MYTH & TECH

Meiro Koizumi's Prometheus Bound at 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa

PROMETHEUS: A SYMPOSIUM

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The widely acclaimed blockbuster film Oppenheimer opens with this caption: "Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it to man. For this he was chained to a rock and tortured for eternity." The film, based on Oppenheimer's biography American Prometheus, is only the latest popular retelling of the ancient Greek myth. The essays, published in The Montreal Review, are the result of a faculty-student workshop held at Virginia Tech in October 2023 to share research and foster conversation about contemporary uses of the myth of Prometheus.

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THE STUBBORN AFTERLIVES OF THE PROMETHEUS MYTH

INTRODUCTION BY BRIAN BRITT

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PROMETHEUS

BY LORD BYRON

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WORKING ON MODERNITY. HANS BLUMENBERG READS PROMETHEUS

BY DANIEL WEIDNER

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OPPENHEIMER AS HERMES, GOD OF THE INFORMATION AGE

BY JANELL WATSON

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WHY THE MYTH OF PROMETHEUS HAUNTS TALK OF TECHNOLOGY?

BY LEE VINSEL

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FRANKEN-MYTHBUSTERS: MARY SHELLEY’S FRANKENSTEIN EXPOSES THE PATRIARCHAL PROMETHEUS

BY SOPHIA SCARFE

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UNBINDING MYTH WITH LITERATURE IN SHELLEY, FLAUBERT, AND DU BOIS

BY BRIAN BRITT

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PROMETHEUS REDUX: ALIEN PREQUELS, CREATION MYTH, AND THE ENCHANTMENT OF TECHNOSCIENCE

BY ZHANGE NI

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PROMETHEANISM, OBSOLESCENCE, AND THE POLITICS OF CONSPIRACY THEORY

BY SAMUEL BECKENHAUER

ESSAYS

Philip Larkin with his Rolleiflex, 1957. Photograph courtesy of Frances Lincoln, an imprint of Quarto Publishing Group

WHAT DO WE OWE ANIMALS?

RAYMOND WACKS

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THE VILLAGE OF THE WATERWHEELS

JOHN BELL

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READING SOLZHENITSYN FOR THE FIRST TIME

HAIM MARANTZ

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SEARCHING FOR CERTAINTY

SEPARATENESS AND THE SELF

PAUL B. DONOVAN

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BEATLES, WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST!

THE NEUROPSYCHOLOGY OF CONFLICT

STEVE DAVIDSON

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THE OTHERWORLDLY TRINITY

DEATH, DIVINITY AND DREAMS

DAVID COMFORT

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MUSIC OF THE DEVIL-1955

MYRON S. LUBELL

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GARY SOTO’S PILGRIMAGE

RON MCFARLAND

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HEDGEHOGS, DEATH AND THE BEAUTY IN THE MUNDANE

HOW LARKIN CUTS SO DEEP

DANIEL SEIFERT

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TO DEAL WITH INEQUALITY, IT MUST BE BETTER UNDERSTOOD

JON D. WISMAN

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EDITH STEIN AND THE STATE

PHILIP NEWMAN LAWTON

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PHARMAKON

CULTURE AND REALITY

T.S.TSONCHEV

ART & STYLE

Circle of Jan Massijs
Rebus: The World Feeds Many Fools (detail), c.1530-40
Oil on panel, 37.5 x 48.5 cm
ANTWERP, THE PHOEBUS FOUNDATION

EXCREMENTAL MIRTH

HOW HUMOUR LAID THE WORLD BARE, FROM THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY TO THE PRESENT

KATHARINA VAN CAUTEREN

CONVERSATIONS

BERNARD STIEGLER

BERNARD STIEGLER: ELEMENTS OF PHARMACOLOGY

AN INTERVIEW WITH FELIX HEIDENREICH AND FLORIAN WEBER-STEIN

FICTION & POETRY

Ovid’s Creek #1, by Monica Angle

FOUR POEMS FROM OVID’S CREEK

SAM MAGAVERN

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FIVE SONNETS

PETER AUSTIN

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SON OF TERAH

SHORT STORY BY JESSALYN LEBLANC

PAST & PRESENT

GEORGE KENNAN

A VOICE OF REASON

GEORGE KENNAN ON THE FATE OF THE SOVIET UNION AND NATO EXPANSION

GEORGE KENNAN