Faith in Fakes
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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| + | "When all the [[archetype]]s burst out shamelessly, we plumb the depths of Homeric profundity. Two [[cliche]]s make us laugh but a hundred cliches moves us because we sense dimly that the cliches are talking among themselves, celebrating a reunion . . . Just as the extreme of pain meets sensual pleasure, and the extreme of [[perversion]] borders on mystical energy, so too the extreme of [[banality]] allows us to catch a glimpse of the [[Sublime]]." -- Umberto Eco, "[[Casablanca: Cult Movies and Intertextual Collage]]" (1984) | ||
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| - | '''Neo-medievalism''' (or '''neomedievalism''') is a [[neologism]] that was first popularized by Italian medievalist [[Umberto Eco]] in his 1973 essay "[[Dreaming in the Middle Ages]]"<ref>[[Umberto Eco]], "Dreaming the Middle Ages," in ''[[Travels in Hyperreality]]'', transl. by W. Weaver, NY: Harcourt Brace, 1986, 61-72. Umberto Eco said "..we are at present witnessing, both in Europe and America, a period of renewed interest in the Middle Ages, with a curious oscillation between fantastic '''neomedievalism''' and responsible philological examination.."</ref>. The term has no clear definition but has since been used by various writers such as [[medievalist|medieval historians]] who see it as the intersection between popular fantasy and [[Middle Ages|medieval history]]; as a term describing the [[post-modern]] study of medieval history; and as political theory about modern [[international relations]]. | + | '''''Il costume di casa'' (''Faith In Fakes'')''' was originally an essay written by the [[Italy|Italian]] [[semiotician]] [[Umberto Eco]], about "America's obsession with [[simulacra]] and [[counterfeit]] [[reality]]." It was later incorporated as the centrepiece of the anthology bearing the same name, a collection of articles and essays about Italian ideologies. The anthology contains a selection of essays taken from two Italian books by Eco: ''Il Costume Di Casa'' (first published in 1973) and ''Sette anni di desiderio'' (1983). It was translated into English in 1986 as ''Faith In Fakes'' and later updated as ''[[Travels In Hyperreality]]'' in 1995. |
| - | ==Culture== | + | ==Content== |
| - | The widespread interest in medieval themes in [[popular culture]], especially [[computer games]] such as [[MMORPG]]s, [[film]]s and [[television]], [[neo-medieval music]], and popular [[literature]], has been called neomedieval. Critics have discussed why medieval themes continue to fascinate audiences in a modern, heavily technological world. A possible explanation is the need for a [[romantic nationalism|romanticized historical narrative]] to clarify the confusing panorama of current political and cultural events. | + | |
| - | ==Political theory== | + | The book is a collection of articles from mainly Italian newspapers and magazines about the wider subject of human consciousness, including Eco's own subject of [[semiotics]]. The subjects of the main essay includes modern [[Americana]] such as wax museums, [[Superman]] and [[holography]], and the other articles discuss a number of other subjects, including [[association football|football]], the [[Middle Ages]], [[Jim Jones]] and the [[People's Temple]], and tight jeans. |
| - | The idea of neomedievalism in political theory was first discussed in 1977 by theorist [[Hedley Bull]] in ''The Anarchical Society: A Study of Order in World Politics'' (pg. 254-55). Hedley Bull suggested society was moving towards a form of "neomedievalism" in which individual notions of rights and a growing sense of a "world common good" were undermining [[nation-state|national]] [[sovereignty]]. He saw a complex layering of international, national and subnational organizations which might help "avoid the classic dangers of the system of sovereign states by a structure of overlapping structures and cross-cutting loyalties that hold all peoples together in a universal society while at the same time avoiding the concentration inherent in a world government." | + | |
| - | [[Stephen J. Kobrin]] in 1998 added the forces of the digital world economy to the picture of neomedievalism. In an article entitled "Back to the Future: Neomedievalism and the Postmodern Digital World Economy" published in 1998 in the ''Journal of International Affairs'', argues that sovereign state as we know it—defined within certain territorial borders—is about to change profoundly, if not to wither away, due in part to the digital world economy created by the Internet, suggesting that cyberspace is a trans-territorial domain operating outside of the jurisdiction of national law. | + | ===Semiological guerrilla=== |
| + | The collection included the influential 1967 article ''Towards a Semiological Guerrilla Warfare'', first given as a lecture at conference ''Vision '67'' in New York, and included in Eco's first work on semiotic theory, his 1968 ''La Struttura Assente'' (''The Absent Structure''). | ||
