Hans Christian Andersen's "The Ugly Duckling" and Iconic Realism

Photo of two swans, canoodling on East Lake, Danbury, CT

One of my favorite childhood tales is Hans Christian Andersen's "The Ugly Duckling." In this tale, he introduces the concept of tolerance by the placement of the animal kingdom's icon of grace, the swan, in a home of ducklings, known for awkwardness. The young swan is completely out of place in this environment. Here, Andersen uses iconic realism in this way: 

1. He illustrates through the placement of a swan in the midst of the duck family that one may experience cruelty and humiliation. 

2. However, when one looks inward and sees God's child returning the gaze...

3. One can realize individual truth, and therefore, discover possibilities associated with self growth, and make decisions based on talents, skills, knowledge, and individual purpose.  

(Click HERE to view Danny Kaye singing about this tale.)

Artistic Reception and Iconic Realism: Graffiti

Artistic Reception of the semiotic theory of iconic realism: 

1. The concept of meaning incorporates various levels of audience responses, directed by the artist, who uses literary, artistic, or musical design as a means to reach the audience’s sensory receptors. 

2. These develop into individual interpretations of a work of art and a deeper understanding of the conceptual elements. 

3. Variations of interpretation result from the reader, viewer, or listener who responds to the material from disparate, historical, or social experience. 

4. Thus, the function of semiotic representation is the reflection of the society in which both the artist and the audience reside.

5. When an artist places an icon in a realistic, non-standard setting, the audience takes note, participating with the artist in a way that introduces  awareness of the need for cultural reform. This application is what I have termed, Iconic Realism.

All of above photos from Google Images

Graffiti is an excellent example of iconic realism.  Here, you will see some examples of graffiti found around New York City. If you look closely, you will notice the juxtaposition of iconic ideals with cynicism, reflecting a mind-set present in an inner city truth, painted on the exterior walls of buildings in one of the world's most significant cities, New York City, New York. These art renderings bring into focus significant dichotomies within our society. 

Riders of the MetroNorth train pass by such examples of graffiti on a daily basis, look out their windows, and subconsciously receive these forms of transformative art. This occurs not only in New York City, but globally. 

                                            

Literary Resonance, Revolution, and Iconic Realism in Sydney Owenson's novel, _The Wild Irish Girl_

Photo from insert of the 1888 publication of The Wild Irish Girl by Sydney Owenson

Iconic realism intones throughout Sydney Owenson’s national tale, The Wild Irish Girl, written from a unique and insightful 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 mind-set existing in her historical reality. They speak in their native Irish Gaeilge in opposition to standard English, leading her audiences to literally hear a recognizable semblance of truth. This truth can then become 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, echoes within Owenson’s novel. By means of her characters and their circumstances following the British Act of Union 1801, Owenson demonstrates the necessity for humankind to relate to one another on a realistic rather than a symbolic level. 

Harriet Tubman and Iconic Realism

                                                                      (Photos from Google Images)

Harriet Tubman, aka "Moses of the Underground Railroad"

Harriet S. Tubman: Born Araminta Ross, c. March 1822, Dorchester County, Maryland, U.S.A. Died: March 10, 1913 in Auburn, New York, U.S.A.

During the early nineteenth century, when slavery was prevalent in the southern United States, a woman named Harriet Tubman had actually escaped to the north via the “Underground Railroad.” She decided to do something to help the enslaved individuals find freedom in the northern states and even further north in Canada and earned the title of "Moses" of the Underground Railroad. Eventually, she worked as an agent for the Union during the Civil War. (American Biography Channel)

Harriet Tubman illustrates the theory of iconic realism in that she was a former slave, physically weakened by the actions of a former slave owner, yet she rose above her horrific circumstances to become a woman on whom many relied to make their way to freedom. Not only that, but the actual government that established the Fugitive Slave Law of 1793, ended up hiring her as an agent for the Union Army during the American Civil War. 

Here, we have an iconic figure, placing herself in an environment not usually associated with such a woman, placed in that precarious environment in order to bring about a cultural transformation. In this case, that would be freedom for the enslaved. The most current recognition of this amazing woman is that it has been proposed to have her image representing the United States of America on the new 2030 dollar bill, but at this writing, I'm not sure if that will occur or not. 

