1. © Copyright 2008 – RITA MASCIALINO – All Rights Reserved. RITA MASCIALINO THE DYNAMIC SPATIALITY OF UNDERSTANDING AND MISUNDERSTANDING

2. © Copyright 2008 – RITA MASCIALINO – All Rights Reserved. Abstract 1. Scientific background of the hypothesis 2. Hypothesis about understanding and misunderstanding at linguistic level 3. Discussion of the hypothesis through the spatial analysis of two literary texts of Shakespeare (Sonnet LXXIII; King Lear, Act V, Scene III, Monologue) 4. Conclusions

3. © Copyright 2008 – RITA MASCIALINO – All Rights Reserved. 1. Scientific background - Broad scientific background:  Evolution  Semiotics  Basic neurophysiology - Specific background:  Unconscious and conscious brain  Space processing

4. © Copyright 2008 – RITA MASCIALINO – All Rights Reserved. 2. Hypothesis about understanding and misunderstanding at linguistic level Key concepts of the hypothesis : “Dynamic Spatiality”; “Endospatial Scheme”; “Exospatial scheme”; “Endoplot”; “Exoplot”; “Explicit Level”; “Implicit Level”; Purpose: Identification of understanding and misunderstanding through the reconstruction of the objective spatial schemes carried by language at unconscious and conscious level. 2. Hypothesis about understanding and misunderstanding at linguistic level Key concepts of the hypothesis : “Dynamic Spatiality”; “Endospatial Scheme”; “Exospatial scheme”; “Endoplot”; “Exoplot”; “Explicit Level”; “Implicit Level”; Purpose: Identification of understanding and misunderstanding through the reconstruction of the objective spatial schemes carried by language at unconscious and conscious level.

5. © Copyright 2008 – RITA MASCIALINO – All Rights Reserved. 3. Discussion: Shakespeare’s Sonnet LXXIII (last verse) Sonnet LXXIII That time of year thou mayst in me behold, When yellow leaves, or none, do hang Upon those boughs which shake against the cold, Bare ruin’d choirs, where once the sweet birds sang. In me thou seest the twilight of such day, As after sunset fadeth in the west, Which by and by black night doth take away, Death’s second self, that seals all up in rest. In me thou seest the glowing of such fire, That on the ashes of his youth doth lie, As the dead-bed whereon it must expire, Consum’d with that which it was nourish’d by. This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong, To love that well which thou must leave ere long.

6. © Copyright 2008 – RITA MASCIALINO – All Rights Reserved. Double spatiality carried by the word “well” adverb connected to the actions expressed by the verb “to love” intended in a romantic or in a sexual way; adverb connected to the actions expressed by the verb “to love” intended in a romantic or in a sexual way; substantive connected with a “water source” surfacing from the underground. substantive connected with a “water source” surfacing from the underground.

7. © Copyright 2008 – RITA MASCIALINO – All Rights Reserved. Interpretation of Shakespeare’s Sonnet LXXIII according to the dynamic spatiality carried by the substantiv “well” endo - exospatial scheme Ist Quatrain Goal directed motion of the protagonist (metaphoric level) hanging leaves IInd Quatrain Goal directed motion of the protagonist (metaphoric level) setting sun IIIrd Quatrain Goal directed motion of the protagonist (metaphoric level) expiring fire Last Distich Goal directed motion of the protagonist (metaphoric level) well

8. © Copyright 2008 – RITA MASCIALINO – All Rights Reserved. Spatial schemes concerning the protagonist in Shakespeare’s Sonnet LXXIII Quatrains : Explicit level : 1. Relevant verbs concerning the “exoplot” (plot built by the “exospatial schemes” carried by actions expressed by verbs) : to hang (hanging leaves), to fade-to set (fading sunset), to expire (expiring fire); Implicit level : 2. Relevant motions concerning the “endoplot” (plot built by the “endospatial schemes” carried by the motions underlying the actions expressed by verbs) : downward motions ; Distich : Explicit level : 1. None ; Implicit level : 2. Relevant actions concerning the “exoplot”: to go down and penetrate into the underground, to surface ; 3. Relevant motions concerning the “endoplot”: downward and upward motions.

9. © Copyright 2008 – RITA MASCIALINO – All Rights Reserved. Concrete and metaphoric spatiality of the “well” as an underground water source 1. General concrete spatiality: a well springs from a deep and invisible underground up to the a visible soil, purifying and nourishing nature, animals, humans included; 2. General metaphoric spatiality: a metaphoric well refers to something metaphorically going up from a metaphoric and invisible depth and flowing everywhere on a visible surface, purifying and nourishing on a metaphoric level.

10. © Copyright 2008 – RITA MASCIALINO – All Rights Reserved. Metaphoric meaning of the spatiality intrinsic to the “well” as a water source in the Metaphoric meaning of the spatiality intrinsic to the “well” as a water source in the Sonnet LXXIII Poetry, which pre-eminently arises from the psychological deep or unconscious-(invisible) spatiality carried by the superficial or conscious-(visible) spatiality carried by language, purifying and revitalizing the neuronal circuits of the human CNS and personality through the catharsis; Poetry, which pre-eminently arises from the psychological deep or unconscious-(invisible) spatiality carried by the superficial or conscious-(visible) spatiality carried by language, purifying and revitalizing the neuronal circuits of the human CNS and personality through the catharsis; Poet, who lives after death in his poetry. Poet, who lives after death in his poetry. Why poetry in the context? Why poetry in the context? The protagonist speaks in the first quatrain about choirs and once singing birds; the spatiality of the verb “to sing” commonly matches with that of poetry; There is a parallelism between the underground source generally consisting in a pure water, and the main function of poetry, which is a cathartic or purifying one.

11. © Copyright 2008 – RITA MASCIALINO – All Rights Reserved. Spatial schemes concerning the beloved in the distich of the Sonnet LXXIII Distich Explicit level : 1. Relevant verbs concerning the “exoplot”: to leave (to leave in a short time and for ever the well which will perpetually spread on the soil); Implicit level : Implicit level : 2. Relevant verbs concerning the “exoplot”: to go away, to go down and penetrate into the underground and to stay there without surfacing; 3. Relevant motions concerning the “endoplot”: separation motions, downward motions, no upward motions.

12. © Copyright 2008 – RITA MASCIALINO – All Rights Reserved. Spatiality concerning the protagonist and the beloved in the last verse of the Sonnet LXXIII 1. The protagonist will persist for ever, because he has not only the short spatiality of a biological life, but also has poetry’s spatiality which can overcome the short length of a biological life; 2. The beloved will not persist for ever, because he has only the short spatiality of a biological life.

13. © Copyright 2008 – RITA MASCIALINO – All Rights Reserved. Global dynamic spatiality concerning the intention of the protagonist The endo- and exospatial schemes concerning the unconscious and conscious goal directed actions and motions, or the motivation and intention of the protagonist, show a final upward direction achieved through and after a downward one, i.e., a final victory after an intermediate defeat. The endo- and exospatial schemes concerning the unconscious and conscious goal directed actions and motions, or the motivation and intention of the protagonist, show a final upward direction achieved through and after a downward one, i.e., a final victory after an intermediate defeat.

14. © Copyright 2008 – RITA MASCIALINO – All Rights Reserved. The misunderstanding about the double spatiality of “well” in the Sonnett LXXIII  Thanks to the double spatiality of “well” as an adverb and a substantive, one straightaway understands “well” in the commonest way, i.e., only as an adverb connected with “to love” romantically intended, in the sense that the beloved should hasten to well love a protagonist that is going to die; thereafter, one does not perceive the presence of the sexual request and the presence of the substantive.