| - | Although Hedley Bull originally envisioned neomedievalism as a positive trend which might help "avoid the classic dangers of the system of sovereign states", neomedievalism has its critics. [[Bruce Holsinger]] in ''Neomedievalism, Neoconservatism, and the War on Terror'' (2007) argues that [[neoconservative]]s have exploited neomedievalism's conceptual slipperiness for their own tactical ends. | + | The term has been influential in the theorization of guerrilla tactics against [[mainstream]] [[mass media culture]], such as [[guerrilla television]] and [[culture jamming]]. Among the expressions used in the essay, "communications guerrilla warfare" and "cultural guerrilla." |
| + | ==TOC== | ||
| + | 1. TRAVELS IN HYPERREALITY ....1 | ||
| + | |||
| + | 2. THE RETURN OF THE MIDDLE AGES ....59 | ||
| + | *[[Dreaming of the Middle Ages]] ....61 | ||
| + | *Living in the New Middle Ages ....73 | ||
| + | |||
| + | 3. THE GODS OF THE UNDERWORLD ....87 | ||
| + | *The Sacred Is Not Just a Fashion ....89 | ||
| + | *The Suicides of the Temple ....95 | ||
| + | *Whose Side Are the Orixà On? ....103 | ||
| + | *Striking at the Heart of the State ....113 | ||
| + | *Why Are They Laughing in Those Cages? ....119 | ||
| + | *On the Crisis of the Crisis of Reason ....125 | ||
| + | |||
| + | 4. REPORTS FROM THE GLOBAL VILLAGE ....133 | ||
| + | *Towards a Semiological Guerrilla Warfare ....135 | ||
| + | *The Multiplication of the Media ....145 | ||
| + | *Culture as Show Business ....151 | ||
| + | *Sports Chatter ....159 | ||
| + | *The World Cup and Its Pomps ....167 | ||
| + | *Falsification and Consensus ....173 | ||
| + | |||
| + | 5. READING THINGS ....181 | ||
| + | *Two Families of Objects ....183 | ||
| + | *Lady Barbara ....187 | ||
| + | *Lumbar Thought ....191 | ||
| + | *[[Casablanca: Cult Movies and Intertextual Collage]] ....197 | ||
| + | *A Photograph ....213 | ||
| + | |||
| + | 6. DE CONSOLATIONE PHILOSOPHIAE ....219 | ||
| + | *Cogito Interruptus ....221 | ||
| + | *Language, Power, Force ....239 | ||
| + | *In Praise of St. Thomas ....257 | ||
| + | *The Comic and the Rule ....269 | ||
| + | |||
| + | 7. DE INTERPRETATIONE ....279 | ||
| + | |||
| + | 8. A THEORY OF EXPOSITIONS ....289 | ||
| + | ==Translations== | ||
| + | |||
| + | 1973 [[Il costume di casa]]. Milano: Bompiani. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Translations, with parts of ''Dalla periferia dell'Impero'' and ''Sette anni di desiderio'': | ||
| + | |||
| + | *Pealkiri rais hüperreaaalsusse. Tallin: Wagabund 1977 | ||
| + | *Viagem na irrealidade cotidiana. Rio: Nova Fronteira, 1984. | ||
| + | *Matka arkipaivan epatoddellisunten. Helsinki: Soderstrom, 1985. | ||
| + | *De alledaagse Onwerkelijkheid. Amsterdam: Bakker, 1985. | ||
| + | *Uber Gott und die Welt. München: Hanser, 1985. | ||
| + | *La guerre du faux. Paris: Grasset, 1985. | ||
| + | *Travels in Hyperreality. New York: Harcourt, 1986. | ||
| + | *La estrategia de la illusion. Barcelona: Lumen, 1986. Bolsillo 2012. | ||
| + | *Viagem na irrealidade cotidiana. Lisboa: Difel, 1986. | ||
| + | *Vad kostar ett mästerverk? Stockholm: Bromberg, 1987. | ||
| + | *Middelalderens genkomst. Copenhagen: Forum, 1988. | ||
| + | *Günlük Yasamdan Sanata. Instambul: Adam, 199 (with other artic1icles). | ||
| + | *Az új középkor. Budapest: Europa, 1992 | ||
| + | *Semiologia zycia codziennego. Warsawa:Czytelnic, 1966. | ||
| + | *Reis Rüperreaalsusse. Tallin:Vayalun, 1997 | ||
| + | *Ortaçaδý Düþlemek. Istanbul: Ca Yayýinlarý, 1996. | ||
| + | *Svakodnema semiotika. Beoigrad: Narodna knijga 2001. | ||
| + | *Podziemni bogowie. Warszawa: Czytelnik 2007 | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==See also== | ||
| + | *[[Disneyfication]] | ||
| + | *[[Hyperreality]] | ||
| + | *[[Umberto Eco bibliography]] | ||
| + | *[[Fake]] | ||
| {{GFDL}} | {{GFDL}} | ||
Current revision
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"When all the archetypes burst out shamelessly, we plumb the depths of Homeric profundity. Two cliches make us laugh but a hundred cliches moves us because we sense dimly that the cliches are talking among themselves, celebrating a reunion . . . Just as the extreme of pain meets sensual pleasure, and the extreme of perversion borders on mystical energy, so too the extreme of banality allows us to catch a glimpse of the Sublime." -- Umberto Eco, "Casablanca: Cult Movies and Intertextual Collage" (1984) |
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Related e |
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Featured: |
Il costume di casa (Faith In Fakes) was originally an essay written by the Italian semiotician Umberto Eco, about "America's obsession with simulacra and counterfeit reality." It was later incorporated as the centrepiece of the anthology bearing the same name, a collection of articles and essays about Italian ideologies. The anthology contains a selection of essays taken from two Italian books by Eco: Il Costume Di Casa (first published in 1973) and Sette anni di desiderio (1983). It was translated into English in 1986 as Faith In Fakes and later updated as Travels In Hyperreality in 1995.
