Brainstorm: Yeatsian Historical Theory Email

Dr. K,

Spurred in part by yesterday's quiz, I've thought further on the future of Ireland. In accordance to Yeats' historical theory, it seems that there are a fair number of parallels between Ireland and England as I mentioned yesterday. Each originated with a culmination of multiple cultures and gained cohesion through identifying with the past. Each in turn has diffused their culture throughout the world via international connections or military action. The United States seems to fit readily into this as well, especially when looking at Ireland's immigration/emigration fluctuations and the cultural weight held within national branding. From my perspective as a native U.S. citizen, it does seem, however, that Coca-Cola carries a less definite sense of American cohesive cultural when compared to the shamrock. Coca-Cola seems to incarnate the globally obtuse and invasive 'other' of post-Cold War progress that the U.S. is often seen as.

While most people seem to think that history repeats itself, I think it is fairer to say, with Yeats in mind, to say that is more wave-like in its cyclical behavior. The nested gyres create a wave-pattern of expansion and contraction similar to a sound wave. Unfortunately, his pattern does not initially take into account the diffusion of influence. A single wave can only keep track of a single aspect, the largest being something along the lines of the birth and death of the universe. His illustration can however be expanded by initiating a tangental wave from within the gyre to explain a connected event. This eventually leads into infinite geometric figures like fractals representing the progression of history. It is a boggling notion to think about, therefore won't be the focus for the symposium material.

The English, American and Irish cultures are intriguing because of their relationship to each other and the comparisons that can be draw between their different stages of development. Not only is England a progenitor nation, having a huge developmental role in both colonial America and Ireland, but it is also subject to the historical reverbs of its previous actions. The nation has long been visited upon by its ideological children. America and Ireland are likewise subject to the echoes of their cultural diffusion. Ireland is an excellent example of this, especially now. As with Sherman's project, people carry their culture into the worlds in which they travel. Cultural propaganda, even when unintentional, magnifies this reverb and expands it beyond the realm of those directly associated with the culture. While the emigrants have blood ties (or close approximations), other unrelated people begin to see the romantic notion of Home as something appealing for all together different reasons. The diffusion of people from a country leads to diffusion of culture into wherever the people land up and eventually reflects back upon the home nation.

The English as a social collective, much like the Romans before them, sought to subdue their barbarian heritage with that of classic (in the sense of past) social order. The mystique of past events seems to constantly supply a sense of stability, even if the past is filled with turmoil. This foundation of nostalgia relates to the Stephen Dedalus quote of 'History is a Nightmare from which I'm trying to awake'. It seems as if the solid, unchanging nature is both stabilizing and unnervingly constricting. It's the past, you can't do anything about it besides utilize it in the now. Turmoil simply provides a suitable backdrop for heroes or heroic endeavors, which are eventually built upon and developed into cultural anchors. It is in human nature to take something that is incomplete (or in this case, insufficiently potent) and add components from their own existence until it is the image they need or want. This is plainly visible in an optical phenomena called Gestalt Completion, something I referred to in a Post-Modernist paper concerning Raymond Carver's Cathedral. Really quite fascinating.

In any case, I think this all boils down into the parallels that can be draw between the timelines and social landmarks of England, America and Ireland. Ireland seems to be developing into that next melting pot/Promised Land sort of place. It will be interesting to see how the Irish spirit diffuses further and what sort of cultural explosions it initiates outside its borders. The cycle is clearly seen. But the interesting part is that in the Yeatsian wave, new parts can come into play without entirely snuffing out the ripple-effect created by past events. England doesn't have to rise and fall in order to give birth to another nation. The wave is much more complex, as each point in the curve can potentially lead into another wave, and on, and on - all occuring simultaneously, everything effecting everything else.