F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg and Iconic Realism

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But above the gray land and the spasms of bleak dust, which drift endlessly over it, you perceive, after a moment, the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg. The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic—their irises are one yard high. They look out of no face, but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a nonexistent nose. Evidently, some wild wag of an oculist set them there to fatten his practice in the borough of Queens, and then sank down himself into eternal blindness, or forgot them and moved away. But his eyes, dimmed a little by many paintless days, under sun and rain, brood on over the solemn dumping ground. F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Chapter 2

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg peer across the ‘dumping ground’ of American spirit. This example of iconic realism portrays eyes as the ‘windows of the soul’ of a country steeping in corruption and superficiality. Fitzgerald places these eyes on an old billboard, gazing across a field of forgotten possessions, bringing into focus awareness of America’s consciousness to be ever vigilant of the forefathers’ intentions of ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.’

Rosie the Riveter and Iconic Realism

         

photo from Google Images

"Through the use of the semiotic theory of iconic realism, artists shape the consciousness of various aspects of culture, including education, history, business, and aesthetics whereby their works of art combine an iconic figure with a realistic setting that communicates an incompatibility with the accepted environment in which the audience commonly associates the iconic figure. Understanding the language presented through the art form, be it literary, visual or aural, the audience may even respond with an emotional resistance, as it perceives the iconic representation in this new realistic setting." (Lakatos, The Theory of Iconic Realism: Understanding the Arts through a Cultural Context).

"Rosie the Riveter was an icon of the World War II era. The image of a pretty woman with her hair tied back, flexing her might, was completely out of place for the society’s image of a woman before 1941. However, this image provided inspiration to many women who were in need of money and who wanted to contribute to the war effort. The community was the female population of the United States of America during World War II.  Her image continues to be an icon for feminine strength and perseverance through troubled times. Use of this icon as a source of feminine motivation is an example of the semiotic theory of iconic realism affecting the culture of a community" (Lakatos 81).

Paul McCartney's 'Blackbird' and Iconic Realism (Click onto this title to view Paul McCartney singing "Blackbird")

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Paul McCartney's song, "Blackbird," is an example of iconic realism. When he composed "Blackbird' in the spring of 1968, the United States was dealing with civil rights issues, the women's movement, the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, and the Vietnam War. Here, McCartney's focus is on the empowerment of the female African-American woman. 

The term 'bird' is an English slang for woman, and the blackbird is a literary symbol for freedom, so this blackbird, singing in the dead of night is the juxtaposition of an iconic, realistic figure in a realistic setting, not usually expected for that icon. McCartney's placement of this figure in this setting brings awareness of the hope for women, particularly African-American women, to find their freedom through equality within a 'sunken eyed' society. 

This simple song, introduced by a brief musical reference to Bach's Bourree, with meter changing from flowing waltz to a steady two-step, brings enlightenment of a cultural need for reform in regard to feminine empowerment in society. To this day, segments of the world's society need to awaken to the message in this song.

Christine de Pisan (or Pizan) Medieval Writer, and Iconic Realism in Roman de la Rose

The Selected Writings of Christine de Pizan

A Norton Critical Edition

Christine de Pisan (or Pizan) was a 14-15^th century writer who illustrated the semiotic theory of iconic realism in many of her writings and particularly in her debate of the French poem, Roman de la Rose. I explain her contribution in the excerpt below from my first book:

The semiotic constructs of symbolism, semantics and linguistic pragmatics provide the leverage for the creative ideas to manifest within each member of the audience. At this point, symbolism becomes a new association of the possibility for recognized imagery with unrecognized reality. A newly formed idea becomes the reality within the mind of the receiving audience, boundless in perception constraints. The audience member receives this reality and conceives the new idea through a multi-sensory experience. In reference to Roman de la Rose and interpretation, Christine de Pisan noted: 

Because human understanding cannot attain to a perfect knowledge of absolute truth and cannot comprehend mysteries on account of the gross, terrestrial darkness which impedes and obstructs true light, so that men draw conclusions from opinion rather than from certain knowledge – for these reasons, debates often arise among even the wisest of men because of differing opinions, each one striving to show by his reasoning that his particular opinion is the true one.^[1]

 Through her rhetoric, Christine de Pisan illustrates the complexities involved with interpretation and the possibilities of renewed thought processes. No longer associated with the original idea, the new concept emerges with an energy of its own, with which the audience member can now associate creative action, continuing the creative process of the original thought. Thus, iconic realism magnifies the elements of semiotic theory through renewed perceptions that the receptive audience experiences with an artist’s rendering of reality.  

^[1]Christine de Pisan. La Querelle de la Rose: Letters and Documents.trans. Joseph L. Baird and John R. Kane. (Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina P, 1978).

Excerpt from my book, The Theory of Iconic Realism, © 2008

'The Wild Irish Girl' and Iconic Realism

 

Iconic realism intones throughout Sydney Owenson’s national tale, The Wild Irish Girl, written from a feminine cultural point of view shortly after the British Act of Union 1801.

Sydney Owenson engages in the construction of iconic realism through her interface with the concept of literary harmony elicited from the initial resonance of Irish revolution. She creates characters as iconic representatives of the consciousness that exists in her historical reality, leading her audiences to a recognizable semblance of truth and a basis for future writers to harmonize with the transitioning, historical significance of human consciousness.

Such resonance, which distinguishes between intense reality and strength of the human spirit through iconic realism, occurs in Owenson’s novel, demonstrating the necessity for humankind to relate to one another on a realistic rather than a symbolic level. 

