Characters in Thomas Pynchon’s Mason & Dixon, having lived through the American Revolution, recall changes in musical form in the 1770s; parallel changes in pop music of the Sixties are implied, and one of Pynchon’s characters cites Plato as the source of the idea that alterations in music precede and perhaps precipitate political change: “‘Tis ever the sign of Revolutionary times, that Street-Airs become Hymns, and Roist’ring-Songs Anthems,– just as Plato fear’d,– hast heard the Negroe Musick, the flatted Fifths, the vocal portamenti– ’tis there sings your Revolution. Characters in Thomas… continue

And if all this is discussed, what then? The problem of field delimitation, the tendency to elaborate complexity without constraint, and an incipient sclerosis in contemporary critical studies is discussed by Andrew McMurray in his introduction to Critical Ecologies circa 2006.

The relationship between houses, domestication, and the gradual shift from cyclic to linear time in human consciousness is discussed at greater length in Swigart’s “Past Futures, Future’s Past.”

Clarke discusses media theory, a distinct but related facet of systems theory, in his review of Friedrich Kittler’s Gramophone, Film, Typewriter.

Carolyn Merchant’s treatment of Gaia in Earthcare was discussed by Stacy Alaimo in the initial 1997 Critical Ecologies.

In a general introduction to Critical Ecologies circa 2006, thread editor Andrew McMurray offers a similar reversal, when he asks readers of this journal whether they fit the profile of the ‘new physiocrat,’ the present embodiment of positivism in critical writing.

Joe Amato draws connections between Louis Zukofsky and novelist Richard Powers. Joe Amato draws connections between Louis Zukofsky and novelist Richard Powers.

Ted Pelton’s essay “Great Excavations” is an in-depth look at Creeley’s collaborative work. Ted Pelton’s essay “Great Excavations” is an in-depth look at Creeley’s collaborative work.

Andrew McMurry also questions the complexification of literary studies in his general introduction to the Critical Ecologies thread, circa 2006. Andrew McMurry also questions the complexification of literary studies in his general introduction to the Critical Ecologies thread, circa 2006.

For an excellent review of My Mother Was a Computer, go here.