"Unleashing the Underdog": Technology of Place in Virginia Woolf's Flush

"Technology," as both technical and common term, is often associated with scientific and industrial tools, techniques, and procedures. This academic paper, however, propounds that the term "technology" in its etymological roots epitomises not only the objectivity of science but a...

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Main Author: Verita Sriratana
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Edinburgh 2009-06-01
Series:Forum
Online Access:http://journals.ed.ac.uk/forum/article/view/622
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author Verita Sriratana
author_facet Verita Sriratana
author_sort Verita Sriratana
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description "Technology," as both technical and common term, is often associated with scientific and industrial tools, techniques, and procedures. This academic paper, however, propounds that the term "technology" in its etymological roots epitomises not only the objectivity of science but also the subjectivity of arts. The concept of technology oscillates between binary poles of the concrete and the abstract and, by so doing, merges and disrupts those seemingly fixed binary oppositions. The dynamism of technology manifests itself most clearly in our understanding of place. "Technology of Place," the means by which an individual comes to understand place, embodies not only the concrete "architectural textures" perceived through sensory reception, but also the abstract ideas or "textual architectures" which form understandings of, and feelings towards, a particular place. Since it is made up of both tangible and intangible layers of texts, place can be "read" and approached as a text. Through the literature of place, one is able to read through the surface of place and interrogate its embedded discourse of power and technology of production. The hypothesis and conclusion of this essay will be attested and illustrated in a close analysis of Virginia Woolf's Flush, her "underdog" text which depicts the life story of the underdogs: the Victorian poetess Elizabeth Barrett Browning and her pet. Published in 1933, this biography of a cocker spaniel investigates how dogs and women perceive the world and how they come to understand their places in it.
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spelling doaj.art-f006dff0946a4532b8e3e6a0b14d1e962022-12-22T16:25:30ZengUniversity of EdinburghForum1749-97712009-06-010810.2218/forum.08.622622"Unleashing the Underdog": Technology of Place in Virginia Woolf's FlushVerita Sriratana0University of St. Andrews"Technology," as both technical and common term, is often associated with scientific and industrial tools, techniques, and procedures. This academic paper, however, propounds that the term "technology" in its etymological roots epitomises not only the objectivity of science but also the subjectivity of arts. The concept of technology oscillates between binary poles of the concrete and the abstract and, by so doing, merges and disrupts those seemingly fixed binary oppositions. The dynamism of technology manifests itself most clearly in our understanding of place. "Technology of Place," the means by which an individual comes to understand place, embodies not only the concrete "architectural textures" perceived through sensory reception, but also the abstract ideas or "textual architectures" which form understandings of, and feelings towards, a particular place. Since it is made up of both tangible and intangible layers of texts, place can be "read" and approached as a text. Through the literature of place, one is able to read through the surface of place and interrogate its embedded discourse of power and technology of production. The hypothesis and conclusion of this essay will be attested and illustrated in a close analysis of Virginia Woolf's Flush, her "underdog" text which depicts the life story of the underdogs: the Victorian poetess Elizabeth Barrett Browning and her pet. Published in 1933, this biography of a cocker spaniel investigates how dogs and women perceive the world and how they come to understand their places in it.http://journals.ed.ac.uk/forum/article/view/622
spellingShingle Verita Sriratana
"Unleashing the Underdog": Technology of Place in Virginia Woolf's Flush
Forum
title "Unleashing the Underdog": Technology of Place in Virginia Woolf's Flush
title_full "Unleashing the Underdog": Technology of Place in Virginia Woolf's Flush
title_fullStr "Unleashing the Underdog": Technology of Place in Virginia Woolf's Flush
title_full_unstemmed "Unleashing the Underdog": Technology of Place in Virginia Woolf's Flush
title_short "Unleashing the Underdog": Technology of Place in Virginia Woolf's Flush
title_sort unleashing the underdog technology of place in virginia woolf s flush
url http://journals.ed.ac.uk/forum/article/view/622
work_keys_str_mv AT veritasriratana unleashingtheunderdogtechnologyofplaceinvirginiawoolfsflush