{"id":{"repo_id":"ohiolink","oai_identifier":"oai:etd.ohiolink.edu:bgsu1364826168"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/ohiolink/oai:etd.ohiolink.edu:bgsu1364826168","repository":{"repo_id":"ohiolink","name":"OhioLINK","base_url":"https://etd.ohiolink.edu/acprod/odb_etd/ws/oai/oai"},"display":{"title":"A Series of Humiliations","abstract":"When Sacher-Masoch released Venus in Furs, he gave his name to a notion that must have existed since ancient times: masochism. Subversive in its day, it dealt with humiliation in a closed setting: during sex. The present work posits human existence as humiliation, and deals with a trinity of debasement: mind, body, spirit. The hyperconscious mind is beset not only by anxiety, but by anxiety about anxiety—in an infinite regression. Kafka depicted this sort of consciousness in conflict with varying levels of awareness. Further, there is the body, and the physical discomfort it feels, particularly in contact with other bodies. Writers such as Antonin Artaud and Ryunosuke Akutagawa have traced this sort of body-terror. Finally, because humanity is not content to suffer in body and mind, it erects the notion of spirit—which falls under the aegis of religions, many of which posit the paradoxes of our determination and free will; our liberation through submission; our filth and reverence. The believer is the grand masochist in her/his efforts to be (in three ways) subsumed—to quell the divers terrors. To be assimilated, the believer approaches bodies or notions, but in doing so triggers the humiliation of existence. This work explores how close the believer can come to becoming an object, and how close that object can approach the object-of-worship.","abstract_html":"When Sacher-Masoch released Venus in Furs, he gave his name to a notion that must have existed since ancient times: masochism. Subversive in its day, it dealt with humiliation in a closed setting: during sex. The present work posits human existence as humiliation, and deals with a trinity of debasement: mind, body, spirit. The hyperconscious mind is beset not only by anxiety, but by anxiety about anxiety—in an infinite regression. Kafka depicted this sort of consciousness in conflict with varying levels of awareness. Further, there is the body, and the physical discomfort it feels, particularly in contact with other bodies. Writers such as Antonin Artaud and Ryunosuke Akutagawa have traced this sort of body-terror. Finally, because humanity is not content to suffer in body and mind, it erects the notion of spirit—which falls under the aegis of religions, many of which posit the paradoxes of our determination and free will; our liberation through submission; our filth and reverence. The believer is the grand masochist in her/his efforts to be (in three ways) subsumed—to quell the divers terrors. To be assimilated, the believer approaches bodies or notions, but in doing so triggers the humiliation of existence. This work explores how close the believer can come to becoming an object, and how close that object can approach the object-of-worship.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Hudnell, William Jason"],"institution":"Bowling Green State University","degree_name":"Master of Fine Arts (MFA)","degree_level":"masters","degree_discipline":"Creative Writing/Fiction","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Mayo, Wendell"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2013,"date_issued":"2013-04-26","date_published":"2013-04-26","updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:37:16Z","subjects":["Literature","Religion","Psychology","Psychotherapy","sexuality","masochism","obsession","ritual","self and other"],"languages":["English"],"rights":["restricted--full text not available online","This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. 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Further, there is the body, and the physical discomfort it feels, particularly in contact with other bodies. Writers such as Antonin Artaud and Ryunosuke Akutagawa have traced this sort of body-terror. Finally, because humanity is not content to suffer in body and mind, it erects the notion of spirit—which falls under the aegis of religions, many of which posit the paradoxes of our determination and free will; our liberation through submission; our filth and reverence. The believer is the grand masochist in her/his efforts to be (in three ways) subsumed—to quell the divers terrors. To be assimilated, the believer approaches bodies or notions, but in doing so triggers the humiliation of existence. This work explores how close the believer can come to becoming an object, and how close that object can approach the object-of-worship."]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf","p.109"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["A Series of Humiliations"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Mayo, Wendell"],"dc:creator":["Hudnell, William Jason"],"dc:date":["2013-04-26"],"dc:description":["When Sacher-Masoch released Venus in Furs, he gave his name to a notion that must have existed since ancient times: masochism. Subversive in its day, it dealt with humiliation in a closed setting: during sex. The present work posits human existence as humiliation, and deals with a trinity of debasement: mind, body, spirit. The hyperconscious mind is beset not only by anxiety, but by anxiety about anxiety—in an infinite regression. Kafka depicted this sort of consciousness in conflict with varying levels of awareness. Further, there is the body, and the physical discomfort it feels, particularly in contact with other bodies. Writers such as Antonin Artaud and Ryunosuke Akutagawa have traced this sort of body-terror. Finally, because humanity is not content to suffer in body and mind, it erects the notion of spirit—which falls under the aegis of religions, many of which posit the paradoxes of our determination and free will; our liberation through submission; our filth and reverence. The believer is the grand masochist in her/his efforts to be (in three ways) subsumed—to quell the divers terrors. To be assimilated, the believer approaches bodies or notions, but in doing so triggers the humiliation of existence. 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