Parallax in Tongues

Month: April 2025

  • Research Update

    I found it. I found the goddamn interview with Marguerite de Chambrier (née Respinger). Plus, I found it for less than 40 euros so thank the stars for that.

    Here’s the official page for the publication:

    https://www.peterlang.com/document/1095569

    The article/paper in question:

    “Ludwig Wittgenstein war ein ‘Stern’ in meinen Leben” by Joseph GF Rothhaupt (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, München) and Aidan Seery (Trinity College, Dublin)

    It includes excerpts from Marguerite’s personal autobiography (!!) alongside the interview. The title translates directly to: “Ludwig Wittgenstein was a ‘Star’ in my life”. Let’s just say this is an exciting time for me. (It’s depressing researching Skinner, okay?) And thankfully, it didn’t break my bank.

    Ah, to be an academic with no institution. Though, the question remains if being an academic requires being attached to an institution, given we have the terms “intellectual” (and the archaic “intelligentsia”, though I have a fondness for how it sounds) and “the scholar”. I suppose it’s semantics but litigation sometimes really hinges on interpretation. Not unlike translation.

    An aside: I should really look into that “Philosophy of Translation” book by Damion Searls. (Also does anyone else ever notice that a book’s titling and design either does or does not include those handy three letter acronyms for all sorts of degrees and professions. I am always a little leery when an author highlights credentials without context.) He helped with a new translation of the Tractatus which I’m interested in, given the context of the original English translation (Wittgenstein’s English was not very good when they began the translation).

  • The Parasocial as Collective Mythmaking: Ludwig Wittgenstein

    The Parasocial as Collective Mythmaking: Ludwig Wittgenstein

    Because we care too very much about the sex lives of dead people like Ludwig Wittgenstein.

    (That’s not sarcasm and you know it lol.)

    Introduction

    I have been, since about the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, thinking about the idea of “parasocial” relationships. In isolation, many countries (western countries in particular, I think) tilted into a heavily online culture, with social media becoming the main mode of communication and, eventually, a battleground for ideological warfare. Sometimes sportsmanship is optional. Cognitive dissonance being what it is, it’s easier to think “sportsmanship” can’t exist when all the marks of human presence—a face, a voice, the physical being—are missing.

    Maybe it’s all just a choose-your-own Goosebumps novel in 0s and 1s. Literature, of course, is never read the same way between two people. Not really. It’s both an oversimplification of how our brains operate and something purposefully opaque. Interpretation, like translation, is not linear. It is nuanced, requiring knowledge of the original author’s tone and style but also an interpretation of intention.

    (more…)