Contents |
[edit]
Content
The book is a collection of articles from mainly Italian newspapers and magazines about the wider subject of human consciousness, including Eco's own subject of semiotics. The subjects of the main essay includes modern Americana such as wax museums, Superman and holography, and the other articles discuss a number of other subjects, including football, the Middle Ages, Jim Jones and the People's Temple, and tight jeans.
[edit]
Semiological guerrilla
The collection included the influential 1967 article Towards a Semiological Guerrilla Warfare, first given as a lecture at conference Vision '67 in New York, and included in Eco's first work on semiotic theory, his 1968 La Struttura Assente (The Absent Structure).
The term has been influential in the theorization of guerrilla tactics against mainstream mass media culture, such as guerrilla television and culture jamming. Among the expressions used in the essay, "communications guerrilla warfare" and "cultural guerrilla."
[edit]
TOC
1. TRAVELS IN HYPERREALITY ....1
2. THE RETURN OF THE MIDDLE AGES ....59
- Dreaming of the Middle Ages ....61
- Living in the New Middle Ages ....73
3. THE GODS OF THE UNDERWORLD ....87
- The Sacred Is Not Just a Fashion ....89
- The Suicides of the Temple ....95
- Whose Side Are the Orixà On? ....103
- Striking at the Heart of the State ....113
- Why Are They Laughing in Those Cages? ....119
- On the Crisis of the Crisis of Reason ....125
4. REPORTS FROM THE GLOBAL VILLAGE ....133
- Towards a Semiological Guerrilla Warfare ....135
- The Multiplication of the Media ....145
- Culture as Show Business ....151
- Sports Chatter ....159
- The World Cup and Its Pomps ....167
- Falsification and Consensus ....173
5. READING THINGS ....181
- Two Families of Objects ....183
- Lady Barbara ....187
- Lumbar Thought ....191
- Casablanca: Cult Movies and Intertextual Collage ....197
- A Photograph ....213
6. DE CONSOLATIONE PHILOSOPHIAE ....219
- Cogito Interruptus ....221
- Language, Power, Force ....239
- In Praise of St. Thomas ....257
- The Comic and the Rule ....269
7. DE INTERPRETATIONE ....279
8. A THEORY OF EXPOSITIONS ....289
[edit]
Translations
1973 Il costume di casa. Milano: Bompiani.
Translations, with parts of Dalla periferia dell'Impero and Sette anni di desiderio:
- Pealkiri rais hüperreaaalsusse. Tallin: Wagabund 1977
- Viagem na irrealidade cotidiana. Rio: Nova Fronteira, 1984.
- Matka arkipaivan epatoddellisunten. Helsinki: Soderstrom, 1985.
- De alledaagse Onwerkelijkheid. Amsterdam: Bakker, 1985.
- Uber Gott und die Welt. München: Hanser, 1985.
- La guerre du faux. Paris: Grasset, 1985.
- Travels in Hyperreality. New York: Harcourt, 1986.
- La estrategia de la illusion. Barcelona: Lumen, 1986. Bolsillo 2012.
- Viagem na irrealidade cotidiana. Lisboa: Difel, 1986.
- Vad kostar ett mästerverk? Stockholm: Bromberg, 1987.
- Middelalderens genkomst. Copenhagen: Forum, 1988.
- Günlük Yasamdan Sanata. Instambul: Adam, 199 (with other artic1icles).
- Az új középkor. Budapest: Europa, 1992
- Semiologia zycia codziennego. Warsawa:Czytelnic, 1966.
- Reis Rüperreaalsusse. Tallin:Vayalun, 1997
- Ortaçaδý Düþlemek. Istanbul: Ca Yayýinlarý, 1996.
- Svakodnema semiotika. Beoigrad: Narodna knijga 2001.
- Podziemni bogowie. Warszawa: Czytelnik 2007
[edit]
See also
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Faith in Fakes" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
