Islands of escape in the works of Roland Barthes and Byung-chul Han. Placefulness in Lafcadio Hearn's writings and a charming new documentary from Sweden
Enjoyed this, Peter, although it is surely a ramble! Fortunately, I am a fan of rambles, especially those with philosophical reflections. You also intersect with play, which is supposedly my 'home turf' in philosophy - not that I've stayed put. 😁
Thanks so much. I intended to get deeper into Han’s exploration of play and ritual, but ended up rambling away from that. So it goes. Will need to ramble back in the future. Also, very interested to learn more about your “work” on the subject of play :-). Again, thanks very much for reading and engaging with my post!
Re: play, I wrote a trilogy of philosophy tomes for Zero Books that I jokingly call my 'imaginative investigations'. The first part, Imaginary Games, looks at the role of imagination in art, games, and play. The second, The Mythology of Evolution, looks at the role of the imagination in the sciences, with especial attention to the evolutionary sciences. (I thought that title would be provocative... it turned out to pretty much drive everyone away, alas - although I got a great endorsement from Mary Midgley!). The third, Chaos Ethics, looks at imagination in ethics and politics.
Then I have a run of game studies papers, but most of the interesting ones ended up in those dreadful hundred dollar collections that exist to scam libraries. A bit annoyed about that to be honest. I didn't know better at the time, I was just thrilled that people were asking me to write stuff for them.
I still have a foot in play, though, as I peer review for the International Journal of Play. It's my last connection to academia, which I have thoroughly fled.
If you're interested and can reach me by email, I'd gladly send you a few interesting papers on play for you to mull.
Thanks very much! Sounds like fascinating stuff! We are in a similar research lane, though my contributions are much more meager than yours. If its okay, I’ll DM you here in substack before too long so we can chat some more.
I've certainly written a great deal at this point... not very much of it gets read, though!
It's important to remember that writing academic material is very much like buying toilet paper. You may feel a certain satisfaction at getting the job done, but soon after it's gone for ever and absolutely nobody wants to look at it ever again. 😂
Enjoyed this, Peter, although it is surely a ramble! Fortunately, I am a fan of rambles, especially those with philosophical reflections. You also intersect with play, which is supposedly my 'home turf' in philosophy - not that I've stayed put. 😁
Stay wonderful!
Chris.
Thanks so much. I intended to get deeper into Han’s exploration of play and ritual, but ended up rambling away from that. So it goes. Will need to ramble back in the future. Also, very interested to learn more about your “work” on the subject of play :-). Again, thanks very much for reading and engaging with my post!
Hey Peter,
Re: play, I wrote a trilogy of philosophy tomes for Zero Books that I jokingly call my 'imaginative investigations'. The first part, Imaginary Games, looks at the role of imagination in art, games, and play. The second, The Mythology of Evolution, looks at the role of the imagination in the sciences, with especial attention to the evolutionary sciences. (I thought that title would be provocative... it turned out to pretty much drive everyone away, alas - although I got a great endorsement from Mary Midgley!). The third, Chaos Ethics, looks at imagination in ethics and politics.
Then I have a run of game studies papers, but most of the interesting ones ended up in those dreadful hundred dollar collections that exist to scam libraries. A bit annoyed about that to be honest. I didn't know better at the time, I was just thrilled that people were asking me to write stuff for them.
I still have a foot in play, though, as I peer review for the International Journal of Play. It's my last connection to academia, which I have thoroughly fled.
If you're interested and can reach me by email, I'd gladly send you a few interesting papers on play for you to mull.
All the best,
Chris.
Thanks very much! Sounds like fascinating stuff! We are in a similar research lane, though my contributions are much more meager than yours. If its okay, I’ll DM you here in substack before too long so we can chat some more.
I've certainly written a great deal at this point... not very much of it gets read, though!
It's important to remember that writing academic material is very much like buying toilet paper. You may feel a certain satisfaction at getting the job done, but soon after it's gone for ever and absolutely nobody wants to look at it ever again. 😂