The Dynamics of Individuality and Community in Family Portraits
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Themes
Individuality, community, family portraits, Rilke, Singly, sociology, psychology, literature
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Abstract
This corpus explores the intersection of individuality and community in family portraits, drawing on diverse sources from sociology, psychology, and literature. The analysis delves into the tension between being alone and being with, as individuals navigate their distinct interiorities and project identities within a community. From Rilke's poetic vision to Singly's sociological insights, this corpus offers a nuanced understanding of the complexities of human relationships.
Extract
[...] The table and document 1 seem to converge in their vision of the family. Indeed, for the family members represented, it is a matter of conjugating 'being 'alone' and 'being according to Singly's distinction. Each individual seems to exist by and for themselves; yet, we can distinguish three groups in the composition, whose members imitate each other. We can therefore imagine that it is for each of them to mark at the same time their belonging to the group and their individuality, avoiding doing so in the 'ostentatious' manner evoked by Singly: it is a game of balance between 'with' and 'alone', which must not threaten each other. [...]
[...] The texts include a recent French research essay in sociology (doc. which cites primary sources dating back only a few years ago,Wild, 2014). Document 2 is a journalistic psychology article, not a scientific one, also contemporary and French. Document on the contrary, is an excerpt from the private correspondence of the Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke dating back more than a century. The last element of the corpus is a Danish family portrait dating from roughly the same period as Rilke's letter. [...]
[...] The two brothers on the left are 'seated side by side, and not one in front of the other' and 'escape the point of view of the One' (document 2). Finally, it is in the figure of the little girl that the painting is able to consider communion in the alterity in the most striking way. Indeed, with a single glance, she evokes the painter and confronts the viewer, who has no access to her interiority, yet she smiles at him beyond all the historical distance that separates them: this distance is communicated in a completely serene manner by the work, as a source of 'happiness' (document 3). [...]
[...] For Rilke, this approach is a constant 'work'. On the contrary, Singly conceives the dynamic he envisions, this 'socialization by friction', as acquired in childhood. Where identity is 'malleable', 'flexible' for Singly, it must be 'gathered', 'ordered' for Rilke. Yet, it is through these very distinct processes that the two authors imagine the transition to adulthood. As for document it actually synthesizes the two positions, but note that it concludes with a vision very close to Rilke's: it is therefore the poet's position that this article joins. [...]
