I Am a Strange Loop I Am a Strange Loop , Douglas Hofstadter , Basic Books, New York, 2007. $26.95 (412 pp.). ISBN 978-0-465-03078-1

Physics Today ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 60 (10) ◽  
pp. 56-57
Author(s):  
Klaas Landsman
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Strange Loop ◽  
Douglas Hofstadter

Tropes of entanglement and strange loops in the “Nine Avowals” of the Chuci

2018 ◽  
Vol 81 (2) ◽  
pp. 277-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Morrow Williams
Keyword(s):  
Internal Structure ◽  
Mental State ◽  
Literary Form ◽  
Human Consciousness ◽  
Rhetorical Structure ◽  
Strange Loop ◽  
Strange Loops ◽  
Douglas Hofstadter ◽  
Formal Features

AbstractThe literary form and rhetorical structure of ancient Chinese poems have not been sufficiently studied. The “Jiu zhang” 九章 (Nine Avowals) attributed to Qu Yuan 屈原 contain distinctive formal features which are highly suggestive for interpretations of Qu Yuan's life and works. At the level of rhetoric, the protagonist frequently describes his own mental state using metaphors of knots and entanglement. At the level of form, the internal structure of the poems, and “Chou si” 抽思 (Unravelled Yearnings) in particular, involves series of overlapping, cross-referencing units that recall the “strange loop” discussed by Douglas Hofstadter as a model of human consciousness. Reading these poems is not just a matter of reconstructing their historical contexts but also of understanding their intended effects on the reader, who is effectively transported into a simulation of Qu Yuan's mind.

The Black Broadway voice: calls and responses

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 343-359 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masi Asare
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Black Church ◽  
Musical Theatre ◽  
Vocal Performance ◽  
Voice Teacher ◽  
The Color Purple ◽  
Strange Loop ◽  
Voice Calls ◽  
Color Purple ◽  
The Church

Black musical theatre artists in New York City share and theorize their experiences with industry expectations around racialized vocal performance. Musical director John Bronson, actor/singer Jamal James, composer/music director Dionne McClain-Freeney, composer/writer Khiyon Hursey, actor/singer Rheaume Crenshaw, actor/singer/voice teacher Elijah Caldwell, and actor/singer Zonya Love Johnson comprise the group. The artists grapple with the conundrum of sounding ‘Black enough’, how the demand for uniform Black vocalization confounds historical accuracy in period shows, and the fantasy of the generic, idealized ‘Black Broadway voice’. The group details unspoken, misguided industry assumptions that Black singers do not produce multiple kinds of belt sounds, do not use the vocal mix sound, and sing only in a heavy (power) sound virtuosically ornamented with riffs that evokes for (white) listeners a misleadingly monolithic idea of ‘the Black church’. As these artists point out, ‘We do not all go to the same church’; in fact, the ability to fluidly move between more classical (legit) and gospel vocal sounds may actually arise from a singer’s training in the church choir. Collectively these artists have worked on multiple Broadway and off-Broadway shows from The Color Purple to Hamilton and A Strange Loop, major tours and regional productions of shows such as Hair, Ain’t Misbehavin’, and Waitress, and hold songwriting credits from the prestigious BMI musical theatre writing workshop to Netflix. This conversation took place in October 2019.

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