The Ghosts I Do Know: Rhythm, Dickinson, Crane

This paper will examine poetry and rhythm in relation to biological and evolutionary models in order to develop a hypothetical methodology by which certain aspects of literature may be examined through an evolutionary lens. It is by no means an attempt at a finalizing or totalizing way of examining literature, but as such attempts have largely been ignored or assaulted, there is a rather large niche to fill. Hence this article will attempt to redefine literature as a ‘Third Level Darwin Machine’ and parallel the science/culture/Theory debate with that in physics/string theory and then it will connect poetry to Boyd’s idea of ‘rhythm and attention’ along with 'motor resonance', mirror neurons and music theory. It will then look at the influence of Emily Dickinson’s rhythmic and metaphoric compression on the poetry of Hart Crane as a mimetic function following Boyd’s notion of attention, pattern and play as functions of a Third Level Darwinian Machine which will be the operative foundation for a naturalized (but not totalized) account of poetic effect and its relation to the human species’ evolved history

Some new ways of thinking about some old ways of reading: transactional aesthetics, literature and the agon

This article is meant as a useful classroom methodology by which teachers of literature may give their students a coherent rubric for understanding literary meaning and exegesis which can incorporate most literary theories while addressing the basic-to-advanced concepts required of literary students. Also, it will provide a working methodology for the inclusion of certain evolutionary aesthetic concerns as part of understanding literature. Mixing Dante’s ‘Four Levels’ with Rosenblatt’s idea of ‘transactional reading’ and Dissanayake’s four criteria for an evolutionary aesthetic model, this article yields a broad, powerful and common-sensical method of literary analysis by examining literature as a series of tensions (or what I will call ‘the agon’) between Dante’s schema, Rosenblatt’s efferent/aesthetic divide, between humans as natural and cultural beings, and the tension between literature’s textuality and its contextuality

‘Making New’ and ‘Attention’ in Poe’s ‘Poetic Principle’ and Olson’s ‘Projective Verse’

This article argues for a neural basis behind Edgar Allen Poe’s ‘Poetic Principle’ and Charles Olson’s ‘Projective Verse’ to create a more robust cross-disciplinary aesthetic model. Brian Boyd and Ellen Dissanayake show that ‘attention’ and ‘making new’ in poetry is a stable but evolving technique. This shows up in constant variation in ‘classic’ and ‘modern’ poetry and it forms a pattern for interpretation. This article will look at Poe’s and Olson’s essays in relation to this technique, steering their conclusions toward a partially naturalized conception of poetics in conjunction with more standard literary models in order to broaden aesthetic understanding

Rhythm, Evolution and Neuroscience in Lullabies and Poetry

This paper will attempt a methodological configuration to link the natural sciences (evolutionary theory & neurology) to literature (lullabies and poetry, specifically). It uses findings in neuroscience and animal neurology as well as the theories of evolution by natural selection in to examine patterns in lullabies, and then connect these to poetry. As one will never find a ‘metaphor gene’, nor do genes even code for behaviors –coding instead for traits- is it possible to even locate overlaps between the disciplines of natural science and literature? Doing so requires a mixed methods approach. This article seeks to build on the existing philosophical and theoretical ground of current natural science in order to establish a dialogue with current cultural and literary theories

Human Traffic: The Fashionably and Unfashionably Marginalized in the Korean Cultural Context

This article will propose the novel terms "fashionably marginalized" and "unfashionably marginalized" to outline particular limits of description in cultural studies (broadly defined) of topics that are more easily and less easily discussed through the predominant vocabulary of the Humanities. This is not an attack on the aims of cultural studies and theorists. Instead, it will help to identify marginalized groups whose cause and advocacy require more consilient, interdisciplinary involvement to intersect public policy, theoretical discourse and media coverage in order to assist or give voice to groups of people who themselves may not have the means or wherewithal to address their own plight in the public sphere. We will outline the case of Korean elderly recycling collectors and how the academy has largely ignored them, despite the fact that they comprise a significant percentage of the Korean population. Then we will contrast them with two other marginalized groups, Korean shamans and the Korean LGBT community, groups which the academy has paid much more attention to, despite being smaller in demographics. We will use these contrasting groups as unfashionably and fashionably marginalized examples. We hope to demonstrate how the adoption of cultural theory’s vocabulary in the Korean academy illustrates areas where cultural theory may fall short of its proposed goals as a symptom of the broader tendency in the Humanities

