Technology as Symptom and Dream [Paperback]

Robert Romanyshyn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 13, 1989 | ISBN-10: 0415007879 | ISBN-13: 978-0415007870

The development of linear perspective in the 15th century represented a radical transformation in the European's sense of the world, the body and the self. Robert Romanyshyn's latest book examines the claim that the development of linear perspective vision was and is indispensable to the emergence of our technological world. It does so by telling the story of how an artistic technique has become a cultural habit of mind.

Editorial Reviews

Review

There is a specificity and tightness . . . that is compelling . . . an excellent complement to Jung's historical reflections and alchemical studies.
–Harvest

You have, in my opinion, produced one of the wisest and most compellingly urgent books I have encountered in a long while. Thank you for this book.
–Alice Jardine, Department of Romance Language and Literature, Harvard University

The cast of characters assembled in Romanyshyn's tale--from things such as the telescope, television, and the telephone, to ideas like the vanishing and the distance points, to figures such as Brunelleschi and Alberti, Galileo and Harvey, Mesmer and Freud--is as impressive as the story he tells is persuasive. The author asks us to take nothing on his word but deftly directs us to our own images on art and in life, in history and in the present day.
–The Humanistic Psychologist, Autumn 1990

. . . a rare achievement.
–Times Literary Supplement, July 1990

. . . any psychology that would be a psychology of culture must include an appraisal of technology as a psychological event. This is precisely what Romanyshyn has done by seeing technology as both symptom and dream in this remarkable work.
–Temenos

About the Author

Robert D. Romanyshyn, professor of psychology at the University of Dallas, also teaches in the Arts and Humanities program at the University of Texas at Dallas, and is practising clinical psychologist. Author of Psychological Life: From Science to Metaphor, he has lectured and taught at numerous universities in the USA, Europe, and Africa.

Product Details

• Paperback: 268 pages
• Publisher: Routledge (December 13, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415007879
• ISBN-13: 978-0415007870
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,051,279 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Romanyshyn Calls us to Re-member Many Things..., October 24, 1999

By 

Victor Barbetti ([e-mail]) (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Technology as Symptom and Dream (Paperback)

In Technology as Symptom and Dream, Romanyshyn discovers that with the 'invention' of linear perspective vision came many changes in who we imagine ourselves to be. The mathematization of the world provided a new kind of freedom for (literally) seeing the world differently. The subject of the artist in paintings and the artist became broken up, or fragmented, through the process of using a veil based on a geometric understanding of space. Within that space one can see how the 'depth' of things changed, from a depth of levels to a depth of linear measurement. It is this frame that makes possible the anatomical view of the body, and it is the anatomical view that gives rise to the corpse, or what Romanyshyn calls the 'anatomical body' of science. We thus have a psychological and cultural division between the body as corpse and what Romanyshyn calls the 'pantomimic' body, or what phenomenology distinguishes as the 'lived body' of experience. Throughout the last 500 years we have seen these two possibilities manifest themselves in our culture. Romanyshyn has shown us that when our culture place too much of an emphasis on just one aspect of the body, certain aspects of the other (the pantomimic) show through in a not so glorious fashion. So we can understand Romanyshyn's discussion of the shadow side of the anatomical body (the witch, the madman, the monster, the anorexic) as a way of telling us what's wrong and as a remembrance for how to make things right. The pantomimic body, as a shadow of the anatomical body, reminds us that there are different ways of seeing the world, and that certain ways we think are the best (e.g. our technological worldview) come to us with a very expensive price tag.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mixed feelings, but some very insightful content, June 22, 2006

By 

Patrick D. Goonan "see profile for URL" (Livermore, CA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Technology as Symptom and Dream (Paperback)

In general, I have mixed feelings toward this book. For example, I found a lot of the content to be unnecessarily repititious. However, the general thesis was good food for thought.

In this volume, Romanyshyn looks at a our propensity as culture to look at life from a very monucular linear perspective. He borrows many analogies from art and this is helpful in understanding his ideas.

Basically, this book deals with our alienation from our bodies, nature and what makes us basically human. He claims much of this evolved out of Cartesian dualism and ties it in to the development of perspective in painting and the rise of technology.

I enjoyed many aspect of this book, but at times found the repitition and verbose language frustrating. However, the underlying premises and arguments seemed to hold. In short, I think this book needed more exacting editing. If this was the case, I would give it a much higher rated review.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Really intelligent, original work., December 16, 2008

By 

J. Lee - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Technology as Symptom and Dream (Paperback)

Really intelligent, original work. Highy recommeneded to anyone interested in psychological matters concerning technology, beautiful writing.