BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Sabre//Sabre VObject 4.5.8//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/Zurich X-LIC-LOCATION:Europe/Zurich TZURL:http://tzurl.org/zoneinfo/Europe/Zurich BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0200 TZNAME:CEST DTSTART:19810329T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=-1SU END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0200 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:CET DTSTART:19961027T030000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=10;BYDAY=-1SU END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT UID:news378@english.philhist.unibas.ch DTSTAMP;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20221124T170931 DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20221207T141500 SUMMARY:The Jingle Men of American Letters DESCRIPTION:Getting something stuck in your ear or head – but which? – is by no means a new phenomenon\; nor is the urge to expunge an infectious strain of music a modern occupation. But is it an American one? Involunta ry Musical Imagery (INMI) has long perplexed lab technicians and clinical practitioners the world over\, not just because the syndrome resists forma l diagnosis\, but because our means of witnessing and treating the notorio us ‘cognitive itch’ extend well beyond the parameters of physiological enquiry. The purpose of this talk is to begin to identify the changing fo rms and effects of this most notorious of acoustic phenomena by delving in to a variety of American art forms (prose\, poetry\, song\, and cinema). I will be lending an ear to Poe and Twain\, to James and Stevens\, and to a crooner – once beloved of T. S. Eliot – called Joey Nash.\\r\\nIn doi ng so\, I’m going to take seriously the possibility that we might come t o better understand the phenomenon if we find a way to combine the finding s of neuroscience and the humanities. Rather than upholding the often crud ely perceived distinction between fact and fiction\, statistic and hunch\, my aim will be to excavate the parallel histories of otology and the arts \, to evaluate their intersections and points of resistance at certain mom ents in American history\, and to gauge their present affinities. The proc ess of description\, I want to suggest\, is crucial: earworms\, earwigs\, jingles\, maggots\, imps\, crotchets\, cognitive itchiness\, sticky music\ , INMI. Whose vocabulary are we drawing on when we speak of neurotological tedium and trauma? What’s lost\, and what’s gained\, when we attempt to translate or naturalise the Ohrwurm – once an insect much feared by f armers\, now a coil of pesky sound? X-ALT-DESC:

Getting something stuck in your ear or head – but which? – is by no means a new phenomenon\; nor is the urge to expunge an infect ious strain of music a modern occupation. But is it an American o ne? Involuntary Musical Imagery (INMI) has long perplexed lab technicians and clinical practitioners the world over\, not just because the syndrome resists formal diagnosis\, but because our means of witnessing and treatin g the notorious ‘cognitive itch’ extend well beyond the parameters of physiological enquiry. The purpose of this talk is to begin to identify th e changing forms and effects of this most notorious of acoustic phenomena by delving into a variety of American art forms (prose\, poetry\, song\, a nd cinema). I will be lending an ear to Poe and Twain\, to James and Steve ns\, and to a crooner – once beloved of T. S. Eliot – called Joey Nash .

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In doing so\, I’m going to take seriously the possibility that we might come to better understand the phenomenon if we find a way to com bine the findings of neuroscience and the humanities. Rather than upholdin g the often crudely perceived distinction between fact and fiction\, stati stic and hunch\, my aim will be to excavate the parallel histories of otol ogy and the arts\, to evaluate their intersections and points of resistanc e at certain moments in American history\, and to gauge their present affi nities. The process of description\, I want to suggest\, is crucial: earwo rms\, earwigs\, jingles\, maggots\, imps\, crotchets\, cognitive itchiness \, sticky music\, INMI. Whose vocabulary are we drawing on when we speak o f neurotological tedium and trauma? What’s lost\, and what’s gained\, when we attempt to translate or naturalise the Ohrwurm – once a n insect much feared by farmers\, now a coil of pesky sound?

DTEND;TZID=Europe/Zurich:20221207T154500 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR