyone - if not, please let me know and I'll change things around again.

In terms of reading, I think the most pragmatic path would be to read chapters 3 and 4 ("Shame in the Cybernetic Fold" and "Paranoid Reading and Reparative Reading"), with the final chapter of TF ("Pedagogy of Buddhism") left optional. That's 60 pages of required reading and another 30 optional. If we decide, we can devote another, fourth class to tying up loose ends - an idea Sedgwick would detest - and thus all read "Pedagogy" for that class. How does that sound?

I'll get on scanning the rest of the book tonight, for those of you who don't have physical copies.

AND, to Robert: "Texxture is the kind of texture that is dense with offered information about how, substantively, historically, materially, it came into being. A brick or a metalwork pot that still bears the scars and uneven sheen of its making would exemplify texxture in this sense. But there's also a texture - one x this time - that defiantly or even invisibly blocks or refuses such information; there is texture, usually glossy if not positively tacky, that insists instead on the polarity between substance and surface, texture that signifies the willed erasure of its history" (TF, 15).

P.S. Renu Bora is on Facebook.

Chapters 3,4, and 5 of Touching Feeling have been posted to aaaarg.org. Go forth and read!

the work of judith scott -- whose art and body/self graces the cover of sedgwick's text, and whom sedgwick discusses therein:

http://www.avam.org/exhibitions/treasures.html