Down-regulation of Rac Activity during beta 2 Integrin-mediated Adhesion of Human Neutrophils

International audienceIn human neutrophils, beta2 integrin engagement mediated a decrease in GTP-bound Rac1 and Rac2. Pretreatment of neutrophils with LY294002 or PP1 (inhibiting phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI 3-kinase) and Src kinases, respectively) partly reversed the beta2 integrin-induced down-regulation of Rac activities. In contrast, beta2 integrins induced stimulation of Cdc42 that was independent of Src family members. The PI 3-kinase dependence of the beta2 integrin-mediated decrease in GTP-bound Rac could be explained by an enhanced Rac-GAP activity, since this activity was blocked by LY204002, whereas PP1 only had a minor effect. The fact that only Rac1 but not Rac2 (the dominating Rac) redistributed to the detergent-insoluble fraction and that it was independent of GTP loading excludes the possibility that down-regulation of Rac activities was due to depletion of GTP-bound Rac from the detergent-soluble fraction. The beta2 integrin-triggered relocalization of Rac1 to the cytoskeleton was enabled by a PI 3-kinase-induced dissociation of Rac1 from LyGDI. The dissociations of Rac1 and Rac2 from LyGDI also explained the PI 3-kinase-dependent translocations of Rac GTPases to the plasma membrane. However, these accumulations of Rac in the membrane, as well as that of p47phox and p67phox, were also regulated by Src tyrosine kinases. Inasmuch as Rac GTPases are part of the NADPH oxidase and the respiratory burst is elicited in neutrophils adherent by beta2 integrins, our results indicate that activation of the NADPH oxidase does not depend on the levels of Rac-GTP but instead requires a beta2 integrin-induced targeting of the Rac GTPases as well as p47phox and p67phox to the plasma membrane

Nitric Oxide Produced in Response to Engagement of beta 2 Integrins on Human Neutrophils Activates the Monomeric GTPases Rap1 and Rap2 and Promotes Adhesion

We found that engagement of beta 2 integrins on human neutrophils increased the levels of GTP-bound Rap1 and Rap2. Also, the activation of Rap1 was blocked by PP1, SU6656, LY294002, GF109203X, or BAPTA-AM, which indicates that the downstream signaling events in Rap1 activation involve Src tyrosine kinases, phosphoinositide 3-kinase, protein kinase C, and release of calcium. Surprisingly, the beta 2 integrin-induced activation of Rap2 was not regulated by any of the signaling pathways mentioned above. However, we identified nitric oxide as the signaling molecule involved in beta 2 integrin-induced activation of Rap1 and Rap2. This was illustrated by the fact that engagement of beta 2 integrins increased the production of nitrite, a stable end-product of nitric oxide. Furthermore, pretreatment of neutrophils with N-omega-mono-methy1-L-arginine, or 1400W, which are inhibitors of inducible nitric- oxide synthase, blocked beta 2 integrin-induced activation of Rap1 and Rap2. Similarly, R-P-8pCPT-cGMPS, an inhibitor of cGMP-dependent serine/threonine kinases, also blunted the beta 2 integrin-induced activation of Rap GTPases. Also nitric oxide production and its downstream activation of cGMP-dependent serine/threonine kinases were essential for proper neutrophil adhesion by beta 2 integrins. Thus, we made the novel findings that beta 2 integrin engagement on human neutrophils triggers production of nitric oxide and its downstream signaling is essential for activation of Rap GTPases and neutrophil adhesion