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6. Dramatic Narratives

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From Chaos to Catastrophe?
This chapter is in the book From Chaos to Catastrophe?
6Dramatic NarrativesThese last remarks of Morin remind us forcefullythat the search for and drivetowards attractive products of thought in which the chaotic turbulence of proces-ses of thought,inWilliamJames’sterms, finds resting-places both gripping andpeaceful, has by no means come to an end. This chapter takes first steps in theexploration of transitions from‘hysterical’turbulence to exciting drama orratherdramatic narratives.It surelycannot be repeated often enough that“hysterical”and“schizo-phrenic”are not used as clinical ortechnicalterms here. The terms suggest ten-denciesinthe self-referential operations of consciousness. In conscious proces-ses there seems to be inscribed an overinvestment of psycho-affective energies.At the same time, the products of these operations do have ahard time to copewith the complexities out there. Clearly, the levels of complexity in advancingsocial and technological evolution present challenges which neither the process-es nor the products of thought can sufficientlycontrol in conceptual, to saynoth-ing of factualrespects. In fact,this control has become more difficult also be-cause the products, as we will see, have progressively lost large parts of theircapacities for orientating action.Former times, believing in the powers of the mind, might have usedthe term“imagination”for the epistemologicallycontrolled forms of overinvestment.From the vantage-point of today, this is hardlypossible anymore:“Imagination”looks likeatreacherouslyoptimistic metaphor simplifying the processes of con-sciousnessinillegitimateways.Consequently, we have come to talk of the ima-ginary instead. In contrast tomany efforts in anthropology or psychoanalysis oreven occasionallyinphilosophy, however,Ido not believethat the imaginary,seen as the manydirections conscious processes maytake, can be broughtinto anykind of epistemologicallyrelevant order.The catastrophic fate of theimagination, as DietmarKamper has said, should warn us.ForPlotin and Neo-platonism the imagination opened ways of knowing truereality.Often, the artswereseen as the media through which the essence of nature and the principlesof natural order could berecognizedor‘imagined’.Invarious forms such claimswerestill raised,for instance, by Schelling, Shelley and Coleridge,with Schel-ling,for one, holding thatthe imaginative work of art presented the identityof thereal and the ideal and thereforethe‘blossoming’of the real as such.⁵⁹Image-likeideas concerning heaven, the saints, hell and more offered orientationfor along time. Their power in thisrespect has been re-emphasized by GernotSee Schelling1979: 373; Kamper 1981:12; Richards 1969: 27.https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110581836-008
© 2018 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Munich/Boston

6Dramatic NarrativesThese last remarks of Morin remind us forcefullythat the search for and drivetowards attractive products of thought in which the chaotic turbulence of proces-ses of thought,inWilliamJames’sterms, finds resting-places both gripping andpeaceful, has by no means come to an end. This chapter takes first steps in theexploration of transitions from‘hysterical’turbulence to exciting drama orratherdramatic narratives.It surelycannot be repeated often enough that“hysterical”and“schizo-phrenic”are not used as clinical ortechnicalterms here. The terms suggest ten-denciesinthe self-referential operations of consciousness. In conscious proces-ses there seems to be inscribed an overinvestment of psycho-affective energies.At the same time, the products of these operations do have ahard time to copewith the complexities out there. Clearly, the levels of complexity in advancingsocial and technological evolution present challenges which neither the process-es nor the products of thought can sufficientlycontrol in conceptual, to saynoth-ing of factualrespects. In fact,this control has become more difficult also be-cause the products, as we will see, have progressively lost large parts of theircapacities for orientating action.Former times, believing in the powers of the mind, might have usedthe term“imagination”for the epistemologicallycontrolled forms of overinvestment.From the vantage-point of today, this is hardlypossible anymore:“Imagination”looks likeatreacherouslyoptimistic metaphor simplifying the processes of con-sciousnessinillegitimateways.Consequently, we have come to talk of the ima-ginary instead. In contrast tomany efforts in anthropology or psychoanalysis oreven occasionallyinphilosophy, however,Ido not believethat the imaginary,seen as the manydirections conscious processes maytake, can be broughtinto anykind of epistemologicallyrelevant order.The catastrophic fate of theimagination, as DietmarKamper has said, should warn us.ForPlotin and Neo-platonism the imagination opened ways of knowing truereality.Often, the artswereseen as the media through which the essence of nature and the principlesof natural order could berecognizedor‘imagined’.Invarious forms such claimswerestill raised,for instance, by Schelling, Shelley and Coleridge,with Schel-ling,for one, holding thatthe imaginative work of art presented the identityof thereal and the ideal and thereforethe‘blossoming’of the real as such.⁵⁹Image-likeideas concerning heaven, the saints, hell and more offered orientationfor along time. Their power in thisrespect has been re-emphasized by GernotSee Schelling1979: 373; Kamper 1981:12; Richards 1969: 27.https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110581836-008
© 2018 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Munich/Boston