Click on the link below to view a short biography of Mrs. Harriet Tubman:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmsNGrkbHm4

Sydney Owenson's "The Missionary" and Iconic Realism

In her novel, The Missionary, Sydney Owenson presents two religious communities, the Hindu community of 17th century India and the European Roman Catholic community during the Spanish Inquisition. Set in the year, 1620, after the establishment of the British East India Company in the lush jungles and arid desert of Western and Northern India, this tale illustrates a political genesis of European imperialism represented by the two central characters, Hilarion, a 25-year-old Portuguese Franciscan Nuncio and Luxima, a young, widowed Brahmin priestess.  

To some readers of this narrative, Owenson may appear to be telling an adventurous romance in an exotic setting to entertain her aristocratic readers, and this may be partially true. However, her romantic novel illustrates much more, for iconic properties of parochial dynamism reside at the core of each character’s restrictive community. These properties include the intense need for the Missionary to convert non-Christians to Catholicism and the deep conviction of a Hindu’s integration of natural and spiritual beliefs. Furthermore, Owenson creates an unrestrictive, fertile setting, where the Catholic missionary represents dogmatic and imperious Britain and the Hindu priestess, faithful to her own belief and community, represents the fervent hope for freedom of faith found in Owenson’s Catholic Ireland. 

Therefore, in her novel, The Missionary, Sydney Owenson illustrates the semiotic theory of iconic realism by representing two disparate icons, each placed within a realistic community, only to reveal a cultural reality that, only through a truly spiritual connection, can one be led from cultural cynicism to Divine Truth.

The History of The United States National Anthem

Click HERE to view the history of the National Anthem of the United States of America.

Robert Frost's "The Oven Bird" and Iconic Realism (Click onto this title to hear and see an ovenbird.)

(Oven Bird photo from Google Images)

The Ovenbird

by Robert Frost

There is a singer everyone has heard,


Loud, a mid-summer and a mid-wood bird,


Who makes the solid tree trunks sound again.


He says that leaves are old and that for flowers


Mid-summer is to spring as one to ten.


He says the early petal-fall is past


When pear and cherry bloom went down in showers


On sunny days a moment overcast;


And comes that other fall we name the fall.


He says the highway dust is over all.


The bird would cease and be as other birds


But that he knows in singing not to sing.


The question that he frames in all but words


Is what to make of a diminished thing.

Robert Frost's poetry portrays the enigma of humanity through his observations of nature. His poem, "The Ovenbird," is no exception. The high-pitched song of this bird reminds the busy human of the lessons learned through the simplicity of nature.

The iconic structure here is the oven bird, a woodland icon, representing the natural progression of life. In the tenth line, Frost points out, "He says the highway dust is over all." This line is unusual in that it follows vivid, natural imagery that awakens the reader to the conflict between humanity's impact versus the seemingly insignificant bird. A bird whose voice sounds like a song to us, but to the bird, it's simply communicating to other birds in a natural way, "not to sing.”

In this poem, Frost also illustrates through the passage, "Mid-summer is to Spring as one is to ten," the necessity of a natural sequence and the devastation that can exist when humanity interrupts or neglects this natural progression. 

This could also pertain to each of us. We must follow a natural sequence in our individual lives, for if we do not, we could take a path that causes pain and dissonance, which is why we must align our hearts with the One who guides us throughout our lives...in God's time. 

To hear me read this, please 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: 

The Lark Ascending by Ralph Vaughan Williams

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

Songs of Whales and Dolphins

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. 

A Patriotic Wave and Iconic Realism

I photographed this little boy, waving to the soldier at a local Independence Day parade. It illustrates iconic realism beautifully, for here you'll see a U.S. Army Jeep, ready for war, yet riding through a typical parade route, filled with families, smiles, hopes, and dreams. This brings to the awareness of the audience that no matter how peaceful a society may seem to be, as long as there is hatred in this world, there will be a need to defend against it. 

A Wave

The jeep moves slowly through the parade route

and from the rear seat, a soldier sits, armed

with a rifle and a wave.

Along the side of the road, 

with his mother by his side, a boy stands, armed

with a camera and a wave.

Across the road, a family looks on;

the father hoists a toddler onto his shoulders

armed with a blue balloon and a wave.

The jeep, painted in desert camouflage, 

ready for war in a distant land,

now travels this country route, thousands of waves away,

past a hopeful mother, a father, a child.

The jeep's flag catches a benevolent breeze in its fold,

and weaving peace through its threads, it waves.

© Jeanne I. Lakatos  

To hear me read this, please click HERE. 