15. © Copyright 2008 – RITA MASCIALINO – All Rights Reserved. Motivation/results of the misunderstanding built by Shakespeare about the double spatiality of “well” as an adverb : Disguised introduction of a sexual atmosphere through the confusing spatiality intrinsic to the syntagm “to love well ” or “to well love”, interpretable in a romantic and sexual direction; as a substantiv : Disguised introduction of a scorn on the beloved through the confusing spatiality of the pronouns “that-which”, mistakenly interpretable as connected with the dying protagonist, but correctly connected only with “well” as a water source (the grammatically possible connection with the yellow leaves etc. is semantically absurd), so that the beloved, who apparently neglects or refuses the protagonist, is that who will soon lose the possibility of enjoying not only the protagonist, but also, and first of all, poetry because he will die for ever, whereas the neglected protagonist will live for ever as a poet; Disguised expression of Shakespeare’s selfawareness of his being a poet and awareness of the importance of poetry for humanity.

16. © Copyright 2008 – RITA MASCIALINO – All Rights Reserved. Main misunderstandings intrinsic to the traditional interpretation of Shakespeare’s Sonnet LXXIII Misunderstanding about the motions downward into the underground; Misunderstanding about the motions downward into the underground; Misunderstanding about the motion upward to the surface; Misunderstanding about the motion upward to the surface; Misunderstanding about the parallel symbolism ‘purifying water/poetry’; Misunderstanding about the parallel symbolism ‘purifying water/poetry’; Misunderstanding about the misunderstanding built by Shakespeare; Misunderstanding about the misunderstanding built by Shakespeare; Misunderstanding about the selfawareness of Shakespeare as a poet and about his awareness of the relevance of poetry for humanity. Misunderstanding about the selfawareness of Shakespeare as a poet and about his awareness of the relevance of poetry for humanity. Misunderstanding about the deep structures of Shakespeare’s text. Misunderstanding about the deep structures of Shakespeare’s text.

17. © Copyright 2008 – RITA MASCIALINO – All Rights Reserved. 3. Discussion: King Lear’s Monologue (Shakespeare, King Lear, Act V, Scene III) Lear: No, no, no, no! Come, let’s away to prison; We two alone, will sing like birds i’ the cage: When thou dost ask me blessing, I’ll kneel down, And ask of thee forgiveness : so we’ll live, And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh At gilded butterflies, and hear poor rogues Talk of court news; and we’ll talk with them too, Who loses and who wins; who’s in and who’s out; And take upon’s the mistery of things, As we were God’s spies : and we’ll wear out, In a wall’d prison, packs and sets of great ones, That ebb and flow by the moon.

18. © Copyright 2008 – RITA MASCIALINO – All Rights Reserved. endo- exospatial scheme endo- exospatial scheme Concrete and potential (concrete level) motions of the protagonist prison as a room with four walls concerning the prison and a door to go in and out Concrete and potential (concrete level) motions of the protagonist prison as a room with a walled up door concerning the prison and no possibility to go out Concrete and potential (concrete and metaphorical level) motions of the protagonist cncerning the prison prison as a walled up burial niche Dynamic spatiality of the protagonist according to the “wall’d prison” (second-last verse)

19. © Copyright 2008 – RITA MASCIALINO – All Rights Reserved. The verb “to wear out” in the traditional interpretation of the Monologue traditional interpretation of the verb “to wear out”: to cancel the great ones from the memory, i.e., to forget them

20. © Copyright 2008 – RITA MASCIALINO – All Rights Reserved. Falsification of the spatiality intrinsic to the verb “to wear out” as “to forget” Basic spatiality intrinsic to the verb “to forget”: removing of reality and dislocating it to a place where one does not perceive it consciously. Basic spatiality intrinsic to the verb “to forget”: removing of reality and dislocating it to a place where one does not perceive it consciously. Falsification : - the spatiality intrinsic to the invitation of Lear towards Cordelia is that of a grandeur; a grandeur aimed to achieve a forgetting of the great ones would be absurd ; - the spatiality intrinsic to the uttering of “: and we’ll wear out” is that of an emphasized counterattack after a big defeat inflicted by the great ones; a so strongly emphasized counterattack against the great ones aimed to achieve a forgetting of the great ones, would be absurd; - the spatiality intrinsic to the laughing at the great ones (the gilded butterflies) excludes the removing of the persons laughed at from the memory; further, a grandeur aimed to achieve the possibility of laughing at the great ones in a walled prison would be absurd.

