Humanities desk
< June 7	<< May \| June \| Jul >>	June 9 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Humanities Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

June 8[edit]

Principles of Management[edit]

Why did Follett believe that individual freedom and self control should come through the activities of the group?

Before anybody redirects to Mary Parker Follett, it looks like the article lacks what the inquisitor desires... This sounds strikingly like a homework question, though. Root⁴(one) 13:23, 8 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hint...Think of why you might believe individual freedom and self control should come through the activities of the group...OR look for their books/your reference material (if indeed it is a homework question) and see if you can see any explanation by Follett...OR...search the net (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1038/is_n5_v36/ai_14723299/pg_5) is one result from the google search "Follet individual freedom" ny156uk 17:09, 8 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Nonsensical and Psychedelic Literature[edit]

New question! Can you recommend any literature that attempts to evoke the dreamlike and nightmarish atmosphere embodied in fantasies such as Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass and the psychedelic music of the late 1960s? There's far too little real phantasmagoria in the world.

The only two other novels I've read that try such a thing are Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell and The Man Who Was Thursday. Then again, there are a number of other children's fantasies that have made the attempt. It's an extremely difficult feat - far more difficult, I think, to write nonsense than sense. And the literary nonsense article doesn't focus much on the nonsense of dreams.

Thanks again for all your help! 66.112.244.100 22:17, 8 June 2007 (UTC)MelancholyDanish[reply]

Well, Naked Lunch is pretty dreamlike and nightmarish but it's not exactly psychedelic (junky-delic?). --24.147.86.187 00:20, 9 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The Illuminatus! Trilogy is quite psychedelic and trippy, and comes with an endorsement by Timothy Leary. Random Nonsense 00:55, 9 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Some things at Wikipedia Arbcom have had a nightmarish and psychedelic quality lately.Edison 02:27, 9 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I'm reminded of Dhalgren, which may or may not fit the bill, but it sure is weird, dreamlike, and nightmarish at times. There's even a character named "Nightmare". Pfly 08:03, 9 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Go take a look at this excerpt from Burroughs and these excerpts from HC. Then go read acid round the clock. Then read all of MFU by HC. dr.ef.tymac 08:39, 9 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Impressions of Africa and Locus solus by Raymond Roussel. Skarioffszky 09:41, 9 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Those are good recommendations, but Clio recommended one, way up there, that no one has followed with: Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry. Admittedly, the drug is ethanol, but it's way, way, way, way late in the alcohol game, and the prose is both gorgeous and "lysurgic." Burroughs is pretty strong, and Charles Bukowski would be a good bet, too. N.b. these are not happy trips. A friend of mine used to explain why the best drug music was made by folks who were straight: they're trying to achieve the same state without the drugs, while the stoned musicians just do Grateful Dead stuff. By that axiom, some of the most trippy literature isn't written by people who are tripping. (Some people swear by Confessions of an English Opium Eater and others by Alistair Crowley. I cannot say anything about either.) Geogre 13:40, 9 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

'land of laughs' by Jonathan Carroll is kind of self referencing dreamlike literature in that a man becomes involved in the world of his favorite childhood author, only to find it has dark aspects. its dreamlike otherworld qualiteis were such that eventually brought back into print as a graphic novel of all things. but i'd recommend the bookChildhoodtrauma 17:36, 9 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test , drink the Kool Aid! Perry-mankster 08:54, 11 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]