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Foreword VII
  3. Contents IX
  4. Introduction: Processes and Products: Claims, Goals, Risks 1
  5. Part I. Consciousness Studies: Neurosciences and ‘Literature’
  6. 1. The Transitionality of Consciousness 15
  7. 2. Universalism vs. Particularism 23
  8. 3. Patterns of Consciousness, Language, Discourse 31
  9. 4. James, James and the Structure of Fluctuations 37
  10. 5. Neurobiology: Intricacies and Implications 49
  11. 6. Dramatic Narratives 62
  12. 7. Transitionality and the Obsession with Form 76
  13. 8. Existential Impressionism and Cultural Status: Dorothy Richardson (1873–1957) 90
  14. 9. An Interlude, Or, From Richardson to Richardson 102
  15. Part II. Consciousness and History: Biographical ‘Novels’ and their ‘Liberal’ Extensions
  16. 1. Biography on the Rebound 115
  17. 2. Biographical Patterns, Models of Consciousness and Historical Significance in Dickens 127
  18. 3. Diagnostic Power and Practical Relevance: Some Further Steps 132
  19. 4. The Pseudo-Freedom of Consciousness and its Cost-Benefit Analysis in the Twentieth Century 141
  20. 5. The RAF, a Twentieth-Century Reality Shift, and a Contemporary German ‘Novel’ 155
  21. 6. The Drama of ‘Liberalism’ 164
  22. 7. What Does Enlightenment Enlighten Us About? 171
  23. 8. The Paradox of Liberty and Authority 185
  24. Part III. A Case Study: Chaotic Consciousness and Catastrophic History, Discordant Evolution and Political Overreaction: Oswald and Nicholas Mosley
  25. 1. Catastrophe Practice: Frameworks and Presuppositions ‒ From Individuality to Scripts 191
  26. 2. Catastrophe Practice: Routines ‒ Individuality Manufactured and Medialized 197
  27. 3. Hopeful Monsters: Discordant Evolution and Steps towards Mutation 203
  28. 4. Hysterical Consciousness and the Beginnings of Institutional Degeneration in Autobiographical Writings 210
  29. 5. The Failure of Rules and the Unleashing of Hysterical Consciousness: Oswald Mosley and Fascism 214
  30. 6. Tentative Conclusions 219
  31. Works Cited 221
  32. Index 232
Readers are also interested in:
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110581836-008

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Foreword VII
  3. Contents IX
  4. Introduction: Processes and Products: Claims, Goals, Risks 1
  5. Part I. Consciousness Studies: Neurosciences and ‘Literature’
  6. 1. The Transitionality of Consciousness 15
  7. 2. Universalism vs. Particularism 23
  8. 3. Patterns of Consciousness, Language, Discourse 31
  9. 4. James, James and the Structure of Fluctuations 37
  10. 5. Neurobiology: Intricacies and Implications 49
  11. 6. Dramatic Narratives 62
  12. 7. Transitionality and the Obsession with Form 76
  13. 8. Existential Impressionism and Cultural Status: Dorothy Richardson (1873–1957) 90
  14. 9. An Interlude, Or, From Richardson to Richardson 102
  15. Part II. Consciousness and History: Biographical ‘Novels’ and their ‘Liberal’ Extensions
  16. 1. Biography on the Rebound 115
  17. 2. Biographical Patterns, Models of Consciousness and Historical Significance in Dickens 127
  18. 3. Diagnostic Power and Practical Relevance: Some Further Steps 132
  19. 4. The Pseudo-Freedom of Consciousness and its Cost-Benefit Analysis in the Twentieth Century 141
  20. 5. The RAF, a Twentieth-Century Reality Shift, and a Contemporary German ‘Novel’ 155
  21. 6. The Drama of ‘Liberalism’ 164
  22. 7. What Does Enlightenment Enlighten Us About? 171
  23. 8. The Paradox of Liberty and Authority 185
  24. Part III. A Case Study: Chaotic Consciousness and Catastrophic History, Discordant Evolution and Political Overreaction: Oswald and Nicholas Mosley
  25. 1. Catastrophe Practice: Frameworks and Presuppositions ‒ From Individuality to Scripts 191
  26. 2. Catastrophe Practice: Routines ‒ Individuality Manufactured and Medialized 197
  27. 3. Hopeful Monsters: Discordant Evolution and Steps towards Mutation 203
  28. 4. Hysterical Consciousness and the Beginnings of Institutional Degeneration in Autobiographical Writings 210
  29. 5. The Failure of Rules and the Unleashing of Hysterical Consciousness: Oswald Mosley and Fascism 214
  30. 6. Tentative Conclusions 219
  31. Works Cited 221
  32. Index 232
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