8/13/2019 Final Quotes
1/5
Victor Turner, Betwixt and Between: The Liminal Period inRites
de Passage.
The Forest of Symols: !s"ects of #demu $itual. %thaca:
&ornell 'P,
()*+. )-(((.
is focus: the liminal /the condition of ein0 in-etween1 and its
function.
The invisibility of liminal personae has a twofold character.
They are at once no
longer classified and not yet classified. In so far as they are
no longer classified, the
symbols that represent them are, in many societies, drawn from
the biology of death,decomposition, and other physical processes
that have a negative tinge (!".
#y own view is that monsters are man$fact$red precisely to teach
neophytes to
disting$ish clearly between the different factors of
reality.m$ch of the grotes%$enessand monstrosity of &the
liminal' may be seen to be aimed not so m$ch at terroriing or
bem$sing neophytes into s$bmission or o$t of their wits as at
ma)ing them vividly and
rapidly aware of the factors of their c$lt$re (*+".
#onsters startle neophytes into thin)ing abo$t ob-ects, persons,
relationships, and
feat$res of their environment they have hitherto ta)en for
granted (*+".
The monstrosity of the config$ration throws its elements into
relief. $t a mans head
on a lions body and yo$ thin) abo$t the h$man head in the
abstract (*+!".
Victor Turner, Liminal to Liminoid, in Play, Flow and $itual.
$ice 'ni2ersity
Studies: The !nthro"olo0ical Study of uman Play. 3d. 3dward
#orec4.
*5. /Summer ()+61: 7-)8.
9ore on the liminal and its function.
/$st as when tribesmen ma)e mas)s, disg$ise themselves as
monsters, heap $p disparate
rit$al symbols, invert or parody profane reality in myths and
fol)0tales, so do the genresof ind$strial leis$re, the theater,
poetry, novel, ballet, film, sport, roc) m$sic, classical
m$sic, art, pop art and so on, play with the factors of c$lt$re,
sometimes assembling them
in random, grotes%$e, improbable, s$rprising, shoc)ing, $s$ally
e1perimental
combinations. &They' generate not only weird forms, b$t
also, and not infre%$ently,models . . . that are highly critical of
the stat$s %$o as a whole or in part (2*023".
4iminality, marginality, and inferiority . provide men with a
set of templates,models, or paradigms which, at one level,
&allow for' periodical reclassifications of
reality and mans relationship to society, nat$re, and c$lt$re.
5$t they are more than
mere cognitive classifications, since they incite men to action
as well as tho$ght (67".
