Category: Uncategorized
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Foucault on Self-Writing and the Hupomnemata
Towards the end of his life, French critical theorist Michel Foucault conducted several studies on the ascetic techniques of ethical self-formation used by Greek and Roman Stoics. In his essay “Self-Writing,” he explored the role of writing in the philosophical cultivation of self. He examined the use of hupomnemata, journals where individuals could record “extracts…
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Authenticity and Anxiety in Writing
There are many days when, despite having writing projects with clear goals and purposes, I’m at a loss of what to do. I seem to have lost my sense of purpose, or my belief in it, and I no longer feel the significance of my work. Thus I lose enthusiasm and drop my projects unfinished.…
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Barbara Couture and Emulation as a Process of Achieving Agency in Writing and Being
I recently read an essay by Barbara Couture on rhetoric as a mode of self-expression and emulation as a way of aligning ourselves with those we admire (“Modeling and Emulating: Rethinking Agency in the Writing Process” from Post-Process Theory: Beyond the Writing Process Paradigm, ed Thomas Kent). Instead of puzzling over “how to write,” we…
The Whale Belly 