Celt and Magyar and Iconic Realism: Part Three (Jewelry and Weaponry)

An audience interprets visual and tactile arts by incorporating the artistic components of color, form, line and texture. Each of these elements could be an iconic representation in that a community establishes a specific association with the art component. Over time, this component represents an aspect of the culture, which establishes the association. An iconic figure originally part of the mindset of a community can be placed in a new reality that the community does not accept as the normal setting for this iconic figure. This placement brings awareness to the community’s consciousness of an aspect within its culture that may need some attention. 

For instance, recent evidence has been unearthed which contains common signs and symbols in the weaponry and jewelry found in archaeological sites from both the Celtic and the Magyar regions of ancient Europe. The visual arrangements of these commonplace associations within the framework of jewelry and weaponry comprise iconic figures within a new reality, thus creating an example of iconic realism.

Below, you will see images of a few archaeological finds from these regions that contain similar artistic configurations. (See images below.) 

Jewelry and Weaponry found at the Celtic Cemetery at Ménfőcsanak, Hungary

For more information, see the article below:

https://akjournals.com/view/journals/072/71/2/article-p443.xml

To wrap up this three-part series, 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.

 

Celt and Magyar Connection and Iconic Realism: Part Two (Music)

       

                                        Celtic Uillean Pipes                                               Hungarian Duda
                                                                      (Both photos from 'Duck Duck Go' images)

A piece of music can contain iconic structures within the two variables of musical arrangement, dynamics and instrumentation. A melody contains structure in the form of rhythm, meter and pitch, arranged in various degrees of intensity.  Often, a particular arrangement will reflect the culture of a community, for example, an Irish jig or a Hungarian czardas. Eventually, this becomes an iconic structure, representing the entire culture. When one hears an Irish jig or Hungarian czardas, usually an image of the corresponding culture comes to mind, making this musical piece iconic. Both the czardas and the jig are forms of folk dances. Personally, I learned how to do the czardas as a child, attending many a wedding celebration. 

The Hungarian pitches and frequencies follow the same structure as the songs associated with the Celtic musical experience, which later had become the Hungarian czardas and Irish jig. Another common musical link between the Irish and the Hungarian is the bagpipe. In Hungary, it’s called the duda, the bag is made from goat’s skin and the instrument usually has a carved goat’s head as the chanter; in Ireland, it is the Uilleann pipes. According to historian, Winnie Czulinski: 

The Hungarian bagpipe…was rescued from near distinction by classical composers Zoltán Kodály and Béla Bartók. Look for bagpipes, too, in just about any of the other lands the ancient Celts deflowered and defamed, from Poland to Macedonia to Sicily. The most multicultural pipes of all may be the Eryri pipes, made by Goat Industries in North Wales, that manage to combine Scottish, Irish, Hungarian and Bulgarian ideas.[1]

                           https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dq3m_R3Lnu4 

                            (Irish Uilleann pipes) 

                            https://youtu.be/PITLPH-Yq3E?feature=shared 

                            (Hungarian duda)

The realism aspect of this example rests in the physical nature of the sound production. The sound waves of the bagpipe produce high frequencies similar to those interpreted by the human ear to emanate the human voice, singing in a specific tone. Not only do these sound waves vibrate at the same or similar frequency, but also the audience often associates the timbre of the sound source in the bagpipe with that of a strong, human voice; whereas sound waves associated with the flute symbolize either a frail human or a bird and provides the semiotic structures for realistic interpretation. 

Composers arrange musical configurations and assign instruments containing the pitch and timbre that the audience will associate with specific elements of its culture. In this way, the audience forms the association of sound to memory and interpretation ensues. This not only occurs with instrumentation, but appears in the retelling of oral stories passed down through generations of all cultures.

Therefore, to illustrate iconic realism within the musical compositions of Irish and Hungarian folksongs, we hear the same pentatonic scales, situated in similar formats, with similar meanings, yet from two cultures that many would not associate as having these elements in common.

---

[1] Czulinski, Winnie. Drone On! The High History of Celtic Music. Sound and Vision, 2004.

Celt and Magyar Connection and Iconic Realism: Part One (Linguistic Elements)

Map of the Germanic Kingdoms and East Roman Empire in 486 A.D. 