Bluebirds and iconic realism

The other day, I went for a walk down my street. It felt wonderful to be walking passed the farms again. The goats, sheep, llamas, cows, horses all seemed to perk their heads up and smile at me as I treaded once again upon the familiar path. It was brisk, for I live in New England, and winter doesn't want to give up its stronghold just yet. However, over my head flitted two beautiful bluebirds, their brilliant blue feathers glistening in the bright, early Spring sun. At this moment, I realized why these are my favorite birds, and I knew this walk was a blessing.

Then, it occurred to me. These bluebirds were another example of iconic realism, for bluebirds are iconic associations with joy, summer, and general calm. They were flying from tree to tree, realism. Yet, it was so bitterly cold outside. This juxtaposition brought to my attention the cultural dilemma of the importance for us humans to maintain appropriate stewardship of our world. So many beautiful, valuable, fragile creatures' lives are at stake. 

Thank you, Dear Lord, for this lovely lesson!

Semiotic Theory of Iconic Realism: Definition and Illustration of Jesus the Christ

Below is my theory of iconic realism. 

I will bring it up to the front page periodically for reference purposes. 

Realism comprises authentic and independent aspects of the natural world, which individuals comprehend through sensory perception. The term icon describes a realistic person or realistic object, categorically perceived by a population as representative of a specific human activity or an object that bears significance to human activity. Iconic realism, then, involves the placement of an icon within the midst of a unique realistic setting, out of place for this particular icon, creating a static coalescence of the icon with the designated realism. Since both the icon and the realistic setting represent an aspect of the culture, the resulting dissonance between these two entities is the catalyst that generates enlightenment of a cultural dilemma.

An example of iconic realism would be an artist’s placement of Jesus the Christ, or a representation of this icon of the Christian Faith in the midst of a shopping mall on a Sunday afternoon, an aspect of the real world. The placement of Jesus in this setting would generate enlightenment of a cultural dilemma, reviving a new consciousness that exists within the public's cognitive dissonance of Christianity and  a secular activity that focuses on the reality of materialism so prevalent during this particular time in history and locale.

Touchdown Jesus @ University of Notre Dame, Indiana, U.S.A.

St. Joseph's Table and Iconic Realism

Photo from Catholckey.org

March 19 is St. Joseph's Day....I know, in some circles, this might be known as the reprieve following St. Patrick's Day. Now, what could be more iconic than a table laden with Italian delicacies? The way in which this becomes iconic realism is the setting (time) of this tradition, Lent, a time normally set aside for fasting. However, at a St. Joseph's Table, there is an abundance of wonderful food, in honor of the patron saint of families. The cultural aspect which becomes magnified by this juxtaposition of excessive edibles during a period of fasting would be the focus on familial bonds, friendship, and love, which is why many donate collected food from the Table for those in need. If you have never experienced a St. Joseph's Table, I highly recommend it. The aroma alone will revive your senses, providing a true contemplation of life's adventure and the generosity that can envelop the human heart. 

William Butler Yeats' "The Tower II" and Iconic Realism

I took this photograph of Thoor Ballylee a few years ago.

 

I pace upon the battlements and stare

On the foundations of a house, or where

Tree like a sooty finger, starts from the earth;

and send imagination forth

Under the day’s declining beam, and call

Images and memories

From ruin or from ancient trees,

For I would ask a question of them all.

(“The Tower II,” ll. 18-25) [1]

Here, Yeats places himself in the midst of the Tower, the earthen icon of the human soul. Born of the ancient source of all life, this soul’s power rests in the simplicity of a child’s voice, echoing for the “blind man’s joy.” This simplicity is so powerful that “certain men, be[come] maddened by those rhymes,” (l. 42) a magnificent union of the duality existent in imagination and reality. 

To further illustrate this duality, Yeats incorporates the iconic representation of “The Great Memory” to signify the reality of human consciousness. The speaker is out of control while at the same time, he is in control, “Come old, necessitous, half-mounted man;/And bring beauty’s blind rambling celebrant” (ll. 91-2). This ambivalence, accented with alliteration, leads to Yeats’s revelation that from chaos comes order and from dissonance, consonant harmony. He continues with his reference to human consciousness with an allusion to his recurrent swan’s song: “When the swan must fix his eye/ Upon a fading gleam, /Float out upon a long/Last reach of glistening stream/And there sing his last song” (ll. 141-45). 

The central theme of this poem is the realization of life’s paradox that art is both illusion and ideal. When Yeats reveals through the alliteration and rapid meter of “Man makes a superhuman/Mirror-resembling dream” (ll.165-66), he draws upon his references of the Easter Uprising and WWI in which reality of life recreates itself through the restructuring of chaos. 

Yeats’s iconic-bucolic imagery of singing birds in the introductory and concluding lines of “The Tower” reinforce his message of universal harmony that echoes throughout the sphere of life’s transformations. His final lines, “Seem but the clouds of the sky/When the horizon fades,/ Or a bird’s sleepy cry/ Among the deepening shades” (ll.193-96), indicate his reconciliation of life, art, Ireland and reality. It is not by accident that this poem leads directly to “Meditations in Time of Civil War.” 

In “The Tower,” Yeats illustrates the necessity for humanity to acknowledge the reality of life’s paradox and to nurture human consciousness with eyes wide open to human frailties as well as the glorious harmony present in one's creative endeavors.

[1] Yeats, William Butler. The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats. (Hertfordshire, G.B.: Wordsworth Editions, Ltd., 2000)


[2] Lakatos, Jeanne. The Theory of Iconic Realism: Understanding the Arts through Cultural Context. New York: The Edwin Mellen Press, 2008, pp. 54-55.