From Á rebours to Avatar: Some Varieties of the Virtual Since 1884 - Jonathan Alexander, UCI
Channel: UCIBrenICS
Date: 2016-12-05

Friday Informatics Seminar

Jonathan Alexander,
Chancellor's Professor 
English, Education,and Gender & Sexuality Studies 
UC Irvine 

"From Á rebours to Avatar: Some Varieties of the Virtual Since 1884"

December 2, 2016

As platforms and devices for immersive virtuality re-emerge in various gaming and commercial markets, we might take this opportunity to trace the longer histories of the idea of virtuality, of built environments that immerse individuals in fully artificial simulations.  In this presentation, I begin sketching out a theory of virtuality that traces the concept of immersive virtuality genealogically from experiments in the naturalistic novels of the late 19th century to contemporary science fictional imaginings.  Taking the fin-de-siècle novels of J. K. Huysmans and the more recent film *Avatar* as exemplary, I show how the attempt to create artificial spaces is constantly being "naturalized"; that is, I argue that virtuality has emerged over the last century as a concept whose grounding in the creation of artificial worlds depends both on such worlds seeming natural and the process of such creation itself as *being* a "natural" extension of human invention.  In tracing such a genealogy, I ask if there's any room for a more critical appreciation of artificiality itself.

Bio:  Jonathan Alexander is Chancellor's Professor of English, Education, and Gender & Sexuality Studies at UC, Irvine.  The author co-author, or editor of twelve books, he focuses his scholarly attention on how digital communications technologies prompt shifts in our understanding of authoring, composing, and writing, as well what it means to be a literate citizen in pluralistic democracy.

Jonathan Alexander
Chancellor's Professor of English
Campus Writing Coordinator | http://writing.uci.edu/

Director, Center for Excellence in Writing & Communication |http://www.writingcenter.uci.edu/

University of California, Irvine

Editor, College Composition and Communication | http://www.ncte.org/cccc/ccc/