Map by William Robert Shepherd (1871-1934)

Map from Google Images

From my paper, presented at the American Conference for Irish Studies at the University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana: 

In three parts, I will bring attention to the music, art, and linguistic elements that have proven to be common between the Celts and the Magyars of approximately 5-600 A.D. I will demonstrate the similarities in cultural traditions through the prism of iconic realism. For instance, found in ancient Magyar burial grounds near Budapest were weaponry, bearing the same symbolic features of those used by the Celts. This anthropological find indicates the significance of cultural rituals and artistic renderings among a group of people not usually associated with each other. That is where iconic realism enters the discussion.  The three components of this theory follow: 

1.    The artist presents a realistic icon in a work of art.

2.    The artist places the icon in a realistic setting unusual for this icon.

3.    The purpose for this placement is to make the audience aware of a need for cultural transformation.

The study of iconic realism in this presentation will demonstrate the similarities in the way that the Hungarians and Irish have struggled throughout history to maintain cultural identity. In the sense of comparison between the Magyars and the Celts, let’s look at some commonalities in a linguistic sample of both languages, hailing from the Finno-Ugraic linguistic root:

A cup of mead:  Celtic MEDUHun  MEDOS (Hungarian "mézes") 

A sunny disposition: (Irish SCOIR = szór; Irish SCORAIOCHT = Hungarian szórakozás / SORCHA

In Irish CHELL = trick, game CALAOIS = to trick, CEALG to trick, to fish, CEALA =to make something disappear, to hide; In Hungarian: csal, csel, csali

BODUA is the Celtic word for "victory" and it is possible that the incoming Hun troops were greeted with a joyful exclamation of "Bodua!" The victorious Huns were considered liberators because their society did not practice the inhuman institution of slavery of the "civilized" Romans. After the "victory" BUDA was built, the "Ancient Buda" (Ős-Buda), which we know as "Atilla's castle" (Etzilburg) from history.

The proud city of Sicambria, the Celtic city, which could have been called SICAN-BHARR before it became Latinized. This name means "Szék-bérces" in Hungarian (a 'Seat' upon a hill) - this type of word composition was also part of the Hungarian language structure; for further examples see Hegy-magas at Lake Balaton, or Becs-kerek in the Bánság. (In Irish, SUIOCHAN (Hungarian: szikán) means a seat, seating place, bench; seat as a seat of a settlement, a residence; a gathering, assembly, a court of law)

In the sense of comparison between the Magyars and the Celts, let’s look at some commonalities in a linguistic sample of both languages, hailing from the Finno-Ugraic linguistic root: 

A cup of mead:  Celtic MEDUHun  MEDOS (Hungarian "mézes") 

A sunny disposition: (Irish SCOIR = szór; Irish SCORAIOCHT = Hungarian szórakozás / SORCHA

In Irish CHELL = trick, game CALAOIS = to trick, CEALG to trick, to fish, CEALA =to make something disappear, to hide; In Hungarian: csal, csel, csali

BODUA is the Celtic word for "victory" and it is possible that the incoming Hun troops were greeted with a joyful exclamation of "Bodua!" The victorious Huns were considered liberators because their society did not practice the inhuman institution of slavery of the "civilized" Romans. After the "victory" BUDA was built, the "Ancient Buda" (Ős-Buda), which we know as "Atilla's castle" (Etzilburg) from history.

The proud city of Sicambria, the Celtic city, which could have been called SICAN-BHARR before it became Latinized. This name means "Szék-bérces" in Hungarian (a 'Seat' upon a hill) - this type of word composition was also part of the Hungarian language structure; for further examples see Hegy-magas at Lake Balaton, or Becs-kerek in the Bánság. (In Irish, SUIOCHAN (Hungarian: szikán) means a seat, seating place, bench; seat as a seat of a settlement, a residence; a gathering, assembly, a court of law)

Clearly, there is a phonetic as well as semantic correlation between some relevant terms in both the Gaelic and the Hungarian (Magyar) languages. These correlations also appear in aural structures as well.

Image of Jesus in My Maple Tree and Iconic Realism

I took this photo one gray, winter day. 

If you look at the very bottom center, you will also see a natural, etched cross. 

Each morning, as I sip my cup of coffee and look out my living room window, I am blessed with this image of Jesus, divinely etched in the trunk of a maple tree. Sometimes, He is more difficult to see at first, but His appearance always comes through eventually. Isn't that just like Him, though? Whenever we struggle through life, we don't always feel the presence of our Lord until we step back, ponder, and realize that He has been with us all along, guiding, sharing, and comforting. 

How does this reveal the semiotic theory of iconic realism? 

1. We have an iconic, etched image of Jesus, the Christ.

2. His image has been etched by God (or Nature if you like) on the trunk of a maple tree, not the usual placement of such an image. 

3. He is present there to remind my family, friends, and me that He is always with us, even when our troubled, bewildered minds fail to recognize His beloved, peaceful presence. 

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. 

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.