Posted by: glue | May 2, 2012

Popcycle Tradition

 For those teaching mystory in whatever version, making use of the popcycle discourses (Family, Entertainment, Community, Career), it might be useful to note its resonance with the tradition (whether or not this context adds value).  Revised for the popcycle informing Murphy’s Well-Being (collaboration with the FRE konsult addressing the Cabot-Koppers Superfund site), the popcycle categories are:  Testimonial, Mythology, History, Philosophy.  These descriptors resonate with the terms of the Ancient quarrel concerning which of the discourses is closest to Truth:  Literature, History, Philosophy.  Students of literature used to encounter this question when required to read Sir Philip Sidney.

The Apology distinguishes poetry from both history and philosophy. History, according to Sidney, narrates what was, but it cannot say anything much about what should be because its most successful characters are so frequently villains. To use history as moral guide, everyone would act like Julius Caesar and seize the government. On the other hand, philosophy can say what is right, but its generalized language is dull and inconsequential. Poetry takes a middle ground between the specific and the general. It constructs images that—while not historically true—elevate the mind and promote admirable conduct. The “golden” world created in the “wit” of poets can translate into a more glorious world to live in.

The purpose of mystory, as an electrate pedagogy, is to compose (and think) in all three discourses simlutaneously, and in relation to personal perception and memory (Family Testimonial).

Meanwhile, it is amusing to note the meme Sir Philip Sidney Is Not Amused.


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