Table Of ContentL udics
Play as Humanistic Inquiry
Edited by
Vassiliki Rapti · Eric Gordon
Ludics
“Ludics: Play as Humanistic Inquiry is a valuable resource, re-centering play as
essential to the humanities. Working through a bracingly diverse set of exam-
ples, the contributors put flesh on co-editor Eric Gordon’s concept of mean-
ingfulinefficiencies—thewaysinwhichunderstanding,inspirationandlearning
all arise through the messy process of play. Where play and work are often
portrayed as being in opposition, this volume illustrates how meaning is often
made through playfulness in the work of scholars, philosophers, and artists.
In recent decades, corporatist models of productivity in the academy have too
often lead to a diminished role for humanistic study. This book is a cogent
argument for humanities reinvigorated through a return to their playful roots.
At a time when all institutions of learning are undergoing dramatic transfor-
mation, this volume is a vital tool for those of us trying to imagine a better
future.”
—Scot Osterweil, Game Designer, Research Scientist, MIT, USA
“This passionate volume invites us to see play at the center of the humani-
ties. We can find it in the connections we make between ideas and with each
other, both within and across disciplines. And we find it here on full display:
leading scholars from an impressive cross-section of disciplines from Classics
to Computer Game Research, Architecture to Archaeology, Religious Studies,
Comparative Literature, Philosophy, and many more—as well as practicing
poets,performers,andartists—allexploringludictopicsfromtheangleoftheir
ownscholarlyinterests.Whatemergesfromtheindividualessaysandthemany
connections between them is not only a rich source of scholarship about play,
but a vision of play at the creative heart of scholarly endeavor.”
—Stephen E. Kidd, Associate Professor of Classics, Brown University, USA
·
Vassiliki Rapti Eric Gordon
Editors
Ludics
Play as Humanistic Inquiry
Editors
Vassiliki Rapti Eric Gordon
Classical Studies Visual and Media Arts
Boston University Emerson College
Boston, MA, USA Boston, MA, USA
ISBN 978-981-15-7434-4 ISBN 978-981-15-7435-1 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7435-1
©The Editor(s) (if applicable) andThe Author(s) 2021
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The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
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from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
Thepublisher,theauthorsandtheeditorsaresafetoassumethattheadviceandinformationinthis
book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the
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Cover image: courtesy of Gentleman’s Game and Octavia Art Gallery
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Acknowledgments
We would like to express our profound gratitude to the Mahindra
Humanities Center, Harvard University, its past and current directors,
Homi K. Bhabha and Sunil Amrith, respectively, its executive director
Steven Biel, and all its staff members, especially, Neal Adolph Akat-
sukaandLauraSargent,forprovidinganintellectualspacetotheLudics
Seminar since its inception in 2013, in order to explore the concept of
play across disciplines, out of which this edited volume was born. A
great deal of debt goes to Professor Kathleen M. Coleman, co-founder
and co-chair of the Ludics Seminar during its first two years, for her
generosity, encouragement and hard work to identify and invite guest
speakers inspired by the ludic drive in their research.To all Ludics guest
speakers and its diverse audiences, along with its graduate coordina-
tors for the last seven years, Ilana Freedman, Effie Gonis, and Bella
Bennett, we extend our warmest thanks, in particular, to the contrib-
utors to this volume in alphabetical order: Yiorgos Anagnostou, Danuta
Fjellestad, Catalina Florina Florescu, Leslie Frost, Sarah Green, Stephen
Kidd, Peter Levine, Timothy Moore, Gabriel Mugar, Nicole Nolette,
Brigitte Pitarakis, Diana Ramírez-Jasso, Johnathon Robinson-Appels,
v
vi Acknowledgments
Arthur Louis Ruprecht Jr., Miguel Sicart, Doris Sommer, Chrysostomos
A. Stamoulis, PierreTaminiaux, ZenoviaToloudi, and MaryJ.Yossi.We
wouldliketoalsoacknowledgethemanyblindreviewerswhosefeedback
and constructive criticism was of paramount importance in the process
of collecting and finalizing the papers included in this volume.
WearegratefultoGentleman’sGame,apartnershipofartistsBrandon
FriendandJasonDouglasGriffin,forgrantinguspermissiontousetheir
work “The Child, 2015,” represented by Octavia Gallery and its owner
Pamela Bryan and its director Emily Siekkinen, who made every effort
to smooth the process of copyright clearance.
Our thanks also go to our student assistant Kara Jackson, for assisting
us in stylistic matters. And of course, boundless gratitude to Palgrave-
MacMillan commission editor Joshua Pitt, for his trust, patience and
understanding. Many special thanks go to all our friends who helped
us in various ways throughout this project; in particular, to Peter
Bottéas, Carmen-Francesca Banciu, Julia Dubnoff, Meral Ekincioglu,
SusanHusserl-Kapit,MariaKakavas,MariaKoundoura,ElenaMancini,
Ivaana Muse, Maklena Nika, Stella Tiratsuyan, Hannah Trivilino and
Vinia Tsopelas, for their constant support and for being inexhaustible
sources of wisdom and encouragement.
