Department of Fine Arts, Okanagan University College
WORDS OF ART: THE J_LIST
WORDS OF ART: THE J_LIST
Compiled by Robert J. Belton
If you would like to see something removed, added or corrected, please feel free to contact
bbelton@klo1.ouc.bc.ca.
JAMMING: See
culture jamming.
JARGON: Pierre Bourdieu has argued that
academic jargon, which he says imagines itself to be objective and
value-free (see
value-freedom), has meanings it is not aware of, and that
its self-image as liberal humanism disguises its history of
oppressing
marginal groups. Cf
illiberal education.
JEU: French term for
play.
JINGLE: Dictionaries of literary terms often
include "jingle," a short, infectious verse set to music for
advertising purposes, in order to distinguish it from "literature"
proper. Is there a visual equivalent of the jingle?
JOUISSANCE: The usual English translation,
"enjoyment," does not carry the sexually orgasmic connotation that
the French does in addition to the idea of taking pleasure in
something. In
Lacanian circles, jouissance is distinguished from pleasure (
plaisir) in that the latter indicates simply the search for
psychic balance (
homeostasis) through the release of tension, whereas the
former is supposed to be a perpetual state in violation of the
pleasure principle. There is thus an implicit
analogy drawn between demand and
desire. See
transgression. Julia Kristeva (see Kristevan) offers a slight development
and a bit of wordplay: she uses plaisir for sexual pleasure and
jouissance (or j'ouïs sens, "I heard meaning") as total joy due to the
presence of
meaning.
JUDICIAL CRITICISM: Any of several types of
criticism sharing the goal of judgement of a work, as
connoisseurship is thought to judge
quality. The criteria that the work is supposed to meet
vary widely, however.
JUNGIAN: Pertaining to the theories of Swiss
psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung. See Jungian criticism.
JUNGIAN CRITICISM:
Criticism infleunced by Jungian ideas, principally the role of the
colllective unconscious in the determination of cultural
behaviour. Every individual participates in two
psychic streams, one personal and one supposedly sharing
psychic constants (see
anima,
archetype) with everyone else. The emphasis in practical
Jungian writing, however, often ends up on the latter of these two
streams, leading some opponents to describe Jungian approaches as
essentialist (see
essentialism). See also
myth,
presentiment.
JUVENILIA:
Artworks produced during the
artist's youth. In literary studies, "juvenilia" usually
implies a degre of artistic immaturity. In
art history, some juvenilia is considered prodigious (i.e.,
produced by a prodigy, as in the case of Gianlorenzo Bernini, Michelangelo Buonarroti, John Everett Millais, or Pablo Picasso).
JUXTAPOSITION: A placing of objects, images,
etc., side by side. The term is particularly common in writings on Surrealism: there, because the practice was used with emphasis on the irrationality of the things juxtaposed, it sometimes seems to have an extra connotation of weirdness or inappropriateness. See, for example, the work of the Surrealist precursor Giorgio de Chirico or any Surrealist object by Salvador Dalí or Man Ray. The Surrealists' fascination with the practice can be traced to their interest in the obscure nineteenth century poet Lautréamont (Isidore Ducasse), whose famous example of it was "as beautiful as the chance encounter of a sewing machine and an umbrella on a dissection table." In non-Surrealist contexts, the term is devoid of this connotation.
© Copyright 1996 Robert J. Belton
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