21. © Copyright 2008 – RITA MASCIALINO – All Rights Reserved. Meaning of the verb “to wear out” in the Sonnet LXXIII according to its dynamic spatiality Spatiality of the verb “to wear out” in the context: opposition to the spatiality of the verbs “to ebb and flow” concerning the great ones: While these go up and down, suddenly appearing and soon vanishing, Lear and Cordelia will keep their position unaltered (they are dead in a walled up prison/burial niche), and by doing this, they will persist and continue living for ever (see preceding parallel form “: so we’ll live” in the fourth verse), so defeating and overcoming the great ones who do not keep their position.

22. © Copyright 2008 – RITA MASCIALINO – All Rights Reserved. Metaphoric spatiality of the protagonists in the prison/burial niche How can the protagonists continue living for ever while dead? - As poet and poetry;  Spatiality of Shakespeare/Lear as one who sings and tells old tales in the walled prison, i.e., spatiality of the poet since poets sing and tell stories;  Spatiality of Cordelia as one who sings in the walled prison with the protagonist, i. e., spatiality of poetry as a daughter created by Shakespeare/Lear; as a bride solemnly and passionately called by Shakespeare/Lear with stretched arm and hand;  Spatiality of both poet and poetry as companions who will persist as such, i.e., will live longer than the great ones.

23. © Copyright 2008 – RITA MASCIALINO – All Rights Reserved. Falsification of Freud’s interpretation of King Lear through the identification of its spatiality Freud’s interpretation: Cordelia personifies death and has been chosen by Lear because he wants to die or is going to die. Freud’s interpretation: Cordelia personifies death and has been chosen by Lear because he wants to die or is going to die. Falsification : Falsification : Death has a masculin spatiality in English and in German, therefore Freud is obliged to speak of Cordelia not directly as the death, but as the Todesgöttin, or death goddess, feminin, i.e., he consciously and arbitrarily changes the gender of death for him to support his subjective interpretation; Death as Todesgöttin cannot have the spatiality of a daughter for Shakespeare/Lear because no goddess can come out of a human or be generated by a human, i.e., Lear cannot have created as a father a death goddess either concretely or metaphorically, which would be absurd.

24. © Copyright 2008 – RITA MASCIALINO – All Rights Reserved. Main misunderstandings intrinsic to the traditional interpretation of Lear’s Monologue - Misunderstanding about the spatiality of the “wall’d prison”; -Misunderstanding about the spatiality of Cordelia’s nature; - Misunderstanding about the spatiality of the syntagm “and we’ll wear out”; - Misunderstanding about the selfawareness of Shakespeare as a poet and about his awareness of the power of poetry.

25. © Copyright 2008 – RITA MASCIALINO – All Rights Reserved. Conclusions The hypothesis outlined in this presentation aims to provide language analysis with an objective basis, being space processing an unfailing and objective basis for the construction of meaning. The hypothesis outlined in this presentation aims to provide language analysis with an objective basis, being space processing an unfailing and objective basis for the construction of meaning. Through the identification of the Dynamic Spatiality or whole of Endo- and Exospatial Schemes concerning motions and actions at a conscious and unconscious, an explicit and implicit level, it is possible to go out of subjectivity and misunderstanding in interpreting the meaning of language. Psychoanalysis itself can get through the falsifications produced by the identification of Dynamic Spatiality that objectivity which it lacks when it interprets language, works of art and specifically literature. Through the identification of the Dynamic Spatiality or whole of Endo- and Exospatial Schemes concerning motions and actions at a conscious and unconscious, an explicit and implicit level, it is possible to go out of subjectivity and misunderstanding in interpreting the meaning of language. Psychoanalysis itself can get through the falsifications produced by the identification of Dynamic Spatiality that objectivity which it lacks when it interprets language, works of art and specifically literature.