The other day I was walking around Kingston and noticed a woman walking next to a man who was wearing a shirt reading “I’m With Stupid ---->” (with the arrow pointing straight at the woman.) I chortled momentarily, and it made me think about this impending essay about the cup of Nestor found in Pithicusaean tomb. Would archaeologists one day uncover this shirt and create an intense academic discussion as to the meaning of this phrase, and whether it was intended as a joke or as a serious warning (“Beware! This person’s intelligence is below average! Please refrain from discussing Freud, Nietzsche and Baudrillard with said individual!”) I soon realized that the likelihood of this shirt not biodegrading by the time it was uncovered was slim to
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Critchley explains that “the body that I am becomes the body that I have, the body-subject becomes an object for me which both the possibility of taking up a critical position, and also underlines my alienation from the world and nature” (Critchley, 42.) This concept of being and having underlines an inherent critical position of humanity: the gap between our physical selves and metaphysical individuality. Humor, it can be argued, is based upon “the return of the physical into the metaphysical, where the pretended tragical sublimity of the human collapses into a comic ridiculousness which is perhaps even more tragic” (Critchley, 42.) By critically examining the nature of our body and its natural reaction to alcoholic beverages, the cup causes the reader to briefly consider the nature of humanity. The reader is laughing both with the body and at the body, “as if we temporarily inhabit a Gnostic universe, where the fact of our materiality comes as some-thing of a surprise” (Critchley, 43.) This is similar to the cognitive shift associated with incongruity. The use of the word seized, an active verb, to describe the way in which the amorous feelings will overcome the drinker emphasizes this relationship: although it is the individual who uses the cup to drink, it is the cup and the drink within which then seize control over the body and …show more content…
I cannot accept that a cursed cup such as this would simply happen to belong to an individual named Nestor as Hansen suggests at one point, or that the amorous feelings are not as pleasant as they may initially seem. It is rather unfortunate that the individuals who write articles such as these seem to have no sense of humor. While such arguments are interesting for an academic discussion, they have no validity when so much evidence points to reading this inscription as a joke. It is humorous on many levels: far more than can be discussed in a limited work such as this. By expanding the discussion beyond incongruity or syntax and into the humor of metaphysics (while framing it in the context of a game) I have added yet another reason why this work should be viewed as a joke, and not as a serious curse. And if you disagree with me then you can go have a nice day (please forgive this last bad demonstration of the unexpected syntax involved in a curse and
Critchley explains that “the body that I am becomes the body that I have, the body-subject becomes an object for me which both the possibility of taking up a critical position, and also underlines my alienation from the world and nature” (Critchley, 42.) This concept of being and having underlines an inherent critical position of humanity: the gap between our physical selves and metaphysical individuality. Humor, it can be argued, is based upon “the return of the physical into the metaphysical, where the pretended tragical sublimity of the human collapses into a comic ridiculousness which is perhaps even more tragic” (Critchley, 42.) By critically examining the nature of our body and its natural reaction to alcoholic beverages, the cup causes the reader to briefly consider the nature of humanity. The reader is laughing both with the body and at the body, “as if we temporarily inhabit a Gnostic universe, where the fact of our materiality comes as some-thing of a surprise” (Critchley, 43.) This is similar to the cognitive shift associated with incongruity. The use of the word seized, an active verb, to describe the way in which the amorous feelings will overcome the drinker emphasizes this relationship: although it is the individual who uses the cup to drink, it is the cup and the drink within which then seize control over the body and …show more content…
I cannot accept that a cursed cup such as this would simply happen to belong to an individual named Nestor as Hansen suggests at one point, or that the amorous feelings are not as pleasant as they may initially seem. It is rather unfortunate that the individuals who write articles such as these seem to have no sense of humor. While such arguments are interesting for an academic discussion, they have no validity when so much evidence points to reading this inscription as a joke. It is humorous on many levels: far more than can be discussed in a limited work such as this. By expanding the discussion beyond incongruity or syntax and into the humor of metaphysics (while framing it in the context of a game) I have added yet another reason why this work should be viewed as a joke, and not as a serious curse. And if you disagree with me then you can go have a nice day (please forgive this last bad demonstration of the unexpected syntax involved in a curse and