We are thankful to the institutions and collectives with which we are
affiliated,EmersonCollegewithitsEngagementLabandCitizenTALES
Commons, Harvard University and Boston University for providing us
with a most playful intellectual environment to work in.
Last but not least, we are grateful to our families for their patience
and steady support during the various stages devoted to the completion
of this project.
It has been an extremely rewarding ludic journey for both of us that
wewillalwayscherishandwhichhelpedustogaininsightsinourfuture
research and joint endeavors.
Boston, USA Vassiliki Rapti
May 2020 Eric Gordon
Contents
INTRODUCTION: Ludics—Play as Humanistic Inquiry 1
Vassiliki Rapti and Eric Gordon
Playspace, Ethics & Engagement
Toward an Ethics of Homo Ludens 21
Miguel Sicart
SPORT MATTERS: On Art, Social Artifice, and the Rules
of the Game, or, the Politics of Sport 47
Louis A. Ruprecht
Pre-Texts: Press Play toTeach Anything 73
Doris Sommer
Work, Play, and Civic Engagement 85
Peter Levine
vii
viii Contents
Technoecologies:The Interplay of Space and Its Perception 95
ZenoviaToloudi
Meaningful Inefficiencies: Incorporating Play into Civic
Design 125
Eric Gordon and Gabriel Mugar
Playthings, Comedy & Laughter
“Let Us Laugh and Play”: Laughter in Greek Lyric Poetry 155
Mary J.Yossi
Ludic Music in Ancient Greek and RomanTheater 181
Timothy J. Moore
Did Christ Laugh? Umberto Eco’s Question and Saint
John Chrysostom’s Response 213
Chrysostomos A. Stamoulis
Comedy, Physicality, and Ludic Dance Gestures: The
Comic in Ballet andTai Chi? 227
Jonathon Robinson-Appels
Toys, Childhood, and Material Culture in Byzantium 243
Brigitte Pitarakis
Language & Poetics of Play
“HowtoCatchaFallingKnife:”PoeticPlayasthePractice
of Negative Capability 277
Sarah Green
The Ludic Impulse in Post-Postmodern Fiction 293
Danuta Fjellestad
Contents ix
GamesTranslators Play in French-CanadianTheatre 317
Nicole Nolette
ντ
Immigra Poetics: Play as Performativity of the Liminal
Self 339
Yiorgos Anagnostou
Play(Modes) & Performance asTransgression
Ludics asTransgression: From Surrealism to the Absurd
to Pataphysics 361
PierreTaminiaux
2 Sisters, 2 Stories: Breast Cancer, Femininity, and Body
Ownership 377
Catalina Florina Florescu
“Don’tBeMean”andOtherLessonsfromChildren’sPlays
of the FederalTheatre Project 403
Leslie Frost
The Republic of Childhood: Friedrich Froebel’s
Kindergarten and Naturphilosophie 427
Diana Ramírez-Jasso
Oscillating Between Tag and Hopscotch: Theo
Angelopoulos’ Playful Aesthetics 447
Vassiliki Rapti
Author Index 463
Subject Index 467
Notes on Contributors
Yiorgos Anagnostou is Professor of transnational and diaspora modern
Greek studies at Ohio State University. His work is interdisciplinary and
hasbeenpublishedinawiderangeofscholarlyjournals(see,http://www.
mgsa.org/faculty/anagnost.html). He is the author of Contours of White
Ethnicity: Popular Ethnography and the Making of Usable Pasts in Greek
America (OhioUniversityPress,2009),nowundertranslationintoGreek
(εκδo´σεις Nη´σoς, 2017). He has also published two poetry collections,
“(cid:2)ιασπoρικšς (cid:2)ιαδρoμšς” (Aπo´πειρα 2012, http://apopeirates.blo
λωσσες παφης
gspot.com/2012/04/blog-post_20.html), and «r X E ,
πιστ λ ς εξ μερικης νδυμιων
E o š A » (E 2016, http://endymionpublic.
blogspot.com/). He is the co-editor of the upcoming online Ergon:
Greek/AmericanArtsandLetters (Autumn2017).HewritesforGreekand
GreekAmericanmedia,andoccasionallyblogsonGreekAmerica(http://
immigrations-ethnicities-racial.blogspot.com/), and diaspora poetry
(http://diasporic-skopia.blogspot.com/). His poetry in English has been
published inTransnational Literature andVoices of Hellenism.
Danuta Fjellestad is Chair and Professor of American Literature and
Culture,UppsalaUniversity.ProfessorFjellestad’smainresearchinterests
xi
