Wu Ming 2's talk.
The power of one single word. In every story there are room and hooks to tell new ones, to modify the original and discover new points of view.
The song of the sirens: four ways of "resisting" against a story that we don't like.
1) Keep off the route of sirens, skipping the story alltogether.
2) The myth and the Sophists: taking the story apart and discovering how it works. Counterinformation.
3) Sabotage and culture jamming. Listening to the story and escaping unharmed.
4) The strategy of Orpheus the storyteller: responding with new and even more engaging stories. Collective tales and the logics of fandom.
original version (Italian)
with Spanish translation
 A tale by Wu Ming 4: the battle of Maldon in Anglosaxon epics. "Lytegian": the "astute trick" of the Vikings. A text version of this lecture has been published in Italian as "Un giorno a Maldon: il campo di battaglia e la parola magica". |
 In 1976 Borges finishes the unfinished poem: literature as continuation of war by other means. J.R.R. Tolkien's earlier version of the battle of Maldon. "Ofermode": the analysis of a word. From courage to pride, from heroism to questioning heroism. |
Wu Ming 2's talk. |
Bologna, 1996. |
 Q&A. Civil wars vs. a war of social imaginary? What's your opinion about the translations of your own books? Which are the stories that you would hold out against today? (Thoughts about the end of history and the end of stories, about the clash of civilizations, about proprietary stories and private ownership of popular culture.) |