Sydney Owenson's National Tales: Politics and Iconic Realism

The O'Briens and the O'Flahertys by Sydney Owenson (Lady Morgan)

Photo from Google Images

An amazing coincidence exists in the writings of Sydney Owenson and current political possibilities.  

From my book, pages 116-117: 

Owenson utilizes dialectal variations in her national tales, aligning her personal philosophy with both her British and Irish reading audiences. In her national tale, The O’Briens and the O’Flahertys, she incorporates French, Italian and Latin in the dialogue between aristocratic parties, such as Lady Knocklofty, creating a linguistic image of a tray of fondant-covered 'treats, sweet.' Yet, conversations with O’Brien entail elongated monologues that bear some resemblance to political pamphlets, as her character espouses his political determination: 

Now that the whole world is in movement, that nations are alive to their own interests, and reflect on their own affairs, the education, which the public gives to itself, absorbs and neutralizes the instruction prepared for it by governments and hierarchies, whenever the results of both do not coincide. Open or secret, the confederacy to govern by misleading must fail…To govern the age in which we live, ambitious spirits must place themselves at its head; and to control opinion, they must advance it. (The O’Briens and O’Flahertys, p. 233)

Here, she conveys the historicity of her own background as she converses with the audience through her characters’ intellectual dialogue, bringing her readers into the heated debates of issues, which deal primarily with the human struggle for order, dignity, and self-expression. 

Owenson echoes these thoughts in many of her works through the use of iconic realism, placing her characters in iconic roles, and creating situations in which they must interact contrary to the common perception of these individual roles. Often, her aristocratic characters contend with hardships felt by the common man and woman. Through utilizing coping strategies not normally associated with aristocrats, these characters then learn that their cultural differences can evolve into tolerance. Even their linguistic disparity develops into a semiotic inclusion that Owenson employs to bring about enlightened cultural interpretation and eventual coalescence.

To hear me read this, please click HERE.

Anne Cleary and Dennis Connolly, Video Artists and Iconic Realism

Anne Cleary and Dennis Connolly

Photo from Google Images

This is a segment from a presentation that I was in the midst of presenting at a New England Conference for Irish Studies. However, I came down with the Norovirus. Ugh! What a horrible virus!  Anyway, I had to leave the room very quickly, unable to complete my presentation. Thus, here 'tis: 

Anne Cleary and Dennis Connolly are partners in life and have lived in Dublin, Ireland and Paris, France. They collaborate to create video art. Their films are dependent on audience interaction, with their audiences inclusive of common individuals ranging in ages from young children to older adults. This artistic team illustrate the iconic human act of moving through Dublin, Ireland or any metropolis. However, many of the individuals do not connect with each other. The significance of this is the key to understanding the iconic realism in this work of art. 

These individuals emulate a common, human activity, yet this act, captured by the videographers’ observing eye to express lack of physical contact, creates certain dissonance. The message from this careful configuration of a ubiquitous eye and common human activity could be that humanity longs to embrace life fully; however, certain parameters prevent this occurrence. Other possible interpretations may involve a sense of detachment. Regardless of the interpretation, these artists exemplify iconic realism in that there is an iconic structure, the human eye behind a camera, placed in a realistic setting that does not conform to the accepting reality of intimacy. Through this juxtaposition, the artists illustrate cultural liberation through video images, an innovation in this current age of reality viewing. 

To view a brief example of their video art, click HERE. 

Music Therapy and Iconic Realism

The Eastern Meadowlark

photo from DuckDuckGo Images

Whales from the Tennessee Maritime Museum

Google Images

Click the titles below to hear examples of this kind of therapeutic music:

1. The Lark Ascending by Ralph Vaughan Williams: 

2. Songs of Whales and Dolphins (This is a long video, 1 hour, 17 minutes)

As the mind correlates all sensation with memory, restful auditory stimulation, so closely connected with the synapses of the cerebral cortex, can transport an individual to the aspect of memory that lowers respiration, allowing for calm, deep breathing, and individual focus on the natural processes within a calm state of mind. How does this relate to the semiotic theory of iconic realism? This form of music therapy, aiding in the rejuvenation of an individual’s respiration and peace of mind, can also open one's mind to move in a more positive direction in one's own life experience. 

Another example exists in the vocal expressions of whales singing under the depths of the ocean. This has been used by environmentalists to bring attention to the plight of aquatic species of animals. This use of whales, when placed in accompaniment within a contemporary musical environment outside the parameters of the ocean depths, is an example of iconic realism. In such a case, the aural experience of the sea echoing on shore provides the audience with a dichotomy that brings awareness to the dilemma of the whales and their neighbors in the deep sea. 

Benny Goodman Live at Carnegie Hall, 1938 and Iconic Realism (Click onto title to hear the performance.) I'll just bet you can't sit still whilst listening to this!

(Photograph info: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic-art/243118/72265/Benny Goodman-and-members-of-his-band-1938) 

Benny Goodman and his orchestra appearing on the stage of Carnegie Hall in New York City in 1938 illustrates the theory of iconic realism. Never before had the art of jazz in America been performed in an established musical forum, where previous to this performance, only classical music had been performed. The presence of this jazz artist on this particular stage enlightened the world audience of the need for cultural affirmation of this art form. From this moment onward to the present, jazz has taken its place of honor as America's original musical genre. 

Sydney Owenson (Lady Morgan): "Woman and Her Master"

From my paper, presented at an American Conference for Irish Studies Southern Regional Meeting, held in Atlanta, Georgia:

The substance of my second book aligns my semiotic theory of iconic realism with the philosophical framework of the 19th century Irish author and poet, Sydney Owenson (Lady Morgan). Regarding creative expression, writers such as Sydney Owenson have had the opportunity to incorporate human experience in their art by tapping into the consciousness of humanity on multiple sensory levels. In her 1840 book, Woman and Her Master, Owenson makes the following observation: 

The acquirement of a physical elevation, in expanding the sphere of vision, and opening new and vast regions to the sense, obscures and diminishes the individual details comprehended in its grasp; so that intellectual and moral elevation, which has opened to the mind’s eye the wider fields of scientific research and of social combination, has caused the relative value of the smaller facts presented to its apprehension to be either overlooked, or mistaken. (WHM, p. 15)

Owenson’s writing demonstrates my semiotic theory of iconic realism in the following three ways:  

1. She juxtaposes the Romantic concept of nature’s influence on humanity’s intellectual actions with the reality of political and societal constraints through her characters’ struggles with self-awareness. 

2. Through this conflict, Owenson personifies the dichotomous nature of glory in which her birth nation struggles with true autonomy and its native glór [1] to be heard.

3. She enlightens her readers to the possibilities of making positive change happen with their own lives and possibly those within their communities by linking the sensory paths of consciousness with appropriate and positive action.

[1] Glor is the Irish term for sound, voice.